The Irish standard., 1902-06-07
The Success of the Renaissance Largely
Owing to the Patriotism of
Dr.Douglas Hyde.
Lord Castletown and Hon. William Gibson
are Enthusiastic Promoters
of the Movement

of mustard seed, which today is Il
great tree. e.ovelshadowing all the youth
full part of the Irish nation. Before l
leave the earlier for the later story,
two other incidents which came under
my notice are perhaps worth mention.
On one occasion was sitting in the
college park with Douglas Hyde,
watching a cricket match, when
young foreigner, speaking broken Eng
lisll with a Kerry brogue, sat down on
the bench beside us. His extraordinary
accent at once excited Douglas Hydes
interest and entering into conversation
he quickly ascertained that the young
stranger was a German university stu.
dent, pupil of the famous Professor
Windisch, one of the greatest Keltic
authorities on the continent of Europe.
This young man had studied Irish un-
der Windisch; he wished to continue
his studies in the native land of the
So he journeyed to Kerry. There he
found, to his intense disappointment,
that in the towns, at any rate, many
of the people could speak only Eng
lisl. So he had to learn little in
order to be able to ask for his meals
and a bed. Hence it came about that
this German student spoke the little
English he knew with a strong Kerry
accent. Needless to say he was both
surprised and delighted to find in the
park of Trinity college, in Dublin uni
versity, man who could talk German
and Irish with as much facility as he
could talk English.
On another occasion I was with
Hyde in the park at the annual ath-
letic sports. Of course it was a gala
day in college, and military band
had been requisitioned to entertain the
visitors, among whom was the lord
lieutenant for the time beng-so far
. las l recollect the then lord lieutenant
| was the Duke of Marlborough, father
J of the late Lord Randolph Churchill,
who was at that time quite unknown
to fame. The band was supplied by a
Highland regiment quartered in Dub.
lin. During an interval, when the
band was resting, Hyde said to me that
/ he was going to talk to one of the
J pipers in Irish. He wished to test
| whether the man could understand
; him. We walked together up to big
burly. killed piper. and Hyde duly
: saluted him in Irish. The man looked
astonisfed. but he understood. He re-
, piled in Scotch Gaelic. The two car.
J ried on a busy conversation-though at
times with difficulty, for the Ian
guages have grown apart-till the pip
er's services were again required in the
, band.
, 1t is more than 1000 years since the
, Gaelic tongue was carried across from
Ireland to Scotland then called Gale
donia) by the Scots, an Irish tribe, who
conquered North Britain, and from
whom the land has ever since beer
called Scotland. To this day, not only
the language. but the folklore and the
ancient dress of Ireland survive ii
[ Scotland. l have myself seen children
, in the Highlands wearing the yellow
brown Irish kilt (not the colored plaid
Scotch kilt. which think never exist
} ed in Ireland; children. too, who could
, not speak a word of anything but
Gaelic
: The movement, the origin of which
| l have thus outlined, has spread fal
and wide. 1t is a movement which
F; Will have big consequences, and it il
) well worth watching, though hitherto
it has been almost unnoticed in the
British press. The Gaelic league has
) one of it's strongest branches among
| the young Irishmen and women resi-
dent in London. Their enthusiasm is
immense; their zeal knows no bounds
: The members are nearly all young and
mostly poor. Yet they have in Lon
don sixteen schools for teaching the
Irish language. These schools are all
held in the evening, and meet on one
or two evenings in the week. The
central meeting for all London is held