The Irish standard., 1912-12-07
4 F|hlf &$SSS;9V
ON Nou& CE[7s
Delivered in Chicago on Anniver-
sary of the Death of the Three
Manchester Heroes.
4.
Grand Program Rendered in Honor
of Allen, Larkin and 0 O'Brien by
Their Countrymen.
The Speaker on the Occasion Was
Ri. Gavin, Who Inherits the Gift
of Irish Eloquence.

The memory Of Allen, Larkin and
O'Brien. the, Manchester martyrs, was
celebrated OH Saturday evening, Nov.
%, by the Irishmen of Chicago. Miss
Nellie Burke, daughter Of the veteran
Col. Ricard o. S. Burke, presided at
the piano and rendered new ar
rangement of Irish melodies which
won a. hearty encore. Matthew Power,
the great baritone, sang ''The Green
Isle of Erin" in splendid voice. John
Murphy sang the old favorite God
Save Ireland" and Miss Josephine
McGarry gave popular recitations Of a
patriotic character.
The oratory of the evening satisfied
all. Mr.. Francis E. Croarkin acted as
chairman of the occasion and with his
usual good judgment did not forget his
memory of Wolfe Tone, who died in
November, 1898. In concise sentences
he paid brilliant tribute to the great
organizer and urged that the monu-
ment to his name should be pushed to
completion, assisted by the generosity
of the Irish-Americans. In kindly
words he introduced the young orator
of the evening, Mr.. R. /. Gavin, refer
ring to his promising future as an in
centive to young lrish-Americans to
assist in the furtherance of the cause
4of irish independence -
When he rose to address the gather
ing, Mr.. Gavin paid pleasing compli-
ments to the programme of the even
ing and in happy vein reviewed his
experiences as a young man in the
great city until he found resting
place and kindred spirits among the
men and organization under whose
Continuing he said in part:
eve have gathered this evening
amidst the strife and hustle of COM
nercial activity to contemplate the
field of the living, the glory of the
dead, and the Immortality of Irish pat
riotism; we have, as it were, conse-
Grated this hour to pensive meditation,
and we turn from the charms of
health, from the moments of gaiety,
from the burst of laughter and from
the strains of revelry to the peaceful
bosom OF the grave.
MAN alone surmounts the grave
and virtue alone withstands the des-
tiny of years. 1t is the good which
men do that lives after them, and it
is only this good which mankind ever
strives to exalt by the adornment of a
grave and the preservation of a men,
ory. We build each day for an eter-
nifty; each hour we chant the paean of
ages; man is forgotten or remembered
as he stands reflected by the ideals
which have interviewer themselves in
his character, and posterity measures
his worth by those impressions which
his life has left upon the moral edifice
Of society.
'The men whose death we commem-
crate this evening We're indeed ideal
men-men whose heart throbs were
the heart throbs of an oppressed peo-
pie; spokesman who crystalizcd with
their life blood, the virtues of fidelity,
love and courage; patriots whose pur-
poses were engendered by English
tyranny; martyrs whose deaths in
spired new hopes in a discouraged
people and new fear in a vindictive
and cruel government. I speak with
profound respect end reverent humil-
ity names that will live when the
heroics of Homer and Virgil are un-
sung. the brave. the beloved, the Irish
names of Allen. Larkin and OBrien.
while the purpose of my address
this evening does not concern itself so
much with the incidents of their un-
timely death, as 1t does with the prin-
ciples for which these men stood, still
1t might be well at this Time to make
brief retrospection of those conditions
which preceded and surrounded their
execution"
The speaker reviewed the Manches-
ter rescue, the arrest, the trial, the
sentence and execution of the three
martyrs in touching and stirring Ian
guage and continuing said: