The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-11-05
OLDEN PROVERBS AND SAYINGS.

common Inheritance of most ma
tions, with none of them have they
been in such current usage as with
the nations of the Gael, says G. Dease
in the Tablet Gondon). In Ireland
and in Scotland, where there is a
Gaelic-speaking population, number
less proverbs hang ready on the lips
of the people. An apt saying is ap-
piled to every case, and sometimes
even the important issues of life are
decided by one of these time honored
proverbs. Their origin is mostly of
far-gone date. Some of them were
the words Of the kings, the wise men,
the leaders and poets of the Gael.
Others came from humber men whose
ready wit turned phrase that lived.
Thus, repeated from mouth to
mouth, these sayings were trans
mitted from one generation to an
other, and were retained chiefly in
the retentive memory of those who
had no knowledge of books. A Gael
ic speaker often knew between three
and i've hundred of these proverbs,
and he made use of them in the cir
cumstances of his daily life. Full as
they are of a practical philosophy in
a ready and convenient form, they
made handy guides and principles of
action. The light these quaint and
pointed sayings. threw on obscure cas-
es often gave new and clearer view.
Thus we're the proverbs of the Gael
preserved, honored, \and used. They
served as code to the people who
spoke them, a code that compares
favorably with many others.
AS long as the Gaelic tongue re-
manned their means of expression to
the Irish and the Scotch, so long did
their proverbs hold sway. But wher-
ever the language died, the proverbs
died with it. 1t seemed impossible
for them to survive in an English
garb. This is what DR.. Douglas Hyde
writes on the subject in his "Leab-
hear Sgealaidheachta" wherever
Irish is the language of the people
there lives y Il vast and var
led store of sententious proverbs and
weighty sentences, which contain the
very best and truest thoughts, not of
the rude forefathers of the hamlet,
but of the kings, sages, bards, sein-
aches of bygone ages
And again: 1.-THE native Irish deal
in sententious proverbs perhaps more
than any other nation in Europe; their
repertoire is enormous. It is char.
acterfstic which is lost with their
change of language. Let the language
die and not one of these proverbs
will remain. OF the hundreds OF
stereotyped sayings and acute aphor
isms which I have heard APPLY intro
duced upon occasions when Irish was
spoken, cannot say that have heard
five survive in English where the Ian
guage has been lost" Nicholson thus
writes of the Gaelic proverbs of Scot
land: "They expressed the thoughts
and feelings of hardy, frugal, healthy
minded and healthy-bodied people
who spent most of their time in the
fields, in. the woods, on the moors
and on the sea. Their view
of human nature is keen but kindly
critical but not contemptuous. The
number of them that can be con
de1nned on the score of taste is singu
larly small, more than can be said Of
the proverbs of several great nations.
To preserve some of these popular
proverbs from the complete oblivion
that must be theirs should the ole
Gaelic speakers pass away without be
ing able to transmit them to young
er Gaelic-speaking generation, severa
efforts have been made to collec'
them. Donald Macintosh, a Scotch
Episcopal minister, in 1855 published
over a thousand. In recent years DR.
Alexander Nicholson published the
work, bringing up the number tt
nearly four thousand. In Ireland alst
something has been done on the same
lines, and Enri ua Muirgheasa ha:
brought out book of Ulster proverbs
Some of these were found in ole
manuscripts, and in short lists givel
as specimens by old writer's, but tn,
greater number have been taken dow
as living sayings from the lips O
Irish speakers themselves.
1t is impossible that these proverbs
fresh as they mostly are with tn,
life of everyday speech, should no
give an insight into the minds o
those who use them. They show thu
point of view, the turn of thought
the ideas, as we'll as the standard O
conduct of the Gaelic people. Orig
mating in the Gaelic intellect, the,