The Irish standard., 1901-05-25
ION Mo0RE,s ANNIVERSARY.

If ION MOORE'S ANNIVERSARY.
! Today the Irish Standard publishes
on tile first page an interesting article
under the heading Of "a Hundred
Years of Irish Music" The names OF
many famous Irishmen are given in
the article, but among them all there
is no one who deserves tile gratitude of
his countrymen more than Tom Moore,
whose birthday anniversary occurs
on next Tuesday, May %.
The name of Tom Moore is dear to
the Irish heart, and the genius of the
sweet melodist is more appreciated by
literary and musical people as the
years roll by. His own countrymen
venerate his memory, for it was he
who rescued the grand old Irish airs
from oblivion by embalming them in
English verse. He himself set prop
er value on his labors when he said:
Dear harp of my country! In darkness
l found thee,
The cold chains Of silence had hung
DER thee long,
When proudly, my own native harp,
unbound thee,
And gave al! thy chords to light, free
dom and song
The bard OF Erin loved his native
land with intense devotion and gave
voice to Irish nationality in soul-stir-
ring lays. What young Irishman can
read the minstrel Boy" and "Brian
the Brave" without feeling his heart
throb with patriotic emotion? What
1rishman, young or old, can behold
the beautiful scenery of the Green Isle
and the havoc wrought therein by for
eign despots without recalling the fol-
lowing lines of Moore:
Mononia when Nature embellished the
tint
OF thy fields and thy mountains so
fair,
Did she ever intend that tyrant
should print
The footsteps of slavery there?
Ills sweeter to bleed for an age at thy
shrine
Than to dwell for one moment in
chains.
The melodies Of Moore have capti-
waited the world at large They have
been translated into the principal Ian
guages of Europe, and the late Arch
bishop McHale has rendered them into
the melodious language of Ireland.
Dallie! O'Connell, the greatest
Irish orator of modern times, embel-
lislred his speeches with selections
from Moorc's poems when addressing
monster meetings on the plains of Ire
land during the agitation for the re-
peal of the Anglo-Irish union which
Byron called 1.-THE union of the shark
with its prey"
The name of Tom Moore is ildis-
soIubly associated with that of Robert
Emlnct, the young patriot whose mem
ory he has cnshrined in one of his inn
mortal melodies. He paid heartfelt
tribute to the Irish martyr when it
was treason to love him and death
to Defend He also sang Of the
Erokenhearted Sarah Curran, the be
trothed of the young patriot, and fur
nished Washington Irving with a
theme for one of the most charming
sketches in American literature.
Tom Moore may not have been the
robust Irish nationalist that Davis and
Mangan We're; but he did remarkably
well. considering his environment. He
certainly deserves we'll Of his race, for
he gave his great talents to Ireland.
and saved it's ancient airs from perish
ing. He is the national bard of Ire
land, as Burns is of Scotland; and
generations of lrishmen vet unborn
will love his memory. He is one of
the Irish immortals.
Ii is cmirntly proper that the ami
versary of Moores birthday is cele-
brated annually in the principal cities
of Anscrica. The literary club in Min
neapolis which bears his name will
honor his memory next Tuesday even
ing, and it is the duty of Irishmen and
their descendants in this city to attend
the grand musical entertainment and
banquet to be given OH the OCCASION
xsss~