AN GAOḊAL.
91
A monthly Journal devoted to the Cultivation and
Preservation of the Irish Language and the au¬
tonomy of the Irish Nation.
— "The Green Isle contained, for more centuries
than one, more learning than could have been col¬
lected from the rest of Europe. * * * It is not
thus rash to say that the Irish possess contempo¬
rary histories of their country, written in the lang¬
uage of the people, from the fifth century. No oth¬
er nation of modern Europe is able to make a sim¬
ilar boast" — SPAULDING'S ENGLISH LITERATURE,
[Anti Irish], APPLETON & Co., N Y.
"A nation which allows her language to go to
ruin, is parting with the best half of her intellectual
independence, and testifies to her willingness to cease
to exist." — ARCHBISHOP TRENCH.
Published at 814 Pacific st., Brooklyn, N. Y.
M. J. LOGAN, Editor and Proprietor
Terms of Subscription — $1 a year to students, 60
cents to the public, in advance ; $1. in arrears.
Terms of Advertising — 10 cents a line, Agate.
Entered at the Brooklyn P. O. as 2nd-class matter
Tenth Year of Publication.
VOL 8, No. 8. MAY, 1891.
Gaels, bring the Extracts from Spaulding before
the public as much as possible — they contain vol¬
umes. We lay some stress on Spaulding because
he was a very learned, bigotted, anti-Irish English
man who was forced by history to record facts; so
that every Irishman who values the social standing
of himself and children will do all his power to
extend the Gael if for nothing else but to circulate
these Extracts — they should be in the hands of e¬
very Irishman.
Fathers Melley, Scranton, and Bray, New Hav¬
en, expect large Gaelic classes in their respective
cities.
Mr. D. D. Lane, St. Louis, has ordered some do¬
zens First Books for a large class which he has or¬
ganized there.
Mr. P. McEniry, Kansas City, Mo. has organi¬
zed a large Gaelic society in Armourdale, Kansas.
Photos for the Gaelic Album will not be receiv¬
ed after September.
P. O'B. — Because we intend to run the Gael
weekly so as to expedite the production of O'Curry,
the Annals of the Four Masters and other Gaelic
matters — which is as much as we can attend to.
Father Carroll intends to have the Adeste Fide¬
les in Irish practised by the children of his choir.
Why does the Chicago Citizen say that Father
Keegan's translation "Would do credit to a Ger¬
man professor" ? Consult Spaulding ! Could the
London Times couch a keener insult ? When did
German excel Irish talent ? Citizen, it is a mean
bird that fouls its own nest. Who is their gge ?
Irish-Americans should take immediate steps to
compel their brethren at home to cultivate and pre¬
serve the National language by having it taught in
all the schools in the several localities where it is as
yet the language of the people; and the most effect¬
ive mode to effect this purpose would be to withold
all aid, public and private, from such locations until
it shall be done.
Nothing can be more galling to the intelligent,
selfrespecting Irish-American parent than to hear
his child relate how such and such boy or girl said
to it, "You Ignorant Irish," a characterization made
plausible and seemingly just because of the apathy
and indifference of the people at home to cultivate
the language; for had the language been cultivated,
Gaelic literature would have sprung up in all direc¬
tions, and the old-time literary prestige of the race
maintained.
Had the teaching of the National language been
attended with any extra expense to the pupils there
would be some excuse, but it does not cost them one
cent, and the local managers can have it taught in
their respective schools if they will it, and they can¬
not shirk the responsibility.
Hence, all that need be done to compel the mana¬
gers to remove the opprobrious epithets from
ourselves and our children is, to cut off all aid from
them until they do so, which, we promise, will not
be long.
At this writing the signs of the times point, un¬
mistakably, to the contraction of English power and
dominion in the very near future — largely brought
about, perhaps, by the ubiquitous Irish race, states¬
men by nature. The question, then, is, whether the
twenty virile millions of that race who dwell outside
of Ireland will permit the four degenerate millions
who are domiciled therein to mar the splendid poss¬
bilities thus in their immediate view?
Paternal neglect to cultivate our literature requires
of us double strength and vitality to successfully
compete in the race of life with our neighbors of o¬
ther nationalities because of that odious legacy, "Ig¬
norance," resulting from it. And not only does that
legacy compel us to fight the peoples of other natio¬
nalities but it compels us also to fight a large section
of our own, who have become our enemies to eschew
the opprobrium which they imagine brotherhood
with us would entail.
Here, it is our duty to organize in the several
towns and cities and to tell our people at home what
we suffer from their criminal neglect to keep the e¬
vidence of our social superiority before the nations,
and if they do not take immediate steps to remedy
the evil, that we shall resort to other means than
words (like the Old Man with the Boy who was
stealing the apples) to compel them.
Mr. McPhilpin, editor of the TUAM NEWS, is in
New York in the interest of the Irish Language
Movement, and intends to issue an American edi¬
tion of Bourke's Easy Lessons, College Irish
Grammar and other Gaelic works. Mr. Philpin
is nephew of the late lamented Canon Bourke, and
representative of both the Canon and Archbishop
McHale in the Gaelic cause — the cause of Irish
Nationality and Irish respectability !
Irishmen, you have the opportunity of your
lives to place yourselves right before the nations
by distributing your ancient literature, and thus
close the months of your detractors by exhibiting
them in their proper garb — the mushroom growth
of a few centuries.
