Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-02-25

be such an assertion-but there was
none - how convincing would be the
contradiction given by the great nations
of Russia, Austria, Spain and France,
where the exiled Irish and their noble
descendants upheld the honor of their
adopted lands and the memory of their
forefathers with heroic fidelity
In Pagan times men of lea ming held
the foremost rank in Ireland, next to the
monarch; their wands conferred protec-
ton and sanctury. When the Christian
church emerging from catacombs began
to raise its voice in hymns of praise, the
gift of song came into the Western
church from the Celts. St. Ambrose was
born in Gaul, st. Hilary was himself a
Gaul, and when the first Council of the
church met i'll Rome to decide what
books should be approved and what re-
jected, one work which met with the
highest which almost
every year since has been republished in
new editions-was the Carmen Pasch-
ale," the Easter Song, by Sedulius, an
Irish bard (applause). Most of the ma
tons of Europe had been proud to pro-
duce this poem, which is the first Epic of
Christendom, but Ireland had been silent.
So great was the enthusiasm for learning,
so high was the honor of literature, that
the Irish universe counted their students
by thousands. Their renown overspread
Europe and called visitors to their halls
from all the adjoining kingdoms. Morse
men and Saxons and Gauls had streets
named after them in Irish university
towns; Romans came, and even Greeks,
for Ireland, in the words of faithworthy
witnesses, was "New Rome. the "School
of the West" In no place, at no period,
was there shown such intense zeal for the
cultivation of letters, nor had the world
ever witnessed such magnificent hospi-
tally as that lavished on foreign students
by the Irish nation. On the evidence of
that great Saxon, the Venerable Bede,
they learned that Ireland received all
corners with liberal welcome and hos
pitably entertained them, giving them
books to read-when books were rare
and precious-instructio in every art
and science then known, and all gratu-
itously (applause). 1t was great claim,
but it was admitted In that glorious
period Irish authors helped to save classic
letters from degradation, and did more
they laid the deep and strong foundations
of modern literature. They gave of their
Il - 1ai fa1 dc
to the Morse, to the Anglo-Saxon, 10 the
Germans, to the French, and to the
Spaniards, directly or indirectly. They
taught the new nations the systems of
verse and music of rhymed and non
rhymed lines, on which all later poetry
has been fashioned. Beyond the classic
world they created new realms of heroic
romance, imaginative fiction, aerial Wis
ions of other states, mystic dreams, and
humorous tales which inspired or infiu-
enced much of the great intellectual eff
forts of other and later men. 1t was an
undeniable fact that ancient Ireland was
the mother of literature (applause). Was
Ireland now faithful to the great mission
bequeathed her i'll illustrious heritage?
No 1oubt. storm after storm has swept
over Ireland, wrecked its universities, de-
stroyed its great schools, and at last, for
time, swept over the land like simeon,
burying all education under Sahara of
sterile sand. But the nation outlived it
all, and in the very worst time of the
tempest it created constellation of COL
leges abroad. Had the nation then fallen
away from Its strong enthusiasm and
high ideals? No doubt, in the last half
century, much had been accomplished,
and ruins had grown again into schools
and colleges, but were the people in
spired by the same intense zeal as of old?
Let them take test and apply it. Look at
the publishers lists, and see what multi
tudes of volumes are poured forth, and
how few of these come from Irish authors
and how fewer still were produced by
Irish publishers. The result was one
that should cause painful humiliation
in the heart of any one who holds the
honors of his nation dear. That was an
exceptional and an eminent mission
which enabled and inspired the ancient
nation of Ireland to become mother of
literature. His fear was that this may be a
lapsed and lost mission if the people be
not awakened to the presence and effect
OF paralyzing apathy. But in order that
their nation might advance, it must per-
ceive its failings and its fault; it must
put aside the false standards under which
glazing gawds and gilded vulgarity were
set before refined metal, and mercenary
materialism preferred to the expressions
of spiritual and menta, life (applause).
FI00ITENT pANEGVRIC