The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-11-18
LIKE PHOENIX
RISEN FROM ASHES
Address Delivered by Mr.. Thomas
j. McDermott at Madison
Lake, MINI.
A Comparison Of Present Day Con-
ditions With Privations of
Pioneer Days.

On November 8 public meeting
was held in Madison Lake to celebrate
the rebuilding of the village which was
| destroyed by fire a year ago. Details
| Of the exercises appeared in a previous
| issue Of this paper This week we
publish the address delivered on that
occasion by MIR. Thomas J. McDermott
of ST. Paul. who spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman and Fellow Citizens:
| We have often heard the expression
Like Phoenix Risen from the Ashes"
having reference of course to the old
legend of Egyptian history which is
given to us in various forms by Hero
| dotus, Marcoz, Horapollo and Tacitus.
| The form and variation of these stories
characterize them as popular tales and
other than official records of ancient
ally accepted and familiar form is
when the Phoenix is described as an
Indian bird which subsists on air for
five hundred years, after which lading
his wings with spices he flies to He'll
opolis, enters the temple of the sun
and Is there burned to ashes on the
altar. The next day the young Phoe-
nix Is already feathered; on the third
day his pinions are full grown, he sa-
lutes the Chief Priest and flies away.
In all accounts he is symbol of the
sun.
And those Of us who witnessed the
pile of debris and ashes that covered
the space now occupied by these sub
stantial structures that surround us
including the one in which these cere-
monies are being held, may we'll ex-
claim Risen like Phoenix from
Ashes" and I sincerely and heartily
congratulate the people of Madison
Lake and all the surrounding members
of your community, because after all
your interests are identical, at least in
a large measure, because the motto
leach for all and all for each" Is as
true here as on any part of the earth.
When we consider the disaster that
came upon you at about the beginning
Of the year, almost making this enter
prising village thing of memory, an
initiating nearly every substantial
structure here in conhagration of
fire, and now see the changes that
have been wrought in less than one
short year by the erection of all these
splendid modern edihces we have a
better conception Of the fortitude,
| courage, ambition, enterprise and in
domitable will power that characterize
the people Of this vicinity; and it
shows too that you have the courage
Of your convictions and faith in the
future of the community.
But after all perhaps it was a bless.
Ing In disguise. most things In thil
world, to be perfect, must be tried in
the fire, and you will recall Chicago
had it's holocaust that reduced it to
cinders. Baltimore. more recently was
swept by the element that Prometheus
might enjoy the benefit and comfort
Of fire and for which mythology tells
us he was bound to u pillar in chains
a prisoner for thrice ten thousand
years; and our own beloved national
Capitol was swept with fire and sword
through the ruthless vandalism of an
allen army.
In passing let me say that much OF
the great achievements wrought by
your efforts and before us in the liv-
Ing present, is due to the splendid ex-
ample of those that preceded you as
the pioneers of this locality.
Travelling from the dim twilight of
the past to the brightness of the pres
ent, and tracing as we go, the history
of the country along the glorious but
rugged paths of those that preceded
us by the glow Of fagot flames and rife
flashes, 1t seems ages since General
Sibley and his mounted frontier Rang.
ers, volunteers mostly from this part
Of what Is now the Great North Star
State, but at that time merely an out
post of civilization, met and vanquish.
ed hordes Of savage Sioux and Little
!, Crow, their chief; yet there are mer
} and women still living, and here to.
day, who were important factors ir
that fierce struggle between savagery
and civilizations; and hundreds of 9th.
ers, who if not sufficiently advanced ir
years at the time to take part in the
conflict nevertheless. were amonf
those who suffered untold hardships
, by the absence of their natural pro.
tectors, while their sanity mothers
) now mostly called across that ocean
, THAT never yet has shown on an,