AN GAODHAL.
915
A monthly Journal devoted to the Cultivation and
Preservation of the Irish Language and the au¬
tonomy of the Irish Nation
Entered at the Brooklyn P. O. as second class mail
matter.
Ninth Year of Publication.
Published at 814 Pacific st., Brooklyn, N.Y.
M. J. LOGAN, - - - Editor and Proprietor
Terms of Subscription — Sixty Cents a year, in
advance. $1 in arrear; Five Cents a single copy.
Terms of Advertising — 10 cents a line, Agate.
VOL 7, No. 7. FEBRUARY. 1890.
A NEW MOVE.
As may be seen on another page
we have entered on a new plan for
giving lessons in the Irish language.
It is the most effectual mode of teach¬
ing through the instrumentality of a
journal that we can conceive, and if
the readers of An Gaodhal exert them¬
selves it will be the means of making
thousands of Gaelic readers. Let all
who get this copy of An Gaodhal can¬
vass their lrish-American friends,
explain the new mode of teaching to
them and urge them to become mem¬
bers of the Gaelic League. Let them
also, send copies home to some friends
with growing children.
We hope the Irish-American press
will direct the attention of their read¬
ers to the new system of teaching the
Irish language which An Gaodhal has
commenced, and urge on them the pa¬
triotism involved in the preservation
of the National language.
THE NINTH YEAR.
Now that An Gaodhal has entered on
its ninth year the occasion may not be
inopportune to suggest to those tak¬
ing an interest in the preservation of
the national language the course best
calculated in our opinion, to attain
that end. It is a fact which admits of
no discussion that no movement can
make any headway without an organ
or organs to bring its principles prom¬
inently before the public. This being
granted, we would ask, what special
efforts have those engaged in pro¬
moting the movement to preserve the
language made to bring that about?
An Gaodhal has been in existence for
the last eight years, what special ef¬
forts have they made as a body to
bring it before the public, or to circu¬
late it among their countrymen? Con¬
sidering the millions of so-called Irish¬
men in this country, the burthen of sup¬
porting An Gaodhal has fallen on a
comparatively few. It is a misfortune
for the few who can really call them¬
selves Irishmen that so many West Bri¬
tons born on Irish soil claim, from that
fortuitous circumstance, to be Irish¬
men. No, they are not Irishmen, for,
as Wellington said "If a man be born
in a stable that does not make a horse
of him."
There are many men of Irish
birth who do not take part in the move¬
ment to preserve Irish nationality and
yet would be highly offended if it
should be said that they were not pa¬
triotic. The cause of this is, they do
not know themselves Philosophers
assert that there is nothing in the
world in which man is more deficient
than in knowing himself.
Feed a cow on red carrot and her
butter becomes tinged with that color.
Water a plant with brine and it be¬
comes salty Feed an Irishman on
English literature, to the exclusion of
his own, and he becomes English. And
the most dangerous feature in relation
to Irish nationality in this connection
is, that the Irishman is as insensible
to the effect on him as the cow is to
the change in the color of her butter,
or the plant of its taste. Anglicised I¬
rishmen may roar and shout lrish pa¬
triotism but it is not there. — They reap
of that which they sow.
