Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1899-03-23
st. Patrick's Day.

Gus old st. Patrick's Day, day of
JOY to the heart of every son of the
Emerald Isle wherever his lot might
be cast. 1t is also an American
holiday, being the anniversary of
the evacuation of Boston by the
British in the dark DAYS of '76 1t
is celebrated by the Irish people as
the anniversary of the day that st
Patrick, the christian missionary,
appeared before the king and mobiles
of Ireland at a great convention
held in Tara, the ancient capital,
near the site Of Dublin. Here on
that day the saint to whom the dav
was dedicated, preached the gospel
of Christ for the first time to the
Irish people. thereby dispelling the
darkness of Druidism Before the
introduction Of this new gospel, an
der model system of government
for those days, arts and sciences had
made progress equal to that Of
other ancient enlightened nations,
and under the progressive influence
OF christianity Ireland became the
seat of learning for Europe. In the
cause of christianity and education,
she sent missionaries and scholars
throughout northern and central
Europe, sending St. Boniface to
plant the seed of the church in Ger
many. st Columbus to carry the
new light into Scotland, and Alfred
to bring civilization to the Britons
The government of the country
was a constitutional monarchy,
composed Of King. a House of No
bles and a House of Brehons, the
latter being elected by the people,
and the code being called the Bre-
hon code. Alfred the Great, a son
of a British chieftain received his
education in Tara, and was for a
time an officer in tie royal guard of
the Irish Arch King Going back
to the Isle Briton, he reduced the
various tribes south of the Gram
plan Hills to subsection and uniting
them all under one government. he
founded the kingdom Of England of
which he was the first king, and
from the Brehon code of Ireland,
he compiled a code of laws upon
which the English and American
common law is based
The Kingdom hourised until the
eleventh century when, torn by in
ternal dissensions of chiefs and no.
bles, the Norman invaders under
William the Conqueror who had al
ready subjugated England, easily
made a landing, and Rhoderick
O'Connor the arch-king was deposed.
The Norman and Saxon invaders
married among the Irish natives,
and soon became more Irish than
Irish themselves" and for four hun
bred years after the Norman inva.
sion, Ireland was normally subject
to England While the English
parliament passed many laws for
the government of Ireland, they
dared not try to enforce them. The
Norman-Irish Earl of Desmond,
nominally the kings deputy for
Ireland went SO far as to send word
to King Henry " that if it was
any pleasure for his parliament tC
make laws for Ireland, to keep a
it, but do not attempt to enforce
them. After the invasion by Crom
well, Ireland was brought complete
Nv under the control of England
and still so remains, although from
time TO time many brave attempts
have been made to snap the British
chain, the most notable of which
was the insurrection of 1898, i
hich the Irish were led by Lor,
Edward Fitzgerald, Theobald Wolf
Tone and Rev William Jackson, al
able Pres byterian divine Fitzger
aid suffered death before surrender
Tone was murdered in prison ant
Jackson was hanged. All Of then
martyrs to the cause Of liberty
The ruins of round towers, thu
ancient castles, abbeys, forts an,
palaces of Ireland vet remain a
monuments of her past glory. TC
day, and for centuries back, she ha
been chatting in chains, awaiting th
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