Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-17

the magic of his music, all the pests of
the island. land they were drowned
in the sea-" You will think that the
story sounds strangely familiar and
may recall the Pied Piper of childish
days.
Scarcely a locality in Ireland but has
some pretty and ofttimes humorous
story woven around the beloved name
of st. Patrick 1t matters not whether
1t originated in. the territory of Pat.
rick I, II or II1-they are all st. Pat
rick to the Irish heart.
Many and varied are the celebrations
that mark the approach of the beloved
feast day, March II, In the Emerald
Isle. 1t is day of festivity and jolly
good humor and-not infrequently-
head-cracking.
But to confine the love and venera-
ton Of this goodly saint to his native
shores would be like trying to confine
Erin's sons to Erin. Too many uniforms,
Colonial buff and blue, Union blue and
Confederate gray and "Buddie" khaki.
have covered Irish hearts for kingly
Paddy" not to have q generous fol-
lowing in America.
Strange as it may seem, it was q
group of Protestant Irish in Boston who
met together for the first American
celebration of the patron saint of their
native land. On March II, 1887. when
young Edmund Burke was trotting to
school to O'Halloran, these Protestant
Irish met in Boston and formed the
charitable Irish Society. The society is
still In existence, meets always on st.
Patrick's day, and numbers among Its
patrons members of the Protestant and
Catholic faiths. 1t presents beautiful
tribute to the missionary whose deeds
Of charity and kindness have been i'm
mortalized in the annals Of the little
island.
old Revolutionary records reveal that
~ st. Patrick's day was fervently and
jovially observed in the American Army
The British evacuation Of Boston on ST.
Patrick's day, l776, was hailed as a
special intercession of st. Pat. When
the Americans marched in and took
possession Gen. Washington authorized
as the parole for the day Boston" and
the countersign st. Patrick" There
was also notable celebration of st.
Patrick's day at Valley Forge in 1778.
The celebration was marked by some
excitement
1t appears that some trouble makers
in the Army sought to have little fun
at the expense Of the Irish by produc-
ing stuffed Paddy" This led to
indignation in the camp and general
row enSued
Washington, when called upon the
scene. rebuked the trouble makers and
remarked, II, too. am lover OF st.
Patricks day." He followed his word by
the express act of ordering an extra is
sue of 'grog" for the day.
In 1871 the Friendly Sons Of Ireland
unanimously adopted the general as a
member of the society. Remembering
Irish heroism upon the battlefield and
Irish humor that lightened every camp,
1t Is not to be wondered that the great
general responded thus:
Give me leave to assure you. gentle
men, that shall ever cast eye upon this
badge with which I am honored, but
with grateful remembrance OF the
polite and affectionate manner in which
1t was presented"
In 1893. when the Friendly Sons met
on st. Patrick's day in New York. there
were numbered among the guests several
members of the Presidents cabinet
Thomas Jefferson, Secretary OF State;
Alexander Hamilton. Secretary OF the
Treasury: Gen. Knox Secretary of
War--together with Justice Wilson OF
the Supreme Court.
One jealous st. Patrick tpaSter has
gone on record with toast which, al
though not in the spirit Of the benevo-
lent saint. perhaps. is at least consistent
with the fame of the Irish wit. 1t runs:
Here to Erin. May its enemies never
eat the bread or taste the whisky of 1t,
but be tormented with itching without
benefit of scratching"
st. Patrick is generally represented
and hailed as pious, kindly soul, with
generous measure OF joviality and
tolerance in his makeup. But this pic
ture must be purely a creation Of what
he must be In order to fill the require
ments of Irelands patron saint: for
there Is not one word in the fervent and
pious Confessions" which he left, writ
ten in Latin, to bear out the credit.
These pages are filled with trials and
tribulations: his yearnings over the
paganS and his passionate zeal for his
calling; but in never line can be
found flash of the wit that so char
acterizes Ireland and the native Irish.
When one remembers that not one of
the three Patricks was q native Irish
man he begins to wonder II, perhaps,
after all, the patron saint may not have
been lacking little In those humorous
qualities with which he Is credited. A
Scotchman by birth was st. Patrick.