The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-18
STRATFORD

SlkAlFUKU
ST. Patrick's Day-The Great Parade
Father Duggan's Address-The Con.
cert-An Interesting PIay-Mr. Rae.
| The town did itself proud last night
| in the magnificent celebration which
! it gave in honor of the day of the
Patron Saint of Ireland. Not only the
| Catholic population, members of the
parish of ST. James and the visiting
brethren from Bridgeport, but even the
! non Catholics entered into the spirit
of the occasion by Illuminating their
i houses. decorating the shops, and
| throwing bunting and flags to the
| breeze. The town presented a fes-
tive appearance and when the process
sion started from the southern end of
Main street, not far from O'Clock.
that thoroughfare was blaze of red
and green lights, rockets and Roman
candles. Headed by a fine troop of
borses and the band of the Woodmen
| of the World, and followed by various
organizations of the A o. H. and the
Cadets, the rest of the procession was
composed of a large concOurSe of cft1-
Gems. 1t was fully an hour in passing
down Main street, and quite O'Clock
] when the head of the thousand or more
men reached the town hall. Already
a
children, and by the time the band
took stand in front of the hail and
began to play, the room was crowded
to repletion. many standing in the
passage and door ways. Father OCon-
nor called the meeting to order, and
spoke of the significance of the day,
| saying that ST. Patrick had been
claimed by three nations. ireland. Scot
land and France. which he thought
proved that the Saint was a great and
good man, and belonged to the world
He said that wherever Irfshmen were
living the wide world around, there
they were celebrating the day, and
thinking of the old home which they
had left, and it's beauties and strug-
giles. He then called upon the choir
of St. James church to open the con-
cert with a hymn to the Glorious
Saint, which was sung with great
| sweetness and feeling. The other
numbers of the program. which have
already appeared in the Farmer. were
rendered with exceptional grace and
beauty. Several of the pieces were
encored. Father O'Connor introduced
Father Duggan of Westport, who made
a long, eloquent and impaSsioned adj
plished by St. Patrick, early in the
9th century, speaking of him as one
who converted whole nation to
Christianity, alone. and without she'd
ding a drop of blood. He gave an
account of his early life, his poverty.
and how he was kidnapped and taken
away from his native land to endure
exile and hardship, and finally how
he became a priest and bishop. and
returned to Ireland to overthrow the
pagan idols in the hearts of the peo-
pie and show them the sweet reason
ableness of Christianity and the sac
rifice made for mankind by Christ
Father Duggan then spoke at great
length of the struggle the Irish people
had, ages ago. to overthrow the Dan
ish invaders and drive them from the
land. After this had been accom-
plished, there was peace, plenty and
prosperity for 300 years, to be rudely
disturbed by the Saxons who tried to
conquer the Irish people and force
them to abandon their religion. So
the history of the Irish nation was
traced down to the Norman conquest,
and the reigns of Henry VIII and
Queen Elizabeth, and on through fam
inc, pestilence, and many bloody strug-
giles. All this while the Irish had re-
NAMED true to their faith and loyal to
Erin. Father Duggan recounted the
battles in Italy, France, Austria, South
Africa, America and other countries in
which the Irish have always been
found fighting for liberty and free
Com and opposing the oppressor. He
gave a long list of the names of the
great men who have fought or spoken
eloquently for Ireland, among
the Manchester martyrs, and the men
of the present day who are so valiant
ly UNFOLDING the cause of Ireland in
the English Parliament. He said that
now fighting had ceased. and the reign
of peace has begun, and he pictured
a bright future for the old country.
Father Duggan was frequently cheer
ed, and received the thanks of the au-
dience. Father O'Connor then thank
ed all who had helped to make the
parade such asglorious success and
said that he was proud of the people
of his parish, and proud OF old Strait
ford. He thanked the Ancient Order
of Hibernians, many members of
which came from Bridgeport to at
tend the exercises, also the non-Cath-
Ole people of the town who showed so
much interest in the event and con-
tributed towards it's realiza ton. AL
together the day was a very brilliant
one for the town and heartily enjoyed
by all who participated.
Just q, few outsiders were admitted
to the Housa atomic Grange meeting on
Saturday evening to see the new play,
which had been extensively advertis
ed. The professors invention appears
to have been a close imitation of the
Transforming machine used at the
town hall a good while ago when the
Old Maids convention was in session.
There is something very fascinating to
the youthful mind about the idea of
stepping into a, box, pushing a button,
and coming out a sweet per oxide
maiden. or young man. or even a
boy with a tin whistle. So few peo-
pie are content with the condition in
which they find them selves and wish
to change places with other folks.
Naturally in some towns. not STRAIT
ford, where many old maids so-called,
abound, a few wish to be transformed
from knitting stockings. wearing
glasses and caps and telling snuff in
to sweet sth grade girls, with their
mares on the honor rolls. as not once
tardy or absent in whole MONTH
And any machine. invented by Prof. |
Alexander or any other man, which
will do this is of more use in a large