Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-02-13
on their brow, and the tints of the

on their brow, and the tints of the
latively attractive But the chief
the bushes born of their virgin mod
est. When an Irishman, or German, or
Frenchman, or Englishman, or Scotch
man, or Swede, or man of any other
race. becomes their captive, they benev.
olently assimilate him, and make him
behave himself and say his prayers.
And then-well then, the poor fellow
becomes more Irish than the Irish
themselves And then the Irish wife
melts and mellows the hearts OF her
children. by repeating to them the
touching story of the glories and sor-
rows of Erin, and of the sea-divided
Gael. And then, when mother dies,
she leaves to her posterity the legacy
of tender love for prosecuted Ire
land. And thus the aroma of that
love hangs around her descendants to
the last representative on earth.
Of Irish Ancestry.
81 am sure you did not fail to notice
the inspiring words of his excellency,
President Roosevelt, the other day in
response to an address presented to
him by the A. o. H. he said his faith
er's mother was an Irish woman, and
he felicitated himself upon that strain
in his blood. God alone knows how
much, the example, and teachings and
prayers of our women, have done, and
are doing, for our race and for our
mother land.
Learning and Virtue.
Our people never bowed to any
force except to that of learning and
virtue, but these lessons they never re-
PEELED. Hence Ireland became the cap
tive of her own ex-slave, st. Patrick
turned from her national religion, and
embraced the heaven-born faith which
he brought to her from Christian
Rome. And from that new-found faith
she has never swerved. 1t is as pure
and perfect today in Ireland as it was
fourteen hundred years ago. She new
er produced a heresy, nor a heresiarch
Her people are too intellectual and
logical for such follies. Since the
coming of Christ rebellion against
faith. or a man made faith, never had
a place among the real Irish.
Are Proud of Them.
1--WE boast of our American free
schools and we are justly proud of
them, but what are they even now, as
compared to the free schools of an
cient Ireland. Thirteen hundred years
ago in Ireland, tuition, books, food,
clothing, and lodging were furnished
free to all-even to the scholars from
other countries who came to Ireland
in search of knowledge. In the uni
|versities of old the course of studies
extended through twenty years. Some
schools contain ten or twelve or fiji.
teen thousand students in attendance.
The foreign scholars carried home a
knowledge of the Celtic tongue and
spread it broadcast all over Europe.
The Irish missionaries and teachers
lon the continent, became such factor
in this respect during the centuries of
their voluntary exile, that the Celtic
became European language. 1t was
to the learned of the time what Latin
is to the learned Of today. In fact no
European considered his education
finished without course of study in
Ireland.
Is Dying Out.
"And today, alas, this classic Ian
guage, for SO many centuries the yehi-
Gle of thought for the missionary, the
historian, the poet, and the scientist is
suppressed at home and Is dying out.
All honor to the A. o. H. who have
given $4,000 to endowa chair of Celtic
in the Catholic University in Washing
ton, D. G. Ladies and gentlemen of
the A. o. H. here present. you have
done your share of this grand work.
For this I thank you and pray God to
bless and reward you. May St. Pat.
rick, and the myriad saints, who
preached and prayed and praised God
in the Celtic tongue, pray for your re-
ward before our Heavenly Father on
His throne above.
BY Foreign Invasion.
ALAS, the work of God in Erin was
long ago interrupted by foreign inva-
sion. The Danish wars of three hun
dred years, and the Saxon savagery
of seven hundred years, have destroy
ed our monasteries, churches, universe.
ties, monuments, manuscripts, histo-
ries, and art treasures. This deluge
of destruction has also deprived us of
language, land and liberty. Myriads
of our people have fallen by famine
and the swords. Millions of our hrok-
en.hearted brothers and sisters have
been forced into exile. The bones of
our martyred dead whiten the bottom
of every ocean around us. Now as a
people We are but remnant of a race.
When l was born Ireland had more
than eight millions of population. This
population is now little more than four
millions.
But Ruin.
"Well may we call Ireland the Niobe
of our nation. Our country is but a
ruin. Tara of the kings and the kings