Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-08-22

same age IN Ireland. The purest
Irish in use today is that spoken on
the Isle of Man. The Manx orthog-
raphy has several words borrowed
from the Welsh and the Mortimer.
The Gaedhilic of the mainland Of
Scotland differs from that used in the
isles, and the isles differ among them
selves. In Ireland the dialect of the
southern half differs from that of the
north of Ireland. where little Irish
is used. English has hedged it about
there, as in many other places, until
it is all but smothered.
The Irish race has made a de-
termined effort to keep the old Ian
guage Of their native land alive. Irish
is the old Celtic. 1t dates back to
the earliest occupancy of the island.
1t is difficult to learn. but when once
mastered is a delightful tongue.
have heard masters. of it converse,
and their skill with it in it's difficult
accents presented it to me as the most
beautiful of tongues.
There have been some brilliant stu
dents of the language in st. Louis, but
none of them remains now. so far as
l know. Occasionally I meet some
one who understands it, and we have
little chat in the Irish tongue. The
students of Old Scotch understand it.
There is no appreciate difference in
the languages Of the old people of
Scotland and those of Ireland. I was
first interested in the Irish tongue by
a ST. Louis Scot. I heard him read
from an Irish book. and it so shamed
me to see a foreigner excel me in
knowledge of my native land that I
set out there and then to learn Irish.
had no teacher. Books were rare.
But worked away, doing some study
ing almost every night for several
years. / first took an Irish song and
studied it over and over until l IA
miliarized myself with every letter
and every word of it, using an Irish
grammar as a guide. From this song
l took up more extensive Irish produc-
tions, and finally became able to
read and speak the language. 4
There are 10 letters in the Irish
alphabet, as follows:
Aim, a palm tree.
Beth, birch tree.
Coll, hazel.
Dsir, an oak.
Fearn, an alder.
Cost, an ivy.
IOga, yew.
Luis, quick tree.
MUM, vine.
NUN, an ash.
Dir, broom or furze.
Peih, dwarf elder.
Ruis, an elder tree.
Suil willow.
Teine, furze.
Ur, heath.
Eavrach, Hebrew.
Eavrais, the Hebrew language.
Most OF these are names of trees.
The written and printed Irish much
resembles the Hebrew. Printed
Irish all looks to the unknowing at
first glance to be upside down.
While the Irish tongue is in some
ways comparatively dead language,
it is still very much alive In many
parts Of this country and Europe. It
is taught in the public schools in
ireland, there are finished scholars in
Irish at the German universities,
here is a chair in the Irish tongue in
one Of the eastern colleges establish
I'd by the Ancient Order of Hiber-
mans, there are Irish societies in
several American cities which main
ain schools of instruction and have
meetings at which debates are con-
lucted in Irish.
There is connecting link between
he Irish language and the Greek,
which is but natural, for the first peo-
lie to go from the continent to what
S now Ireland were Greeks. There is /
l1so a similarity between the Irish c