AN GAOOAL
619
ed Kingdom, — as Burke, Sheridan, Castlereagh,
Goldsmith, Moore and Wellington.” And what
shall we say of the women of Ireland ? Not only
are they generally surpassing in graceful form, in
loveiness and external beauty those of most other
countries of Europe, — but also the virtue, the
goodness, devotion and piety of the Irish women
are too well known to need any further praise. It
is moreover, a fact that many of the most accom¬
plished ladies who have ever adorned English so¬
ciety were Irish by birth. And who has not heard
of the famous poetess Laitheog of the sixth cen¬
tury. Does this not show that women, likewise
took an active share in the literary cultivation of
that period.
Such, then, is the Irish people. And should so
noble, good and great a nation not attract our en-
thusiastic admiration, our love, our warmest, heart¬
iest sympathies ! Should we allow it to have all its
historical souvenirs stamped out of its existence, to
become crippled and degraded by sore and endless
oppression, and, at last, to lose, with their langu¬
age, even their nationality and their name in the
world's history forever ! The preservation of the
Irish language will be the preeservation of the Irish
nationality. Do not allow these melancholy words
uttered by despondency ever to be a sad reality ;—
“it is to be feared that the life of the Irish lan¬
guage is almost at an end : that it will soon follow
the fate of the Cornish, and that before a century
or two, the air of Ireland will no more convey
Gaedhilic tones, and her people no longer use the
speech which for three thousand years expressed
the thoughts of their ancestors.” No, that shall
never be ! Erin go bragh! Let us, then sing with
the poet :
"Sweet tongue of our Druids, and Bards of past
ages —
Sweet tongue of our Monarchs, our Saints and our
Sages. —
Sweet tongue of our heroes and free born sires,
When we CEASE TO PRESERVE THEE, OUR GLORY EX¬
PIRES.
Let, then, everyone that has an Irish heart, thor¬
oughly and passionately impress it with those
golden words of truth, and echo them unceasingly
in the depth of his soul ;
"Ar g-clúne sin eugtha, má staonam,
de d' chosnamh."
Yours devotedly,
F. L. O. RŒHRIG.
The table referred to in our last issue.
Possessive Pronouns.
Aspiration
Eclipsis.
mo, mo
ar , ar
do, do
bhur, bhur
a, a (his]
a, a, their,
Numerals
1, aon, aon
2, da, dá
1st, cead, cead
3rd, treas, treas
7, seacht, seacht
8, ocht, ocht
9, naoi, naoi
10, deich, deich
2-3, dha d-trian, dh
d-trian.
$50,000,000
Are lost to the Irish element in this city of Brook¬
lyn yearly through the loss of their language.
That is our answer to those who say, “what good
is in the language.” That sum of money is paid
yearly to Dutch grocers by the Irish element.
The Dutchman, the Frenchman, the Italian, the
Swede the Norwegian and the Englishman will go
several blocks to deal with their countrymen — the
Irish stuaka alone being the exception to the rule.
An Irishman kept a grocery store in this ward,
in an almost exclusively Irish neighborhood, and,
notwithstanding that he owned the house — a cor¬
ner store — he could not make a living in it. He
rented it to a Dutchman and he is making a for¬
tune. If other cities be like Brooklyn in this re¬
spect, the Irish element are losing billions of dol¬
lars yearly. Now these Irish grocers will tell you
that their countrymen will go and patronize the
Dutchmen before they will patronize them (the I¬
rish). This want of national cohesion cannot be
attributed to the Irish or Celtic race. The French
the Italian, the Swede and others are also of the
Celtic race. Then to what must this state of things
be attributed? Ah, to the want of the common
National bond — the language. Let the objectors
to the truth of this declaration, point out to us a
single nationality, however insignificant, except
the Irish alone which acts differently from the a¬
bove, and we shall "shut up” for ever. Though
we particularized grocers we could mention other
lines of business similarly affected. What are
these Irish grocers and the other pursuits similarly
affected doing to remedy this extraordinary state
of things? What are our Irish "patriots,” who
appear to be so solicitous for the welfare of the
race, doing to remedy it, nothing ? Oh no, they are
too magnanimous to give a passing thought to such
insignificant matter, and too meek to object to
turn the right cheek when slapt on the left, which
they daily do.
Something approaching a million of dollars has
been collected for the Parnell Parliamentray Fund.
and a good deal of noise has been made about it.
but not a word about the billions going yearly in¬
to the coffers of the stranger, as above stated
How many of the grocers who complain of the un¬
sympathetic actions of their countymen are mak¬
ing the slightest exertion to remedy the evil. Have
they not heretofore known the cause? They know
it now, and will they help the Gael to remove it.
Let it not be understood that we personally are
in favor of "exclusive dealing,” but seeing that
the other nationalists do it, then why not the Irish,
Perhaps the Irishman is too noble to stoop to
such a thing. If that be the cause his labors for
centuries to enoble mankind have resulted in
very small potatoes to himself.
The Irishman who would refuse to contribute a
dollar or two a year to help to preserve and extend
the language of his country and therewith pre¬
serve the evidence of the antiquity of his race
and lineage, should not disgrace that country by
claiming it as the place of his birth.
