The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-12-17
Fine Monument to the Memory of
Charles ]. Kickham,
THE IRISH POET AND PATRIOT
A Multitude of His Countrymen
at the dwelling.
Mr.. JOHN O'LEARY OBLIGATED
No BraYer Heart Ever Beat for His
Fond MOtherland.

fOnQ mOIneFldn0.
On Sunday, Nov 27, Mr.. John OLeary,
in the good town of Tipperary, unveiled
a monument to the memory of his old
friend and comrade, Charles Joseph
Kickham, says the Dublin Freeman's
Journal. lreland's roll of patriots and
martyrs is long and noble one, but in
all the list there is not name which
better deserves to be held in honored
and affectionate commemoration than
that of the gentle bard, charming novel
list, and truly heroic lover of his country,
whose labors for the nations freedom
will be remembered in Tipperary and in
ireland as long as the Glen of Aberlow
nestles amidst the fortress dedicated by
nature to the defense of freedom" which
frown over the brave Barony of Clan
william. The story of Kickham's life is,
we trust, known to every Irish National
list. He was a patriot from his boyhood;
and, despite a distressing physical in
trinity, the result of an accident in child
hood, he took SO active a part in the
Fenian movement that he earned a
heavy sentence of penal servitude, the
greater part of which he served with
stoical heroism, though his deafness and
almost total blindness did not save him
from the tortures reserved for Irish po-
litical prisoners in every British Jail.
Some of the most delightful Irish bal
lands flowed from Charles Kickham's
pen. Whose veins have not caught fire
at the thrilling cadence of Rory of the
Hill?" Who has not heard of the lines:
"He brought them news of foreign
friends
Which made their heart strings thrill
MY sowl! never doubted them,'
Said Rory Of the Hill.'
And there are few of us who have not
on occasions agreed with the bard who
sang:
ooh! knowledge is a wondrous power,
And stronger than the wind;
And thrones must fall and despots bow
Before the might of mind.
The poet and the orator
The heart of man can sway;
But would to the kind heavens
That Wolfe Tone were here today!
And, trust me, friends, dear Ireland's
strength
Her truest strengths still
The rough and ready rowing boys,
Like Rory of the HILL"
Every one has felt the pathos of that
simple ballad, all too true to fact and
nature. "She lived beside the Amer
poem which has few equals of it's class
in English or Irish literature, if we ex-
cept Dalton Williams Dying Girl" The
beautiful poem, written to his sister
from his gloomy prison cell one est.
Johns Eve' will live forever; and in
many an Irish village and mountain
sheeling today you can hear that
immortal, 'street ballad" which tells of
the fate of poor Patrick Sheehan.''
II groped to find my musket;
How dark thought the night.
o, Blessed God; it was not dark
1t was the broad daylight!
And when I found that was blind,
My tears began to f1ow
I longed for even pauper's grave
In the Glen of Aherlow.
poor neglected mendicant
I wander through the street,
My nine months pension now being out,
I>beg from all meet
Since I joined my country's tyrants
My face I'll never show
Amongst the kind old neighbors
In the Glen of Aherlow."
But Kickham's stories of Irish life are
a still more enduring claim to the i'm
mortal love of his countrymen. We may
not fully accept the verdict that "Knock-
nagow" is the best Irish novel, but it
must unhesitatingly be classed among
the very best. 1t moves all to tears, and
anon to light hearted laughter! and as
pen picture of life amongst the Tip
perary peasants it is as true to nature
as Dickens best scketches of Cockney
life. MAT the Thresher" is an immortal
creation; and the book is full of charac-
ters drawn by master hand Not less
admirable, in its sad and moving style,
is Sally Cavanagh;" and though For
the Old Land is not on a level with
either, it is a splendid tale of Irish devo-
tiOn and DatriOtiSm Charles Kick II a n,
died-all too soon-near the place of his
BIRTH He died beloved of all who knew
him, and revered by the entire Irish race.
Many have toiled and fought for the
Aotherland. but no braver heart ever