AN GAODHAL.
139
"A nation which allows her language to go to
ruin, is parting with the best half of her intellectual
independence, and testifies to her willingness to cease
to exist." — ARCHBISHOP TRENCH.
— "The Green Isle contained, for more centuries
than one, more learning than could have been col¬
lected from the rest of Europe. * * * It is not
thus rash to say that the Irish possess contempo¬
rary histories of their country, written in the lang¬
uage of the people, from the fifth century. No oth¬
er nation of modern Europe is able to make a sim¬
ilar boast" — SPAULDING's [Anti Irish] ENGLISH
LITERATURE, APPLETON & Co., N Y.
A monthly Journal devoted to the Cultivation and
Preservation of the Irish Language and the au¬
tonomy of the Irish Nation.
Published at 814 Pacific st., Brooklyn, N. Y.
M. J. LOGAN, - - - Editor and Proprietor
Terms of Subscription — $1 a year to students, 60
cents to the public, in advance ; $1. in arrears.
Terms of Advertising — 20 cents a line, Agate.
Entered at the Brooklyn P. O. as 2nd-class matter
Eleventh Year of Publication.
VOL 8, No. 12. DECEMBER, 1891.
Remember that the First Irish Book is given free
of charge to every new subscriber.
Subscribers will please remember that subscrip¬
tions are due in advance.
Not for centuries could Gaels with
as much hope for the future indulge
the old time practice of bidding each-
other a merry Christmas and a happy
new year as on the present auspicious
occasion. First, the foundation of their
nationality (the language) is safe — We
are justified in making this assertion
by the signs of the times, not the least
of which is the Rev. Father O'Grow¬
ney's appointment to the Celtic Chair
in Maynooth College. Second, there
is no fear but the superstructure will
be erected for though the scouts of the
enemy have given formal notice that
it will never be, yet they forget or ig¬
nore the fact that the helpless worm
on which they have trodden so long
and so unmerciful has been at last en¬
dowed by providence with an effective
mode of defense — a mode that will ex¬
act that measure of respect, attention
and consideration which the piteous
appeals of helplessness and misery
could never evoke. Hence, in the pres¬
ence of these favorable and promising
signs, THE GAEL wishes all its friends,
A Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year.
THE GÆL'S SUCCESS.
By common consent, the appoint¬
ment of the Rev. Eugene O'Growney
to the Celtic Chair in the National Col¬
lege of Ireland constitutes him at once
the recognized head of the Gaelic revi¬
val movement. We know no other man
more competent to fill that important
office; sensible, not given to wild, chi¬
merical theories, and patriotic from the
nails of his toes to the hair on his head.
By a little exertion in upholding his
arms in this, to the cause, all-important
office, Irish-Americans can, through
his ministry, assure the revivification
of the language from Cape Clear to
Malin Head, as Mr. Foley aptly rem¬
arks. No business or movement can
prosper to any large or sensible degree
without an organ to bring it, and keep
it before the public — patent medicine
men make millions and only by adver¬
tising — it cannot be expected that the
Gaelic movement is an exception, and
can spring into success without this
necessary and indispensable concomi¬
tant.
THE GAEL has struggled for the last
ten years to bring about what has to-
day been a recognized and a realized
fact — the necessity of preserving the
language of Ireland, and the means of
compassing it. And had it timidly suc¬
cumbed to the actions of the adverse
elements which surrounded it for all
these weary years, it is probable that the
Irish Chair in Maynooth College would
have been vacant today. But no; the
spirit which has kept it afloat and that
has compassed a result at which the
heart of the most degenerate Irishman
must have throbbed with joy, is such
