The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-22
shiel have seldom if ever been sur

shiel have seldom if ever been sur passed.
 "In arts.'' he said, @'the Irish have always held high place, having been surpassed by the Greeks only because of seven centuries of oppression. The treasure houses of the world. the great museums. those of Dublin. London and other large cities. bear witness. un-. willing. perhaps. at times, to what Ire lard was in art. The Cross of Song. the Book of kelis. rank in ornament at the highest point of the art.''
 He referred to the English parlia- ment buildings. designed by Barry. son of an Irishinan- St. Gaudens. he said is Irish on one side. his mothers, and that the most important.
 He spoke of Balfe and Gilmore in
 music of the pre-eminence of Irish ar chitects in the Gothic forms, and of the noble quality of the effort now be- ing made to revive the Irish language.
 What might have been done by the Irish if the record had been written in
 gold instead of in blood can only be
 guessed. If not as prolific in inven-
 tion as the English, the race has an
 enviable- record.
 "In the art of war Irish have often
 been among the first captains of the
 age. O'Nefl was called the third cap
 tain of his age by Henry Fourth of
 France. Wellington, who won Water loo. was an Irishman. So is Roberts and so is Kitchener, the hero of Sou dan, the winner of the Boer war, to say nothing of 30, 40 or even 50 of the other leading officers of the British Ar give fame to 8, race.
 This is Fredericksburg. Behind
 those inapregnable walls, is Colonel Walton, the rebel leader, a great ar
 tillerist. He is watching the move
 ments of Meagher and his brigade. When the order to charge is given, Walton's orders are to wait till every shot will do it's work. He is to shat ter that brigade as brigade was never shattered. What Jackson was to the South, Meagher promised to be to the North. He must be destroyed. On, on, on to their deaths went the devoted Ie- frieze coat at their head. If ever l leader, leading his men, was a conspic-
 uous target, it was Meagher that
 morning. On, on, they went. When shouted Fire" The piled up bodies. HOO of them, told the bloodiest chap | ter of our civil war. At Balaclava, on-
 ly 600 entered the fatal horseshoe; 200 | came back At Fredericksburg 1900 up, a boy of 16, with green in his cap, nearest to the guns, 200 returned Nor 1 is that all. nor even the best part of | that story. Behind Walton's guns the | brigade, every man with a sprig of green in his hat, those who could get | them wearing shamrock, some one shouted: My God" or Great God, these are our own. They are Irish.'' | ''Did they because of that fact, falter or finch, or fire less carefully? Noi Irish honor was as much at stake be- hind the ramparts, under the grey, be- hind Waltons guns, as it was in the breasts of the boys in blue in front of ! them, or in the hands and hearts in the care of Meagher's men. And nobly was 1t maintained on both sides. Re- porting the battle to his paper, the London Times, Correspondent Bull Run" Russell, one of the worlds greatest war correspondents, paid the soldiers on one side at least, Meagh- 1 CTS brigade, high tribute. It is | worth reading and reviving and re- | cording- ''Never," he says, lon any l field, did race famous on so many | did Meagher's Irish Brigade on
 Maryes heights, December B, 1862. i Never at Albuera, Vimiera, Badajoz or | Salamanca, never at Waterloo, or any l where was more desperate valour
 shown on both sides" I quote from
 said. what he meant. So much then
 for the foundations upon which the | nations records rest. I have laid it broad and deep. I defy dispute or dis you is written in gold and blood, in ! Irish It is the races heritage | In conclsion, the strength of the | Irish religious faith was depicted in eloquent words, and the parallel be- tween the Irish and the Jews in depth | of religious devotion and moral gran l deur was slowingly depicted
 l The concluding portion of the pro- gram embraced the following num- | berS:
 Kerry Dance, quartette; Come Back | to Erin. Miss Margaret A. Hogan; The 1 Minstrel Boy, Mir Joseph Wieler; The
 Harp That Once Through Tara's Hall, 1 Quartette.