AN GAOḊAL.
303
WHAT THEY THINK OF US AT HOME.
It is with pleasure we transfer to the columns
of the Gael the following complimentary comment
which appeared in the Dublin Freeman's Journal
of Dec. 7.
We have received the first number of Volume III
of An Gaodhal, published at Brooklyn, State of
New York, and printed partly in Irish, partly in
English. This publication is remarkable in many
ways. It gives proof of the strong spirit of nation¬
ality animating our countrymen in the United States
and of the great regard that is gradually growing
up there for the Irish language. The account con¬
tained therein of the Irish entertainment given at
New York on the 16th of October would repay pe¬
rusal. There were three speeches or recitations in
Irish, and eight musical performances, consisting
of vocal solos, duetts, and choruses in that lan¬
guage, contained the programme of the entertain¬
ment. The Irish All-Hallow Eve entertainment
at New York is also described, and the lecture which
Counciller P. J. O'Hanlon delivered in Irish. The
contents of the Gaodhal, which has entered on its
third year, show that as far as language is concern¬
ed our countrymen in America are far in advance
of the Irish at home. Tho address of the editor
and the friendly references to the Dublin Gaelic
Journal show what sympathy joins together the
"sea-divided Gael", and that with all our disorga¬
nisation and differences we are advancing step by
step towards a more firm union of all Irishmen both
at home and abroad. There is no doubt that the
link of a common language, even when not fully
possessed, is a strong bond of union and the great¬
est characteristic of a distinct nationality. The
perusal of the Gaodhal would imprint this fact
firmly on the mind of any intelligent person.
The Freeman notices the friendly references
which the Gael makes to the Gaelic Journal. The
Freeman would not be surprised at this if he knew
the spirit which gave birth to and animates the
Gael.
The Gael has no object apart from the cultiva¬
tion of the Irish Language, and the sentiment
which a widely spread learned knowledge of
cannot fail to inspire. We thank the Freeman in
the name of the movement which called the Gael
into existence, and we hope that our other leading
national journalists, at home and abroad, will come
forward with the same singleness of purpose as that
which evidently animates the Freeman and place
the Gaelic Journal and the Gael, with the object
which is solely their aim, before their readers.
Large rivers are formed from small streams; let
then every man make a resolution to do his
part to swell the tide which is now ebbing toward
the complete restoration of the ancient language
of his forefathers.
THE CELTIC SOCIETY.
(From The Montrael Gazette)
The organization in this city of a Celtic Society,
thoroughly catholic in character, within the range
of aims implied by its name, must give pleasure to
a large number of persons in our own and every
other Canadian community. We sincerely con¬
gratulate Mr. MacNish on the heartiness with which
his proposal has been received, and feel sure that
the enthusiasm which marked the opening meeting
may be taken as a guarantee of abundant success.
To the comparatively small portion of our popula¬
tion whose mother-tongue is one or other of the
Celtic group of languages such an effort to develop
and fructify their natural interest in Celtic ethnol¬
ogy and literature must be especially grateful.
But it would be a grave mistake to suppose that
they alone are concerned in such an undertaking.
To all students of history, of language, of institu¬
tions, of the origin and kinship of nations, the en¬
terprise which Mr. MacNish has initiated in Can¬
ada is of great importance. If we set aside the ab¬
origines (and even between them and a Celtic peo¬
ple there are traditions of pre-Columbian relations)
there is no nationality, represented to any appre¬
ciable extent in the Dominion, with which some
Celtic stock is not akin. Without accepting Pel¬
loutier's obstinately and not unskilfully maintain¬
ed conclusion that the Celts once occupied the
greater portion of entire Europe, we must concede
that, from whatever centre they began to spread,
they gradually succeeded in making themselves
homes in most of the lands bordering the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean. They even crossed over to
Asia Minor and gave their name to Galatia, and in
St. Jerome's time those Gallo-Greeks of the East
had not entirely abandoned the use of their own
language. A remark of that illustrious father to the
intent that the dialect of the Galatians resembled
that which was spoken in the vicinity of Treves was
turned to account by Pelloutier in his attempt to
prove that the Germans were Celts. Olshausen,
on the other hand, in his commentary on the Epis¬
tle to the Galatians, claims that the latter were Ger¬
mans and not Celts at all, and that St. Paul, in ad¬
dressing them, was practically addressing the Ger¬
man nation. Singularly enough, one of the lead¬
ers of the emigrant band was called Lutarius, which
is certainly not unlike the name of the great Ger¬
man reformer. That they were Celts, however,
there is really no reason to doubt, and it is not
without interest to know that a Celtic community
was among the first of the nations to receive the
Gospel from the great apostle of the Gentiles.
The movement of those Gallic tribes toward
their ancient Aryan fatherland, which added an¬
other to the many ethnic elements of Asia Minor,
took place in the middle of the third century be¬
fore the Christian era. In the reign of Augustus.
not many years after the Western Gauls had been
