The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-09-26

The Oireachtas or national Gaelic
festival given here recently is the
chief annual event of the Gaelic move
ment whicn at present is stimulating
all Ireland and reaching out it's influ-
ence to every land wherein the exiled
Gael has settled, says New York
Sun Dublin dispatch of Sept. /.
Founded by seven men in 1892, the
Gaelic League set itself to carry out a
task which to many seemed hopeless,
''the preservation of Irish as the ma
tional language of Ireland and the ex-
tension OF it's use as a spoken tongue;
also the preservation of existing Irish
literature and the production of a
modern literature in Irish" A second
clause declares it non-political and
non-sectarian.
This latter fact is of extreme sig
nifcance in a country where for gen
erations. the people have been divided
into. distinct groups of politics or
creed, without common ground for
meeting or communion. In the Gael
ic League all party has been swept
aside, and for the first time in many
centuries the sons and daughters of
Erin have found themselves united by
a common thought, a common ideal, a
common bond of brotherhood.
In the Gaelic League all Ireland is
appealed to, and every type of citizen
has rallied to the support of the ma
tional language, the restitution of ma
tive culture. Here are banded togeth-
er rich and poor. high and low, mer-
chant and mechanic. lawgiver and
country gentleman. 1t includes Cath
olic, Protestant and Dissenter; Union
ist, Nationalist and Parliamentarian;
Milesian, Gael and Cromwellian plan
ter.
Even the barriers of sex have been
demolished, for men and women alike
vote at it's councils, debate in it's par
lament and hold office under it's con-
stitution. while in the work of propa,
ganda the league points with pride to
the achievements of such women as
Miss. Agnes O'Farrelly, M. A., head of
the Gaelic Industrial School at Cloch-
aneely, and of the Misses Gleeson and
Yeats, whose industrial guilds at Dun
drum have given a new impetus to
the higher forms of craftsmanship
and who are employing dozens of girls
to whom they have taught rug and
tapestry weaving, printing, embroid-
cry and so forth.
It is this industrial phase of the
leagues work that is of special inter-
est and import to the. outside world. 1t
matters little to the people OF Ameri-
ca whether the Donegal farmer and
the Dublin. shopkeeper salute each
other in Gaelic or in English; it mat
ters much that in the family of ma.
tions one more land is awakening to a
sense of national self-consciousness
and is reaching out toward the things
which make for national and as a di-
rect outcome international prosperity.
Remote as. may appear to be the
connection between language and in.
dustries in Ireland, it has been dem
onstrated to be direct and vital. The
spirit of nation lies imbedded in it's
tongue and it's traditions. Revive that
tongue. that spirit. call out the ma.
tional pride which hangs upon nation
al traditions, and a new racial vitality
inevitably .ensues.
A true Gaelic. Lacquer not only
speaks Irish but thinks Irish, feels
Irish, exploits all that is Irish. Every
member of the Gaelic League is pledg-
ed to give preference to Irish manu-
factures SO far as is reasonably possi-
BILE, and this action has materially as
sisted and may even be said to have
largely contributed to the great indus
trial revival that is at present going
on in Ireland:
Ths cry everywhere is Irish manu-