The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-12-09
sst the enthusiasts, DR.. Hyde shakes his

Il too widespread, toe far reaching. Take
the literary output alone as evidence.
When the Gaelic League started in
4 1893 the publication of book in Irish
: came at intervals of years. Now scarce
I " q week elapses without the appear
From the offices of the League alone,
mot to mention other agencies, there is
an output of a quarter of a million at
present every year.
saTake the celebrated Maynooth Col
lege as an example. Fifty years ago
students from certain dioceses only
were allowed to attend the Irish classes,
and those who did attend were laughed
Y at and jeered. Today its leading peri
odical, the organ of 900 Students. gives
q thorough support to the language re-
vtval and is largely written in the Irish
tongue.
'The corporation of Dublin has made
Irish a compulsory subject; no one can
4 even obtain a clerkship without a
knowledge of it; the county councils
4 OF Cork and Mayo have done the same,
and so have the corporation of LINER
lex, the Moy Commissioners and 9TH
ers. In many college societies, those
Of law and medicine, Irish Is an OPP
tional subject for examination, and in
several dioceses, some of them where
Irish has been extinct for half a CEN
fury, the managers Of the schools will
not appoint any school teacher who
cannot teach Irish. In the Royal Uni
versity Irish is on the same footing as
English and carries the same amount
of marks.
'The significance of this? In the
first place, a country that is merely
initiative must deteriorate Its GUS
toms, manners, literature must die out.
81 Nov, arouse mans interest in
anything and you vitalize his whole
nature. This ney stimulus acts and
reacts in every direction. Three gen.
erations of subservience to English
ideas have left the Irish nation in a
state of mental paralysis. They have
been taught to consider themselves a
'mongrel' race, they have accepted that
classification and have heard their ma
ton. its customs, manners, language
sneered at and treated with disrespect
by other nations who have accepted
thn TN,,or irl, rI,-
ened at last to the truth that they have
q country to be proud of, one to be
respected-not to be sneered at
AT first sight there would appear no
connection between the industrial and
the language revival. but it is obvious
when pointed out.
When man learns Irish and there
by for the first time feels himself a
real Irishman. he will not be satisfied
until he is Irish all over, not only in
his speech, but in his clothes, his
home
ITO go a step further, you will see
how this Industrial movement means
gain in the most important of all
matters which touches the Irish nation
at present-the emigration question.
1t is heartrending fact to the man
and woman who love their country to
realize that every year $4,000 or 10000,
the flower of the nation, leave their
homes forever.
"They have been driven away be-
cause there was not work for them at
home. The time is coming when they
will not have to so, when they will be
as proud to stay and be part Of
glorious nation as the American or the
Englishman Is of his country"
DO any of the young people come
back?" is inquired.
DR.. Hyde shakes his head mourn
fully.
Very few! Those who succeed GER
tainly do not. and those who fail either
cannot or do not wish to. In either
case we are the losers. New affairs,
new ties gradually wean them away
from all but their memories. and they
become less and less powerful. ireland
to the generation born here of emil
grated parents is but far off, in
tangible unreality, not living. breath
ing, vital present"
Dr. Hyde breaks Off here to ask If
the visitors had ever heard Of sig
num-" In answer to the negative shake,
he explains:
1T was little score-stick hung on
the neck of the Irish speaking child,
and every time he spoke a word of
Gaelic a nick was cut In it and he
was punished, the parents themselves
Joining In the work. 1t is from a be-
ginning like that we have had to
work.
MY own recollection of interest in
the language revival goes so far back
4 1t seems almost in the cradle days.
There was an old gamekeeper who used
to tell me legends that have come down
from generation to generation. AS I
grew older and Jared from fireside to
fireside. hearing all these strange, WON
derful, beautiful tales, I found among
\ my associates little sympathy for what
was termed my queer taste. But among
the peasants they gave me the name
4 am still known by among them: AN