The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-23

| full years of half a century. Unevent-
! full for the most part, is the record of
! lives which have filled the measure
| of days and years Of sobriety, right
! eousness and truth. With a firm and
I strong faith, their most precious in
heritance from their native land, hun
! dreds have knelt before this familiar
/ tabernacle to find in silent prayer and
| in communion with their God, re-
| lief for the inconsistencies of famished
| heart.
An alien race in strange land, they
| brought memories of the sweetest spot
| on earth; associations, the dearest, be-
cause conferred about the old hearth
stone of their fathers and torefathers;
| traditions of loyalty to faith and moth
erland; and longing for national free
dom which reverses had never
quenched nor misfortune stifled in the
| Irish heart.
| God-fearing in the manner of their
! lives, patient in their humble aVoca-
tions and self-sacrihcing for the sake
of their children, our fathers gave the
! Drawn and muscle necessary to the
growth and prosperity of this fair city.
| Beneath a meekness Of spirit and in
! loWliness of worldly condition, they
! cherished the remembrance of an an
cient glory and the birthrisht OF race
| and people renowned for their religion,
I
! ty, courage are emblaZoned in char
acters of living light on the shields OF
| Ireland's honor and indelibly stamped
| or the hearts core of her sons ana
| children's children. Who could suspect
| that the humblest laborer in our hives
| of industry, the plodding Wage-earner
/ in homes of narrow want and pressing
need the faithful servant to the call
! of hard toll and small recompense, was
heir to the grandest achievements ever
| spread on the pages of the worlds MS
/ tory? Who could suspect that the I'M
| lettered "hewer of wood and drawer
| of water" was descended from an an
cestry which carried the torch of learn
ing from affairs of knowledge, bright
w burning on one circumscribed is
land into the night of pagan darkness
amidst the blackness of barbaric ruins?
| What fondest dream or stransest fancy
could find in a hand, hardened to axe,
pick and shovel the index of line
of heroes whose deeds of valor have
gilded the old-time annals CT the pow
ers of Europe and FURNISHED with the
pure gold of manly courage, the records
of newer nations born beneath the soft
er light of the southern cross, or under
the brightest star in the constellation
of human destinies our own American
republic?
Could they forget that Spain, France
and Austria gladly welcomed into their
ranks heroic hearts which the coward
ice of a King James had disheartened
or the perfidy of the dishonored treaty
of Limerick had banished from their
motherland. At home, their swords
were never drawn to abet a wrong, 10
countenance oppression, or to rob men
Of liberty. Abroad, from Families to
Tourney, from Dunkirk to Belgrade
from Fontenoy to Waterloo. from
. ! 2 IA mr. child
Celt had led many a forlorn hope and
lain cold in death on many hard
fought field Of battle.
J Such is the legacy left to race by
. nature ardent, warlike, impulsive, gen
: erous and ready to fight. Indeed it can
not escape the Charge whether in honor
J or in dishonor, that tlSe Celtic tempera-
| ment is never averse to war and never
above suspicion of provoking an injury
merely for the sake of resenting 1T. A
. spirit of military prowess, a genius fol
war was inbred in the Irish character
= NV centuries of conflict which begar
a. the landing of the Dane on the
Scores of Ireland and continued till the
- ill-fated revolution of 1898
These are the memories which have
< clustered about the heart, to whatever
/. corner of the globe fortune has led OIL
y. necessity driven the exile of Erin. The
-, Inheritance of this Warlike trait the
l passion for military organization in
L separately linked to the highest anC
! hottest devotion to the faith of st. Pat
rick are the dominant features which
. have distinguished the Irish immigrant
y and his descendants. Compared witt
{ Anglo Saxon calculation and Teutonit
i GOODNESS, in the scale Of material inter.
-' est, his loyalty to his faith is foolish
), ness his valor quixotic. And yet the
u world has need of these ideals. Blessed