"When Irish eyes are smiling, sure it's like a morn in spring. In the lilt of Irish laughter, you can hear the angels sing..."

St Patrick's Day brings out the Irish in all of us. Stout is quaffed, soda bread devoured, and the color of the Emerald Isle is prominent. With a population that boasts a large number of those of Irish heritage, no doubt there is some pride exhibited in Newtown.

Once upon a time, though, when County Clare residents flocked to Sandy Hook at the height of the Irish potato famine and brutal English rule, in the mid-19th Century, the Irish were not exactly welcomed. Unfamiliar Irish traditions were introduced, an unfamiliar accent fell on Yankee ears, and New England stalwarts feared for the character of the town. The Irish population, rising from 5.6 percent in 1850 to 44 percent by the start of the 20th Century, changed the town's political face from Republican to Democratic in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

The Newtown Chronicle newspaper, from 1880 to 1882, promoted a Democratic view and editor James Madigan tilted stories toward the Irish population.

The Irish proved a boon, though, to the likes of Curtis and Son Packaging and the New York Belting and Packing Company, with hundreds of the immigrants eagerly employed there. Irish women soon were welcomed into homes as domestic help, and their seamstress and lacemaking skills were prized. Irish families settled farms, contributing to the health and wealth of the community. St Rose saw a dramatic increase in the size of its congregation in this same time period, due to the Irish Catholic influx.

From teachers to town officials, by the end of World War II the Irish were woven comfortably into the fabric of the town, no longer seen as a rend in the material of Newtown. No one today gives a thought to who is Irish, who is not.

Immigration has been on the minds of many and in the news for weeks now. As we ponder who should be mixed into the metaphoric melting pot of America, consider what history has shown us. Riches are found in the new ideas and energy carried to us by immigrants.

John Muir; Albert Einstein; Irving Berlin; Mother Mary Jones; Andrew Carnegie; Ang Lee - just a few of the immigrants who have left an indelible mark on their adopted country of the United States of America. They and the far lesser known immigrants who have been embraced bring art, science, music, technical and physical skills, wisdom, and more to enlarge our otherwise narrow worlds.

If we can see the smiling eyes, if we can hear the laughter of immigrants as songs of the angels; if we can learn from our history, we can be the beacon of hope that we profess to be.

Happy St Patrick's Day.