The Irish standard., 1904-10-15
vive Irish, but enthusiasm. hard work
and Sn1f- ncritico

excellent and comprehensive idea Of
the methods pursued by the Gaelic
League, which are certainly put into
operation with surprising zeal anG
energy. He says:
public meetings under the aus
pieces of the league are now being hel(
throughout Ireland, and at these
meetings lectures on the language are
given and addresses in both Irish anG
English delivered by prominent Local
and visiting people. Organizers are
appointed to travel through the dis
tricts where Irish survives to any eX.
tent and they interview the local
leaders-clergymen teachers and of
fcials of all kinds. and visit schools,
enter the peoples homes and encour-
age Them to speak Irish habitually,
and impart it to$their children.
"a varied and vigorous literature
in Irish has been started, and the out
put of this already exceeds in guam
tity the whole of the literary produc-
tions i'm ireland, in the. English tongue.
This literature comprises series of
admirably graded textbooks with
phonetic renderings of every word.
primers, readers. recitation books,
song books, music sheets. phrase
books, drama, sermons and propa-
gandist literature of all kinds. AS
many as 10000 copies of these publ
cations are sold monthly by the cell
trail office of the league and the de-
mand increases daily"
But, as far as Ireland is concerned
the league goes much farther than
this. Indeed it would appear to an
observer that the matters spoken of
by Mr.. Faly are not relatively half as
important as the labors of the or%ani
Zation in the public schools. The
league has fought strenuously and sue
cessfully to remove the boycott on
Irish in these schools. The complete
penalizing of the language had given
way to a rule which permitted Il
teacher to make use of Irish where
necessary in order to teach English,
but forbade the teaching of Irish eX-
cept after school hours, and then only
to pupils who had reached the higher
grades.
The injustice of this rule had long
been admitted. Gerald Balfour, when
chief secretary for Ireland, promised
in 1896 that if there was general de-
sire to study Irish he would not stand
in the way of it, and Government
Commissioner of Education Starkle
condemned the system Of teaching
English to disappearing children by
means of English only as 'unsound
both philosophically and practically,
and a disastrous blunder to which
might be attributed the want of initia-
tive and independence and distaste
for knowledge which so hampers the
industrial development of Ireland"
The league effectively created and
focused the national desire which Mr..
Ralfour demanded and two years ago
the way was opened at last to the
teaching of Irish at all stages of n
pupils progress. Not content with
this victory of bilingual education the
league is now turning it's attention to
the unnational character of the text
books in the schools Prizes are Of
fered by the organization to the
teachers whose pupils show the high
est proficiency in Irish. and to the
pupils themselves.
There are now over 300 branches of
the league in Ireland, a great number
in England and several on the con-
tinent of Europe. 1t is impossible to
estimate the number in this country,
though there are certainly over 70,
each with membership of from 100
to 400. In Chicago there are fully
5000 Irish people who have a fair
knowledge Of Gaelic. and this num-
Der is increasing every month, the
new textbooks being eagerly bought
as they appear.
The finest Gaelic scholar in Ameri-
ca, and one Of the best in the world,
lives here. He in Father John O'Car-
roll, pastor of st. Thomas church in
Hyde Park. Every st. Patricll's day
he delivers a sermon from his pulpit
in Gaelic The spread Of the language
in Chicago in the past twelve months
has been remarkable. but all the signs
point to the certainty of still greater
progress in the near future.
Nor must it be forgotten with this
growing love for the language on the
part of the Irish people here has
sprung up, stronger than ever, a love
for all other things Irish--her litcra-
turc, her antiquities, her art. painting
and sculpture and her games, dances,
and last. but not least. her music.
The Irish Music Club of Chicago
which only recently held it's third an
nual festival at the Coliseum, is IA
strong body, in full sympathy With
the work of the Gaelic League, and
ever anxious to keep alive and in
crease the love of the Irish people
here for the songs. dances and instru-
mental music of their native land.