The Irish standard., 1912-04-13
"THE FRESHMAN"
A Toast BY Job e. Hedges at a Ban
quet of Sons of St. Patrick

quet OF Sons OF st. Patrick
An Irfshman does not participate:
he mixes up. You can make certain
that where he has been something has
happened. And If it has not happened
to him it has happened to some one
else. Indifference and an Irishman
are not twin brothers.
I like an Irishman because he never
ceases to be an lcishman. l know some
people who cease to De lots of things,
and sometimes without any visible re
greet on the faces of their neighbors.
There is a tendency nowadays t.
standardize most everything.
l have never known of an Irishman
who objected to how much somebody
else had, II he had enough. I have
never known Of an Irshman, however
much he had. who would not divide
with human being whom he loved,
and who had less than he had.
An 1rishman never gives the power
Of attorney. An 1rishman is never
difi1dent, because he is born with I,
degree of confidence in himself, and
his extraction which is clear, compre-
hensive. and all-embracing. And Il
like an Irishman because he never SUR
renders his natural original endow-
ment. You can make over physical
objects, but you cannot make over hui
man beings. A man who claims to be-
what he isn't is usually discovered.
but not always notified. by those VINO
are looking at him.
1 never knew an Irishman that
would not help somebody in distress,
and I have met" many of them that
would distress people, too. There is
no climate or country in the world
that can destroy the good spirits of an
lrishman. Irishmen have said more
In short sentences than most people
nave narrated IN books. The man VINO
can make race smile has lifted 1t
morally. 1 would rather make a man
smile than cry. l would rather iro,;
out wrinkle than cause one. I would
rather make man look up than look
down. l would rather teach man how
to enjoy himself than to worship me-
l would rather inspire than terrify.
There is no need of passing mucn
time in describing the Irish. They
admit it. There is no need of telling
a man he is great when that is his
first instinct. There is no need Of
telling man what he has done when
he did it first and did it Intentionally
But the Irish race has stirred mora
emotions in the human breast than
any other race that walks the earth.
= The lesson from the Irish race ia
this: Not that they have been great.
not that they have been heroes not
that they have sacrificed their lives
for their own cause and the cause of
other people, but that wherever they
have been. whatever the walk of life
they have been led to trade, and what
wv NAASAi NdIho Ill me- 81 ldE DIS ODu-
lence or otherwise may go, whether in
high or lowly position, they have never
tried to conceal their identity, and they
have never apologized for those char
acteristics which are the benediction
o! the Heavenly Father. He has cast
upon them tears, and He has given
them smile to wipe them away with.
He has made them suffer. but He has
given them the CAPACITY to relieve the
suffering of a neighbor. He has re :,
| duced them in means, but He has in
structed them to divide what they
have left with the less fortunate; and
wherever they may so. they have
left with the less smile. to make an
other man smile. and to cheer the hu-
man race, and to leave something on
this footstool to somebody else is n
Characteristic of which they may ba
proud.