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Show IRISH TRAPPilSTS. Doing Good Work in the Way of Rearresting. At the last sitting of kie royal commission com-mission on congestion ill Clare, Ireland, Ire-land, Sir Francis Mowatt presiding, and Bishop O'Donnell of Raphoe being anion gthe commissioners present, the Rev. J. Halpin, P. P., Scariff, strongly advocated re-afforesting. It would, he said, give vast employment, employ-ment, and would develop various incidental inci-dental industries. In other countries, such as France and Germany, the work of afforesting was undertaken sometimes some-times by the municipal authorities, sometimes by private individuals, and sometimes by the government. The results had been most satisfactory, both from the point of view of national prosperity and as a means of affording local employment. He described the influence of afforesting on climate and health. He referred especially to the experiments made by the "lrappist monks at Mount Melleray, who had planted a large extent of the Knock-mealdown Knock-mealdown mountains, which they rented rent-ed at 60 cents per acre. They planted plant-ed at the rate of five thousand pine and fir trees per acre, at an expense of about $60 an acre. In the course of twelve years the first thinning realized about $175 or $200 an acre, leaving sufficient trees on the ground. This matter was interesting for various reasons. rea-sons. The commission might be aware that the monks in time past, and notably nota-bly the Cistercians, were pioneers in Europe in the work of land reclamation, reclama-tion, etc., and the Cistercians in Ireland Ire-land were only following the traditions of their order. It was an inspiring example for others to do likewise, especially es-pecially in a district like that where they had vast tracts of mountain land which were practically useless for other oth-er purposes. Continuing. Father Halpin said: "There is another reason why I refer to this matter. A few years ago a remarkable book was published, and attracted a good deal of attention in Ireland. An extraordinary charge was made against the Irish people that we were too spiritual and refined, and that our center of gravity was not in this world, and that our spirituality was an obstacle to our moral progress. The Cistercians of Melleray and Roscroa represented the height of spirituality, they were one of the strictest orders in the church, they got up in the morning to praise God when many people in the world were about going to bed, and they lived in the strictest penance, and yet we find them in the present, as in the past, the pioneers in such mundane concerns as land reclaiming re-claiming as in Melleray, building mills as in Roscrea, and afforesting as their predecessors of five hundred years be- fore. There have been several replies to Sir Horace Plunkett's book, but I think that no more eloquent and convincing con-vincing reply could be given than is i to be found in that concrete fact." I News About Richard Croker. A reader of the New York Tribune sends to that paper the following interesting inter-esting description of Mr. Croker, which she found in a German paper: Richard Croker, who won. the English Eng-lish Derby yesterday, is a strange character. As a poor boy he went to America from Ireland and made a fortune for-tune in the mines. Then he organized a political party to overthrow ie corrupt cor-rupt leader, Tweed, to whom ne was related. After holding many political offices, he incurred the ill-will of the Democrats, who feared that he.'would become a dictator, and he wai overthrown over-thrown by a younger set, of whom Mr. Roosevelt was one. This destroyed his chances for the presidency, and Induced him to sell most of his property and to return to his native land, where he devotes his time to breeding horses. His former home in America, Tammany, Tam-many, in the state of New York, is occupied oc-cupied by his sons, under whose leadership leader-ship the party which he organized is still conducted, in the hope that the founder may be induced some day to return. Crossing the Bar. "Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for rne! And may there be no moaning of the bar. When I put out to sea. But such a tide as moving seems asleep. Too full for sound and foam. When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell fare-well when I embark. For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to meet my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar. Tennyson. |