in every department,-young men fired by a devout and holy zeal to possess all the available secrets of the universe, and to fit themselves to stand hereafter as priests in the grand temple of learning. Would that my voice might reach the remotest boundaries of our Church! How gladly would I call, as with trumpet-blast, those who have any responsibility for the education of young men ! How gladly would I rouse the hearts of young men themselves, until they should come, in overwhelming numbers, as they went after Abelard at Paris in the twelfth century, content to live in booths of their own construction and subsist on a diet of herbs, if only they might profit by the instructions of that matchless teacher; as they went in the same epoch by thousands and tens of thousands to Oxford and Bologna.

That we may make at least some approach towards the realization of the most immediate and worthy of these ends, we invoke the aid of all. Remember the College, beloved brethren and friends, wherever the pathway of your life may chance to run. Remember it earnestly and devoutly in your prayers before God. Remember it whenever you have anything to bestow that will increase the funds of

its treasury or enrich its museums or its libraries. Remember it in your wills, no matter how small the sum you can afford to bequeath it. The little mountain rills feed the mighty stream which bears on its bosom to the sea the commerce of a continent. Remember it when you look into the fair and hopeful faces of your little sons and try to think how you will transfigure toil for them and make this world through which they are compelled to walk,-however humble and obscure their lot, however many and great the burdens under which they bend,—one bright, sweet vale of celestial sunlight and heavenly verdure.

JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY

ORATION DELIVERED AT THE UNVEILING OF THE MONUMENT IN BOSTON, JUNE 20, 1896

John Boyle O'Reilly was born on June 28, 1844, in Dowth Castle, which is situated on the South bank of the river Boyne, in one of the most beautiful and historic spots in all Ireland. The very air of the place is redolent of memories and traditions, associated alike with the glory and the degradation of the Green Island. On his father's side he had behind him a long line of noble and patriotic ancestors. His mother was of like honorable stock. His childhood home was one of refinement and culture. He was well-born, fulfilling Dr. Holmes's condition of a liberal education which must begin with one's grandfather.

Indeed, from the earliest times the O'Reillys had been distinguished not only for their princely blood and high social standing, but for their martial deeds and devotion to their country. In the later generations they have taken to quieter and more studious

ways. The father of John Boyle O'Reilly a scholar and a teacher of youth. Dowth Castle was a school-house, and from his very infancy, therefore, he was a pupil, with his father for a teacher. What wonder that with such surroundings and under such influences the quick-witted youth, with his ardent temperament and sensitive nature, should have imbibed an intense devotion to his native land?

From the beginning he was fond of outdoor sports and of natural scenery. He indulged in all the rough and tumble of boyish life. He romped, hunted, fished and swam in the Boyne, thus laying the foundation of that robust physical constitution which stood him in such stead in after years. It was the exuberance of his spirits that enabled him to put in that store of health which rendered him superior to pestilence and death when others all around him were falling before the insidious poison of malaria or wasting from scant or unwholesome diet. The beauty of the landscape kindled his imagination and appealed to the tenderest sentiments of his soul. The bees, the birds, the flowers, the fields, the running waters, the woods and hills all had a message for him. Those

scenes of his youth seemed to be stamped upon his mind like an ineffaceable picture. The farther he was removed from them by distance, the more remote from him they were in time, the more vivid they became in his recollection. There is something poetic and yet sad almost to heartbreaking in that earnest request to his friend, Father Conaty, who was visiting Ireland to see where he was born. "It is the loveliest spot in the world. I have not seen it for over twenty-five years, but, oh, God! I would like to see it again. See it for me, will you?"

It may be a question how far external surroundings contribute to the poetic faculty in men. Probably we cannot have strong poetic expression without the poetic temperament to begin with. But given that, the early conditions under which the mind is awakened and receives its first bias are of momentous importance. No one can read critically the writings of Mr. O'Reilly, either his formal verse or his prose, which is often times no less poetical than his verse, without feeling that the inspiration of all is to be found not only in that ardent love of nature which was so early developed in him, but in those scenes of surpassing beauty which made their lasting