The Irish standard., 1907-05-11

\ He saw me first lecturing on ancient
Gaelic literature thought l did it
Y fairly we'll, and never ceased through
succeeding years to argue that l ougil,
to have stuck to that line of worK
and developed it, and that in the world
Of more active politics I was out OF
4 place.
Perhaps it was that my personality
was contradicting one of his pc,
theories that strong Gaels We're not hot
Nationalist, but if so, / was only
\ one of the forerunners Of Il type that
is now common over all ireland. where
Nationalist must be good Gaels. Even
IN his own movement there We're names
one could have quoted to coniound
II him, but then one felt somewhat afraid
Z to argue.
don't know what he made Of Dr.
Sigerson, for example. at whose own
table he would sit week after week
and PROFOUND his pet theory. DR.. ST.
Eerson, famed as a translator of Gaelic
! lyrics, is yet by John O'Leary's own
allowing a good Nationalist, though
not an absolute extremist. So we may
suppose that he considered it was the
Doctors Gaelic scholarship which acted
as a balance in restraining him from
absolute Fenianisn.
1t was in rJr. Sigersons house that
. first met him. to talk to and argue
with face to face. l suppose that for
the first few meetings we did not
argue much, but being full of rever-
ence and admiration and conscious of
my own Ignorance 1 never contradict
ed. But later on, and to the last. our
disagreements. for found that. within
limits, he liked a certain announ5 of
contradiction. 1t reused him. made his
eyes flash and his voice grow shrll.
and without losing his temper ',e gavc
forth scathingly his opinions Of men
and things.
~ ''t''
was the old complaint that 7 was out
of my sphere in meddling with up-,o-
date politics and should he engaged
in lecturing on ancient Gaelic litera-
ture.
saw much Of him at the period If
the '98 centenary preparations. He i'll
evitably took the chair at all tho meet
tngs which We're held in the CITY Hall.
He looked splendid in the nlayoral
chair, and his eyes flashed Elore than
ordinarily. for he was surrounded not
infrequently by discordant elements
He was no sort of a. chairman at all,
and did not seem to bother his head
about preserving the order of = meet
Ing. The meetings We're protractc'i 10
interminable hours, there was some
=. s4j9nes little. OR no business done. and
vet things happened-cfdracter of Va
rtous sorts revealed themselves. and
Jphp, O'Leary's keen eyes looked in
terested.
! Though he appeared stern. fierce and
dignified all the time. he had a sense
the happenings. could write a SC c,re
Of anecdotes about this period of pub
lie work, but it is more pleasant to
recall him in the intimacy of private
life. Besides meeting him at DR..
sigerson's, and in his own rooms in
Temple street, Dublin saw something
Of him in Belfast, for he came there
again on a. visit to the house of Ethna
Carberys parents, and he was even on
another occasion a guest in my home.
That was when he came to preside
convention gathering, aud my father,
though nothing of a Nationalist. was
very much taken by Mr.. O'Leary's
personality, and felt honored TO re-
ceive him. They had, moreover, hook
collecting tastes in common, and got
on famously together.
It was on the occasion of this visit,
that he met in our house the late Rev.
r. r. Kane. the Orange leader and ]
think, the meeting was not without re-
suit. DR.. Kane, though an ardent
Protestant and Unionist politician,
was genuine Irishman of old Gaelic
descent. He loved his country, and I
believe that it was only ignorance and
Misrepresentation which led him into
the National camp. To meet Ma
tionalist like O'Leary, who was man
( Of unflinching honor and remarkable
personal gifts, was an illumination to
/. DR.. Kane. They talked and agreed
about many things. In that last year
of his life the Orange leader more or
! less startled English political parties
and their camp followers in Ulster by
the independence of his views. my
l self heard him at a financial relations