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Show IU EMPIRE DAY IS iW EIXEO Suggestion That St. Patrick's Day Be So Observed Meets General Approval. BY THOMAS EMMETT. Special Cable to The Tribune. DUBLIN, April 2. The suggestion made by Cardinal Moran that St. Patrick's Pat-rick's day be celebrated throughout the world aa Ireland's empire day has met with a hearty response here, and alreadv steps have been taken to make next year's celebration partako of this character not only here, but wherever Irishmen may bc found, and where on the habitable globe are loyal sons of Erin not to bc found. The Freeman's Journal fairly expresses Irish opinion when In commenting on tho suggestion says: "We don't, -as a rule, like 'Empire days,' they uro always, or very nearly always, like all other 'festivals 'fes-tivals of empire associated with robberies, rob-beries, confiscations, brutal wars, and cowardly bullylngs. For empire and bloodshed and spoliation are inseparably related. A nobleman for some years past has been trying to found a 'British Empire Em-pire Day.' What a ghastly festival it would bo wero It kept with appropriate ceremonial. But wo like the good Irish cardinal's Idea, for empire Is the same and association with which he used it. It has a great, a glorious, a noble meaning. mean-ing. For on St. Patrick's day surely and truly In every part of this tessestrlal sphere, In every nook and cranny where civilization has penetrated, men, women and children of the Irish raco hold high and holy festival and unfaltering, unconquerable un-conquerable devotion to faith and fatherland. father-land. Year by year St. Patrick's day a great chain of brotherhood Is stretched around the world, hands aro reached out across the sea. messages of love and fidelity fi-delity are wafted from all the points of the compass to the little green LnJo sparkling here in tho Irish sea. Surely St. Patrick's day is the empire day of Ireland tho day when the world spread chllrcn of tho Gael unite and renew allegiance alle-giance to the old land. There Is not a clime in which the day Is not hold sacred, a day which patriotism arid creed unite to keep sacred." Great Statuo of Parncll. The pyramid or shaft which Is to stand behind St. Gaudcns's statuo of Parnell In O'Connell street. Dublin, Is going tin slowly. It is now well above tho surrounding sur-rounding hoarding, but It has a long way to travel up before it will be ready for the sculptor's masterpiece. " There Is comparatively little money required to finish the monument, and It Is not too creditable that It Is coming In so slowly. slow-ly. Dublin has, of course, a very particular partic-ular Interest In tho monument, for. when completed. It will be one of Its finest municipal treasures. Where Ave McGurk's .Heirs. After a lapse of eighteen months and many fruitless inquiries, a final effort Is being made to discover tbe heirs of a former county Armagh man named Patrick Pat-rick McGurk. Over fifty years ago Mc-Gurk Mc-Gurk emigrated to California and died intestate about two years ago. leaving a fortune of S300.000. The Belgian consul at Belfast, Mr. James Heyn, is in charge of tno estate. Preserving Irish Language. The society for the preservation of the Irish language has Just Issued Us report for 1909. which contains much Information Informa-tion that Is both useful and Instructive, and statistics are supplied relating to the Irish language at the present time. With reference to Irish In the national schools, it appears that the -language is J taught in loiil. and that tho national board made payment in respect of Irish for 45.471 pupils, as compared with 39.907 in 190S Tho report mentions that "there are still many drawbacks to the progress of Irish In national schools, one of which Is, that teachers are not allowed to present pupils pu-pils for fees earlier than the third standard. stand-ard. An effort Is to be made to allow the present children for examination in Irish In tho first and second standards, and to have professors of Irish appointed in all the training colleges. |