12 FOR IRELAND A fierce flame burst, at boyhood's dawn, within my tender breast. Impassioned love my soul consumed for motherland, opprest; Her glories gilt, my waking hours, her woes my dreams o>rcast. And the love that fed my heart's first fire, please God, shall ligl't ray last. There's not a little bell that blows In Ireland's dewy glens, There's not a shagan shakes a spi ar above her many fens, There's not a tiny blade of grass on all her thousand hills. Hut this fond breast with tender love to overflowing fills. Oh, Ireland! for your holy sake I'll joyful bear all pain: jTo your high cause I consecrate my heart, my hand, my brain. If life and strife avail me not to save that soul one sigh, Then, crowning joy, in your sweet name let one unworthy die. §JL |§ATRICK. C)F ||RELAND#? §One thousand, four hundred and forty-two years bro. on March 17, according to the most trustworthy accounts, tiie fication of Saint Patrick took place. tile anniversary of shamrock is worn by every loyal Irishman. If he cannot obtain a genuine leaf from old Erin, he wears the best imitation he can find, and if he can get no shamrock, real or counterfeit, he wears a green necktie or a strip of green in his coat lapel. It was not many years ago that the more enthusiastic of the; sons of Ire land on the day when they bedecked themselves with green would decline to tolerate the sight of a yellow em blem. Venders of oranges and ba nanas did well to keep their carts off the street. Even a belief in the same religion was not always sufficient to save orange sellers; that fruit was en tirely too suggestive of the Orange men's association. In these days of Increasing tolera tion there is less and less friction of this sort. The custom of giving Saint Patrick's day parades is gradually dy ing out in this country. Many yeat - 3 ago the New York city council passed an ordinance imposing a penalty on anyone who abused an effigy of Saint Patrick, but no such law is now neces sary. Patriotic Irish societies observe the day quietly, and there are services in the Catholic churches, especially in those edifices named after the saint. Even in Ireland there is less and less of bitterness between the wearers of the green and the yellow, and the crack of the shitlalah is not so often heard as formerly to the accompani ment of the strains of"St. Patrick's Bay in the Mornin'." The attitude of Queen Victoria had much to do with bringing about this change of feeling. It was the duchess of Buckingham and Chandoa who, in voicing her ma jesty's sentiments, wrote these lines, which 011 each recurring Saint Pat rick's day find warm response in the hearts of the Irish soldiery: We're the most uplifted regiment. Bod ail we're mortal keen! Tin- shamrock's in our forage cups By order of the queen! Tills song bears date 1900. for it was in the last year of her reign that Vic toria, just before her memorable visit to Ireland, gave orders that her Irish regiments were to wear the shamrock In their headgear on Saint Patrick's day. That raised the national emblem of the Island officially to the heart high position it. had ever held in senti ment. It was a small and easy thing to do. but it made the tiny three-leaved plant popular as it never was before. In spite of all ingenious attempts to discredit the beautiful story which represents the patron saint of the Em erald Isle as using the shamrock for an illustration of the Holy Trinity, in spite of the learned debates and aca demic differences of such scholars as Bentham and Britten, Colgan and Cook, your true Irishman the world over will ever cling to the chosen leaf which grows in the "moss, the moor and the mireland" of his old home, and the public indorsement of a queen surely did not weaken that affection. IRELAND'S PLACE IN lIIST(^Y On St. Patrick's day, with tender heart and moist eye, we set before ourselves the far form of Ireland, gar landed with the deeds of the past, and bedecked with the colors of bygone days. The pages of Irish history arc, without doubt, familiar to all. The hriliant lights and deep shadows, the intense Joys and keen sorrows, the failures and triumphs whicn mark the annals of Erin are an old and familiar story. Her very early history contains an air of romance, and has, running through it, a depth of color which in vests it with a peculiar charm. In its primal days Druid worship held the AsaiU of its peopla and the cult of I'ear Shamrock of f'.rtn, so sacred nnd green. Though ages of sorrow thy past years have seen; From childhood's bright morning to man hood's decline Thy leaflet we wear o'T our hearts ever thine. In Moore's poem on the shamrock he tells of the "triple grass" which Shoots up, with dewdrops streaming. As softly green us emerald seen. Through purest erystal gleaming. O, the Shamrock, the green Immortal Shamrock! Chosen leaf of hard and chief. Old Erin's native Shamrock! By many of the faithful In Wales and elsewhere Irish soil is imported to keep away serpents, and it has been declared that a bite of Irish clay will kill a snake. Patrick's labors In Ireland lasted more than .10 years. In Downpatrick, near the place where as a slave he once tended sheep, his ashes are now believed to repose. In Down, three saints one grave do fill— Patrick, Bridget and Columb Kill. The mere student of folk-lore little guesses; the feelings of the son of Erin who bears the shamrock in his cap or wears it on his breast. To him it embodies all the religious and ro mantic, mythical and national ideas which ever have stirred in the souls of his forefathers. The great love for the plant Inspired the famous ballad "The Wearin' o' the Green," which tells that "They're hangin' men and women for the wearin' o' the green." This did not mean, of course, that people were bring hanged for that, but it was poetical exaggeration im plying their willingness to die, if nec essary, rather than give up wearing it. For the last half dozen years, undar the inspiring influence of the Sham rock league, happily instituted and even more happily carried on by the Countess of Limerick, there has been an unprecedented demand for the Irish national emblem. Thousands upoi* thousands of little green boxes filled with tiny bunches of the trefoil have annually been packed by that great hearted woman and her friends and sold the world over, the proceeds going to aid disabled Irish soldiers and the destitute relatives of those Irish men who have fallen in battle. Last winter nearly 300 of the poor In Coun ties Clare and Limerick alone tided over the hard weather on the profit derived from the patriotic sale of shamrock. And where does all the shamrock ronie from? It grows wild in every county of Ireland. Along the moun i tains, in the old hill-pastures and in the venerable meadows, it may be picked in small quantities as early in the year as February 2't, and a fort night later in luxurious abundance. J lie tiniest and therefore the most prized variet> is usually found along the bank of a dry ditch where there is no grass, for the poorer and more arid the soil the better the shamrock. Not a bairn in Ireland but knows all the best places near his home to look for the little green leaf. It is the children who are the gatherers. For days just before the good saint's festival the hills around Stepaside and Stillo gan and the Scalp will be dotted over with the industrious diminutive toil ers whose profits may in no case ex ceed two dollars but who are supreme ly happy in their patriotic task. There are national emblems that may be eaten. Not so the shamrock. A man may eat a leek and enjoy it. a Scot might even try a thistle, but an Irishman must drown his shamrock. That is as sure as is March 17 Itself. sylvan deities formed its religion. The beauty and richness of legend, in whose lap Ireland then slept, are ri valed by none perhaps, save those of classic Greece herself. Tradition sup plies an endless number of crags, hill sides and \alleys, which were the sub jects of legendary lore, and which cap tivated the feelings of the Celt with an Irresistible spell. The history of those times is obscured by the many riijths and fables interwoven with the tacts handed down to us. Amid all this vagueness, however, it is plain that, in the early stages of Ireland's career, she left upon the world the impress of a most civilization and that her people posaeMtd much merit afid many CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1908 'Twas the days of the hedge-school; Mullarky was then — At the side of the ditch the most dreaded of men. Sure the flight of the bird, or the speed of the hare To watch for a moment there's no one would dare. An' when circles and squares on the dirt he would trace, 'Twas amazin' the larnin' that showed In his face. While the thoughts that revolved in his towsy ould head Were deep and tremendous, himself often said. Religion, of coorse, was a thame he well knew. Not your new-fangled notions, but stuiT that was true. Wid that he taught love for the sacred ould sod, Thus helpin' his kind, an' so plasin' itis God. Now the seventeenth of March, reel. oued then by old style, The jewel of days in the (tailing <>uld isle, Was approachin' an' so the good mas • 0 An Bit at Their Will All the Colleens an Byes. ther once more Gave a taste to the byes av hislagends an' lore. Patrick banished the snakes and the sinners, you know, To a place where 1 hope there will none of us go. That's the lagend accepted, but I have it right— A tale that bates that out o' mind, out o' sight. At Tara he preached to the king and the chiefs His Decalougues, Catalogues, Psalms and beliefs. Once the king says to Patrick, "Th'j Druids all say That you're settin' the minds of me Firbolgs astray. How can one be in three, and bo one all the time? — Come, laddy-btiek, answer in prose or in rhyme." "That's aisy," says Patrick, "this dear little plant, (Praise God! 'twill le famous the oceans be.vant) Has a stalk all in one. but divides into three; Yet the shamrock is one, three in one, don't you see?" "Bedad!" says the king, "that bangs Banagher sure. Now, byes (to the Druids), ye now have the dure." But the sorra a word could those clargymin find; So from then his respect for the Druids declined. Now, Patrick, me byes, you need scarcely be tould, Was funny an' tricky, though holy an' bould. So now of the Druids he'd got the whip hand Bethought him of blessings he'd show er on the land. To the king then savs he."For the favors you've Bliown, I'll put e'er a back and new legs to your throne. (Not manin' the laste disrespect, hilt you see Hie preachers don't speak such plain Irish as we), n youth a spalpeen taught me herdin' of swine— Vour majesty's pardon, the fault was not mine. -■et me here introduce the boneen an" I'll go bail, Jver the evils of Erin the pi-j; will pre vail." \'ow the Druids held sarpints as sa cred. you see; In England they larned that, betune you an' me. They would cast up in line sometimes nearly a mile The sods all as one as a sarpint's pro file. When this had been done, sorra one durst complain— Though the land were his own and his father's domain. It was sacred, and then for (lie sake of his sowl, lie must part wid it, barrin' a High or a growl. Then the snakes represented were holy likewise An' bit at their will all the colleens an' byes. Well, the pigs went to rootin', bedad It was fun To watch the ould Druids when their ruin begun. Wid faces of fury and hearts full of hate They would curse the dear pigs, I'm ashamed to relate. They invoked all the planets and far as they knew, The fixed stars and comets, tho sun and moon, too. Next the wraith;! that inhabit the winds and the floods, Then they danced holy jig') in the scantiest of duds. Hut the pigs took no notice, but ate all the more, And the Druids saw Fate was now hard by the door. Then they prayed to the giants that ravaged the isle When ten foot of spine was the height of the style. There was fine who from Mona oft waded to Wales, And one who in coughin' produced the wild gales. Another in sport tried to bridge tha broad say, The Causeway in I'lster bears witness today. Then the one who at Powerscourt drank up the fall. An' the one who complained "Devil's Bowl" was too small. The priests cursed the pigs loud and long, but no matter, On the snakes and their eggs they grew fatter and fatter. Oh. those were great times when the factions forgot What side they were of.and what side they were not. The thousand would follow al! jeerin' the while The Druids who could them no longer beguile. When livers they'd reach as the Bann or the Hoyne, Baptized, they the ranks of believers rtould join. It w*s Patrick alanna, me turn at ye plaise WiJ guyin' an' Gospel the land was ablaze. Such dippin' an' jpiungin', baptizin', confessing Such prayin' an' preachin', such prim pin' an' dressin'! It was good for their souls and their bodies' by token— The record for bathing his saintsbip had broken, And thousands who'd never been lath ered or rubbed, Had their skins an' their sowls now most thoroughly scrubbed. For the saint told tlieni plainly for e'or they were shriven. That nothing onclanel.v was welkim in heaven. So the pigs ate the snakes and rooted up eggs From the round hill of Howth down to Bally-kil-begs, "That's Aisy, Says Patrick, This Deaf Little Plant." From the Gap of Dunloe to the Glen o' the Downs, And Slieb-na-nion grandly Killarney'a lake crowns. There was rootin' an' preachin' an' laughter an' prayer, No wonder for Satan to leave must prepare. For barrin' the Saxon and whisky I'll say—- Saint Patrick has rid us of evil to-day. So now you all know how the snakes met their doom, And the class will its studies in Gaelic resume. GREAT RAILROAD BRIDGE IN NEW YORK The Buffalo & Susquehanna brid fee near Rushford, Allegany county Height of trestle, 185 feet; length, 751 feet; weight, 1,178,000 pounds. AGENT PROVED BOSS SIX-SHOOTER HIS MOST EFFEC TIVE ARGUMENT. For One* Conductor and Engineer Took Orders from the Man Whom They Had Considered "Easy Mark." Twenty years ago the man who was locomotive engineer on a freight train under any circumstances imagined himself boss of the freight, traffic for his especial jerkwater Hue. He would get his train out of tho way of a passenger train that was coming head on, but he swore at having to do it. For the rest he dictated every thing just as far as he could make it go. Ordinarily his dictation went — for awhile at least. The engineer always told the con ductor in the terminal yards just how many cars he meant to pull out on any given occasion. It went, too. At the way stations both the engineer and the conductor got together en banc to oppose any orders of the station agent relative to "cutting" the train and switching in two or three lonesome box cars on the country siding. And that always went with the new agent —for awhile. But away up in the northwestern country one winter a new agent was given the station at Blizzardino. He was a round-faced, jolly little chap, about 20 years old, who looked un usually easy. He was, too, for about a week, when the siding at Blizzardino began to bank up with empties which the conductors swore they wouldn't pick up for 1,000 years at the least. The little station agent lay awake most of one night figuring just where he stood. He wanted to hold his job if he could. But he couldn't hold it if he couldn't get his orders obeyed by the freight crews. The result of that sleepless night was that the little agent was ready next morning for tne giants. Conductor Bingham and En gineer O'Toole, who were due south bound with No. 21 about ten o'clock, railroad time. Half an hour before the train was due the Blizzardino agent had his yel low "flimsy" orders for No. 21 to pick up five empties of designated numbers ou the sidetrack and pull them into the nearest terminal. Half an hour later Conductor Bingham was jumping 011 the orders with both heels in the snow and signaling Engineer O'Toole togo ahead. O'Toole was going ahead, too, when suddenly dead ahead across the track the red arm of the block signal fell, vibrated for an instant, and hung still. O'Toole shut off steal* and jumped from the cab for the station entrance just one lap behind Bingham. But as he entered he saw something which made him gasp. Bingham had one leg through the wide window of the agent's inner office and had stuck there for some reason, his jaw fallen, and his eyes wide. The telegraph in strument was clicking "H-C," "H-C," "H-C," the emergency call for the of ce of the general superintendent in it. Paul. Stepping to one side, O'Toole saw why Bingham was stuck in the window. The "kid" operator and agent was using his left hand for the sounder and in his right held a six shooter of large caliber and at full cock, pointing directly at the man in the window! "Ah, t' 'ell!" said O'Toole. "We'll take 'em, Jack. Wot's the blinkety blank numbers 'o thim cars, anny how?" "They're on the flimsy somewhere. When the cars were shunted into the train the little agent lifted the block. He's not an agent now, though. He's a Chicago millionaire. Helped Out by Government. The Eastern Chinese railway has been in serious financial trouble since its profitable southern part has bec:i tinder Japanese control. The part re maining under Russian influence has practically 110 more freight business. The road has therefore already sold to the state 2,000 freight, cars, which are now to he used in the grain traffic of European Russia. The line will re ceive a loan of 7.500,000 rubles from the government for the construction of the Ussuri branch. Twelve Gallons to Mile. The engine of an express train con sumes 12 gallons of water for each mile traveled. WITH THROTTLE WIDE OPEN. Engineer Found That Locomotive Did Its Best Work. "Locomotives are curious things," said T. H. tii own at the St. Charles. "Sometime:) you think they are almost human. They certainly can be as irri tating as any human being. Some* years ago I was up in Minnesota amj one of the short lines had only recent* ly purchased a half dozen new engines. When they arrived they proved flat failures. To make them steam an<l draw anything like a decent load was impossible. In consequence there were a number of engineers who stood in great danger of being broke through no fault of their own. Hut the officials had bought the engines and then put it up to the engineers to get the work out of them or get fired. That was the situation when 1 arrived. A friend of mine was one of the engineers in ques tion. He asked me togo with him one trip as a fireman, saying that it' we could make good with the engine I was certain of a job as engineer if T wanted it. I agreed to go. Just be fore we started tho master mechanic served notice on my friend that his position hinged on the work he could get out of his engine that trip. We got along well at, the beginning of tho run and by careful feeding I was able to keep steam up fairly well. The en gineer's seat was not securely fastened and somehow it broke down. The en gineer in catching himself gave a hard pull on the throttle until it was wide open. When he tried to shut it off he found it had caught so it was impossible to move it. We thought we were up against it with the engino being pounded along; with the throttle wide open while even by nursing be fore it had been hard to make steam. There was nothing to be done but let things go until my friend could get. the throttle into working order. This took some time and all the while, to our great surprise, the engine steamer! more easily than it did before. That was all that was needed, just to be pounded along wide open and there was no trouble. When we reached the end of the run there was a mes sage from the superintendent compli menting him for the excellent time lie had made. It.was found that the other engines worked equally well under similar conditions, and from that time on there was no further trouble about their hauling good loads and making time."—Milwaukee Senti nel. Famous Accidents. A famous runaway disaster, that near llarnsby, on the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire railroad, on Den<»tiiber 12, 1870, by which 14 per sons loat their lives, was proved to have been due to a broken coupling pin; while the failure of the vacuum b:*ke through cold caused the wreck ot n runaway L. & X. W. express near Carlisle in March, 1890. Probably, too, some such contre temps was the proximate cause of the appalling catastrophe—the worst re corded in railroad history—which hap pened through a train running away on the Morelos (Mexico) short, line on the night of .lime 24. 1881. The driver was seen to be in difficulties at a way station, and an inspector jumped ori the engine, which was then traveling at a comparatively low rate of speed, in order to try and render assistance. Almost immediately afterwards the locomotive was observed to —in the words of an eye witness—"leap for ward like a thing of life." A few min utes later it tore through Cuartla at 60 miles an hour, and onto a trestle bridge built on a curve over the San Antonio river, which was in flood at the time. The heavy train crashed through the flimsy structure as though it had been of glass, and every liviug soul aboai'd, to the number of more than 200, perished.—London Tele graph. Roads Eacy to Build. The Canadian I'acifle road from Ar eola to Regina, Saskatchewan, a dis tance of 75 miles, is a perfectly straight line from terminal to terminal. Another straight line is on the New South Wales Government railway, 126 miles long. The Canadian National Transcontinental road has a straight stretch of 120 miles. Long Railroad Bridge in Africa. A bridge recently built for the Cape to Cairo railway over the Kafue rivet is the longest in Africa. It measurei 1,400 feet.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers