New-York tribune., 1908-05-04
ROOSEVELT AND GAELIC
DR.. Dunn Tells of Impetus President
Gaze to Study 1ncient Tongue.
rFror III. rrihnn. Rur.au.1

lFron Tn. Tribune Rur-au.I
Washington May 3--'President Roosevelt has
done more for sncen; Irish literature than any
ether American He has been d vital force in
the revival of interest in a study of that period.
and he has given stimulus to hundreds OF stu
dents Indeed he has made known for the first
time to thousands of readers that there is such
literature
This tribute TO President Roosevelt comes from
br Joseph Dunn, professor of Gaelic and the Fo-
nance languages at the Catholic University and
held to De the most eminent authority in this
try on everything Celtic lie of the first
men in America to occupy chair in Gaelic, and
it is largely through his instrumentality that the
now broad Gaelic revival started An init
mate friend of William Butter Yeats. Douglass
Hyde and other scholarly Irshmen, it is in his
capacity one of the most profound Irish schol
ars in the world that he gives his grateful thanks
to the President. BY his careful article Irish
literature. said DR.. Dunn. referring the article
on Irish Sagas." published by popular mag
azine some months ago, the President has done
what in his work he termed the fortunate
thlns from a literary standpoint that can befal
country. next developing its writers-to
nave some new treasure house of literature re-
Vealed.' II was undoubtedly due to this article
that the edition OF the magazine was soon ex-
hausted, leaving copies of it a premium The
President saw clearly that the subject of Celtic
study is one that is, in way. bound UP with
the history of the origin Of a large part of the
population Of the United States and that IL has for
this a particular interest. We have inher-
lted far more than dream from our ancestors.
and he felt that d study Of the past would put
the descendants in independent possession of what
they have inherited from their forefathers. He
intended that they should have a richer and deeper
understanding of themselves
1T is well worth while to quote of his opin-
ions regarding ancient Irish literature and the sagas.
They deserve, the President wrote, the research
which be given only by the lifelong effort of
trained scholars. They should .be studied for their
poetry, countless scholars have studied those
early literatures. 1t clearly shows the Presidents
understanding of his subject that Ire should have
pointed out the fact that these ancient Irish tales
date back a purely pagan Ireland for ii is
this more than anything else which makes this
literature valuable from historic point of view.
In the Welsh and Irish have the oldest YER
necular poetry and the ancient native records
of Western Europe. In some respects the stage
of culture mrrored in this literature had its roots
much further back than those of the Homeric
Greeks Neither the Germans nor the Savs
able TO produce sny such pictures of their wild.
prehistoric times the Irish In the time Of
which President Roosevelt writes, Ireland was, to
quote his words, a world TO herself and as
an historical monument Of the past the literature
of the Celt offers undoubtedly interest Of the
first order.
The Presidents purpose in making public his
study of the ancient Irish sagas was not only to
make known TO the great reading public this great
body Of tradition and beautiful lore, which his
article, than any other, has succeeded in
doing, but also encourage the study of il. In
this he only following out what he said IN a
public address years before: We Americans
take just pride in the development Of our great
universities and and more we are seeking to
provide for creative and original work In these
universities. I hope that an earnest effort VIII be
made endOw chairs IN American universities Tor
study Of Celtic literature. 1t is only in recent
years that the extraordinary wealth and beauties
Of the old Celtic sagas have been appreciated and
we of America, who have so large a Celtic strain
in our blood, cannot afford TO be behndhand IN
the work of adding modern scholarship oy bring
ing within the great Celtic literature or the
past
1t NAV be OF 10 state that the Celtic
languages the study Of which is so warmly advo-
Gated by the President, fer from being extinct
Irish is still spoken by about $4,000 persons II Ire
land the Scottish Gaelic is spoken by more than
200 600 persons and the Welsh by nearly 100000
persons The Breton of Brittany is spoken by
about 600 coo persons besides 600 90 who speak
nothing else
Besides the Catholic University. whose course Dr.
Dunn was instrumental in starting. Celtic forms
study in the British Isles and Ireland, 1t Berlin.
burgh In the United States it is taught al Har-
ward and Columbia. The Catholic University,
through the rnunihcence of the Society Of Hber-
mans is soon to be endowed with scholarships for
students of Celtic. DR.. Dunn has practically COM
pleted a translation of what the President has
pronounced the most famous romance OF ancient
Ireland" and in his introduction he has expressed
his high appreciation of the Presidents assistance
and the hope that further contributions VIII come
from his pen.