Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-11-23
WHO E DOUGLAS HYDA
What Has He Done For Letters and
 For His country7

ordinary talent. When lle was pre-
 pairing for Trinity college he was fine
 wonder of his tutors. He fl4id | uiost
 irilliant career If Trinity college As
 a boy he had cone in contact with The
 Gaelic tongue as if was spoken n
 Sligo and Roseomnon While at Triil-
 lty he improved his Knowledge of Gae-
 lie But it was not On,y 10 Gaelic tllaf
 he turned the attention of his brilliant Nmind As a college student he gain
 ad first honors in German and French
 and first prize in Celtic nd Italian.
 He won gold medals in modern lit
 eratrre, Celtic literature, English cem-
 position. history and oratory, and he
 graduated with high honors.''
 Perhaps no man since O'C0nnell
 has been So loved and honOred in Ire
 iand as Dr Hyde. He IS president of
 the Gaelic league and the Irish TexfS
 society. and vice president of the lr.SL
 Literary society Like the great Lib-
 erator, Ire has won term of ehdear-
 ment from his gratifed cOuntrymeiL
 He is one of tlge greatest scholars of
 the age. knowing thoroughly all the
 languages of Europe both dead and living It is his untiring patience as
 a scholar which has done so much 10 save from utter oblivion the beautiful language. and literature of the Gael. He has awakened the pOetical peasant
 mind of Ireland as no one else has ever awakened it. No one else could have won from the shy and sensitive farmers of the south of Ireland so
 many beautiful folk McManuS has done much for the north. but it is Hyde who has unlocked the g0iiien treasury of folk-songl and story in tlc' south and west His Literary His rory of Ireland'' is one Of the most epoch making books of this genera ton. He throws light on the past Of his country the most brilliant that ever shone for the English-sDeaking world It used 10 be said that no one
 could write genuine literature in two iancnages. Dr Hyde is an exception
 to the rule. if rule it Is.
 His best work fl has been said.
 "has been done either in the Gaelic language or in translations from the modern Gaelic. i'll which he has ren- . 1erfd with wonderful accuracy the simplicity and tenderness of the peas art hards of the west. together with the mehical structure of their verses ....... We learn from the Pilot of No, em-
 Ter IS that he became rrofessn" of i,mCdern languages in the State unjver- i sity of New Brunswick Tn 1891. He f encl, tired of this work. however. .inf i returned 1o, his old labOrs in Con , Ivugllt. He studied the folklore oe { Irelnnd. and his finest collection of f.. i nublisied in Dublin. contaiue1 the Irish text of dozen or more stories,
 which bc learned from the old story
 teIlers.
 RogarlIng these old story .telicrs
 itr thc way. he makes very remark able Statement in foOI-note of his i Literary History of Ireland. "Dr l PClaYsell,15 tlles. note, flIns.f a Dang ' vHa recently resided for three nfUnths ! in inc .Nl1'an Islands to learn tllp lan- ! gllage that is there banned. took down about 2.50O words I have written | down vocabulary of 3,0G9 words 1 from people in Roscommcn who c0u.d ' neither read nor write. and am sure ' that fell 1.00n short of what they ac- 1 tually used. should think tine aver age in Munster. especlally in Kerry.
 would he between 1000 and G010 It tis well knCwn that many of the Eng ! llsh-sFeaking peasants uSc only 3eO words. or from. tltat to J00."
 This is an astounding statement
 when we come to consider some facts l in English literature. The ordinary
 newspaper reporter. unless his literary i training has been long and hard. usps less than 1000 words The average
 educated American in his conytfsa- ! ton ani correspondence will not we are informed eo beyond 11O0 or 1.29O
 words. The ordinary literary man will not employ more than :.O00
 words. Milton himself in his "db-
 lishci works got tlirOugh with ahOlt
 G000 words. Even the great Dr John
 sons vocabulary WIS not much murp than 5.O1O words. Yet the wide-awake
 uefsant of Munster has in Gaelic vo-
 cabularp Of something like gv0D
 words.
 i How did this happen? Is it because
 in the shifting of populations In the great national struggles of medieval and modern Europe. in the building m of new languages on tlir ruins oF tlIs i old. something was lost? Is it be-
 cause the Celtic tongue has sueh g loilg and continuous historys Think
 of that history for amOment. No eX- ! tani work of man can tell how luiIg the Gaelic race lIas been in Ireland. Centuries IpfOre the birth af Christ ! ltle Ph0eniciaus found them there. ! They were theun undoubtedly wuch I the greatest poems of inc ages. ihs
 work Of Homer. were put info their present share. More than serpn's generations of men have lived since then. They were there long beiore
 Cicero pu4 iogpiher these master
 piqecs of oratory which have been [ for so many centuries the ttxt books
 of the civilized world Before YirgH.
 the -lSri of langage. wrote the sfuoofhesf xrrses of an the world. tie
 Gaplir tongue had at least a spoken 1 Hieuture.
 How mmeh of that litrrature sfil remains Itr Hyde knows better thaa any man now alive The best part of his life hms lneu given to the Sfufy fof tiat llterature aud lIp cnn speak sf
 the frnits of theSe laisOrs with com
 rardiuE eIaqueuee.
 He will lecture i1 thls city nccrm- Ter 1I Ttckafs for hls Ircfure may
 te obtained from any member of tle
 Gaeiie SsiaiE of any officer of the A. ! O. n. and IatlifS- auxiliary. CT ann grand knight of the Knights or ra- lumhus after. next SmiIay. The mem. Ier~ of tie Clsn-ua aael are also retv tnffusiaStie over the e1minz of Df