New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1911-02-15
English Clerk and Bagp|psr
Complies Big Gaelic Book.
uAAss|s1ED N HIS LABOR


Gaelic dictionary ever produced is on
the point of making It's appearance.
This great work. containing more
than 1000 pages packed with full ref.
erences for over $4,000 Gaelic words.
il the unique production Of one man.
having been compiled. set into type,
stereotyped. printed. illustrated and
published by Edward Dwelly Given
Macdonald. From start to finish, by
means Of little home press and with.
out any previous printing experience
whatever. Mr. Dwelly carried through
bis self imposed task absolutely I'M
aided at his London home. .ta
The origin Of the dictionary 10 At
tributed by its author. who comes Of
an old Somersetshire family and did
not know word Of Gaelic until he
was seventeen-to the fact of his hav.
ing Joined early In life the London
Scottish volunteers.
From cIerk to Student.
Elm those days." said Mr. Dwelly,
though educated as an engineer, 1
had drifted into clerkship in Char
ing Cross bank. While was in the
London Scottish Joined the band az
piper. played the pipes pretty we'll
and was fascinated by the old Celtic
music. That took me to the Gaelic
poems and ballads. 1t was the study
of these which first convinced me
that what was needed was a really
exhaustive dictionary of the language.
You see. Gaelic is curiously local, and
zach existing dictionary, so far as
Scotch Gaelic is concerned. is really a
dictionary of dialect. Again and
again found myself forced to hunt
for words. ,- ...
"The more l studied. too. the more
the beauty Of the language got hold Of
me. For poetic purposes 1t is hardly
to be surpassed In richness and subtle
shades of meaning. Think Of it-thers
are no fewer than eleven words for
love! There is one word for brotherly
love. another for friendly love. anoth-
er for ideal love. another for divine
love, and so on. 81
ut y41sat this dime that almost By
accident got my pen name Of Even
Macdonald In order to learn more
Gaelic Joined the Argyllshire volun-
teers. putting in the training during
my months holiday. Naturally want.
Cd to become piper. but my old pipe
major said shouldn't have . chance
With a name like Dwelly. 90 he sent
me along a. Even Macdonald. and,
with my Gaelic. l passed for a Scotch.
man with the best Of them.
Beginning the Work.
$50 the idea Of the dictionary grew.
and when l had been clerking ten
years-having put by f1,20O $4,000
BY living at home. saving every penny
and working overtime whenever pos
sible-1 decided to throw up my Job
and begin in real earnest. For several
years after that l lived in Scotland,
working at all sorts of trades and put
ting in every spare moment at the die
tionary. I began simply for my own
pleasure, going through every Gaelic
book l could get hold Of and talking
Gaelic with the people. After some
ten years or more had accumulated
mass OF manuscripts weighing sew
eral hundredweight, all interleaved
and interlined and in chaotic disorder.
II was advised to get 1t printed. and.
believe me. tried my level best to
get some one else to print 1t. But 1t
was impossible. One printer ap-
preached said to me after looking at
the manuscripts. If you were to put
Fl 900 ($5,OOO) on the table now I
wouldn't attempt It, So there was
nothing for It but to do it myself.
"As always. unforeseen difficulties
cropped up. My money began to give
out, and I had to take on Jobbing.'
How easy they seemed-those pro-
grams and parish notices-after the
dictionary 'nonpariel" For two years
l had to get up regularly Mt 6 and
work straight on, save for meals. till
10 and II at night. Then there was
endless correspondence to be seen to
besides. One great success had was
with Gaelic Christmas cards. There
was quite rush for them. and my
wife and children used to pack up
while printed. Not many people
knew that those cards were printed In
Z little clubhouse in my back garden.
Makes Pictures Also.
"Another great trouble was the H.
lustrations. I decided that the dc
tlonary must be illustrated, but could
not afford to pay for illustrations. So
these, too, I had to. DO myself. though.
10 tell the truth. knew nothing
whatever about drawing. However.
Just tried and tried and managed to
pot something printable at the finish.
mot least. when I was about half
way through news came that another
was shortly coming out
That nearly did for me. I lost IN
heart and had wretched six months.
When 1t did appear It proved to Be
,nly IN chronological affair. 30 %
vent With q will. and now. after twelve
g 6eD at the urintlpR part Of Il, ] m