762
AN GAODHAL.
M. J. Logan, Esq., Editor of the GAEL,
Dear Sir, — I addressed the following letter to
the Irish American as per date. But Mr. Meehan
told me that he had shut down on the folks who
caused all the trouble and in consequence would
prefer to let everything rest. I think he was
right, but however I thought I would ask you to
give the same a place in the GAEL, to let the Gael¬
ic readers know how much I like to be coupled
with those great men.
To the Editors of the Irish-American:
Gentlemen — You will please excuse me for
requesting a place in your valuable paper for a
little essay that is, indeed, very displeasing to my¬
self. I have had patience for a long time with
scurrilous writers who have unnecessarily drawn
my name into the papers, as they have those of
other respectable people, in connection with their
own, as if to give themselves some decent stand¬
ing. I have never courted any such comparison,
and moreover, from anonymous adventurers who
try to blow their own horns under the guise of
some decent people's names or under some insinu¬
ating Nom de plumes. It is well to know that we
have a brace of such would be famous personages
in our midst. We may call them 'Jack and his
Master,' or the 'Lion and the Jackal.' It is not
necessary for me to name them. They are well
known to the readers of your patriotic paper. They
are not lazy to assert that all the Gaelic men and
women, lay and clerical, yourselves included, are
nothing but ignoramuses. It looks as if the mis¬
sion of this duo was to run down or break up every
real effort that is made to resuscitate the dear old
language of Ireland; and this they try more ef¬
ectually by pretending to be its real friends.
What have they ever done for the language ? They
have advertised themselves in long winded letters,
scolding everyone but themselves, telling us how the
Canadians kept up the French, how the Pennsylv¬
ania Dutchmen kept up the Dutch, and then, if they
got their way, they would make the Irish in America
about as much like the real Irish as Pennsylvania
Dutch is like real Dutch. Well, they give trans¬
criptions from ancient writings, with glossaries,
sometimes telling us that a noun (which is really
nom. sing.) is genitive plural, and telling us that
other words (which are quite plain) are ancient
forms of something or another (in the genitive case,
of course.) Show me any other production except
faultfinding or berating some person, or trying to
make trouble between the lovers of our dear lang¬
nage. Remember the lacerating they gave that
good man, David O'Keeffe, who has more real
Irish knowledge in one small corner of his head
than the whole of their mucilaginous brains could
ever comprehend; and what a laugh they must
have had when they wrote under that scurrilous
article "SEAN DUINE MEIREACH O CHIARAIDH." They
were not ashamed to write over the name of re¬
spectable Michael Lane; but I guess he stopped
them. Mr. Daniel Crimmins, over whose name
they have written several articles, had to repudi¬
ate and denounce them publicly. They now cover
themselves under the poor 'Spirit of the language.'
'Cara na Gaodhailge' &c. Sometime ago they gave
me (as they thought) 'Jessy' over the name of the
innocent and honest Michael Lane. In that they
said they thought I was from "Thoin na h-Eireann.
Mumhaineach agus beul Ultaigh air." Now they
run suggestively and give Mr. Logan 'old harry'
over the word Mac Ulladh. If Caraid
na Gaodhailge (as he calls himself) had left my
name out entirely or had he not coupled it with
his or with his own kind, I should not have writ¬
ten a word of this letter. But perhaps it may be
all for the better. This business must cease. Lov¬
ers of our language can turn their time to better
advantage. How many of the Irish speaking peo¬
ple of the world ever saw the 'book of Leinster or
Leabhar na Huidhre?" What good will this pre¬
tended extract from Leabhar na Huidhre do?
with a long glossary given by persons who boldly
assert that the collective noun "muintir" is a noun
in the genitive plural, and that the words "my
habitation," should be in Irish "mo h-arus." We
may, with as much propriety, believe a glossary
of the difficult words of the Holy Bible given by
Brigham Young, and it would be worthy of as
much confidence. Now gentlemen, I hope those
philological heroes will let my name rest in fu¬
ture, and if they don't, I, like Mr. Daniel Crim¬
mins, request you to refuse receiving it, and then
on this subject, 'Ne plus ultra.'
Yours very respectfully,
Thomas D. Norris.
EMMET'S GRAVE
"Pray, tell me," I said, to an old man who stray¬
ed,
Drooping over the graves which his own hands
had made,
"Pray, tell me the name of the tenant that sleeps
'Neath yonder one shade, where the sad willow
weeps ?
Every stone is engraved with the name of the
dead,
But yon blank slab declares not whose spirit is
[fled !
In silence he bowed, and then beckoned me nigh,
Till we stood o'er the grave — then he said with a
sigh,
Yes they DARE not to trace e'en a word on this stone
To the memory of him who sleeps coldly and lone;
He told them. commanded the lines o'er HIS grave
Should never be traced by the hand of a slave.
He bade them to shade e'en his name in the gloom,
'Till the morning of freedom should shine on his
tomb.
When the flag of MY country at liberty flies,
Then, let MY name and MY monument rise.'
You see they obeyed him — tis twenty-eight years,
And they still come to moisten his grave with their
tears.
He was young like yourself, and aspired to o'erthrow
The tyrants, who filled his loved island with woe:
They crushed him — this earth was too base, too
confined,
To gross for the range of HIS luminous mind" —
The old man then paused and went slowly away,
And I felt, as he left me, an impulse to pray ;—
"Grant, Heaven, I may see, ere my own days are
done,
A monument rise o'er my country's lost son, —
And oh, proudest task, be it mine to indite
The long-delayed tribute a freeman must write.
Till then shall it thence in my heart deeply dwell,
So, peace to thy slumber, — dear shade fare the
well."
