The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-05-03
MINOR IRISH AUTHORS,

WiNOR IRISH AUTHORS,
The charm of genius is most ap-
pealing when it is associated with
youth, and especially with maidenhood.
Speak of the triumph of Joan OF Arc
and the world lends an attentive car
1t may not be quite appropriate to call
FRANCES Isabel Parnell, better known
as plain Fanny Parnell, the Joan of
Arc of Ireland, but she possessed =
genius that placed her on a pedestal
by herself among Ireland's daughters.
In her short life-she lived to be only
twenty-eight years of age-she made
name for herself that will not be for
gotten in the history of her country.
Fanny Parnel was born in County
Wicklow in 1854. Her poetical genius
asserted itself while she was vet a.
mere child. At the age of ten she was
writing poems for THE Irish People,"
little later her writings appeared in
The Nation" and 'The Irishman."
She was the sister of Charles Stewart
Parnell and soon became associated
with him in his political work. She
was an able speaker and, with her
natural ability to lead, became a s,1c-
cessful organizer when the Land
League movement was in it's infancy.
Her Land League Songs became
known throughout the length and
breadth Of Ireland. Inspired to write
by the conditions that confronted her
i'll her daily work. her songs breathed
the atmosphere of actual life. John
Boyle O'Reilly said of them: Crushed
out like the sweet life of a bruised
flower, they are the very souI-cry Of
a race" Miss Parnell died in 1882.
Her poems were inspired by the
movement in which she took part and
Will be ever associated with it. The
POST Mortem' opens with these
stanzas:
Shall mine eyes behold thy glory, O
my country?
Shall mine eyes behold thy gloryc
Or shall the darkness close around
them, ere the blaze
Break at last upon thy story?
When the nations ope for thee their
queenly circle,
AS a sweet new sister hail thee.
Shall these lips be sealed in callous
death and silence
That have known but to hewail thee:
Needless to say her rhetorical oues-
ton was soon after answered in the
negative. She did not live to see the
glory Of her country for which she lab
ored and longed. Her appreciation Of
ireland is summed up in a little poem
of twelve verses, entitled Erin NV
Queen which we give here:
AS the breath of the musk-rose is
sweetest mid flowers,
AS the palm like Il queen DER the for
est trees towers,
AS Tie pearl Oh the decp sea MID gems
is the fairest.
AS the spice-cradled phoenix mid
birds is the rarest,
AS the star that keeps guard DER
Elath-1nnis shines brightest,
AS the angle-twined snow wrea this
mid all things are whitest,
AS the dream Of the singer his faint
speech transcendeth.
AS the rapture of martyrs all agony
enleth,
AS the rivers of !Aidenn mid carth's
turbid waters,
AS Una the Pure one mid Ewes fallen
daughters,
So is Erin, my shining one,
So is Erin. my peerless one!
To Fanny Parnell Erin owes much.
She gave all she had-her genius-to
help the cause of her country. Irish
men who would speak for their coun-
try as land that was not devoid of
genius even when prosperity was not
known to it, will do well to. know
something of the greatness Of Fanny
Parnell.