Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1904-03-12

Gaelic league met with iuick and
enthusiastic response from the. Irish
speaking people, and thus was begun
a Gaelic revival, which is spreading
With W.ns>rful rapidity throughout
the land. Never has the dying tongue
Of Il people been rcSuscitatcd so quick
ly. Until few years ago the landed
gentry and nobility Of Ireland almcSt
without exception took pride in rot
knowing the language of their country.
and its use was confined to the peas
antry and few scholars of the an
cient literature. Now everybody from
the duke to the laborer has taken up
Gaelic. end it IS popular alike in castle
and cottage. BrHfnhcS of the parent
league are being established every.
where throughout tie island. and the
study of the ancient langlIar" and its
literature * taken mp with such en-
thuSiaSm as to stimulate the hope that
the Gaelic tongue may yet resume its
once honorcd place in history and let
terS
Not only is the Gaelic revival spread
ing throughout Ireland, but among the
sons of Erin who have crossed the sea
to America and their descendants there
Is growing desire to know more of
the language and literature of historic
Gael. In all the principal cities of this
country there are Gaelic societies. de-
voted to the awakening ana rrVScrva-
ton of the ancient lanGua@" customs,
art and music of Ireland. clM cling In
their membership hundreds ,:u speak
and write Gaelic. These :, Is are
affiliated with the Gaelic lv.'-.... Of Ire
land, to which they rcn,!,': !. i-tantial
aid and have been greatly Stin! Hated
and encouraged by the presence ii this
country of William Butler Yeats. the
distinguished Irish poet, orator and
dramatlst, who is now regarded as the
master spirit of the Gaelic revival.
The Gaelic movement in Ireland is
in no sense political, though it is likely
to have n marked effect on the political
status and sentiment of the country.
In the education of the Irish people
and the revival of their language and
literature the national spirit is
strengthened, unified and intensified
and the people inspired with kcener
ambition for the ultimate freedom of
Ireland.
Aside from any sentiment of patriot
ism which the study of the Gaelic Ian
EuaEe and literature may awaken in
the breast of the loyal son of Erin, it
is fascinating theme. Though large
ly fragmentary and disconnected. the
literature of ancient Gael is aStoniSh-
ingly rich ana abundant. Hundreds
of manuscripts, written In the days
when the lamp of Europe's learning
was kept burning only in the little
isle of the west" are stored in Trinity
college. Dublin, and in museums and
libraries elsewhere throughout the
world. They We're labor of love on
the part of the old monks. and the i!lu-
mination and chirography of some of
them are veritable works of art
Dividing early Irish literature rough
ly into two main groups, the prose tale
and the lyrical poetry, Gaelic students
maintain that there still exist in manu-
scripts of various ages about 800 tales,
of which only about 100 have been
translated and printed, while a manu-
script catalogue in the library of the
Royal Irish academy enumeratcs the
initial lines of nearly 1900 poems still
preserved. 1t is true that many of
these tales and poems are known to
the modern student only in late copies,
but these often reach back in an I'M
broken chain to very early originals,
so that 1t sometimes happens that a
poem originally composed in the eighth
century had been preserved only in Il
seventeenth century manuscripts. 9th
ers are clearly the productions of re-
cent times, being merely modern set
tings of stories told and retOld in Ire
land for centuries.
In the prose tales there is cmbalmed
vast mass of legendary lore of a
character neurological, heroic, semi
historical and romantic. These tales