The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-12-10

eACtpl tHeli OWIl AieitueSs, lleif oWli
spirit, and their own want of effort.
(Applause)
Let them reason the matter over lit
tie. The Irish language was spoken by
over half million of their people. If
they could read and write as we'll as
speak the language; if they read it in
| their weekly or daily newspaper; if they
spoke it in their daily lives; if they
taught their children to speak it: if it
We're taught along With French in their
| schools; if they prayed in it in their
homes, and in their churches; if they
| heard the word of God announced in it
on Sundays; if they loved 1t as they
| should, and kept it close to their heart
| of hearts. how could it die out where it
! was spoken at present? (Applause) 1t
would be impossible. Under such Cir
cumstanccs it would extend until the
Irish-speaking area would be cotermi-
nous with the Irish coast line. cloud
applausc.) He would like to call their
attention to an important matter in the
case 1t was we'll known that the rural
districts fed the towns and cities of the
country, and if those who went to tho
cities and towns brought with them an
unchanging and Interchangeable devotion
to the language Of their race. they would
ultimately conquer the towns and cities.
and make them Irish speaking. Cap
| plausc) Such as he had described We're
the aims OF tho Gaelic League. They
| began a few years ago in Il very small
way, but they had grown with amazing
fulfilled until every man and woman.
boy and girl In the country read and
wrote tho language OF their fathers, the
language of their saints, the language OF
their missionaries, tho language of their
scholars and sagcs, the language Of their
| heroes and hrcat ones the language of St
Patrick, Columbkillc and Columbanus;
the language of Cormac MacArt of Brian
Boru, of Shane and of Hugh O'Ncill the
| language of their history their tradi-
| tions, their literature; the language OF
Red Hugh and the Four Masters; tho
language of Bcnburb and of Limerick's
walls; the language of their race for
1000 years (Applausc.) This move
mcnt had great national, intrllec-
tual, educational, religious and moral
significance From lectures which the
speaker had previously delivered. he
| showed how these elements operated in
| In uI,, all
| thcir educational systems take proper
! Cognizancc of their langungc. their his
tory and their past. and they must make
| Irish education distinctive Of the nation.
and not the lberlcss. vapid. soullcss
thing ii was at present. lApplausc)
1t was said by those who were ignorant
| that the Irish language had no literature,
| but that was untrue. Prof. thinner, Il
scholar and linguist Of European fame
had written in terms OF culogy of tho
literature of the Cncullain and Osslanic
| cycles; and how in face of the "Rcvuc
| CcltQlc,' of the Gaelic Journal, and at
the end of the Nineteenth century such
IL falacy obtains widespread crcdcncc
| was astounding. (Applausc.) lie
thanked them for the patient hearing
they had given him, and hoped that the
| example set by Monaghan would Dc i'm
proved upon by other Irish counties.
About the same time at which the fore
going address was delivered another elo-
qucnt and interesting address on "rhc
Celtic Revival" was read before the Uni
versity College Literary and Historical
Society in Dublin by Mr.. II. M. Keith,
who said that recent years had seen the
uprising OF a modern Irish school, with
It's splendid interpreters. story weavers
poets and sccrs. They had found will
ling audience. For English ears are
wearicd of the blarc of blatant imperial
ism that was the core and kernel of their
modern popular literature, and in it's
| intcrludes they had heard the strange,
low music Of the Celtic harp. The nov-
city Of the theme had interested them,
and the melody of the treatment had
held them charmed. There was nothing
OF racial hatred, no leuvcn of the bitter
memories Of history to repcl them, and
so they read eagerly and recompcnscd
generously. And where there were read
crs there never would be lack of writer's
Very naturally had this literary revival
come about. The question was whether
it was the fair thing It seemed afar off,
big with promise. He would pass over
all purely literary and artistic consider
ntions in favor of the one consideration
to which all others should be subordin
ate: Whether the Irish as a people
were to be bettcrcd by this revival, to
be raised ono single degree in culture
or property by it. When n country was
fallen from its splendid historical rcp,l-
tation, and when that country was rich
In genius, when it was not commercially
prosperous, nor mentally cultured, nor
socially happy, he would expect to find
it's literature narrowed down to it's own
people, to find its men Of letters charter
cd in a rcgcncrativo movement, pointing
out the lost path Of progress.
He looked in vain for these cbaractcris-
tics in the present Celtic literary revival.
He found 1t with no love OF home. no
| confidence in kin. He found it telling
] {c L/yr or ii..0