We praise the man who rushes into a burning mansion and brings out
its greatest treasure. So ought we to praise this man who rescued
from the perishing Gaelic tradition its darling hero and restored
him to us, and I think now that Cuculain will not perish, and he
will be invisibly present at many a council of youth, and he will
be the daring which lifts the will beyond itself and fires it for
great causes, and he will also be the courtesy which shall
overcome the enemy that nothing else may overcome.
I am sure that Standish O'Grady would rather I should speak of his
work and its bearing on the spiritual life of Ireland, than about
himself, and, because I think so, in this reverie I have followed
no set plan but have let my thoughts run as they will. But I would
not have any to think that this man was only a writer, or that he
could have had the heroes of the past for spiritual companions,
without himself being inspired to fight dragons and wizardy. I
have sometimes regretted that contemporary politics drew O'Grady
away from the work he began so greatly.
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