The Irish standard., 1900-02-24
The Life and Character of tho
Great Navigator.
TRIBUTE TO THB IMMORTAL GENOBsE
Able and Eloquent Discourse by
the Young Orator.

On Sunday evening, Feb. II, a thor
oughly representative and a large and
appreciative audience gathered at the
Columbia Theater to hear the lecture
given by Mr.. Joseph James Murphy,
A. NJ, on columbus" which event
was conducted under the auspices of
the Knights of Columbus of Washing
ton, says the Church News. The pro-
ceeds of the lecture are to be donated
by the local knights in aid of the en-
dowment fund of the chair of American
History at the Catholic University,
which the national council of the order
at its annual meeting last March re-
solved to endow with the sum of fifty
thousand dollars.
Mr.. Murphy may feel highly compli-
mented on the character of his audi
ence, which included members of both
Houses of Congress and several dis
tinguished men of letters, clerical and
lay, as we'll as many of the local leaders
and members of the order under whose
auspices the young lecturer made his
initial bow before the people of this his
native city.
The vice-rector of the Catholic Uni
versity, the Very Rev. Philip ]. Garri-
gan, D. D., stepped to the front of the
stage and in brief but eloquent ad-
dress spoke of the object for which the
lecture was being given and of the
magnanimity of the great order which
so generously resolved to raise the sum
necessary to establish the chair Of
American History at the Catholic Uni
versity. To Catholics, the reverend
gentleman said, it was most important
that chair of history should be in
stituted in this great seat of learning in
order that adequate research might be
conducted to bring to light and prop
er1y collate vast quantity of frag-
mentary data now obscure bearing on
the prominent part which Catholics
have taken in the development of our
country for the past four hundred
years. DR.. Garrigan then compliment
ed the Knights of Columbus on their
efforts to aid the University and on
their good taste in the selection of a
lecturer, after which he presented Mr..
Murphy to the audience, gracefully al
luding to his brilliant record as STU
dent of the Catholic University and
predicting for him an exceedingly
bright future.
Mr.. Murphy's discourse on the inn
mortal discoverer was very pleasing
r and most attentively listened to. His
language was beautiful and scholarly
and his style of delivery easy and
graceful. Not once did the young lee
turer show the least sign of nervous
ness, although he must have known
that his audience was a critical one.
The subject of his discourse was treated
in the following order: Indebtedness
of the great man to his epoch; the age
of Columbus-the Renaissance; char
acter of Columbus - Columbus the
dreamer, Columbus the seeker after
truth, Columbus the man of action, Co.
lumbus the man of faith; world-inAu-
ence of the discovery of America; the
ideals of Columbus and their influence
on American civilization.
The Washington Post the following
day paid this tribute to Mr. Murphy:
In dealing with his theme the young
orator acquitted himself with marked
ability. His tribute to the great navi-
gator and discoverer was dressed in
eloquent diction and abounded
throughout in beautiful metaphor and
simile, and was frequently punctuated
with spontaneous outbursts of ap-
plause. -,
) The speaker emphasized the state
ment that the discovery of America was
not an accident. He chose to regard it
as the fulfillment of a scientific posi-
bility. For an achievement, he said,
there must be bestirment of life. Its
warm touch must lie back of that
length of days which we call immortal
ity. All greatness is modified by in
fluence; it is subjected to circum-
stances. The hero is the product Of his
environments. Caesar, had he lived a
century before or after his time, would
never have been able to turn his Gallo
legions against the liberties of Rome.
Cromwell, had he lived in any other age