The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-10-30
The Priest of AderQoIe,

Was the occasion of many an act of de-
| Votion to Ireland. One OF the most nota-
bic was that of Father Conroy, P P,
Of Adergole, who. having intercepted ii
messenger bearing the tiding of the
landing of the French at Castelar,.
Weakened his entire district, made a Sc
ries of maps to guide the French, ami
headed his parisEioners to their sup
port His name and story are still we'll
known around the firesides of Mayo.
/ The faithfully follows the history of his
act and the sacrifice it occasionally
There's someon at the window. Tap.
tapi tap, anew;
Sharp thro' the silent midnight it speeds
the cottage through:
Some poor soul speeding onward, some
sudden call to go
UnshriVen on the pathway we all of us
must know"
Thus muses. he, that Soggarth, as from
his couch he flies
And opens wide the window where Won
der widened eyes
Look into his, and accents with haste
all husky spake-
The French are in Killala-and all the
lands awake!
Twas William Burke that told me, as
riding he went by,
With letters for the SaXons in Castle
bar-and l
Came hot upon his footsteps to tell you
all l knew,
And let you teach the people whats
best for them to do"
There's silence for second; out speaks
he ~ n fba,,
I'll follow him that told you you
gather all the men;
Keep watch beside the houses till
come back to you
And, God to guide our counseis, Wei
then see what to do
The priest is in the saddle and down the
road he flies:
Awhile his echoed PAGES upon the silence
rise,
Then melt into the distance, while fig
ures one by one
Steal out from gloom and shadow and
muster in the bawn.
The moonlight floods the mountain! no
horseman dies in sight;
No sound comes up the valley to break
the hush of night;
Yet on the Soggarth presses, and close
beside the town
Still wrapped in dream and slumber he
runs his quarry down.
A moment more the messenger has
yielded UP his load,
Another, and a penitent, he's kneelins
in the road;
There in the solemn moonlight he
pledges hand and heart:
He's knelt a knave-he rises to do 4
true mans part.
'Tis dawnIight on Cragh Patrick, and
full five hundred men
Are waiting for his counsel: but busy
brain and pen
Must mark the way for Freedom o'el
bog and mountain lone,
BY many path and togher untraveled
and unknown.
'Tis done: and e'er that noontide pouIs
over hill and glen
In Ballina they're standing, that Sog-
garth and his men;
His part is DER he may not lift the
brand in bloody fray;
But he hath seen his duty-and shown
his flock the way.
4 few short weeks-the MONDAY SUI
shines over Castelar,,
Triumphant through the country rides
Ruin near and far:
And on a scaffold proudly a priest
stands bound-'Tis he
Who rode him through the midnight for
Ireland's Liberty!
There's many a lonely hearthstone TO-
night in Wild Mayo:
There's many heart that never again
content can know
But darkness, woe and sorrow for him,
the true and tried,
Who on the Saxon scaffold that day for
Freedom died.
Wen shrine bis name and story-bright
to guide us on
Till hope has reached its haven; ill
gloom and grief are gone;
Till Freedoms hands may fashion-the
name and fame on high
OF all who trod that pathway and