The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-08-21
SIR ROBERT HART
T. p. o'connor's Impressions Of Him
at First Meetinu.

at First Meeting.
In the course OF an article in T. P.'s
Weekly. T. P. OConnor gives a strik-
ing account OF the impression Sir ROB-
ert Hart made on him at their first
meeting: Was this the man. then
| said to myself, as l gazed across the
long table at hint was at a
luncheon given In the House of Com
man who played a part so gigantic in
the history OF one OF the greatest,
most ancient. and most powerful Of
empres-the empire that has within
it's borders 4oo.0OO.OOo OF people? Was
he the obscure. poor Irish lad who,
leaving his grim Ulster home--a homo
of Puritan Wesleyans-had risen step
by step until he was one of the chief
rulers and one OF the most audacious
and successful revolutionaries that til ,
most ancient and the most conserva-
tive of civilizations has ever seen In
its thousands of years OF history?
Could spirit so lefty. so daring-1
had almost said. so terrible-dwell
within that tiny frame? And even
the tininess Of the frame does not ex-
haust the things in the physical APP
pearance Of the man that sugges.
that insignificance to which the bio,,-
T., So
timOny.
The hands are tiny, the feet are tiny.
The expression Of the face again, Is
as far as could be from that impress
siveness which one would associate
with a spirit SO daring, 80 masterful,
and so extraordinarily potent. For 1t
is the expression OF a detachment, of
meekness, Of a certain intense re-
flectiveness and self absorption that
would suggest the medieval saint, In
tent only on the agonies of a soul try
ing to be saved, rather than a might Y
Kcmpis rather than o. Cortes, or Pizar-
70, or Cromwell, or Danton. If Sir
Robert Hart were not taken for d
Christian and European saint, lie
might we'll pass for priest in that
great school Of thought and reslgna 3.
ton which was founded by Buddha
or perhaps he might even pass for ore
of those clerkly souls who in China
begin their great political careers by
mastering all the lore Of all the Chi
nese sages. and had in the quietude OF
his students cell learned to look to
his own inner thoughts rather than
to the glare and tumult Of the outside
world.
The very way the man holds his
hands confirms this idea of the gentle
student rather than Of that of the man
of action. They are held together be-
tween his legs as though he had never
known what it was to raise them, not
merely to hold sword, but even To
handle any but the lightest feather
pClIs HS SoISCs dsoIIs 10 JUDI inc lh-
appearance; very soft. almost inaudi-
bly, so, very slow, very gentle. II
II were not for the large, dark eyes,
which, in spite of their sharing the
gentleness of expression Of the rest OF
the figure and face, are brilliant and
stand out and haunt you-if it were
not for these wonderful eyes you
might we'll sit opposite Sir Rober,
Hart for many hours and yet be un-
conscious that you were in the pres
ence of one Of the greatest men OF
your time. There eyes,too, suggest to
you something different; they could
not belong to commonplace man. And
to me they made an especial appeal:
they are just like the eyes Of one OF
the most brilliant men l have known
Mr.. T. Sexton, the well-known par
Humanitarian Of the nineties. And 81.
Robert Hart is like Mr.. Sexton grown