AN GAODHAL.
917
guage not to print any more Irish at all. Now I
would tell the Student, Mr. T. O'N Russell and
others, when they send Irish letters to those pa¬
pers, insist that their letters must be printed just
as they are written, and therefore that the editors
of those papers are not then, to be blamed
for the bad spelling or bad grammar contained in
them. I see that it was so with Mr. Russell's last
letter to the Echo, styled "Sgeul an cheid leabhair
do clobhuaileadh a n-Gaedhilig" and there
are many words in that letter that need correct¬
ion. And how is it with English language? We
find words misspelled, misquoted or misplaced in
nearly every column of the best papers. I will re¬
fer you to one only paragraph, in Student's letter,
and if his criticisms on the Irish printing papers
are correct or just, I would ask you, on the same
score, "For Heaven's sake" not to print any more
English at all, in the Citizen? Near the end of
Student's letter, he says "Allow me to say a word
about the Irish as she is wrote at present in the
Echo, the GAEL and the Irish-American" etc. The
word "Irish" meaning language, has no sex, and
in the English is of the neuter gender, therefore
the word "she" is improper and incorrect, and con¬
sequently, as he says, barbarous. Next, the word
"wrote" is the past or imperfect tense of "write,"
and Lindley Murray tells us that "a passive verb
is conjugated by adding the perfect or passive par¬
ticiple to the auxillary 'to be' through all its
changes of number, person, mood and tense." Stu¬
dent adds it to the past or imperfect tense
"wrote," which is again incorrect and barbarous
He should have said, as it is written. Farther
down, the Student says, "Let the editors of those
journals print no Gaelic that is not at least fairly
correct. If they can't do this," etc. I ask in God's
name, do what? If the poor Student had said, let
the editors of those journals print Gaelic that is a
least fairly correct, then with some show of pro¬
priety, he may say, "If they can't do this." His
two negatives, "no" and "not" do not destroy each
other in the above case, and the expression is an¬
other of those barbarisms. I think this is enough
this time. Let us have Irish in Irish type. We
want no approximations but the thing itself.
Yours very respectfully,
THOMAS D. NORRIS.
The GAEL wrote to the Citizen on the same sub¬
ject but the letter was not published. The sub¬
stance of the GAEL's contention was that Father
Keegan nor any one else wished to see Gaelic badly
written, but that in order to encourage those who
are learning it, their efforts should be published. —
that a child must creep before it is able to walk.
We cannot conceive why such men as "Student"
are eternally hammering at "bad Irish." Some of
the best Gaelic writers in New York to-day wrote
very bad Irish half a dozen years ago. Let all
who are able to write Gaelic in any way, send
their exertions to the papers. This is the way to
improve themselves. By and by they can refer to
the grammar and see where they erred. — Ed. G.]
From the Tuam News of Dec. 27, 1889.
We have received the number for the current
month of the Brooklyn GAEL, a periodical wholly
devoted to the preservation and cultivation of the
Irish language. This number contains a large
quantity of interesting Gaelic reading. Its leading
article embodies the speech delivered at the re¬
ception of the English Home Rule delegates in
Tuam, by Mr. M. J. Costelloe of Graigue Lodge.
There are also given two or more contributions
from the pen of a Maynooth student, a native of
the Co. Waterford, which we have read with pleas¬
ure. He regrets the absence from the College of
the Rev. Eugene Growney. It also publishes the
reports (from the Tuam News) of proceedings of
the Tuam Irish Language Committee, together
with report of trial at the Petty Sessions Court
here, wherein figured John Jones of Gregawanna
and donkey, Sergeant Kilcommons and the Mc¬
Dermott Roe of Cummer. The GAEL is certainly
well worthy of support from Irishmen. It is the
first journal ever printed in the Irish language in
America, nay, the first Irish paper ever printed in
any part of the world, except tho Keltic Journal,
started in Manchester in 1869, which became de¬
funct after its seventh number. Irishmen of New
York and other States of the Union would act
praiseworthy if each sent one or more copies of
the GAEL to their friends in Ireland. They would
thus help the spirited proprietor, Mr. Logan, and
show the people at home that in the "greater Ire¬
land beyond the Atlantic," the Irish language is
not a thing Irishmen are ashamed of. It may not
be uninteresting to some people to be informed
that the proprietor and editor of the GAEL is a
native of the parish of Milltown adjoining Tuam,
and that the editor of the "Gaelic Department"
of the Tuam News for the last fifteen years is from
another bordering parish, both being self-taught
in Irish. This goes to verify the Irish proverb —
'Ní shiad na fir mhóra a bhaineas an
fóghmhar air fad."
Twenty years of the best part of his lifetime has
the editor of our Gaelic Department been aiding
in the cause, the greater part of which he silently
and con amore worked with the late Canon Bourke
author of the College Irish Grammar and other
works. Often did he travel miles and miles on
foot taking down poems, songs proverbs and other
Gaelic remains from old persons who have since
gone over to the majority. Besides what he has
given of his collection in our "Gaelic Department"
he has yet in manuscript as much as would fill a
column weekly of the Tuam News for the next
fifty years.
The governments of Russia, Turkey, Germany
and England (now in Canada) seek to uproot all for¬
eign languages, in their respective dominions. Why?
We put that question to the Irish leaders and to
the editors of the Irish-American press. Will they
answer it? Never, why? We admit that it would
be a hardship to Irish-American editors to go to
the expense of buying Gaelic type and hiring Gael¬
ic compositors, etc., without the expectation of
getting a return for it, but it would certainly be no
hardship for them to direct their readers to where
they could be instructed in the National Language
at the small expense of two cents a week. Were I¬
rish-American editors patriotic, they would urge
their readers to avail themselves of the opportun¬
ty, aye, and avail of it themselves too.
Send 60 cents for An Gaodhal.
