The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-02-13

also sang very sweetly two songs
Greatly to the disappointment of the
committee, F. Coffee of New York
who was expected to be present and
play the Irish war pipes wearing an
old time Irish costume, was unable
TO be here on account of sickness.
me two ENJOYS arrived on the
5:24 train from Boston, and were
met at the station by a majority of
the committee and escorted to the
Atlantic hotel where they were en-
tertained during their stay here.
Mayor, Chairman.
For some reason or other the af-
fair did not begin until after $3.50.
Seated on the Stage were the two en-
VoyS, the mayor and chairman of the
meeting, ]. j. Mccarthy. Four
numbers of the concert were first
given after which Chairman r +
Mccarthy introduced Mayor E. Il.
buckingham as the chairman of the
evening.
Mr. Mccarthy first read the teL--
gram from Mr.. Coffee announcing he
would not be here and the reason.
after. which he went on to say that it
was only the second time in Is years
that the Gaelic league had sent ENJOYS
here, the other time beino- some five
years ago when DR.. Douglass Hyde
had spoken here. The speakers of
Mayor Voices Approval.
Mayor Buckingham after al1uding to
the fact that the day was Lincoln
birthday went on to speak of the
part the Irish had borne in the mem
orable struggle of which Lincoln was
the chief feature and also how they
had fought valiantly in the Revolu-
ton and had been foremost in every
fight for liberty, said he cordially APP
proved on the Gaelic league move
ment at the conclusion of his remarks
he introducing Rev. Father O'Flan-
agan.
The salutation of the reverend gen.
tleman was given in Gaelic after
which he dropped back into English
which he handled with great ease and
f1uency.
He said that liberty was the greatest
gift of God to man and was not given
to any one nation but all, although
some had to struggle longer and hard
er for it. Liberty was in the hearts
of all. The Gaelic text book and the
spear and lance are weapons for Sc
curing Irish liberty, and to let her live
her own life in her own way. The
Irish people were a normal people
and this movement was a normal one
100000 of her best and average citi-
zens and he thought they would COM
pare as favorably as the people COM
ing here from any other country.
There was no place too big for an
IriShman to aspire to and fill. There
was nothing especially different from
the other European races to t. 49,
people.
Danger to Civilization
The speaker went on to spea
the crime of attempting to change -,
nation so as to make it resemble an
other and lose all of it's own charac-
teristics. He called this a great dan
ger to the civilized world as well. The
schools of America, which make this
the most foremost country of the
world, teach that all children should
not be brought up alike but any par
ticular bent or inclination Of each
should be fostered and encouraged. tt
was the same with the nations as with
children, but in spite Of all this Eng
land had been laboring for centuries
to make ireland second England,
forgetful of the fact the people were
radically different This has resulted
in losing to the world a distinctive ma
ton and giving second-rate Eng
land The system of education pur-
sued in Ireland is calculated to bring
about this very result but the finished
products of that system were very few
and far between. He cited how the
reading books used permitted but only
a scanty reference to Ireland with
Mandatory ones of England and Eng
lishmen The sons of Irish landlords
were educated in England and thus
soon despised their native land where
as if they were educated in Ireland it
might be different and they might
possibly be willing to do something
for it. l-t. -
Has Glorious Past.
1t has been decided that the remedy
to counterfeit all this English system