The Irish standard., 1905-02-25

TO give his name the English pronun-
clatlon-a young fisherman from the
west coast of Ireland in the county
Mayo. All he knew he had learned
from word of mouth from the Gaelic
speaking people of his native village.
ana he was more thoroughly grounded
in Irish history, tradition, music, liter
ature and art than many man in
our best universities.
"Tlle discoveries in Irish phonetics
contained in my own little text book on
Irish were largely made from the pro-
hounclation Of an old man whom I
found bedriddcn in the County Sligo.
The pure tide of his perfect Gaelic
mad never been defiled by a single
English word and he had preserved
intact the ancient and traditional pro-
nunciation of the Irish words,
"From an aged woman who spoke
only Gaelic l got thirty-six ancient
Irish proverbs that had been practi-
cally dead for generations. From
another old woman in the Arran Isles
l learned the words, music and move
ments Of the traditional spinning
dance and n song which had come
down to her through uncounted gen.
crations.
II found her in the typical hut of
the Arrnn Isles. She was Il little old
body verging upon 90, but she was as
nlmble and as spry as a cricket and
her face beamcd and twinkled with
that Celtic joy which the English
| speakiHg Celts have lost with the ac-
quisition Of their English.
"As l entered she was at her wheel,
the thread in her hand and her feet
moving mcrrily back and forth in the
ancient spinning dance to the rhythm
OF her spinning song. There was no
eight-hour day for her. She worked
from sunrise to sunset, spinning away
Mt her ancient hand wheel to the
rhythm Of her singing and her dane
Ing, but the dance and the song light
ened her work and she was never tired.
"She could speak to me only in Gae-
| lie, but when she spoke to the little
grandchild that was tumbing about
\ the rooms, she seemed to be able to
make use Of nothing but her two or
| three words in English Good old
soul! In her simple mind she believed
| 1T due to the child to lead it to forget it's
native tongue and to bring it up to
speak the language that would bring
it recognition and power and remun-
crative work In the great world We
| are leading them to feel differently
| about that now
Gas matter of fact the Gaelic is a
superior language. Some of the peas
! ants in the Arran Isles use, in ordi-
nary conversation, 5000 words. The
ordinary English speaking university
man uses only 5000. There is absolu-
tely no reason why it should not be-
come once more the everyday speaking
tongue of the people.
AS for Father O'Flanagan himself.
he is professor Of Irish and ancient
Irish art in Summerhill college in
Sligo. He knows Irish history from
the time Of Adam and he will tell you
that it was an Irishman that discov-
cred America, and that Ireland is the
only other nation in the world besides
America that ever undertook a war
for humanitys sake alone, and that
the intricate nature of Irish art rem
ders it probable that the lens and the
dfawing compass were known to the
monkish illuminators of missals hun
dreds of years before they were dis
covered Oh the continent.
He has, moreover, published book
of original research and discovery in
Irish phonetics which is considered by
phlologists to be Of the highest value
in the study of language in general
and to throw particular light on the
true pronunciation Of the ancient
Gaelic.
'Go mairidh ar ngaedhilg slan,' he
will say to you at parting. "May our
Gaelic grow strong and prosper"