104
AN GAOḊAL.
present leaders, but they were handi¬
capped with the calumny, circulated by
their enemies, that they were a lowly
inferior race.
The Gaelic movement, then, being
the cause of this hopeful state of the
Irish race at home and abroad (and the
fact can no more be controverted than
that the discovery of America by Co¬
lumbus was of benefit to mankind),
Gaels should not rest on their oars un¬
til their literature finds its way into
every nook and corner in the land.
It is a fact that the paths of the pro¬
moters of all important movements are
beset with many discouraging obstacles
before public appreciation of them ass¬
umes such proportions as overshadow
prejudice, piques, and individual jeal¬
ousies; and that the promoters of the
Gaelic movement were no exception
to the general rule has been made ma¬
nifest to all intelligent observers. The
Gaelic movement is a success, and the
reissue of Bourke's Easy Lessons, and
the College Irish Grammar by an en¬
terprising New York publisher crowns
the climax of that success.
We believe all Irishmen would like
to be able to read and write their own
native language, and that they would
try to do so were it not for the dread
that they could not accomplish it. We
shall remove that dread. If any Irish¬
man able to speak Irish and read En¬
glish who does what we herein-after
suggest be not able to read and write
Irish in six months, we shall make
him a forfeit of
One Hundred Dollars!
This is the suggestion, — Take Bourke's
Easy Lessons; go over the first simple
exercise, devoting, at least, one-half
hour each day or evening to it; and
do not pass it until you master the
sounds of the letters in all the simple
words which it contains. Continue the
same process with the succeeding ex¬
ercises and if you are not able to send
us a Gaelic letter at the end of six
months, we shall give you the forfeit.
The greatest difficulty to be encoun¬
tered in learning the language is, the
mastering of its idioms and the mean¬
ings of its words: these the Irish spea¬
ker already commands, and his whole
trouble is that he cannot emit the pro¬
per sounds of the letters so as to pro¬
duce the proper sound of the word.
But by commencing at the simple
words, agus, and; am, time; lá, day;
bán, white; bás, death; im, butter; ór
gold; mil, honey; úr, fresh; dorn, the
fist, etc, of the Easy Lessons, and not
attempt to try longer words until these
should be mastered, which would not
take two weeks, he would thereafter
have no trouble in producing the pro¬
per sounds of all words and, of course,
in knowing their meanings.
It is of paramount importance that
all those who speak Irish and read En¬
glish be induced to learn to read Irish
also. — First, because it would be so
easy for them to do so; second, Gaelic
literature would overspread the land;
third, because their ignorance of it is a
slur on Irishism and retards the ob¬
taining of Ireland's self-government.
You hear persons say, What good is
it?" Such men prevaricate, for there
is not an Irishman living that would
not like to have a literary knowledge
of his mother tongue; it's "sour grapes"
with them for you never hear any one
able to read the language say it.
There are thousands of Irishmen in
America who speak Irish and read En¬
glish, and it should be the aim of Gaels
to cause every one of these to read and
write their own language. And by in¬
ducing them to get the Easy Lessons
and to pursue the course of study indi¬
cated above, in less than two months
they would become so absorbed in it
that nothing could prevent them from
attaining the end.
Bourke's Easy Lessons is the best e¬
lementary work ever issued from the
Gaelic press, for it brings the student
along from the a b c of the language
until it lands him beyond its classical
construction.
