St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-05-20
The KELTIc STOCK IN US.
Makeup g American Nation Prob
ably 0ne-Half of That
Origin.


tiers lnto the composition of the Amer
lean people could be determined, ap
proxilnately at least, says the Boston
Herald. What is Kettle? OF the two
spelliags of the word the former con
veys the right pronunciation, which, OF
course, is the fundamental quality. The
Name originates with the Greeks, who
called western people ''Keltai.' The
substitution of sc" for *" appears to
| be due to the circumstance that the
Greek letter corresponding to our &C.
has the sound of ''k" AS in ceramics, y
| our use of the sc" has led to false
pronunciation radically other than the
| normal.
If a fair estimate of the Kettle ele-
| ment in the English people could be
made, together with what is due to
Scotch, Welsh and Cornish blood, as
we'll as to Irish inmigration-not tc
mention the Kettle element that enters
into many peoples of continental Eu-
Irope-perhaps it might be found that the
Kettle proportion in the American
makeup would be at least so per cent,
if not very considerably more. The
Kelts or Gauls constituted very large
element in Europe. This is attested by
the name of the Spanish province of
Galicia, and by the kingdom OF Aus
trian Poland which bears the same
name. The basic element of the French
people is commonly regarded as Gaelic
and the same evidently strongly enters
into the composition of the Swiss, the
Italians and considerable part OF the
Germans. Brittany. in France, is re-
garded as almost purely Kettle.
Ethnic analysis, however, is some
thing exceedingly difficult. The lingual
test, SO commonly applied, is mislead
ing. Kettle or Gaelic tongues are COM
mon to=peoples who racially are radical
ly different. Ireland, for instance, is to-
day the most typically Kettle country.
Yet in the Irish people several strongly
contrasting racial types are represented
so markedly that it might be difficult to
tell which predominates. 1t might be
said that one type characterizes one
county Or district, another another.
Outside the elements known as distinct
lively Kettle there is the English imml-
grafton of Cromwell's time and later,
which in certain districts has blended
with the native races. Again there is
the Scotch blood, known as Scotch.
Irish" so strong in the north Of Ireland;
this, of course, includes deal of the
Scotch Kettle The Irish Kettle element
as we know it, is marked by several sep
dark, another is tall and light, a third is
short and dark, fourth short and
light, and fifth is regarded by various
anthropologists as derived from what
appears to have been the autocthonous
race Of The island, race long preceding
the Kettle people and held to be akin
to the rims and to Asiatic peoples
These various elements have induced a
great number of variants and blend
ings.
The racial or rather national temper
ament IS another quality that differs
very materially The Irish nature is
proverhIally light-hearted, volatile.
and deliciously humorous
These traits in great part ally it to the
French, although what in the French we
know as Gaelic wit is quite other than
the Irish. Possibly it may be an ex-
preston. of the same native impulses
under "a different environment. The
Polish people have similarly sensitive
and volatile traits. The Russians, how
ever, are likewise volatile; it might
therefore be difficult to say whether in
the Poles it is Kettle or Slavonic
quality. Possibly it may come from an
ancestry commonly expressed in both |
kelt and Slav. On the other hand, the |
tall and dark Kettle type is character
istically grave, humorous, often po-
etically Imaginative and tending to mel |
ancholy.z The Irish type of this sort ap-
pears to have much in common with the
Highland Scotch. 1t is notable that the |
Spanish Galacians, or Gallegos. a pa
tent. Woodworking people, are also |
prone to- melancholy. Some anthropol- |
ogists hold that the Iebrians, the basic |
stock of The Spanish people, were Kettle |
This might account for the gravity and |
The ideaism of the Spaniard Possibly |
some day anthropology may find means
to determine with exactness the racial
ingredients Of any given individual,
with the corresponding mental, physical
and ten1peramental qualities. Until
then all estimates of racial proportions
will doubtless remain largely guesswork.
It should be sufficient to know that we
are all human beings, and consequently
orotherss-whatever our race or COM
plexion may be.