JURISPRUDENCE

A COMEDY IN ONE ACT

Scene:  Room in courthouse at Ballybraggan.  Magistrates and clerk of court seated on the Bench.  Barristers, townspeople, and police in body of the court.

MARTIN O’FLYNN (rises and wipes his brow with a red handkerchief) Members of the Munster Bar, Members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and—­gentlemen (pauses), and ladies also, before the Court opens for the dispensation of justice, I would like to say a few short words about a matter that concerns not only ourselves here present, and the town of Ballybraggan in particular, but everybody alive to their own interests and the whole world in general.  We have with us to-day one who is no stranger to the people of this historic town, and it is with feelings of the highest regard that I stand before you in my privileged capacity as resident magistrate to perform what seems to me to be the most pleasing and likewise the most joyous of duties that could fall to the lot of any man, whether he might come from where the waves of the tumultuous Pacific wash the shores of the great Western world or from the town of Mallow itself.  And that is to have the honor and glorification of introducing to you our new and worthy magistrate, Mr. Cornelius John Michael O’Crowley. (Applause) Far be it from me indeed to flatter any man, but there are times when we must tell the truth. (Applause) And when I say that there is no one more humble for a man of his achievements from here to Honolulu than Mr. O’Crowley himself, I am only telling the truth in a plain and unadorned form.  Every effort put forth by Mr. O’Crowley for the welfare of mankind has been characterised by success, and what greater proof of his ability could we have than the fact that he is one of the largest wine merchants and hotel proprietors in the length and breadth of Munster?  Indeed, if Mr. O’Crowley wasn’t fully qualified for upholding and sustaining the dignity of the coveted title, Justice of the Peace, His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, who is both a scholar, a gentleman, and a Scotchman to boot, would not be so pleased and delighted to confer on him an honor only worthy of a man of his attainments, sentiments, and quality of character. (Applause)

PHELAN DUFFY On behalf of the legal profession of which I have the honor of being the oldest member, I am not only desirous but extremely overjoyed to have the golden opportunity of congratulating our worthy townsman Mr. Cornelius John Michael O’Crowley on the great distinction that has befallen him.  We all have heard of that Englishman who said one time, with all the cleverness of an Irishman and a native of Ballybraggan at that:  “Some are born great, others acquire greatness, and more have greatness thrust upon them.”  Now to say that Mr. O’Crowley had greatness thrust upon him would not be a fact, and whether or not he was