The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-17

the world know the truth. Ireland
a land of small area, of poor people,
the victim of centuries of oppression
and persecution, is a shining example
to the world of the power Of undying
resistance.
Reduced from the center Of Euro
pean learning to a poverty stricken,
shackle bound province, she has re-
fused to be conquered and still refuses
the right of any race or power to
rule Ireland against the will of Irish
men. Other lands have long ago ac-
cepted the declaration of the conquer
er, adopted his religion, and obeyed
his laws, because they felt his power
could not be overcome. Not so with
our race. As it has been for centuries
past, it is still the same; for in Eng
land still the great question is the
Irish question, and England now
knows that that question will never
be settled until it is settled right
in favor of freedom and of justice.
The emigrants of '48 and the years
following had scarcely been settled
here when, hearing their country's
call, they left home, comfort, and all
that a man holds dear in life to de-
fend her honor. In the battle field
where the cannon roared and the dead
and dying were strewn about him, he
was a soldier who knew no danger.
Without the Irish patriots in the Civil
War, the history of the Irish in Amer
lea could have been a different story
and the history Of this Republic and
its accomplishments would have been
the less glorious.
After the Civil War, the position OF
the Irish in America completely
changed From the dwarfed and apo1-
ogetic attitude which the Irish had
heretofore assumed, they rose to mans
estate They asserted their rights and
made their neighbor and countrymen
ISgxa
fair treatment and decent consider
alton. Their record during the Civil
War impressed itself on the country
and finally won its confidence They
showed a narrow and suspicious people
that the blood flowing in the veins of
those whom the old New Englanders
called contemptuouely, ''the Irish
masses" was a race swift to learn,
brave and loyal in war, and masters
in time of peace of the processes of
modern civilization The great and
known work of the irish soldiers did
more than any other circumstance has
done, to give the Irish people recog-
milton as an active, useful and ag-
gressive force In the community. It
was the one event which pointed out |
the way and made the opportunity |
by which they have since risen from
poverty, misery, persecution and iso-
1ation, to a position SO commanding |
as to seem almost miraculous.
All honor to thosa Zr4SA ex1Ies! He I
was born in a land which no longer
was his; in the midst of plenty his |
children ate the bread of poverty; |
he toiled for 1an1ord whose face he |
never saw; he heard there was a |
great land beyond the sea, and thither |
he came with his heart strings throb- |
bling with the grief of sensitive race |
justly proud of its glorious traditions. |
Here he met scorn and derision. Ex-
hausted by toll, hated and despised,
he forgot all in his love and loyalty
to the free institutions that, denied /
him at home, he found here.
As no man need blush because his
heart beats high and his speech grows
warm for his country, his home or his
fellow, SO need he never blush be-
cause a tender chord binds him to the
exiled race of men who made him
what he is. 1t is no discredit to
spring from a race of men whose
grand characteristic has been their
patience under disappointment, their
steadfast, iron determination and
their loyalty to the faith of their
fathers: neither is it un-American to
EEL a thrill of honest pride when he
mentions his birthplace and avows
Us did Paul, ''I am a man who made
| Jew of Tarsus, a city Of Cf1icia. a
citizen Of no mean city"
Even those who are not of our race
ire proud to testify to what Irish
T4euQSnbp, 1E1SA loyalty. ana the
natchIess Irish courage can do. No
nan could know Irish friendship, hos
'ita1ity, loyalty, and patience with
tut bowling down in humble respect
o it.
The descendants of the Puritan ana
he Pilgrim understood us better than
hey did. They are beginning to re-
spect the men who love their ances-
ry. The day is here when men will
Iistrust that Iriehman who does not
Owe and cherish the land, the home
Ind the name of his kin and who |
proud to be an American, is not
to be called Irish.