The Irish standard., 1905-04-08
GREATEST EVER
Was New Jerks Celebration Of
st. PatSick's Day.
Magnificent Parade Witnessed
By Quarter Nillisn People.


habitant is liar-not to say a carp.
Ing Orangeman. The O'Connell parade
of 1874 may have been bigger, but
1t graced no more general celebration.
The streets fairly fluttered with the
(sood green flag, set off everywhere
with the colors of the United States.
No one who was ON Fifth avenue
north of Forty-second street from noon
until dark had the slightest doubt as
to the nature of the days festivities
One careful calculator worked out a
sum which showed that the parade
was witnessed by quarter of mil
lion people. And fine parade it was,
indeed.
There were the marshals, with their
green sashes, and the Sixty-ninth Regi-
ment in its new uniforms, and the
Irish Volunteers, and His Honor the
Mayor, who had to leave town before
the parade was over, but rode as far
up the avenue with the procession as
there was time to do before his train
left.
There was Charles Murphy of Tam
many Hall and William Halpin of the
Republican organization, sitting side
by side in another hack. with Father
Bernard Brady to keep the peace be-
tween them, with no need for any
peace-making at all, so completely
were political differences lost in the
general celebration; then, too, there
were thousands of the Kerry men, the
Kilkenny men, the Longford men, the
Sligo men, the Monaghan men, the
Kildare men, the Cork men, the Lett
rim men, the Tipperary men, the Lin
erick men, the Armagh men, the Ty-
rome men, the Meath men, the Wex-
ford men, the Galway men, the
Donegal men, the Derry men, the
Antrim men, the Down men, the
Fermanash men, the Louth men, the
Dublin men, the Wicklow men, the
Carlow men, the Waterford men, and
many other associations and clubs just
as full of Irish sentiment and enthus-
iasm.
The people along the curbs and on
the stoops of the fine houses of Fifth
avenue and of the flats and less ornate
houses in the side streets of Harlem,
who may attempt to tell of them as
they were?-the dear old women, their
wrinllled faces happy as the children's,
nodding and all but dancing to the
music Of the bands, which played "The
wearing of the Green; the laughing
Igirls, with merry but modest flash
OF the eye at every good-looling man
in sight, and at the homely men when
lgood-looking subjects were lacking;
the long upper Tipped gray heads, re-
newing the fire of their youth in the
Ienjoyment of the gay scenes, and the
babies, the hundreds and thousands of
fat-faced babies, sitting and leaning
Ialong the curbs.
Those who marched and rode up the
Iavenue were filled with wonder at the
Isight. There had been those who have
assured New York that the old Irish
stock was dying out, and was being
crowded to the wall by the addition of
radically different races to the city's
population.
1t needed long searching that day
To Rnl 20 to
not possessed of more or less modified
characteristics of the sons of the Old
Sod. Again was the verdict pro-
nounced in full earnest, THANK God!
The Irish are not all gone yeti" All
gone! It seemed impossible that there
could be so many of them on the con.
tinent.
The parade was to have started up
Fifth avenue at 2 o'clock from Forty.
second street. At that hour the Fifth
avenue sidewalks were impossible
from Forty-second street to the Cathe'
dral. The side streets were but little
better. The crowd was so full of good
mature that the only duty of the police
was to maintain the curb line. This
they had some difficulty in doing az
tcross streets, in the general desire to
yget out where there was good view
Iof everything that was going on.
A pleasing incident just before the
Xbeginning of the parade was made up
of the succession of events which hap
opened to Greek ice-cream vender in
East Forty-fifth street, just off the
Javenue. A number of small boys had
lpatronized him. One of them thought
his change insufficient. The Greek
was not disposed to argue the matter;
the lad was.
Gimme ME change" he said. cor
I'm get it. This is ST. Patricks Day,
and I'm Irish"
eta hell with the Irish!" screamed
1.-THE Greek. II no give any change!"
! He did not say any more His ice,
tcream cart rose in the air and came
down in many places. Ii showed ice
tcream packages all over the middle of
the street and both sidewalks. The
&Greek escaped under the cover of the
5storm, yelling like burnt pup. Then
Everybody laughed, and resumed the
4.