The Irish standard., 1901-09-14
pertinence of this sound doctrine to.
the present situation in South Africa is,
obvious.
A Forsaken Mother.

A FOrsaken Mother.
There was a time when I used tC
think the saddest sight in the world
must be to see an Irish emigrant 60
ing brokenhearted from his mother
land but l have lived to know that
there is still a sadder sight, and that
is to see the emigrant departing care
less and Indifferent, leaving his mother
land without one single pang at his
heart, says writer in the Dublin In
What has come over the Irish PEG,
pie? Are they really under Druidism?
Is the great enchantment brooding
over them as one of our Anglo-Irish
writers declares it is? If not, why,
alike in the name of sense and senti-.
ment, are they fleeing as fast as they
can from the land which they glibly
assure us is so dear to them. ooh,
yes, they are a very patriotic people,
the Irish, they prove it by running out
of the country" remarked an anti
Irish Irishwoman to a pro Irish one
the other day, and the latter had no
retort ready. 10 explanation to offer
for she felt that the cluellest mockery
which one person could offer another
would be to come simultaneously with
an assurance of affection and decla-
ration of departure. AS it is with the
Individual, so it is with the country.
When we truly love person or a
thing we do not wish to leave either
of them, and if, moreover we know
that our presence with them is essen.
tial to their happiness and welfare we
cling to them steadfastly, and allow
nothing or no one to come between,
them and ourselves. This is the way
to prove love, and it is not in this way
that the children of ireland are proving
their love for their motherland.
Base catiffs who decried her.
False kinslnen who denied her,
Ye left her there alone"
When ole begins to think about Irish
emigration, and the appalling national
tragedy, the death i'm life which it
represents, ones thoughts come so
thick and fast that it is hard to frame
them coherently, and to talk or write
on the subject. except in disjointed
and fragmentary fashion. Sometimes.
one is so overcome by the misery and
wretchedness of it all, and by the feel
ing of ones own impotency, that one
can no longer keep back the hot tears,
but letting them have their course, sit
down to weep over the bitter grief ana
woe of our forsaken motherland. But
one must conquer this feeling, remem-
bering OUR great teachers, Thomas
Davis, words:
I'VE must not weep for thee, dear land,
we must not weep for thee''
AS long as there remains anything
in ones power to do to help ones
country it is ones duty to do that
thing. 10 do it, remember. not to
think about it, but to do it.
Irish people seem to have lost their
love and appreciation of Ireland. but
other people will not be slow to aD,
preciate what they fail to value. This
fair, fertile country is not going to be
left an uninhabited wilderness. When
abandoned by its own ungrateful chill
dren it will speedily become populated
by another race. Hebrews and Brit
islers, the Jew and the Scotchman are
settling in OUT midst. The Catholic
churches will be emptied, but the syn
agogue and the kirk will be filled.
Irish names and Irish accents will be
unheard, but those of the stranger will
resound. The native race is gradually
being extirpated. In days gone by the
Gaelic Irish and the Norman Irish
aristocracy first struggled side by side
against the stranger, and then went
under, leaving only a few representa-
tives who had succeeded in battling
the storm; but in these latter days the
democracy belonging to the same ma
tive stock are going without making
even a struggle, are giving up their
inheritance to an alien freely and joy
fully.
1t is a spectacle unparalleled in the
! worlds history, the voluntary exile of
race, and oh! the irony of it, race
, which calls itself patriotic.