Dr. Alexander Irvine Returns to Pogue's Entry, Antrim.
DR. ALEXANDER COMES HOME MONTH'S VISIT TO ULSTER Brings Gift for Cottage in Pogue's Entry, Antrim. A PAINTING BY MILLET By a Special Correspondent. ALEXANDER IRVINE has come home again to see his birthplace in Pogue's Entry, Antrim - that place of poignant, yet happy memories, especially when he recalls the sweet philosophy of Anna, his mother, and the determined struggle for very existence which Jamie, his father, put forth in the very early days of the now famous author's life. Dr. Irvine has come on a month's visit to Ulster and during that time he will conduct the services at Newington Presbyterian Church, Belfast, in the absence of the Moderator. On Tuesday, accompanied by Mrs. S. E. Gilmour and Mr. J. Herbert, Ireland two of the trustees appointed for the purchase and reconstruction of the cottage in Pogue's Entry, he visited the scenes of his childhood and inspected the work of restoring the cottage as nearly as possible to its original state. In his book, 'My Lady of the Chimney Corner,' he wrote, "I want to go back some day and cover them (his father and mother) with a slab of marble, on which their names will be cut and these words:- " 'Love is enough' " PARENTS GRAVE In the churchyard he stood quietly by the side of the grave, saw where his wish had been fulfilled, and into his mind there came visions of the past. Dr. Irvine has brought with him a signed painting by Millet entitled "Maternity" and which is to be hung over the mantleshelf in the cottage. It came into his possession years ago in New York, and he feels that this is the place for it. Dr. Irvine is an authority on Millet and has been lecturing on him for 25 years. "Maternity" has been valued for as much as œ500 and the trustees will take great care in having safely and properly hung in the little cottage. Dr. Irvine proposes to send along many other gifts, and ultimately all his art collection and his books will go there. He feels very grateful for what has been done in the way of commemorating not only his own life, but particularly the lives of his father and mother. As he said to me on Tuesday, "I want to light up the gloom: I want to put beauty into a hard earthen floor." A man of fine stature, Irvine speaks in quiet mellow tones, and in ordinary conversation scarcely ever raises his voice. To meet him is to realise that his one ambition in life is not wealth, fame, or even rest. "It is to be of service to my fellow-men," he wrote, "for that is my highest conception of service to God." To men who have been worsened or imagine they have become so in the fight of life, he can be of special encouragement, for his own life, as he has said, has been at times such a tempest and at others such a clam. Throughout the summer many people from across the Channel and America who are familiar with the distinguished visitor's life and work have made a pilgrimage to Antrim to see his shrine being restored for all time.Close