AN GAOḊAL
493
Supposing that a female prisoner has a
disease, the doctor must proceed by an
examination of her expressed sympt¬
oms in order to understand what pains
and other troubles she complains of
and he must be acquainted with the
language in which she expressed her
symptoms. Supposing that she speaks
Irish, and that he speaks no Irish, he
would be obliged to call in the servic¬
es of the male Irish-speaking warder?
Yes, he would.
Do you think that it is a proper thing
that a female prisoner should be depri¬
ved of all possibility of speaking of her
disease, in its incipient stage, except
through the medium of a male warder,
when delicacy of feeling may prevent
her from having a recourse to such a
medium? Under those circumstances
it would not be advisable that it should
be done through a male officer, certain¬
ly.
Then you see that it would be desi¬
rable that there should be another offi¬
cer, at least — a female officer speaking
Irish? Yes.
The Council of the society is in communication
with Sir John Pope Hennessy, Governor of the
Mauritius, as well as many other eminent Irish¬
men all over the world, who give evidence of their
active sympathy with the cause. The Council in
is ennumeration of active elements in the cause of
the language does not forget to give prominence
to The Gael. It also refers to the Gaelic Idyll, got¬
ten up by our New York friends, Professor Roeh¬
rig's essay on the Irish Language, the exertions
made in England, Scotland and Wales, and, also,
the Philo-Celtic Society of Belfast, whose success
is wholly due to Marcus J. Ward, esq. The fol¬
lowing gentlemen were elected members of the
Council during the year, —
Rev. James Stevenson, M. A. T. O'Riordan. T.
Rooney, Prof. O'Reilly, Chas. J. O'Donel, Rev.
E. Quaide, Rev. P. J. Moran, N, Lynch, M. P.
W. B. O'Brien, M. P. Rev. R. Staples, C. C. and
J. H. McCarthy, M. P.
Up to the present time the Society has sold 39. -
654 of the First Book, 18,271 of the Second and
5,113 of the Third : 972 of the Pursuit of Dermott
& Grainne. 672 of Part II., and 365 of the Chil¬
dren of Lir : making a total of 70.312, a good
showing for the Society.
The Report is, on the whole, satisfactory were it
not for omitting the exertions of the Gaelic Union
and the Gaelic Journal. We regret this omission
because it looks like ignoring the services of a
body of learned, patriotic men not less solicitous
for the welfare of the Irish Language Movement
than the members of the Council of the Society are
They should remember that some of the members
of the Gaelic Union were the organizers, or at least
assisted thereat, of their Society as they were after¬
wards of the Gaelic Union, and, admitting that
they were a little bossy (as we say here) still they
should bear in mind the old saying, —
"Giḋ ní maiṫ ó maoiḋtear,
Is feárr an ṁaiṫ a deuntar
'Ná 'n ṁaiṫ naċ ndeuntar,"
Even if their opinions ran tangent with that of o¬
ther members of the Society their singleness of
purpose in the cause should be ingenuously ack¬
nowledged. The Irish Language Movement is
such that those engaged in forwarding it should
bear with each other's little foibles and fancies to
a very large extent.
The Irish Language Movement was nursed into
vitality in this city twelve years ago and the
Home Movement and all similar organizations are
the offspring of the agitation which it initiated.
Hence, The Gael, being the direct product of the
initiating movement, claims the right to criticise
the actions of subsequent accretions to it regard¬
less of personalities. We do not care who gets the
credit so long as the work is done, but we always
like to see credit given where it is due. Our Dub¬
lin friends instead of ignoring the Gaelic Journal
should seize it and infuse life into it, and, thereby,
encourage us this side the water. We do not know
the Gaelic Union apart from The Society for the
Preservation of the Irish Langage. We shall
give all the assistance in our power, both in adver¬
tising and otherwise, to any body of men having
for their object the cultivation of the language.
Shortly after the Brooklyn Society organized the
New York Gaelic Societies they (the New Yorkers)
seemed to regret that they owed their existence to
the less pretentious city of Brooklyn. But the
Brooklyn Society, like the true parent, humored
the petulent whims of its offspring (gently check¬
ing the indiscretions to which youth is always
prone) until they grew into manhood.
Let our Dublin and other friends cast aside all
petty jealousies, having the one object ever in
view, the preservation and cultivation of Mother
Tongue.
Since the first issue of the Gael Five
Hundred and Sixty-three persons have
written to us in the Irish Language,
About four hundred of these are mere
efforts, but they are an encouraging
sign of the future of the language, and
we feel some pride to make the report
to our readers. We answered all in
the same language.
'S ní h-inneaċ
ó h-iarrtar;
Vide Vol. II.
p. 248.
