ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 55, 18 February 1870, Page 3

ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

(To the Editor of the Mount Ida Chrosiot/e.^

Sir, permit me, through the columns ol your paper, to suggest to the Irishmen of i\aseby and the surrounding district that we ought .to eel brate St. Patrick's Day in union with all our countrymen all,over the world. I see by the papers that they are actively employed already in preparing for tins great festival, especially in Victoria; and I have been informed that there is a committee already formed at St. Bathans for this purpose. 1 hope the Irishmen of IS'aseby will not lag behind. The time is near at hand now, so that if my suggestion is attended to there is not miicn time to spare. I would suggest that some central place be mentioned, where all the Irishmen within this district may meet from the different townships around. Any person wishing to forward this movement will be kind enough to state his views, and those of his ccuutrymen, in a letter to the 'Mount Ida Chronicle,' or to the person mentioned at foot. I hope on this day to see every Irishman pressent on tnis occasion who lives within this district, who was born in any place ill Ireland inside the four points which I shall mention, i.e., from Malin Head in Donegal to Mizen Head in Cork, and from Howth 'Head in Dublin to Slyne Head in Gal way. I wish to be here understood inviting all other countrymen who may wish to attend. As this is the first public remark made abont this celebration I cannot mention the programme of amusements which we ought to have, but I hope they wid be national and inoffensive.

I will say again, let us all congregate at some particular place, and make New Zealand echo our cheers, and ask oiir countrymen all over the world to re-echo our joy, and chain, the Irish hearts from pole fto pole. "Wherever an I ashman is all over the world on St Patrick's Day he is sure to celebrate the national festivity of his country and patron saint. No matter liow divided or how scattered, his love for the land of his birth still exists. ' Or, as our own bard has said :

The gem may be broke by many a stroke, But. no thing can cloud" its native ray, Each fragment will cast a light- to the last; And thus, Erin my country, though broken thou art, There'sa lustre within thee that ne'ov can rlecav, A spirit that breathes through its sufferin°* part, And smiles at thy pain on St. Patrick's Day. To draw your attention to the widespread celebrity of this festival I shall mention a- few ot toe places in which it will take place. The Irish soldier will salute the glorious morning of .St. Patrick's Day at the mouth of the Granges; as the sun culminates over Pelcin, ana the day advances, the shout will roll along the foot of the Himalaya, sweep across the Indus, pass the track of Alexander tae (Treat, will be heard in ancient Byzantium ; will, as itwere, disturb trie sleeping brave in the gray field of Marathon; reverberate along the seven hills of liome, and almost awake old Romulus on the banks of the Tiber. Owing to the mysterious destinies of Ireland, and of our scattered race, there is not a spot, from the Yellow Sea to the Pillars of Hercules, from G-arryowen to Melbourne, from Melbourne to New Zealand, from New. Zealand to Tasmania, &c.,in which some merry Irishman will not on this day fix the green shamrock in his cap ; and, with overflowing soul, and wild transports of native joy, sing the inspiring I air of'his country, and chauntaJoud the | magical tune of " St. Patrick's Bay in ! the Morning." But the coinmemorat- ! ing voice of St. Patrick's Day through- I out all the places 1 have mentioned will I be weak in comparison to the power it I will attain when it will cross the Atlantic, and reach the friendly, crowded i shores, of young and vigorous America. ! There many a fond Irish heart will wel- j come the well-known cheers as they 1

b;i -rft". la t'sv vies of JBuuker's Hill. There the .shout will assume the majesty of thunder as it peals asrain and again over the boundless prairies that skirt the swollen Mississippi it will he l eii'd along the rapid St, Lawrence, and re-echoed by the chiselled Alleghanies, until it dies away into silence at night, as it Teaches the placid boundless bosom of the Pacific Ocean. Thus round and round the globe will the voice of Ireland on this day be heard by all mankind—thus her scattered and fated children sing tho wildjov of th«ir native land to the stranger—thus they pour forth the patriot strains of their beloved country to theidolavrous Tartar, polished European, the savage Indian, the semi-savage but ucMe-spinted New Zealander, &c. Tnu-- -they will stretch, out their united hands to each other on this day; round the world tnev will form a girdle of national Love and patriotism which will roach from the east to the west, and I think I may couple the north and south poles within the wide circle .of our exiled but glorious affections. Is it- not grat-i lying to think that I we will hear our Irish harp as it were - about twelve, o'clock on tSt. Patrick's ! morning pouring forth its Irish plaintive voice from New York across the j broad enraptured waters of the Atlantic, mingled with the shouts of joy raised by about eiirht millions of our blood and race all along the free shores of glorious hospitable America?

. But why do I wander so far looking for proofs of the celebration of St. Patrick's ? Why not stop in dear old Ireland, the cradle of the Irish, race, and the nursery garden of the shamrock ? All! there it is to be found in reality—there it will be. worn with sincerity; and there it is where St. Patrick tausrht the Pagans of "old, by that innocent emblem, that there were three persons in one God.

I hope committees will W formed, programmes drawn up immediately for our sports on next St. Patrick's Da v, and that some persons ■ better able to deal with this subject than I am may take an interest in it. Hoping we may live in good health, and have a pleasant Patrick's Day, I am, &c., Ais - EXILE OP Eeut. Ixaseby, Feb. 15, 1870.