Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-12-04
Speech That Won Gold Medal in High
School OrdtOrical Contest in Santa Re

Following is the Grafton Of Donald
Leo Blevins, the Albuquerque boy
which won the gold medal in the high
school oratorical contest of the New
Mexico Educational association re-
Gently held in Santa F'e:
They say so long thou hast worn
those lingering chains
That deep in thy heart they have
printed their servile stains
Oh! foul is the slander-no chains
could that soul subdue.
IT Moore"
II We so back over the wonderful
highways Of time to review the an
/ nails of nations, we find the history
of one nation whose pages read like
! a great unfinished romance to be
completed in the future, when that
nation will have consummated its
glory with the palmbranch Of victory
and the laurel Of liberty That ma
tion Is Ireland. The country that
poets and authors rightly call queen.
A name which She has ever proved
''N.Af'NiA WI Wy VI i}l an IllldHNN VI ll'l
history Therefore let us glance
through the inspiring archives Of his
tory and see wherein she merits so
great a title.
A new age dawned; Egypt was the
land Of the past, forgotten save for
her only treasures-the sand covered
tombs of her ancient rulers-a mute
testimony of her death. Rome, now
the Babylon of the west was fast
falling into decay as a reward fer her
corruption. Greece was no more than
a name. Gaul, Hispania and the Ger
manic regions were still stepped in
barbarism. And Brton had lost all
semblance of law and order since the
last recall of the Roman legions
From this state of affairs in the
worlds history, we glance ahead
few short centuries and behold a
most miraculous transformation of
nations. An those vast northern and
central regions we find TO be both civ
ilized and Chrstianized 70 whom
then is the England the Scotland, and
the. Germany Of today indebted? TO
the nation to which they have shown
the least gratitude-lr Ireland. If wei
look at Ireland in the seventh and
eighth centuries we find her a yerita-
BILE university of the world, crowded
with men eager to learn Irish phlos-
ophy; and under Erin's wise guidance
to study Christian morality and per-
lection. These men, who come from !
every cline and nation of the earth, !
go back to their respective countries |
and eXpound the greatness Of Irish |
learning, until at length, from out of |
the recesses of history there comes I
upon the breezes Of time the |
voice of an admiring world proclaim |
ing her the queen of the west. ,
But Ireland in her zeal to teach men !
overlooked the need Of military pro-
lection. In the days of the Danish |
she was the only nation |
of the north to successfully repel .
these hloodthirsty pillagers. When /
this was accomplished she thought |
she had overcome her enemies, and /
what further need had she for the |
round towers of old? How much bet
ter that the skillful hand Of the ar
chitect be turned to planning univer-
sites monasteries and churches. But /
4 great mistake it was, for when she
least suspected her doom, the nation
with which she had first broken
he bread of life sprang at her UNI
throat Briton selected a
suitable time to ravage the treasures
With which the country was so boun-
fully covered. Briton destroyed all
hat was beautiful within her, that
Which had taken the hand of man
centuries to build and accomplish.
But there was one thing that the