AN GAOḊAL.
797
has an Irish class of twenty and expects to have fif¬
ty by next year.
Mr. P. Garvey, of Kilroe writes, — There are
160 pupils enrolled in this school, all of whom
speak Irish, 60 are enrolled in the Irish class.
Mr. J. Barry, Glendore, has twenty-four pupils
learning Irish.
Mr. Foley, Ringville, Dungarvan, gave the so¬
ciety a highly interesting account of the visit of
the Most Rev. Dr. Power. His Lordship speaks
Irish well, and is doing a great deal to encourage
the use of the Irish language throughout his diocese
The financial condition of the society is satisfac¬
tory, it having a balance of £65 at the end of the
year after paying off all liabilities.
The Report also states that the demand for Gael¬
ic books is still increasing, having sold up to the
beginning of the year 86.682.
As remarked, the Report is, on the whole high¬
ly satifactory.
We would not thank the Irish-Americans raised
in those localities where the Irish classes have been
formed to supply each member of such classes with
a copy of the GAEL. This could be readily done by
sending as many copies to the teacher as he has
Gaelic pupils. This would not only encourage the
pupils, but it would be an inducement to the oth¬
er children to become Gaelic pupils also.
Suppose, for instance, that John O'Sullivan, re¬
siding in Minneapolis, and raised in or near Din¬
gle, saw Mr. Long's report from that place, should
not he make an exertion to encourage the children
of his infant home, in the manner above suggest¬
ed. He and his neighbor could go round and col¬
lect such sum as would enable them to send the
GAEL to each child for a year; also those from the
neighborhood of Claran, and so on. This would
do more for the nationality of their country in
five years than the Parnell party has for the last
ten. We shall send 20 GAELs monthly to any of
the above for $10 a year, post paid
We will say a word here in regard to the influ¬
ence of Irish literature on Irish Nationality, and
direct it to the hierarchy and clergy as well as to
the laity. The Catholic Church is the most learn¬
ed and most powerful organization in the world.
It in its wisdom forbids its children to read any
kind of literature tending to oppose its teaching,
and furnishes literature, such as pious books, etc.,
which is considered as wholesene mental food for
them. If then, the reading of indifferent literature
tend to corrupt the religious mind, must it not have
the same effect on the National mind? and more
especially if there be no National literature to
counteract its insidious effects?
We would like to have an answer to the forego¬
ing interrogatory, namely, if the religious morals
be corrupted and subverted by irreligious litera¬
ture, what is to preserve the National morals under
like circumstances? Then if the answer be that
indelicate literature corrupt the religious morals,
our National guides are National hypocrites if they
do not try to stem the tide of English anti Irish
National literature by restoring the genuine liter¬
ature of the country.
Let every Irishman do his duty in
scattering Gaelic literature. Its a duty
which no Irishman can shirk, of course
our West-Britons will.
ORANGEISM versus PATRIOTISM.
Brooklyn, March 2nd, 1888.
To the Editor of the GAEL — I have been for a long
time painfully puzzled by the singular anomaly
that Orangemen since their inception present to the
world. Contrary to all accepted theories they do
not seem to have any love for, nor loyalty towards
their motherland, beautiful Erin "the Gem of the
Sea." The very savage, as one of our poets grace¬
fully expresses, “loves his native shore- though
rude the soil, and chill the air." Why then, I ask,
do not Orangemen, born in Ireland, as well as do
all other Irishmen "adore an Isle that nature form¬
ed so fair?" It seems incredible, yet it is a fact,
that an Orangeman pure and simple is, to all in¬
tents and purposes, actually possessed by the mal¬
ignant fiend of rancor and hatred towards the land
of his birth, and is a very vampire sucking the
living blood from his Mother's heart — that Mother
who gave him life and from whose bosom he deriv¬
es his sustenance and whose loving breast, notwith¬
sanding his life-long ingratitude receives him after
death. Perhaps God withholds from Orangemen
the power of loving their motherland in punish¬
ment for the monstrous crime of their ancestors
who formed an unholy alliance with the demon of
discord for the fiendish purpose of annihilating the
nationhood of their motherland and thus committ¬
ing a kind of diabolical matricide, which is unique
in its singular monstrosity on the face of the earth.
But is there an Orangeman who "thinketh in his
own heart" how inhuman is the perversity that
incites him against his country, and all those who
try to free her from the grasp of her unscrupul¬
ous oppressor, and to make her "A nation once a¬
gain?" Why will he forge the chains that fetter
the limbs of his motherland, and that too for the
sake of the foreign tyrant who scorns while he uses
the vile instrument that offers to do the evil work
of traitor to his country and his kind? Let it be so
no longer — let one amongst the rise superior to
inherited prejudices, inspired by a noble im¬
pulse to expiate the crime of his ancestors and
cotemporaries by wiping out the foul stain of Or¬
angeism that has dyed the fair vales of Ulster with
the blood of generations of patriots. Let his high
aim be to atone for the past by forming a patriotic
alliance amongst his brethren to help instead of
hinder his Motherland in her struggle for freedom.
Let the women, too, do their part. Let the moth¬
ers, wives and daughters of the Orange element of
Ulster take up the blessed work of atonement
and like the high-souled, magnanimous, beautiful
Judith cut off the Hydra-headed Holofernes of Or¬
angeism and cast it into the bitter past forever. Let
their mission be for the future to heal old wounds
and with their fair hands, inspired by a newly en¬
kindled love for poor Erin. our common mother, let
them twine the green shamrock and the orange
lily into one arch of Peace and Goodwill!
Now, Mr. Editor, I have shown the evil of Or¬
angeism and suggested a remedy, and will remain,
Always faithfully yours,
KILDARE.
