GOOD MEMBERSHIP SPIRIT.
Breathing the proper spirit of enthusiasm, Hon. James M. Graham, M. C., of Springfield, Illinois, writes to Mr. John J. Lenehan, chairman of the membership committee, in part as follows:
“Your kind letter of the 7th inst. notifying me of my election to membership in the American-Irish Historical Society, and the accompanying pamphlet, are received.
“I am delighted to be a member of your splendid society and I assure you when you express the wish that I will become interested in its work, you tell but half the truth. I have been intensely interested in this work for many years and I never expected to lose interest in it, but now I feel that interest will be immeasurably stimulated by association with your organization.
“The great influence of the Celt on American History and American Life has not only not been acknowledged or made manifest by the historians, but a deliberate and quite successful attempt has been made to prevent its recognition. Ordinarily, when one robs and injures another he is bound in self-defense to give the injured party a bad name and to prevent him from getting a hearing as to the true facts in the case. On this theory English History and English Literature for several centuries past have been little more than a conspiracy against our race. They were careful that they did not tell the truth to the world, and equally careful to arrange it so that we could not.
“We are now, however, at the beginning of a new era in that regard and it behooves every man of Celtic strain, indeed, every man who loves truth, to put his shoulder to the wheel and help to get the machinery in motion so that credit will be given where credit is due.
“I assure you that the pleasure you have in welcoming me to membership in your society is but a tithe of the pleasure which I have in entering it.”
BY COURTESY OF MR. FISKE O’HARA.
Mr. Fiske O’Hara, the talented actor now playing Irish drama, extended a few of the Rhode Island members of the Society the courtesy of a box at the performance in the Empire Theatre, Tuesday, November 16, 1909.
There were present Col. John McManus, Hon. P. J. McCarthy, Francis I. McCanna, Esq., Thomas F. Kilkenny, Esq., Dr. Michael W. Maloney, James H. Hurley, Esq., James H. Coyne, Esq., Col. John A. O’Keefe, and Lieutenant-Governor-Elect, Hon. Zenas W. Bliss.
The performance was excellent and the members present enjoyed it greatly.