The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-12-07

his patriotic heart. Young as lie was,
he noticed the blight of British rule,
for he describes the villages around
the college as very old and ragged,
with very little life stirring in them.
They seemed to have gone asleep
many years ago, and to have at last
walked up, half sutfocated, shivering,
and robbed of their best Clothes"
OF the River Liffey, which ran
within two miles of the college, he
gives this beautiful description, which
we cannot refrain from printing:
"Oh, what Il river is that exquisite
wild Liffey! How it tumbles, glides
away, buries itself darkly in pools of
fabulous depths, leaps over rocks;
deepcns, us it We're, thoughtfully, un-
der ruins and raths; plunges down in
to the valleys; ripples and whispers
under Willows the close leaves of the
strawberry and the purple-ivied base
mcnts Of church tower, country man
sion, and castle; running the widest
most ruinous and grandest frolic i'm
aginablc, until it frowns and grows
sully Il little above Kings Bridge, in
Dublin, and in a turbid, thick stream,
washes the granite walls of the quays
over which the Four Courts and Gus
tom House rear their stately porticoes
and domes."
Mcaghcr had only one fault to find
with the Jesuit Fathers of Clongowes.
In his personal Recollections' he
says:
"Thcy never spoke of Ireland; never
gave us. even what is left of it, her
history to read. Never quickened the
young, bright life they controlled into
lofty conceptions and prayers by Il ref
erence to the martyrdoms, the wrongs,
the soldiership. the craftsmanship. the
magnificent memories and the illlrni-
mating hopes of the poor old land"
He deplores the fact that the stu
dents We're not instructed as to the
historic spots around the college, the
grave of Wolfe Tone, the battlefields
of Aylmer in '9S, or the residence Of
Hamilton Rowan in the woods of
Rathcofrcy.
I'VE wandered" he writes, with
the worthy fathers, day after day,
miles upon miles, over these historic
fields and localities, without Il finger
to mark them on our memories or Il
syllable to mingle them with our joy
BUSINESS our poetry and rhetoric. Ire
land was the last nation we We're
taught to think of, to respect, to love
and remember"
Alas, this was to often the case in
the Catholic colleges of Ireland. 10
the students knowledge was impaired
OF every country under the sun save
the unhappy land that gave them
BIRTH The glorious history OF their
forefathcr the noble sacrifices they
made for the religion of Christ and the
terrible prosecutions which they hero
ically endured for its sake, were
blottcd out of the curriculum or re-
manned to the students IL closed book.
But there was one book which
Meagler found in the library that did
not remain closed, and that was an
Old, weatl,crworn copy of the speech
es of Shicl and O'Conncll. Meagher
priced this old volume beyond all his
treasures, and read and re-read the
speeches until he could deliver every
one of them by heart. The following
passage from one of O'COnnell's
speeches struck him as being particu-
larly beautiful:
Il look at home. and l am not dis
hcartcncd, look abroad, and my
spirit is exalted. From the coast of
Labrador to where Cape Horn behol,ls
two oceans comminglc, Liberty is ev-
crywhcre extending her dominion.
Her voice comes to us across the At
antic, is heard above the storm, and,
like summer music in the heavens,
gla,lcnS the ear of seven millions of
Irishmcn"
or ShicI's speeches Meagher says:
"All of them were brilliant and cN-
citing to excess. They drove the blood
burning through my veins, and filled
my mind, as by violent enchant-
ment, with the visions which were the
inspiration OF whatever strong words
fell from me in later years"
Shcl was Il brilliant orator, and ut
one time Il sincere worker in his co,ln-
try's cause. But late in life having
no means to live upon he was forced
to accept office under the British Gov
eminent and rcnouncc, in Il measure.
all his patriotic uttcrances. He thus
sacrificed much, if not all, OF the glory
OF his brilliant name, but nevertheless
we think he has been too harshly
judged by his countrymen.
He did much for his country, and
should be given full credit for it, The
fact that Inc inspired Meugher is in
itself sufficient to condone for any Of
fence Of his later life.
Meagher left Clongowcs College with
deep regrets. His great heart loved
the very ground it stood upon. 1T is
to me-" he says, "a dear old spot
Long may that Old tree Oh which I've
II