Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-03-21
A BOUQUET FOR OLD IRELAND.

| >~eS~-~~SA~--
City opera house last Saturday even
ing:
In the minds of many, the mystic
chords of memory have SO associated
Ireland and St. Patrick, that it is diff
ficult for them to think of one without
thinking of both. ..
ireland, the country for which st
Patrick did so much, Isl as fair lane
as ever came from the hand of God
Heaven dealt generously in bestow.
ing material advantages upon that
country its climate is serene; its
soil is rich; its fields are ever green
and healthful; it's lakes and noun.
tains and rivers ever beautiful.
Who has not heard, or read about
the beauty Of the lakes of Killarney
Truthfully did the poet write:
There is not in this wide world
a valley so sweet,
AS the vale of Avoca where the
bright waters meet"
The period known as the dark
ages, between the fourth and twelfth
centuries, threw. no shadow up Ire
land. The barbarous hordes of Huns
and Vandals that devastated CONT
mental Europe did not tarnish the
Emerald ISLE Attila, the Hun, was
checked in his march westward near
the present French city of Verdun.
For 800 years, prior to the twelfth
or thirteenth century, Ireland swas
the home of learning and scholars,
but during the last 600 years Ire
land has been under the benumbing
influence of her big neighbor on the
eastern shore of the Irish sea; and
for that condition during all those
years, including the present year,
Irishmen themselves have been more
or less to blame. Never wrote the
poet more truthfully than when he
penned these lines:
Twas fate they said, hayward
fate, their web of discord wove,
And while their oppressors Joined in
hate, they never joined in love-"
But who can say that these home
conditions in Ireland were not
divinely planned? True, they were
conditions which drove millions of
Irish men and Irish women to for
eign countries, but their Celtic blood
has helped to enrich the blood of all
the white races of the earth. I'm
desirable conditions in Ireland
doubtless gave this country an
Andrew Jackson, President McKin-
ley, and a Woodrow Wilson, and le-
gions of other men of commanding in
fluence. POSSIBLY IRELAND'S
SCHOOL OF SORROW HAS HELP
ED TO ENNOBLE HER CHILDREN.
This forced exodus from Ireland
also helped to carry Irish literature
around the world. Tom Moore's
sLalla tRookh, believed by tRafys t6sbe'
the most chaf4Rfkilg poem ever write
ten, has been translated into every
written language It is even enjoyed
by the Fire Worshipers. ,.S
But this is St. Patrick's day and !
must say a few words about Ire
lands patron Saint. AS nearly
everyone knows, st. Patrick convert
ed Irelandito lhristia4itystn the fifth
century, some historians shyt %ithout
the shedding of "a single drop of
blood. The Irish were Pagans dur
ing the early centuries of the Christ
ian era, They believed in fierce
deities and the TRANSPORTATION of
souls. When soul was separated
from it's body they believed that it
Immediately entered the body of some
other person. ...-
The DruidsI were a. Pagan sect with
whom st. Patrick had to contend.
He called their attention to the fact
that many of their Pagan gods were
fierce deities that delighted in human
sacrifices, while the Christian God
delighted in making the trees grow,
and the harvests rise; delighted in
adjoining the world with grass and
flowers. He said that they worship
ed material things, the heavens and
the hills, while Christians worship
ped the God who made the heavens
and the hills. By appealing to their
reason in that way he converted them
and established upwards of 400
Christian churches in Ireland.
Many believe that St. Patrick drove
all the snakes out of Ireland, but
Warren Hastings had a different
theory. Hastings for alleged crimes;
as governor general of India, was
impeached by the British House of
Commons, and his trial before the
English House of Lords lasted for
seven years, and lis the most noted
trial in the history of the common
law. Edmund Burke, the great Irish
lawyer, was chief counsel for the
and his speeches during
that trial rank among the, greatest in
the language. After listening to one