The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-01

NtOHtIHupu lIOIH rage l.) the most famous of all the poets
 relics.
 A Pleasant Association To be sure, Moore lived to re-
 pent his unjust criticisms as "the fruit of an immature youth" But | it Is coincidence that his cele- brated harp now Is held in the one American city from which he
 gleaned pleasant impressions. The poet wrote to his mother in 1904:
 The only place which I have seen that I had one wish to pause in
 was Philadelphia"
 When the curator of the Drexel
 Institute Museum was rearranging the exhibits recently, he removed the harp, sixteen and one-half
 inches high with painted decora- tion of danity gilt shamrock vine. The harp has fifteen strings and
 stands on an ebony base. On the
 brass plate is the inscriptions J. Egan, 30 Dawson street, Dublin,
 Harpmaker, By Special Appoint
 ment to His Majesty George " & to the Royal Family.
 The curator set to work to dis
 cover the origin of the treasure anu louHh lIldL u Ildu Dcen III lHe Drexel Museum since the founding Thomas Moore's biographer, had a number of the poets personal be- longings. At his death, they were bought by George w. Childs, for
 mer newspaper publisher. Overcome by Beauty
 Hall wrote of this instrument: This harp he (Tom Moore) more than once brought with him to an evening at our house and touch
 ed the strings while he sang to us and our guests, one of his melo-
 dies. It was a gift from his friends lat Limerick when they sought to send him to parliament as their representative"
 Mrs. Margaret Halvey wrote in Donohoe's Magazine in 1895 that
 the tones of this harp were deli c1ou":y sweet and mellow and that
 ae one of Tom Moore's renditions c: songs, an Irish maid in a house where Moore was visiting was so overcome by the power of the mel odies of her native land that she became hysterical in the presence of large company of guests.
 This small instrument used to
 have a broad black band attached to 1t, and Tom Moore carried 1t slung from his shoulders. Made in
 Dublin during Moore's youth the
 poet was born in 1779), 1t is be-
 lieved to have become the model
 of later years.
 Although the Moore harp is
 thought to be the most precious Moore relic in the Drexel Museum, it is not the only one. There Is also the Moore Bible. an Edinburgh
 edition of 181o. which bears the in- lscription. From Bessie Moore (Toms wife) to Charles Murray,
 her nephew" Mrs. Hall gave this small. plainly-bound book to MT. Childs who in turn gave 1t to the late Anthony J. Drexel, founder of the Drexel Institute, who was great friend of his. On the fiy-leaf of the Bible are inscribed the
 births of Moore's five children and
 the hrly deaths of four. each sign
 ed with Tom Moore's initials.
 The Irish poet came to America
 in 1903 on his way back to Ire land from visit to Bermuda Three years late he issued a vol
 ume of fiippant verses describing American customs and politics inn 1 lp"rtinently and irreverently, some what in the manner of many lat ter-day visiting Britishers. But | in this city Moore found pleasant
 companions.
 Cottage still Stands When Tom Moore arrived in Philadelphia. he had published
 only one volume of verse. and he ] had translated "Anacreon." His