AN GAOḊAL.
103
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 student, 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. 9. JUNE, 1891.
The Lessons in THE GAEL being now too
far advanced for beginners, we shall in future send
the First Irish Book, free of charge, to every new
subscriber. Hence, Gaels should try to get every
Irish person to become subscribers, and especially
those who speak Irish and read English. This is a
good move and, as Mr. Lyons, Phila. Pa. remarked,
"It is a wonder we did not think of it before now."
With all the fighting and scolding the Irish lang¬
uage movement has made that progress which well
repays the time and labor of Gaels in its behalf, and
is an incentive to renewed energy on their part.
Ten years ago twelve (12) children from the Na¬
tional and other Schools passed in Irish; last year
805 passed, and, by the N. schools' average, 1,385
were presented for examination. Since the first ex¬
mination in '81, 3,801 have passed; and taking the
same average, the total number presented for exami¬
nation was 7,000. The examination is so difficult
that it takes a scholar to pass it, and hence it is pre¬
sumed that all who were presented (7,000) are Gae¬
lic scholars. Again, allowing that one third of the
Gaelic students were presented for examination, we
have 21,000 of the Irish youth students of the lang¬
uage. Add to these the number of children and a¬
dults, gentle and simple, at home and in America,
who are studying the language, and are we not jus¬
tified in saying that the Gaelic movement is a suc¬
cess?
It is, a big success; calculate the same progress
for the next ten years, and see what it shall be!
You, Gaels, have been the instruments by which
this grand result has been attained and you should
be proud of it. Keep circulating your little GAEL
for its "Sentiments" column is closely scrutinized by
the workers at home, and every new name added
thereto is an additional encouragement to them.
Notwithstanding all the scolding we give our bre¬
thren of the Irish-American press, we hope they will
publish the foregoing encouraging exhibit. We in¬
tend shortly (when we get small type) to issue a se¬
ries of easy lessons, get them stereotyped, and send
a cut, at first cost (about 50 cents a Gael column),
to all the Irish-American papers. This was suggest¬
ed to us some time ago by the Catholic Tribune, St
Joseph, Mo. This will serve the papers and the
Gaelic movement alike.
For the last seven hundred years, at
home or abroad, the Irish people have
not attained the standing in interna¬
tional society which they command to¬
day, brought about by the resurrection
and dissemination of their National
language and literature.
Previous to the organization of the
Gaelic movement, nineteen years ago,
the English had so blackend the Irish
character before the eyes of the world
that all attempts at throwing off the
British yoke or of ameliorating its cru¬
elties were looked upon by surrounding
nations as the visionary dreams of a
discontented, semi-barbarous provin¬
cial tribe whose social antecedent un¬
fitted them for self-government. But
no sooner had the Gaelic movement
made itself felt than the most eminent
scholars of Continental Europe joined
in it, with the result that their remon¬
strances against the barbarism of des¬
troying an ancient and a learned lan¬
guage for political purposes forced the
English government to permit its tea¬
ching in the National Schools. Then
Irishmen began to stand to their full
height, and the genuine national spirit
generated in them by that sense of so¬
cial superiority which the Gaelic move¬
ment demonstrated to the world was
theirs, found expression in the Land
and National Leagues.
The leaders of previous insurrections
and agitations were not, by any means,
the inferiors, in any respect, of the
