The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-17
RELAND'S PATRON
SAINT HONORED in
SONG AND SPEECH

With their native land only two thirds
| the size of the State of New York
| lrishmen have gone forth and left
their indelible impression of character
upon the other nations of the earth
They were among the pioneers of this
country. They fought in the war that
secured the independence of this coun-
try. They were the factors in the
building of the railroads which make
this nations great and their talents
have been spread into all the CONNER
cial and business activities of the
native country with all the strength
of loving hearts the Irish-American
yields to no n4tn- in patriotism. and
love of his adopted CO ,ntry.
1T was jeremiah O'Brien and his
three sons who captured the first Brit
ish ship in the war of Independence
| off the coast of Maine. Commodore
John Barry was the father of the
American navy. I could go on and on
naming them for the pages of Arneri-
can history sparkle with the names OF
Irish patriots.
While ready to grasp the golden
opportunities of this country we
should not forget our solemn duties
! TO God. country and self. We want
good men rather than great men. Hon
est men rather than rich men. Solemn
and sober men of thought rather than
men prone to quick action. I believe
| that American liberation has reached
that point when the Irishmen's worth
! and achievements outweigh all pretu-
| dice of creed or nationality. I believe
| that the obstacles which they were
obliged to overcome have won for them
a warm place among the American
people in general. We are living to-
l n in, Of nv }Srnc 10
not the time that we should become
| blindly allied to any party IN prefer
ence to principle-to the principles OF
good government and good citizen
ship"
DIR. j. H. CALLAHAN
DR.. r.. HI. Callahan who besides the
mayor was the only local speaker de-
livered a most delightful talk upon
'The Irish Athlete" His remarks were
interspersed with anecdote and wit. He
said:
Mr. Toastmaster, Our Guests, and
Brother Members Of the knights
of st. Patrick:
You probably have heard of the
client who visited the Office of our
worthy toa stmaster, and after receiv-
ing advice asked how much it would
be. Our postmaster replied "about
$35." The client produced $50 bill
as the client waited for his change
the lawyer said: my friend. there is
no change. 1 will give you $15 worth
more of advice
Our POSTMASTER was in New York
one day last week, and at luncheon
time went into a restaurant and sat
down. A very pretty waitress came
ed at her and said: "Have you pigs
legs?" She Strengthened up indig-
nantly and blushed and said: mo,
have not; it is rheumatism that
makes me walk this way
'sThe Irish Athlete" This is
subject so broad that one might talk
for hours thereon and not begin to
cover it, 1t is as broad as the world
is broad, for wherever athletic con-
tests are to be found, whether in At
riea or Alaska there will be found
Irishmen participating in them. And
there is no trait of Irish character
that stands forth more prominently
than the trait displayed in athletics.
There is that something, that some
thing indefinable in every man who
has one drop of Irish blood in his
veins, no matter how remote, which
makes him a lover of good, clean,
healthful sport. And not merely is
he content with being a lover of sport,
but he must excel, he must be at the
top.
1t is inherent in every Irishman that
he will not be beaten. and whether
in athletics or anything else for that
matter, the man who will not be
beaten is a hard man to beat.
As / once heard Mike Murphy. the
famous trainer Of the University of
Pennsylvania say, 1.-THE team that
goes on the field and won't be beaten,
can't be beaten"
From time inmemorial Irishmen and
athletics have been synonymous. No
matter what the form Of sport may
be. it will be found that men of Irish
lineage have been prominently asso
est contenders of all. In fact, they
now hold or have held the worlds
records for nearly every known event.
1 once had occasion to recommend
to Mike Murphy for football young
man with decidedly Irish name. and
Mike remarked that if he was half as
good as his name sounded, he would
be a star Speaking of Mike Murphy.
1t was Mikes custom to stand on the
campus in the fall and size UP the
incoming freshman class for possible
material One day there passed three
or four students who weighed possibly
120 pounds each, but whose clothes
were padded out so they appeared to
weigh about 200, and Mike said: sBy
Cad if tailors made men instead of
clothes we might find some players"
A little incident which shows how
thoroughly this refusal to be beaten
is recognized happened while I was
coaching football team here in town
on which there played a young man
of Slovenian descent, a good player.
too. During one of the games he was
quite badly injured and when I in
sisted on removing him from the game
he protested, saying that everyone
would say he quit, that ''he had no
Irish in him.
It was ex-President Roosevelt who
when he was a spectator of the Army
and Navy football game at Franklin
Field. when DAILY of West Point prac-
tically alone won the game for the
Army. made the remark, There is no
use in talking, you cannot beat the
Irish"
A salesman once tried to sell one of
those new vacuum bottles to an Irish
man. saying that it would keep any
thing, hot or cold, seventy-two hours.
Don't want it, don't want it at all,
said the Irishman. 'fShure, if I had
any hing good to drink I wouldn't
want to keep it Y hours"
! There once was football team in
this town composed entirely of boys
| of Irish descent-all of them boys who
worked during the day and who had
to do their practicing at night under
an electric light. When. a game with
| the Yale freshman was arranged,
everyone laughed and said it was a
shame. that it wouldn't be even a