The Irish standard., 1905-09-30

uc lOllOWluS tiFllCle 1FOm Jne bOS-
ton Republic shows what wonderful
changes have been wrought by the
Irish people of New England in fifty
years.
The Republic has laid it's wreath of
praise upon the bier of the stricken
, leader. There is little more to be said.
In the swelling chorus of praise,
arising from sources august and inn
portant in the national life, the indi-
vidual voice becomes Il trifle thin and
cOlOrless.
Patrick Collins died us he must
have wished-with the armor unshal-
en and the light of purpose mdim-
med He was an nspiration-lfting
men out of themselves by Il burst of
splendid clOquence or Il flash of
brilliant irony. For the Celt in Amer
lea he cut Il lane of light for IL
struggling people to see through the
times of darkness and bitterness. The
man illustrated the Life Beautiful. The
|
adorned the virtues of sweetness and
light; that made men better who knew
him. 10 the Irisf-American, especially,
his memory shall be fragrant
He was the exponent of Il type of
character whom the men of the elder
day in New England looked upon with
| n nd and o,cnioinyc r,voc
He found difficulties of many kinds
to surmount. The New England of
his youth was bleak and inhospitable
to the Irish immigrant. In his own
graphic words, which he penned at the
instance of the Boston Globe just after
his appointment as Consul-General to
London by President Cleveland, in
1893:
"There arrived in Boston the Angel
Gabriel a Scotch fanatic, who came
to fan the flame of Knownothingism
He was a crazy man, but caught the
mob. One Sunday afternoon after
Sunday School," in the Catholic
Church in Chelsea, some of the teach
ers, including Collins, and nearly all
the children, went up on the high hill
to the northeast and to the fields
about-just TO see the country and
bask in the sun. They saw toward
East Boston long winding serpent
of people coming. 1t was the Angel
Gabriel and some 1000 in his train.
They came toward the hill. The lead
er preached little, and some disturb
ance occurred.
"Then the mob marched to the
church, and, somehow-no one knows
how-a number of them mounted to
the roof and tore the cross off the
apex and threw it into the crowd
What became of the pieces no man
knows. But more was to come. The
mob, reinforced by Chelsea men,
marched through the town where the
Catholics we're and smashed with
stones the windows and doors of all
the houses where Catholics lived. The
fury lasted for weeks. Every Irish
house was fortification. Trunks and
furniture barred every front window;
some one was on guard every night in
every dwelling.
"The Knownothing war was hottest
in Chelsea, and ended soonest. Collins
came out of it whole. He had his fore
arm broken and few bruises, but
all were healed; his heart was Irish,
and the world was before him."
"The world was before him"-what
gale of highly-vitalized Celtic spirits
dn the phrase! No wonder that the
press of the continent rang with his
eulogy and that every place that
spoke through a printing press had
something good to say of Patrick Col
Inns.
The daily press of the city has made
many references to the fact that only
one other Mayor Of the city died while
holding Office. Mayor Davis. whose
death occurred in 1845, was the ex-
ecutive referred to. Mayor Davis had
been elected on the Native American"
issue, an issue better understood when