The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-03-18
LOCAL ST. PATRICK
DAY ELOQUENCE
Major McGinnis Addresses the
Hibernians at Meeting at st.
Louis College.


lege hall, at which Frank d. Creedon,
president of the local branch of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, presided.
Father valentin, Mrs. o'Day, Miss
Payne and others sang, and an address
was delivered by Major McGinnis, a
former governor Of Montana, which
was full of eloquence and good Irish
sentiment. The major spoke as fol-
lows:
For ages of glory and centuries of
woe, in eras of joy and sorrow alike,
the loyal and faithful sons of Ireland
have celebrated the anniversary of
that great priest and apostle,-who
kindled the fire of Christianity ON the
affairs of the druids, and displaced their
gloomy and bloody rites, with the
spiritual sacrifice of the passion and
death of Christ. Who laid the founda-
ton of that learning and civilization
which fourished for centuries, and
adorned not only that island itself, but
spread it's light through the shadows
Of barbarism which surrounded it, and
illuminated the coasts of the continent
nearby. 1t was the sunburst of the
modern day. 1t is meet then that you
who have wandered over sea and land
until you have formed homes and rest
ing places in these isles of the blessed,
that rise from the bosom of the vast
Pacific; these beautiful and blessed
oases in the illimitable desert of the
sea; these gems of paradise, long con-
cealed in the immensely of their sur
roundings, and revealed as the adorn-
ment to the beauty of the world and
an addition to the joy of mankind.
Emeralds rising from the sapphire
deep, set in the pearl wreaths of the
foam and the filigree of the breakers,
over the encasing reefs of coral, the
fiery and flaming hearts of the globe,
cooled and annealed and tempered in
i he sea which still with mists and show
! ers clothes and covers them with fyernal
! greenery; flowers and shrubs and Vines
that carpet the earth, and palms whose
starlike fronds wave in the aSfife of
the sky; the grand oaks. Of old Ire
land even are overshadowed by the
mountains Of branches and leaves
which shade these isles. But few
years since in this month 1 visited
the grave of the old missioner at Down
patrick. For a thousand years the
family of Magennis have been the
lords of those sacred lands, and the
custodians of the silver hand of the
saint, and the new claimants and wear.
ers of their titles are makers of stout
and ale and brewers of high degree,
who have left of the Mac and call
| themselves Guinness. The chivalry of
the past is dead, and the beer-bottle
and the label of pale ale takes the
place of the crest and motto on the
coat-of-arms. So it has been of course
that the O's and the Macs have been
dispossessed all over Ireland, but their
descendants now see rift in the
clouds of disaster and despair, and the
sunshine of hope pouring floods of
luster through. And these will not
they can regain the possession of their
laurels and the right to rule them
selves once more The titles can be
swept into the waste basket of feudal-
ism with the house of lords across the
channel, and the democracy of three
kingdoms and the principality of
Wales, will rule in accordance with
the rights of the many as against the
privilege Oh inc lew.
~SiWel the body of st. Patrick may
rest beneath the bleak mountains of
Mourne and on the shores of that cold
and stormy sea, but l am sure that his
genial spirit would enjoy itself in these
blissful and balmy isles, and would
respond to the hearty and jovial cry
of Aloha to Honolulu!
But it is not in pleasant places alone
4. - Gn., DaA. al
be celebrated. There are few spots on
the earth SO desolate, few places on the
seas so remote that some son of st.
Patrick will not be there to celebrate
the day.
In the great cities of the world--in
London and New York, in Boston and
Chicago, in cities of the continent, in
India and Africa and places that have
not often heard the Irish tongue-the
day will be revered. How often have
| seen the mighty columns march. They
are marching today-stalwart, strong,
able grand specimens of manhood
armies that would be inyincible if
armed and led on any battlefield
Armies that are doing better work on
all the fields Of labor, industry and
physical, mental and spiritual achieve
ment that leads to the betterment of
mankind. ! have seen them celebrate
pm the fields of war. On the 18th of
March, 1868, the army of the Potomac
was encamped on the Rappahannock
River, on the other side was the grand
army of Virginia. In the corps TO
which my regiment belonged was the
famous Irish brigade, commanded by
that brilliant and gallant Irishman
Thomas Francis Mea CHER This claimant
advocate OF freedom in his own land,
he had been taken aud tried and SEN
fenced TO death and finally transported
To this side of the world. The convict
ship had carried him around Cape Horn
and ploughed tho waves of this Pa.
ellie Ocean, until Il landed him with
Others on Van Diemen's land. IIe
made his escape aud came 10 the Uni.
ted States and received warm wei.
come aud earned great fame on tho Ice
tufe platform and 10 the world Of let
tors, When the owl War came on be |
Iaised the. brigade, for he felf that the |
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