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Show j HOVf THE IRISH EXHIBITION WAS STAR-TED j Few who have read of the wonderful exhibition of Irish industries and arts at the World's fair of '1!Ki4. know anything of the clever man who made ihe object feasible. Thomas V. Hanley, or "Tom" Ilanley, as he is better known, has a horror of notoriety. no-toriety. If he can avoid seeing his name in .print, he is happy. To his friends, however, Mr. Hanley's life is an open hook, and none who know him have anything, but praise for him. Mr. Hanley was born in St. Bonis in 11. His early education was obtained in the Jesuit college, where his achievements made him remarkable. Later he studied civil and mechanical engineering, and obtained a position as an expert Avith a large linn in Boston. Some years later we lipd him in business for himself in Kansas City, from whence he moved to Chicago to establish the lirm of Ifan-ley-Casoy company, now one of the largest contracting con-tracting plumbing concerns in the world. Most of the plumbing and sewerage contracts of the Columbian and Buffalo expositions were done by this firm, and the contract for the plumbing, water mains, sewerage and steam jit ting of the Louisiana Purchase exposition was awarded to and completed by thorn. This latter was probably the largest contract ever given 10 a single lirm, and amounted to several million of dollars. Such is the maipwho is responsible for "Ireland at the World's fair." His hst connection with the enterprise was accidental. A syndicate of Jewish speculators had laid before the governing board of the exposition an application for a site for an "Irish village." Among ihe features which this syndicate? proposed to instal were a Donnybrook fair, and a free dancing platform. Camels were to be introduced as a special attraction. It was to be a mixture of the Streets of Cairo and a slum beer garden. The national pride of Tom Hanley was aroused and lie protested vigorously.- The governing govern-ing board listened attentively to his pleading, and the Jews lost the concession. - Then the suggestion was made that Mr. Ilanley himself take the site, and build an "Irish village" that would be a credit to himself and to his race. An immediate acceptance accept-ance was the result, and ihe plans were ordered drawn. - The organization of the Irish Exhibit company was the tirst step. Several of Mr. Hanle.ws friends took stock in the concern, hut the heaviest shareholders share-holders in the enterprise were himself and his partner. part-ner. Mr. Maurice Casey. A Irip to Ireland by Mr. Hanley was next undertaken, and then the project assumed d"finite shape. The department of agriculture agri-culture and technical instruction was approached, and after long, tedious official routine work was gone through, during which time Mr. Hanley was obliged to plead his case before ihe royal commission commis-sion and in the house of commons, the requisite authority to open an official exhibition in America was obtained. Business matters compelled an immediate return re-turn to America, but a representative was dispatched dis-patched 1o Ireland with full authority'to procure such exhibits and attractions as might be necessary to make the Trish exhibition the greatest of its kind. Artists, sculptors and mechanics soon had reproductions repro-ductions of many famous Trish buildings, in most cases full size, rising up from the forests of Missouri. Mis-souri. Exhibits began to arrive and were installed as fast as possible. The magnitude of the work would have appalled a less daring man. than Tom Ilanley. but his courage never flagged and his tire- less energy inspired all $roui)d him to 'remarkable achievements. . . The cost, too, had been greatly underestimated. The limit had been placed at $100,000, but when the exhibition was completed it was found that fully $32.,000 had been oxpendH on -.the: buildings and-equipment. and-equipment. To tins must'"oe. added an additional stmt of nearly $60.000 expended by 'the department of agriculture and technical instruction forTreland in gathering together, packing and installing the exhibits. This brings the sum total up to $383,000, a respectable fortune to risk. The expense never worried Tom Hanley for an instant. He was determined to build an exposition that would be a source of pride to the Iirsh racc j throughout the world, even if it took his last dollar. That he bus done. It is the greatest display, ever made of Irish products what is more it is' not a "failure, Success financially, as well as artistically, is stamped on every department of it. Its restaurant is the money-maker of the fair, and its amusement features are attracting crowds nightly to its spacious spa-cious grounds.- . ' . - ' It is all a wonderful triumph for modest Tom Ilanley. but that cool, hard business head of his cannot be turned even by this great success, and he is still the same genial, sunny-faced Irishman who worked at the bench a few years ago. His character charac-ter is one that is moulded along strong lines, and neither adversity nor triumph can alter it materially. ma-terially. THE IRISH HIGH CROSS. In the front of the great reproduction of Cor-niac's Cor-niac's chapel at Cashel in the grounds of the Irish exhibition at the World's fair stands an' immense Celtic cross, conspicuous not merely for its great size, but for the elaborate style of its ornamentation , as well. It is a replica made by order of the department depart-ment of agriculture and technical Irish for Ireland of the great High Cross of Monasterboice, the most, perfect: and oldest, perhaps, of all the perfect specimens speci-mens of the ancient High Cross now in existence. Monasterboice is situated in the Barony of Fer-rard, Fer-rard, County. Louth, about four miles north of Drogheda. Its Irish name is Mainister Buite i. e., the Monastery of Buite or Boetius a "bishop who lived about the end of the fifth century. His festival festi-val was celebrated on Dec. 7, according, to the Fe-lire Fe-lire of Oengus: "The feast of white, victorious Buite, Of trcasurous Monaster (boice)." "Monasterboice," says a commentator in the Leabhar Breac, "is the monastery, lasting, settled, of Buite, whose name is interpreted as "Living to God," and also "rirc," for a star made manifest his birth, as happened at the birth of Christ. . - The term, High Cross, by which this -type of monument is distinguished, is taken from the annals an-nals of the Four Masters, whore the Cros Arcl of Conmacnoise is mentioned. From all that can be. learned on the subject these High Crosses were not intended as sepulchral monuments, but were set up to make the boundary of the sanctuary. There are i forty-five High Crosses still remaining remain-ing in Ireland, all of them in a more or less perfect state 6f preservation. Thirty-two of. them arc richly ornamented, eight of which bear inscriptions inscrip-tions wherein the names of the following persons haVe been identified: King F'lann. Abbot of Clon- niacnoi.se, d. 904; Muiredach. Abbot of Monasterboice, Monaster-boice, d. 924; King Turlough O'Conor, d. 110(5; Aedh Cissen, Abbot of Cong. d. 11G1; Gillachrist O'Tuathail. d. 1161; -O'Dubhthaigh (O'Duffy). d. 1150. Miss Margaret Stokes, in her. "Early Christian Chris-tian Art in Ireland," states that while the earliest of these monuments docs not date back further than the beginning of "the tenth century, still they were all made before the end of the thirteenth century. I have never been able to -find anything to: support this belief. On the contrary, these High Crosses, never having been designed to mark .the burml places of distinguished persons, it is quite, reason-' able to suppose that they were set up during the. lifetime of the people mentioned in the inscriptions. Thus, King Flann and ..Colman both died in 904. Therefore, it is reasonable to .suppA.th,qt their crosses were erected long before that tljup pxO'baljly ... . . ... u nv-(:vv; " ' ' ' "" " -A some time toward the close of the ninth century. Many of the crosses bearing no inscriptious'are as fully as old as these, perhaps older. That none were made after the close of the twelfth century is i.not to be wondered at. considering the state of disorder dis-order into which the country was plunged by the invasion of ihe. Xormau English. The peculiar form of the Irish crosses, the most beautiful type of the Christian emblem in art, has variously been explained. An ancient Pagan symbol sym-bol consisting of a circle containing a cross, and connected with the old religion of sun worship, is found in some prehistoric Irish monuments, as at Xowgrange on the Boyne. and it is suvpos" d that ibis may have been adopted for its artistic value. Another explanation is that the Irish cross is a form of the Greek (in which a circle also appears), with the shaft elongated, and the arms projecting outside out-side the circle; and this. Miss Stokes observes, "seems symbolic of the whole subject of Irish ecclesiastical ec-clesiastical art, which, from its very beginning, shows Byzantine and Latin elements commingled." The High Cross of Mouasterbdice was carved and erected during the incumbency of Muiredach as Abbot of Monasterboice, whose death is thus recorded re-corded in the Annals of Ulster: "A. U. 923. 'Muiredach, 'Muire-dach, son of Domnall, tanist Abbot of Armagh, ami chief steward of the southern Hy Xeill, and successor suc-cessor of Buite. the son of Branaeh. head of the council of all the men of Bregia, Iaiety and clergy, departed this life on the 3th day of the Calends of December."' The death of this Muiredach is similarly sim-ilarly entered in the Annate of the Four Masters, except that there he is called "the steward of the people of Patrick (Armagh), from Sliove Fuadh to Lei nster." The ornamentation of the Monasterboice Cros is divided into twenty-four panels. On some of the latter the subjects are unintelligible, but many of them have been identified. These treat of the Crucifixion, the Sacrifice of Isaac, the Empty Tomb guarded hv the sleeping soldiers, the Descent into Hell, the Fall of Adam, the Slaying of Abel, the Adoration of the Magi. Samson with the Lion and the Bear. David and Goliah. and Christ in Glory. On the side panels are many elaborate designs of the interlacing pattern and on the base may also be found the same type of ornamentation. |