Thus commenced (in the words of Curran), “those happy meetings when the swelling heart conceived and communicated the pure and generous purpose, the innocent enjoyment of social mirth expanded into the nobler warmth of social virtue, and the horizon of the board became enlarged into the horizon of man.” Almost uninterruptedly since quarterly and anniversary meetings of the Society have been held. Many of the leading men of the City and State are enrolled among its members, and the records of the Society from the beginning contain names prominent in the early history of the Republic. Social and friendly intercourse was promoted and maintained among the natives of Ireland and their kinsmen and descendants. Numbers of deserving, but less fortunate fellow-countrymen, were relieved by the bounty of the Society, implements and materials for domestic manufacture were furnished to the industrious poor. The needy were assisted with money, medicine, clothing and fuel, the destitute were provided with homes and, when necessary, were furnished with sufficient funds to enable them to return to their native land. The design of the badge worn by members of the Society, and which appears on the cover of this book, is a _facsimile_ of the “reverse” of the medal worn by the members of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Philadelphia in 1771. The following in reference to that medal is from _Haverty’s American Almanac_: Each member was required to furnish himself with a gold medal of the value of three guineas, agreeably to the following description: On the right, HIBERNIA; on the left, AMERICA; in the center, LIBERTY joining the hands of HIBERNIA and AMERICA, represented by the usual figures of a female supported by a harp, for HIBERNIA; an Indian with his quiver on his back and his bow slung, for AMERICA; underneath, UNITE. On the reverse, ST. PATRICK tramping on a snake, a cross in his hand, dressed in pontificalibus, the motto, “HIER.”