g those years several
Irish demonstrations were held, a popular place for our gatherings was
the Adelphi Theatre (previously the "Queen's"), which was in somewhat
better standing then than afterwards, though it, too, has had within its
walls most of the Irish leaders of the last half century.

I remember one occasion in particular when O'Connell was, of course, the
hero of the day, which impressed itself upon my youthful mind the more
forcibly on account of the presence on the platform of Jack Langan--of
whom I have already spoken--a warm-hearted and generous supporter of the
great Dan, and the Cause of Repeal. Indeed, we boys regarded the Irish
champion boxer with the admiration we would have bestowed upon Finn
MacCool or some other of the ancient Fenians, could they have appeared
in bodily form amongst us.

Little we then thought that we should be welcoming on the same platform
the Fenians of our own days.

That meeting in the Adelphi has also been frequently brought back to my
mind since, because for a long time the "leading man" in the stock
company at that theatre was Edmond O'Rourke (stage name Falconer), a
sterling Nationalist, with whom I made a closer acquaintance in later
years.

I was often brought by my father to the weekly gatherings in the Repeal
Hall, Paradise Street, where, among the speakers on the Sunday nights I
can best remember were Terence Bellew MacManus, Patrick O'Hanlon, Dr.
Reynolds, George Smyth, and George Archdeacon.

MacManus and Smyth (the latter of whom I knew well in after years),
besides being prominent workers in O'Connell's agitation for Repeal of
the Union between Ireland and Great Britain, took active parts in the
"Young Ireland" movement. Dr. Reynolds was another of the Young
Irelanders. So also was Archdeacon, who, in addition, still showed his
belief in physical force by his connection with Fenianism, for which he
suffered imprisonment.

Young as I was, I shall never forget the days of the Famine, for
Liverpool, more than any other place outside of Ireland itself, felt its
appalling effects. It was the main artery through which the flying
people poured to escape from what seemed a doomed land. Many thousands
could get no further, and the condition of the already overcrowded parts
of the town in which our people lived became terrible, for the wretched
people brought with them the dreaded Famine Fever, and Liverpool became
a plague-stricken city. Never was heroism greater th