158
AN GAOḊAL.
An t-slat naċ n-glacann sníoṁ; the
rood that takes not twisting.
In these instances, when the two con¬
sonants, t & s, come together, t is pro¬
nounced and y is silent; which indeed
is always the case whenever two con¬
sonants whose sounds do not unite in
one syllable meet, the first is sounded,
the second rendered silent.
It is only after the article (an) that
S suffers this change; for if mo, do, or
a (his), the possessive pronoun singul¬
ar precede, or if it be the nominative
case of address; or if the noun begin¬
ning with S come after the prepositions
air, on, etc., as has been pointed out
in the foregoing Observaions, S, s,
would, in all such cases, be aspirated
according to rule ; as,
slat, rod; mo ṡlat, my rod.
slat, rod; air ṡlat, on a rod.
droċ, bad; droċ-ṡlat, a bad rod
slat, rod; "an" t-slat the rod.
LESSON XVIII.
VOCABULARY.
blossom, flower, bláṫ ; scoṫ.
dead, marḃ; earth, talaṁ; fairness or
whiteness, finne ; [blossom] of all that
is fair, bláṫ na finne.
Irishman, Éireannaċ; from Éire, Ire¬
land. Add eaċ, or aċ, to the name of
a country, and the gentile name of one
from that country is formed; as, Sac¬
san-aċ, an Englishman; Franc-aċ, a
Frenchman; Spáin-eaċ, a Spaniard. If
the name of the country or place form
the possessive case in an; as Éire, Ire¬
land; Alba, Scotland; Sacsa, England
Muṁa, Munster, the gentile name is
formed from the possessive case as
Alba, Albanaċ; Sacsa, Sacsanaċ; Mu¬
ṁa, Muṁanaċ.
Honour, onóir; joy, sóġ; luaṫ-ġáir, re¬
joicing; mind, méin; shame, náire;
store, stór; treasure, taisge, ciste.
Exercice 1.
Translate —
1. Is the man old? 2. He is old; but the old
man who was here yesterday is now dead. 3. Is
the old woman in the house? 4. She is not; but
the grandmother is in the house. 5. Have you a
grandmother living? 6. I have, and a grandfather
7. Is the old man who was in the house yesterday
your grandfather? 8. He is; and the old woman
who is here to day is my grandmother. 9. Have
you a good (deagh) heart? 10. I have a good
heart and a well-disposed mind; for every good
man has a good heart and a well-disposed mind.
11. The Lord my God is Sovereign (ardh, high,
supreme, sovereign,) Lord of (air, on,) heaven and
earth. 12. The Irishman is long-lived. 13. How
are all those under your care? 14. Those under
my care are well (slan, safe). 15. How are those
under your care, and your father's, and your grand
father's? 16 Your fame and your reputation are
dear to me. 17. Oh! my sad sorrow that you are
not happy. 18. Oh! my treasure and love of loves
how great is my affection for you! 19. Mary,
pulse of my heart, fiower of all that is fair ? 20.
You are my sorrow and my joy — my honour and
my shame, my life and my death.
Mr. Dougher's Experience of Other Nationalities.
Twin Brothers in Comparison.
Greenfield, N. Y. Feb. 18. '92.
Dear Editor, Friends and Readers of The Gael,
I have worked in nearly all the industrial bran¬
ches of manual labor in pursuit of a livelihood
and by so doing mingled in society with the mass¬
es of all nationalities and observed their customs,
habits and temperaments ; and in analyzing the
same I find the Welsh people the most honorably-
acting in conformity with a national principle. —
They rarely mix in marriage out side their own
people ; they stick to their language as they would
to their lives, and teach the same to their children.
They are well versed in the history of their race,
and their monosyllabic words are like unto the Ir¬
ish, but their compound and derivative words diff¬
er materially under long and different cultivation.
I worked for six years in the coal mines near
Scranton, Pa., along with these people. The in¬
cident to which I am about to refer happened on
the 16th day of March. 1872, when the following
friendly discourse transpired between myself and
my parther, William Evans, a Welshman. —
“Well,” said I, “Mr. Evans, I suppose you are
aware that to-morrow is St. Patrick's Day, a holi¬
day with us, Irish, and that I am not going to work
as I am to be with the celebration and procession."
"Well, Mr. Dougher,” said he, “I am well aware
of what you tell me; neither am I going to work
to-morrow. But I am going to celebrate St. Pat¬
rick's Day, too, though in a different way to how
you, Irish, celebrate it."
I was somewhat taken back by the assertion and
rather delicately hinted that he might proceed with
the explanation.
"Well,” said he, “we Welsh people, assemble
St. Patrick's Day in our hall. There we hold a con¬
cert, singing, speech-making, and discoursing on
the language St. Patrick spoke, our own dear Cel¬
tic tongue. But you, Irishmen, act differently; you
parade around the muddy streets ; spend money
extravagantly ; get out of order in the evening —
end up in a row — talking loudly in the language
of your enemy — leaves me a strong will to think
that that is not how St. Patrick intended it should
be.”
I hung my head in silence and received a lesson
which I have not yet forgot.
P. A. Dougher.
