164
AN GAODHAL.
which, they invited their former piratical compan¬
ions of the ocean, the corsairs of the North Sea, to
aid them. These, embracing Goths, Huns, Jute, and
Angles (vide Spaulding, their friend and apologist)
responded in large numbers, and with their co-ope¬
ration Hengist and Horsa conquered the (so-called)
kingdiom of Kent and, ultimately, all England (the
country being in a chaos after the fall of the Roman
empire). All of these tribes were barbarous and un¬
civilized, having no language save a monosyllabic
gibberish in which they conveyed their thoughts to
one another. From the year A.D. 498 until 1066 —
a space of 577 years, they held sway in the country
and yet they were so stolidly ignorant, intractable,
and so devoid of intelligence that not one individual
amongst them was, during that large number of
years, endowed with sufficient mental inductive
talent to formulate their gibberish into a language
and found a literature, notwithstanding that the
scholars of the then known world (the Irish monks)
built monasteries in their midst and taught other
languages in them.
The Celto-Normans having their own language,
it was three hundred years after their conquest,
of the country (14th century) that they deigned to
formulate the English language, grounding it on
the monosyllabic gibberish of the Gotho-Hun-Sax¬
on tribes but composing it chiefly from the Latin,
French, and Celtic languages, as we see it to-day.
Hence, from the above facts, are we not justified
in the inference that had the Gotho-Saxon-Hun been
left to himself he would have neither language nor
literature to-day?
Millions of Irish-Americans are today ignorant
of the transcendent social superiority of their fore-
fathers, and it a casual reference be made concer¬
ning it they look upon it as an old fable. But by
exhibiting the copious literature produced by them
during the Dark Ages, when "The Great Anglo-
Saxon myth" had been in the condition noted, a
new life would be infused into them, and they would
no longer ape English fashion or fawn on English
"society."
It is a wonder to us that our millionaire Irishmen
do not take some steps in the above direction. They
possibly think that their millions screen them from
the effects of the odium sought to be cast on their
element by the political combination strutting under
the guise of the "Great Anglo Saxon Race." Not
at all. The possession of their millions is looked up¬
on as a mere accident; the term "Irishism" under
the form, Eganism, as we have heard it lately, ap¬
plies to them and affects them as much as it affects
the Irish boot-back. They have the opportu¬
nity of their lives now to place themselves far above
the social reach of the mal-odorous Gotho-Saxon
combination, who are not to be put on an intellect¬
ual par even with the Indian, for the latter, in less
than two hundred years' neighborship with cultiva¬
ted beings, has language and literature (a), a thing
which the Gotho-Saxon had not the intelligence to
do during his 577 years of uninterrupted sway in
England.
The numerical strength of the Irish element should
not be suffered to go to nought through their own
criminal neglect to assert themselves.
(a) The Cherokee Indians, for instance.
What is the matter with Galway and Mayo men?
There are sixteen schools in Mayo, and twelve in
Galway with certificated Gaelic teachers, and only
two men this side the water has sent a Gael to any
of them. Martin J Henehan, Providence, R I.,
sends to the Rev. Brothers, Mt. Partry, and John
Howley, Cairo, Ill. sends to the two schools of
Bonniconian, all in co. Mayo. If patriotism pre¬
vailed half a dozen copies would reach every one
of these schools to be given as premiums to diligent
Gaelic students. Now, we know a number of Gal¬
way men whose patriotic talk is very loud; who
have lots of money, and spend some of it freely on
excursions, picnics etc. and will not send a Gael as
an encouragement to these children to preserve the
language. Now, friend, —, we mean you, and you,
and the whole of you; and you need not smile
when you meet us, for we are in earnest. You will
say, "Come in, and have something." We will not
go in; the price of that something would cover the
cost of sending a lot of Gaels to the said schools.
A list of the schools may be seen on p. 33. vol. 8.
The New York Philo-Celtic Society had their
annual Musical Festival and Reception at Claren¬
don Hall on the evening of February 12th, when
the following Programme was excellently render¬
ed, —
Overture, Prof. Manahan's Orchestra.
Song, The Minstrel Boy (English), Mr. M Hart.
Duet, (English) Mr. and Mrs. Davis.
Recitation (Irish), Capt. T. D. Norris.
Song, The Flower Girl, (English) Miss M O'Neil
Song, Anchored, (English) Mr T McCabe.
Recitation, (Irish) Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa.
Song, Killarney, (English) Mrs. D O'Brien.
Song, (Selected — English) Mrs. Chas. E Berry.
Song, The Harp of Tara (Irish) Miss Mary Comer.
Song, Come Back to Erin (Eng.) Miss M Liagra.
Song, The Last Rose of Summer (E) Miss O'Neill
Recitation, (Irish) Hon. Denis Burns.
Song, Kathleen Movourneen (E.) Miss A Sharkey
Recitation, Let Erin Remember (Irish), Master
Wm. Hastings.
Song, (Selected — English) Mrs. Chas. E. Berry.
National Anthem, God Save Ireland, T. McCabe.
Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa's rendition of
Bán-Chnuic Aoibhinn Éireann
took the house. — She stood, as it were, in the po¬
sition of the composer — thousands of miles a¬
way from her dear native land, so that every word
of it seemed the unstrained emanation of her soul,
as it truly was; adding to this her incomparable
elocutionary powers, and it is no wonder that
those who understood the language had frequent
recourse to their pocket handkerchiefs during the
recitation. Here is the first verse. —
Beir beannacht óm' chroidhe go tír na h-
Éireann,
Bán-chnuic aoibhinn Éireann;
Chum a maireann de síolradh Ir a's Éi¬
[bhir,
Air bhán-cnuic aoibhinn Éireann;
An áit úd in ar bh'aoibhinn binn ghuth eun
Mar shámh-cruit chaoin ag caoineadh
Gaedheal;
'Sé mo chás a bheith míle míle i g-céin
Ó bhán-chnuic aoibhinn Éireann.
The poem recited by Captain Norris is his own
composition, and an excellent piece it is. — Here it
follows. —
