30
AN GAODHAL
an idea of our “high-toned English speaking
gents." It is the duty of the Philo-Celts to
keep these facts before the people. For fur-
ther particulars and the consequences of
“English Education,” see “continued” inter-
rogatories on another page.
We desire it to be distinctly understood
that the foregoing facts have not been pro-
duced with the view of reflecting on the poorer
portion of our country people, because the
rapacious enemy impoverished the most opu-
lent of our brethren. Our sentiments on these
matters have already appeared in this journal
PROF. BLYDEN ON THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE.
EDITOR OF THE GAEL:
The N. Y. Sun announces that Prof. Blyden,
President of Liberia College, “has given or¬
ders that the principal of the preparatory de-
partment shall no longer teach English to any
but the younger pupils. His reason for this
strange course is that the use of the English
tongue degrades the negro (!), as it is full of
ideas and expressions which are not consistent
with a proper degree of self-respect.|
Anent which the Sun says : “The Doctor
has considerable reputation as a man of learn¬
ing, from whom better things might be ex-
pected.” The Sun ought not to forget that
patience is a virtue. Professor Blyden has
made a very good beginning, and I confidently
expect more and better things from him than
what has just transpired.
This passage in the same paragraph reminds
me that Shakespeare says something about
fools stepping in where angels fear to tread.
It reads:
“The English language has generally been
conceded, by those who are best acquainted
with it, to be one of the best mediums for the
expression of refined thought and graceful
ideas."
Now, albeit I cannot repress a slight curios¬
ity to know whom the Sun considers “those
who are best acquainted with it” (English), I
must and do feel exceedingly grateful to your
shiny contemporary for that bright flash of
light shot forth from his brilliant disk. How
it has illuminated the darkness of my under¬
standing! I was actually under the impres-
sion that the English language was but at best
a miscellaneous hodge-podge — a little of every¬
thing, and not much of anything. Whence I
inferred that it was necessarily ill-adapted to
“the expression of refined thought and grace-
ful ideas." Evidently the learned Professor
Blyden is of the same opinion. How erro-
neous, to be sure! It would, indeed, be base
ingratitude did I not avail myself of this occa-
sion to thank the great luminary for illumin-
ating my mental darkness.
Somehow, it strikes me, Mr. Editor and
readers of THE GAEL, that a short time ago I
read in the Sun this sentence : "Whatever
Mr. Beecher’s other faults may be, it is gener¬
ally conceded that he uses correct English."
Allow me to say, it is my opinion that the edi-
tor who penned and published that sentence
can hardly be classed among those best ac-
quainted with the English language, and is
therefore scarcely qualified to form an opinion
as to whether or not it is “one of the best
mediums for the expression of refined thought
and graceful ideas." Don’t you think so,
reader?
A. MORGAN DEELY.
P. S. — I am surprised to learn that some of
the members of the N. Y. Philo-Celtic Society
are displeased with my article in the second
number of THE GAEL. In writing “Our His¬
tory” I merely stated facts patent to every one
connected with the movement, during the pe-
riods mentioned, and which can be easily veri¬
fied by reference to the files of the Irish-Amer¬
ican and the Irish World. If any one has been
thereby offended, I cannot help that. As a
resume of “Our History,” the article in ques-
tion is incontrovertible, and I defy any one to
successfully gainsay one single statement
therein contained.
A. M. D.
HOLYOKE, HAMPDEN Co. Mass.
29th November, 1881.
EDITOR OF THE GAEL.
My Dear Sir :— I have received your last
communication, with two copies of THE GAEL
which I have been proud to receive. We have
got a good many Irishmen here in Holyoke
who ought to be proud and willing to embrace
the opportunity now offered them to learn
their native tongue. But I am sorry to in-
form you that the majority of them don't seem
to care much about it — those I claim to be the
least cultivated portion. Every Irishman
having any respect for his nationality ought
to learn to speak it, as the Canadians do their
dialect of the French Language. I hope,
therefore, that those who are now in the field
agitating the necessity of its revival, or those
who seem intent on recalling it from its pres¬
ent state of oblivion, will try all in their power
to warn those whom it may concern of the dis¬
grace it would entail upon them and their pos-
terity should they not now heed the warning
given them to save it from extinction. It is
none else than that independent and self-sup¬
porting language which had its origin at the
Tower of Babel at the diffusion of languages,
and was afterwards written by him who in
the annals of Ireland was surnamed Pharsa, or
the Sage (some confer the honor on Cadmus,
his brother), not Cadmus, that robber son of
Vulcan.
Pharsa being a prince of great wisdom
highly celebrated for being the first inventor
of letters, desirous to be informed in the diff-
erent languages which then prevailed, ap¬
pointed seventy learned men to disperse them¬
selves through different quarters of the world,
and to return at a certain day marked out a
