AN GAODHAL.
939
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.
Terms of Advertising — 10 cents a line, Agate
VOL 7, No. 9 APRIL. 1890.
THE GAEL'S SUCCESS.
The success attending the new sys¬
tem of teaching the Gaelic which has
been initiated in the THE GAEL has by
far exceeded our most sanguine expec¬
tations. 164 new students have been
added to the Gaelic roll within the
last two months, thus verifying the
cogency of the axiomatic phrase. —
"There is nothing which succeeds
like success."
Let, then, the old war-horses of the
movement follow it up.
This is a good time for the Irish
National League of America to help
Parnell; and the most effective help
it can render at the present time is to
order a general boycott of English
goods. This time is opportune here,
too, as the movement cannot be con¬
nected with American politics — '92
being too far off and no parties or plat¬
forms in the political field. The boy¬
cott is not against individual English¬
men, but an intelligent, effective mode
of convincing England that though
she may employ brutal means to op¬
press the Irish people, they can res¬
ort to peaceable methods to wound
her in her pocket — a most vital part
of her surroundings. We say simply
to the Englishman, —
"John, while you, by brute force, de¬
prive us of our inalienable right to ma¬
nage our own internal affairs, we will
not by your manufactures and, there¬
by, compel you to close your mills; but,
left to our own free will, we shall pa¬
tronize your goods provided they are
as cheap as those of others. Therefore
if you desire to retain our friendship
and our custom you will take your
hands off of us."
We hope President Fitzgerald will
issue an order for a general boycott.
It has been organized in Brooklyn, and
his edict would render it general.
FATHER HAND'S SUGGESTION IN RELA¬
tion to An Irish-American Historical Society.
Green Isle, Minn. Feb. 28. '90.
Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 1st. inst. came duly
to hand. I beg to thank you for the trouble you
have taken in trying to find for me the History of
the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. You have done
your part and I feel just as thankful to you as if
you had found it.
It strikes me as being a little strange that books
such as the History of the Friendly Sons are no
where to be found. Books bearing on the history
of the early Irish settlers in America are certainly
not within the reach of ordinary mortals. For I
have searched every store and place of publication
that I could hear of for a few such books, but, for
so far, I have not found them.
I am beginning to fear that loss of our beautiful
language will not be our only reproach. Ignorance
of the records of our countrymen in America will
leave a stigma on us as well if we dont look out.
There is scarcely a magazine or newspaper issued
from the so called American press that does not
contain some fling or some innuendo at our race.
We say that we are 20 milloins Irish Americans,
all told, and yet we have not got a single magaz¬
ine or society devoted to collecting and elucidating
facts of history connected with our race in this
country. Books bearing on such subjects, it app¬
ears, are all out of print.
Whilst we have got a most excellent American
historical society, and many good state historical
societies we have not got a ghost of an Irish Ame¬
rican one. We are being continually appealing to
history for justification yet where are our mater¬
ials of history? They are hidden away in obscur¬
ity, and going to lie there forever if we do not
bring them forth and show them to the world and
whose business is it to do that but our own? How
can that best be done or how can it be done at all?
It appears to me there is only one way to do it,
and that is to form an Irish American society for
the purpose and the only possible way to form
such a society would be through the agency of the
Irish American press.
If the Irish American press were to pour in a
few broad sides, two or three, or as many as would
