AN GAODHAL.
691
factory.
The Society has sold up to this $1,126 Irish books.
This is exclusive of the books sold in America by
independent publishers, but, with the Society's
consent.
The foregoing are salient points of the Report,
and the whole, is very interesting. Now would it
not be well for some of our well to do Irishmen to
follow Mr. Tierney's example and send a bundle
of Gaels to those schools in Ireland where Gaelic
is taught, for the use of Gaelic scholars, Every
Gaelic pupil ought to be presented with a copy of
the Gael. Will our readers try and bring this
about among their friends.
Let one Gaelic society send 40 copies to the Tuam
Convent, another 40 to Mr. Foley, Dungavan, a
Division of Hibernians, 30 to some other Gaelic
class, etc. This would be an encouragement to the
pupils and would increase their numbers.
We hope that all the readers of the Gael who be-
long to patriotic societies will bring the matter up
in their meeting rooms.
The Dublin Freeman says —
The annual report of the Society for the Preser-
vation of the Irish Language, which was read and
adopted at the meeting held on Tuesday last, is in
many respects suggestive, and in some degree hum-
iliating. There is no use in denying that the Irish
people have passively assented to the destruction of
that which is the first and most lasting element of
a distinct Nationality — a nation's language. The
eradication of the mother tongne is not yet accom-
plished: Gaelic is still spoken by a fifth of the pop-
ulation ; but it is self deluslsion to imagine that in
this one fleld the conquest of Ireland is not in a
fair way to success. Through all the centuries of
storm and persecution the Irish people clung to
their national language and to their creed with
the same unflinching fidelity. The agency which
was established with the design of destroying both
has failed to affect the people's religious belief ; it
has undermined the language. Nothing could well
be more indefensible than the action of the Board
of National Education, in attempting to crush out
the Gaelic, except, perhaps, the tacit acquiesence
of Irishmen in the preject. Of the two, the Edu-
cationists are least worthy of blame : they have a
policy to pursue — the Anglicising of Ireland — and
they do their business. But that no national protest
should ever be heard against their purpose and their
methods argues a strange indifference amongst the
masses of Irishmen. Those who are interested in
the preservation of the language make no extrava-
gant proposals and advance no untenable claims.
Gaelic should not be penalised in the primary
schools, and that in the districts where the language
is still the mother tongue of the people, children
should be taught English through the medium of
Gaelic. But the authorities, steadily pursuing
their mission, prefer that the children of one-fifth
of the populaiion should be taught English badly,
rather than that the principal of introducing Gaelic
as a subject of education should be recognized. The
question has been argued out, over and over again,
and the action of the National Board has been prove¬
ed beyond yea or nay to be illogical and prejudicial
to the interests of such pupils: but no change of
any consequence has been made, and the little con-
cessions that were granted from time to time were
given grudgingly.
IRISH SCHOLARS.
A certain party wrote “An open letter to Gaelic
students" in a New York weekly the other day, in
which he stated that he knew of only two men in
America who were capable of writing really correct
Irish, namely, Messrs. Magner and “Padraic.” He
being a judge, of course, makes the third — “There
is luck in odd numbers, said Rory O'More.”
We presume this is as true as his statement about
Taig Gaodhalach, when he said — “If we count all
the lines in the book and multiply them by four it
will be found that every 3rd word is wrong.” We
published 110 lines in No. 10 of THE GAEL
and we cannot find one-tenth of that number. But
this party tries to get out of his ugly position by
stating, “The copy we saw.” What a pitiable sub-
terfuge for any man claiming common decency.
We always thought that Messrs. Wm. Russell,
of Oil City, and P. J. O'Daly, Boston, were capable
of writing really correct Irish. Both have spoken
and written the language from infancy, and both
have written for the English-reading public in var-
ious journals. Mr. Russell is a classical scholar
and master of several foreign languages, and Mr.
O'Daly is editor of the Irish Echo. Both write the
Irish language as correctly as they write the Eng-
lish: Why, then, does not this man assert that they
write "bad” English, so that the general public
could judge for themselves? Ah, no, he prefers to
strike in the dark, like the midnight foot-pad. And
be it remembered that this man (according to his
own statement), did not know a word of Irish twelve
years ago.
The gentlemen named above are, at least, as good
English scholars as T O R, coupling with this the
fact that they are Gaelic students from infancy, and
thoroughly conversant with the idiom of the lan-
guage, will any man of common sense believe
the statement of this foreigner to the language that
they are not capable of writing it correctly?
There are peculiarities in all languages which
defy grammatical rules, and all the writers
of grammars, intended for the instruction of foreig-
ners, direct their students in all cases of doubt to
have recourse to the natural speaker of those lan-
guages for information. But this man says “No,
what does the natural speaker know about it. He
is ignorant.”
The formation of the plural of certain nouns,
such as man. never appears strange to the English
student, nor can he account for its irregularity. So
it is with the formation of the possessive pronouns,
yours, its, hers, without the apostrophy. The for-
eigner would say that these were wrong, not being
according to rule. And so does the foreigner T. O.
R., treat Irish exceptions.
We say, an teine, an cailín, an tean-
ga, an t-slat, all feminine gender nouns,
which according to rule, (that the ar-
ticle an aspirates the initial of feminine
nouns in the nominative case), should be
written, an theine, an chailín, an theanga,
an shlat, forms of expression which were
never heard coming from an Irish speaker. Yet
if this T. O. R., had his way, the latter form of
expression would be adopted. He
would call “the turf fire, teine na
móna. instead of, an teine mhóna, as he
calls the lrish language teanga na
gaedhilge instead of an teanga Ghaedhilge
