Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-20
GAELIC LEAGUES WORK
EFFORT TO UHux AID PAcuY
DISTRACTED COUNTRY.

DR.. Douglas Hyde, president Of the Gae-
Tic League, who II to lecture here on the
league ana it's purposes. In expected to reach
this city this evening. He will be In WASH
ington until next Friday. viii visit the
President at the White House and VIII lee
ture three times at the Catholic University,
these lectures being more on the historic
and literary aspect Of the language and less
on the popular revival.
The league. It 10 stated. Is neither sectar-
ian nor political DIR. Hyde, the flrst presi-
dent. il . Protestant. John MacNeill. an
other OF the founders. was q Roman Catho-
lie, and another was Father OGrowney. q
Catholic priest. The league 10 thirteen years
old. From an original membership Of seven
individuals 1t has grown to $50 branches.
each representing q membership OF at
revolutionary In the objects OF the league.
The present movement is for the purpose
OF again bringing the Irish together az q
nation and reminding them that they have
q common language and a common coun-
The Gaelic language is said to possess one
OF the most remarkable histories In the
world. Languages have died, but Gaelic Is
perhaps the only one that has ever been
legtslated out of existence.
Could Not Be Killed.
Yet the language could not be killed and
education could not be killed. The Irish
Legion was the strongest wing of the
French army and in France there were col
leges, notably that of Lille, to which young
Irishmen We're struggled out Of the coun-
try and from which they were struggled
back, the penalty of detection being draw
ing and quartering. Education came DEAR
but the people would have 1t whether they
had to pay for it in money or in blood.
One Of the officials of the bureau Of eth
nology here, himself an ardent Irishman,
has In his possession big ledger neatly
engrossed with the ballad folk tales of Ire
land, the work of an old Irishman of Wash
tngton, Jeremiah Lynch. The latter was
of peasant stock. but he was good bust
ness man. Long before the Gaelic revival
he had written down In the old book re-
ferred to the ballads and the legends he
had learned in his youth, and in the vol
ume some Of the stories, word for word,
that are now being printed in Gaelic for
the pleasure Of a richer and more leisured
class now studying the language.
Quaint Folk Tales.
DR.. Hyde has done much writing and
publishing In Gaelic and Is the author of
number OF poems and some essays But
perhaps his best work for the language,
1t Is stated, is the setting down of the
quaint folk tales Of the country in both
Gaelic and English.
The practical aspect of the leagues work
Is said to be the formation Of rallying
point for the scattered members Of the
race who have heretofore had no common
center to which to turn.
It Is the national spirit that the league
wishes to foster. There are many Gaelic
branches of the league in this country but
their organization Is declared to be loose
and ineffective. 1t is intended by the pres
ent movement to make them more Of a
unit II possible. 1t Is the belief Of those
interested that the Gaelic revival will do
more than anything else to unity and paciH
the distracted country that gave it birth
1t Is said to be a possibility that In the
future there may be recognized Ireland
as much SO, at least, as there Is a recoe-
nized Canada, and that when a point is
scored in athletics, in literature or in art,
1t may be credited to the country that has
furnished SO many good men to all the
countries of the world. That at least is
what the Gaelic League is working for.