When the sympathies are not blunted by any false philosophy, one feels reproached by one's own abundance.

I once heard a young girl, about to take her summer outing, when asked by her grandmother if she had all the dresses she needed, reply, "Oh, yes! I was oppressed with a constant sense of guilt, when packing, to see how much I had, while so many girls have nothing decent to wear." More than half a century has rolled by since I stood on Irish soil, and shed tears of pity for the wretchedness I saw, and no change for the better has as yet come to that unhappy people--yet this was the land of Burke, Grattan, Shiel, and Emmett; the land into which Christianity was introduced in the fifth century, St.Patrick being the chief apostle of the new faith.

In the sixth century Ireland sent forth missionaries from her monasteries to convert Great Britain and the nations of Northern Europe.

From the eighth to the twelfth century Irish scholars held an enviable reputation.

In fact, Ireland was the center of learning at one time.