The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-03-11

they are waging family feud at pres
ent, are less vulgar; still in all ranks
Of society they fall far short OF the
Irish standard Of reserve, and are
sometimes inclined to be sloppily SEN
timental. Whoever has stayed in
hotel abroad, where German honey
moon couples happened to be staying,
must have felt considerably discon'
J certed by finding the aforesaid cou-
pies sitting side by side on a sofa
in the public saloon, holding each
others hands and gazing into each
others eyes.
Visitors, of Irish nationality, when
they find themselves unwittingly spec
tators of such displays, feel quite I'M
comfortable. But the Teutons are not
in the least embarrassed, and will be
found later on by the embarrassed
Gael seated at the table d'hote, still
holding each others hands (between
the courses), and showing a remark
ably healthy appetite all the same.
The reserve, even austerity, which
the Irish maintain in their social rela-
tons is still more pronounced as re-
CARDS their spiritual life. The very
subject on which they feel most in
tensely is that which they hide in
locked chamber of their hearts, the
key of which they are chary of CIV
ing even to their nearest and dearest.
There is not a nation in Europe,
from the Russian PROSTATE before his
Ikon, to the Neapolitan palpitating
with excitement over San Gennaros
annual miracle, which does not ex-
press it's religious emotions more
freely than does the Gael.
In fact the latter cannot help re-
garding as rather hysterical some OF
the manifestations of religion in
dulged in abroad. By abroad" the
continent of Europe is not alone
meant, for nowhere is religious hys-
terra more evident than in the Eng
lish Salvation Army and in the hun
dred -and-one freak religions of the
United States.
To realize the height and depth OF
the Gael's spirituality we must con-
slider two things: what the Gael has
sacrificed for his Faith, and the sub
lime religious native kultur, to the
faith of your father language. AS to
what Gaeldom has sacrificed for Ca
tholicism, is there any need to speak
here of what it burnt into our brains
the age-long martyrdom Of our race?
Robbed of all save honor; mobiles
turned into hewers of wood and
drawers of water, eager students con-
demned to ignorance, mothers forced
to see their children starve to death,
how often have such things as these
been enacted in this country? And
always the choice was given the per
secuted people: Accept English kul'
tur (including Cromwellian theology
and the Ethics of William the Treaty
breaker, Anne the Penal Law giver
Victoria the Famine monger), o,
cling to your native kultur, to the
faith of your fathers, the land of you,
fathers, and remain poor and wretch
ed for as long as your rulers have
the power to keep you so. The Irish
Nation made it's choice, and though!
the wise ones of the world may reck
on their choice foolish one, another
verdict has been passed on it by One
who has promised to confess before
His Father in Heaven those who con
fessed Him on earth.
"B'fhearr lion an has," Il would
rather die) said the little Kerry boy
described in FIR. Dinneen's drama III
the Famine days, when asked to ap
peal for aid to the soupers, and die
he did that night. That heroic child
typified the Gaelic Nation. 1t is {
nation of martyrs and confessors. Il
has trod the road to Calvary, and will
surely emerge into the glory of the
Resurrection; for there is never g
Good Friday that is not followed by
Easter Sunday.
Truly if we want proof of the
depth and strength of Irish Faith, VIC
find it in the sufferings and sacrifices
which have been endured to preserve
it, This generation must stand in awe
and amazement before the record OF
our ancestors martyrdom. There i:
nothing to be compared with it in the
annals of other nations. Many cruel
religious and political prosecutions
have been carried on by various PEG
pies at different times, and thou
sands of men, women and children
have been murdered during these
prosecutions.
But Ireland presents the only in
stance of an entire nation being vic
timized day by day and year by yea'
by means of a legal system described
by Edmund Burke as machine Of
wise and elaborate continuance, as
we'll fitted for the oppression and i'm
poverishment and degradation Of a
people. and the debasement in them
of human nature itself, as ever pro
ceeded from the perverted ingenuity