AN GAODHAL
345
The service past, around the pious man,
With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran;
E'en children followed with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile.
His ready smile a parent's warmth express'd.
Their welfare pleas'd him, and their cares distress'd.
To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven.
As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm.
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way,
With blossom'd furze, unprofitable gay,
There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school.
A man severe he was, and stern to view,
I knew him well' and every truant knew;
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd.
Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault;
The village all declared how much he knew —
'Twas certain he could write, and cypher too;
Land he could measure, terms and tides presage,
And e'en the story ran that he could gauge.
(To be concluded in the next.)
In the last issue a grammatical error
was inadvertently made in the adject¬
ive 'cíocraighe" (the first word of fifth
line of first column back page) ; the
form should be 'cíocrach,' to agree with
the noun leomhan which it qualifies; ad¬
jectives being the same case and num¬
ber with their nouns, a; fear mór, a
big man; bean dheas, a pretty woman;
fir mhóra, big men; leabhar urnaighe, a
prayer book; leabhar Gaodhailge, a Gae¬
lic or Irish, book; cumann Gaodhailge,
or Gaolach, a Gaelic, or Irish, society;
leabhar-aithris Gaodhailge, or Gaodhlach,
a Gaelic or Irish, story book, or jour¬
nal. We make this correction as stu¬
dents naturally expect to see the lang¬
uage written correctly in those contri¬
butions for which THE GAEL is respon¬
sible.
In last Gael, also, we made some re¬
marks about accenting vowels, diph¬
thongs, etc., which are long by nature,
so to speak, and we made the remarks
without prejudice to any writer, and
with a view, if possible, to cause some
sameness in the different writers, for
it is very troublesome to the composit¬
or to follow the different spellings.
We would suggest the employment
of the simplest orthography of our
standard dictionaries and grammars,
and particularly that which accords
with the pronunciation of the best na¬
tural Irish speakers. Though critics
would find fault with that form of spel¬
ling which conflicts with their person¬
al idea of it, yet the orthography as
found in any standard dictionary can't
be criticised; and any form of spelling
not found in such standard dictionaries
and grammars are faulty, no matter by
whom suggested or employed — the
same as in the English or any other
language. Were it otherwise every
Tom, Dick, and Harry would have a
form of spelling of his own.
Our principal want to-day is, the
circulation of Gaelic literature through
and by means of the public press. That
and an Irish-English and English-Irish
small, cheap dictionary would fill our
wants. As for text-books; we know of
no man to-day (and we have seen all
our Gaelic scholars on record) able to
produce a better text-book than we
have in the Dublin Society's series and
Bourke's Easy Lessons (with the cor¬
rection of a few typographical errors
in both), and that fact does not detract
from the eminence of our present Gael¬
ic scholars.
Mr. Erley has informed us that a Dublin book-
seller has two stray copies of Bourke's Easy Less¬
ons for which he wants 26 shillings each. When
these Lessons, and Curry's Lectures are com¬
pleted in the Gael the volume will be worth over
$30. At 60 cents a year it would have cost up to
date only $6 00 yet the complete numbers today
are worth over $10. and can be sold at that. The
Gael is an Irish encyclopedia in itself, and he is a
poor Irishman that would not leave such to his fam¬
ily, regardless of the fact that he would double or
trable his money on it.
A large number subscribed for the Gael through
the solicitation of Gaelic wellwishers, yet none of
such has renewed his subscription though they all
continue to receive the paper. Now, such action as
that is not fair to the Gaelic movement, and those
not disposed to pay for or continue the subscription
should so notify us, or tell their postman and he, as
the law directs, would notify us. Then we could
send such Gaels elsewhere as advertisements We
ask these people straight, Are you acting right?
