Cañon City record., 1910-04-07
In OLD IRELAND.

by bfOOd they are by temperance ..
So many journey to Europe pretend
| ing to be on visit to the home of
our forefathers, would be a miserable
| failure if it omitted ireland. For
Ireland's influence is one of the big
things in our life. And one must
| come to Ireland to realize it. To
superficial observers, such as we are
in the very nature of the case, Ire
land seems to be SO much like Amer
lea that one wonders whether or not
England or Ireland is the real father
| land. In the first place we Ameri-
cans talk Irish as it is spoken in
Dublin, not English as it is spoken
in London. The American can come
nearer understanding the common
people of Dublin than the common
people of England. Whatever accent
there is between the three of US
English, Irish, Americans-ls Eng
lish The Irish language is full of
words that the Americans have
adapted in preference to English
words meaning the same thing. For
instance, the first hardware store"
we saw in Europe we found in Ire
land though the iron monger"
was all over England. Then the
Irish cooking is much like the
American cooking: The Irish salt
their butter. The whole range OF
Irish cooking reminds us. at least, OF
home cooking. We have eaten more
potatoes with their jackets on in
week in Ireland than in four months
in Europe, and by the same token
they were better than a cycle In
Cathay" The Irish bread tastes
like American bread, and the Irish
bacon is more like ours than is the
English bacon. Then again. Ameri-
ca is more easy going than England.
We are a bit untidy and comfortable,
as ireland is. England can never
have been our mother country. She
is a fussy old maid. Her hedges are
trimmed; her streets are clean; her
roads are kept; she obeys the law
because It is the law. She keeps
books with the world. England Is
prim. She pretenos to be much
more virtuous than she really Is.
While we and the Irish-.we are not
above winking a wandering eye; we
are good natured pleasant-spoken
and obliging; and on the whole we
are little more virtuous than we
seem. So ireland, in its influence
upon our civilization. is more than a
strain of blood. ireland Is tenn
permanent. Therefore we arrive at
the first proposition in this para
graph: Nearly all Americans are
more or less Irish.
Dublin. the political and CONNER
cial capital of ireland. is a town OF
a quarter of a million people. The
houses are set together In long un-
broken rows after the fashion of Eu-
ropean cities: so the town does not
cover much ground and does not
seem as large as Wichita. Moreover.
its two principal streets, Grafton
street and Dame street do not seem
SO long nor SO smart as Douglas ave-
nue. and the other big street OF
Wichita There is not a store In
Dublin that carries the stock that
Rorbaugh or the Boston store car
ries in Wichita. nor wholesale
house that looks as big and imposing
as the Lee Mercantile companys
plant In Salina- For when all is said
and done. Irealnd is a little island
and only about four million people
live upon It. Moreover. for eight
hundred years these people have
been a subject people. They have
been oppressed and robbed until the
commercial blood Is sapped from
their veins; and the wonder Is that
Dublin does so well as she does
Dublin is a most marvellous monu-
ment to the irrepressible national,
political and commercial instinct OF
the Irish race. She has colonized
the world-has this Ireland. and
conquered the world at the head OF
alien armies: and converted the world
to allen religions and developed The
resources of the world In allen mon
ey centers. and put Irish names upon
the office doors of every government
speaking the English tongue. All
this has she done under oppression
and tyranny. And yet through 1t all
has maintained her spiritual and
commercial Independence and has
built up and maintained three free
cities-Dublin Cork and Belfast =
where Irish industry and Irish local
pride are as strong as the pride OF
any nation on earth at its most pros
porous capital. The national irish