The Irish standard., 1917-02-10


Irish should be, introduced to them
if only as perfect antidote for
the deluge of vulgarity and bad
taste which does duty for wit
and humor in these ATTITUDES. can
cordially recommend Lefanu's "Sixty
Years of Irish Life;;" Sam Lovers
Irish Stories and Legends" and his
Irish Atnholog;" Donoghoe's volume
of Irish Wit and Humor," and books
of that sort which are standing dusty
and unread on library shelves. Don.
oghoe's book-published abroad-will
serve as a guide to writer's and works
neglected by our own people; for it
must be said to their shame, that the
poorest patrons of Irish books and
writer's are the Irish themselves. Only
when the outlander discovers some
Irish writer of merit do the Irish
themselves begin to notice them; and
this Is as true of serious works as
|
were the last to learn of the new and
native literature-the Irish Renais-
sance-growing up in Ireland; and it
Is everlastingly true that a race that
will not foster the flowers and fruit
of its national soul and wind will per.
ish from the earth. Under the de.
/ nf ioo
is a process, a change, going on that
is as distinctly injurious to America
and Americans as to the peoples sub.
jected to this cult. Americanism com.
prehends loyalty to the laws and in.
situations of America and devotion
to her political and other interests;
but since this land of yesterday; a
land of emigrants and exiles, gov.
eminent and republic that has had
barely century and a quarter of ex
istence, the speech about American
ideals" is pure rubbish. Our tradi
lions and ideals, our legends and lore
have their roots in the old lands; and
to surrender and forget the ideals, ira
ditions and standards of our race
which flourished before Rome and
Greece, which was coeval with Baby.
Ion, instead of replanting them here
and neutralizing the mercenary and
material teachings of modern America
is to be false to the land that has
given us refuge and home Amer
lea needs Irish ideals, the mind and
the soul of race, that was spiritual
1zlng the world when Northern Eu.
was black barbarism and Zimmerman
darkness intellectually. Only by pre-.
serving intact the soul ofthe race can
the Irish of America serve America
best; and only by gradual peaceful
penetration of the nobler inheritances
of European peoples and their incor.
poration into the spirit of America,
can we create a new nation on this
continent. This is the true American.
ism, and the splendid thing that will
kill the numberless provincialisms re.
tarding the growth and towering of
that great hope.
No 1rishman will help this Ameri.
ca of ours by forgetting or discard.
ing his Kettle heritage; he must pass
it on to his children as a sweetening
and fertilizing contribution to a ma
ton that is to be and which is still
in the making.
Irish wit and humor are precious
possession; our people must not for
sake or forget it for strange literary
gods; and SO I counsel those of the
race to remember that while materi
al prosperity and comfort may come
to them and their children in this
new land, they are only from of that
wealth that takes wings and vanishes
They must cling to the eternal veri.
ties, to those intangible things that
are the enduring things-to the spir.
itual. intellectual and psychological
things that are the imperishable treas.
ures of the Irish. The tangible and
material are essential in this worka.
day world; but put them in their prop.
er place, in their relation to life and
eternity.
! Wit and humor are only part of the
races treasures; cherish them and
keep them clean and sweet. The crea.
lures of mind and soul, forged in the
brain and fired from the tongue, they
are rare weapons potent enough to
shatter dynastics and shake down en-
pfres rightly used.
PAM en.:4h H:,.>>