The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-07-01
Enthusiasts In Attendance From
Scotland and Wales.
ENTIRE CELTIC RACE REPRESENTED
A Patriotic Speech Is Delivered
By Cardinal Logue.

The following description of the Ore
achtas, or annual literary festival for the
cultivation of the Irish language, litera-
ture and folklore, appears in the Chi
cago Chronicle from its Dublin special
correspondent:
The Oireachtas is the child of the
Gaelic league and the inspiration as we'll
as the president OF this organization is
DR.. Douglas Hyde, the greatest Irish
scholar living and linguist of more
than national reputation. His enthusi-
asm for the old tongue OF bard and chief
is speeding throughout all the land and
there are now hundreds of others as ear
nest as he who believe that the revival
OF Irish as spoken language is an alb
solutc essential to distinctive and Wig
crous nationhood. "On the day." says
DR.. Hyde, that the last word OF Irish
shall have been heard in Erin know well
that the national stream shall have
ceased to flow"
This many may regard as an exaggcr-
action. Yet it is scarcely too much to
say that to their language alone is due
the fact that the national stream still
flows through Wales and among the
Manxmen and the Bretons and in the
Scotch highlands. The cultivation OF a
| distinctive tonp,,e NAV not cecura nol;+
ical or nationtl independence, but it is
certain to nourish intellectual independ-
ence.
The Gaelic league is but six years old
and, though there was in existence a
society for the propagation OF the Irish
language" its efforts were so nervcless
and academic that its influence in pre-
venting the threatened extinction OF the
old tongue was barely apparent Now
under the impulse OF the league and its
tireless efforts, the revival is phenomen-
al, and clubs for the teaching and cul-
tivation of Irish are springing up every
where. The league keeps aloof from pol
itics and the contentious issues of the
day, and so within its ranks are found
men and women of all creeds and vary
ing sympathics. 1t confines its propa-
ganda to impressing upon the people
that the language of their ancestors is
a priceless inheritance that should be
preserved.
Formerly, in portions OF the South
and West, where Irish was and still is
the common language OF the people,
many of them were ashamed to speak
it before strangers. 1t is no longer and
thousands are proudly speaking it now
who never did so BEFORE Even in the
parlors of the fashionable the songs OF
Moore and others can often be heard in
the beautiful and sympathetic old
tongue. For, as companion move
inent to the Oireacftas, there has also
sprung into existence a musical organi-
zation known as the Feis Ceoil, its spe-
cial purpose being to discover and cult
vatc the forgotten airs and musical
treasures OF the past
1t is certainly a. notable fact, this sud-
den and remarkable revival in Gaelic
language and literature. And the move
ment is meeting recognition in other
lands. From scholars in England, in
Germany, in France and even from your
own Harvard have come words OF en-
couragement and appeals to make once
again the old tongue living one. With
a thorough knowledge Of it, and OF its
varied and valuable literature, with
history Of nearly 1000 years, these pro-
found linguists recognize the truth that
the Irish is, to quote DR.. Hyde, "a
beautiful unmixed Aryan language,
which, with the exception of that glori-
Gus Greek that has now renewed its
youth like the eagle, has left the longest,
most luminous and most consecutive
literary track behind it of any OF the
vernacular tongues of Europe"
One of the most interesting features
of the literary assembly was great
meeting held in the rotunda, presided
over by Cardinal Loguc, who takes deep
interest in the movement. He spoke
both in Irish and English and said that
one of the most pernicious effects Of
conquest was the Punishment OF their
grand old language. He did not mean
to undervalue English, but there was no
reason why persons should not know
many languages. The greater the num-
Der of languages that people knew the
more intelligent they would be. But