Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-12
4 Page Or GAELIC
ROT FOURTEENTH
CENTURY

emigration to America set in, and the
poor Jrish-speakers either rushed across
the Atlantic or starved to death at home.
The weather. classes. who deSpised the
native tongue. remained and multiplied.
In 1861 there We're hut 1,5O0. 900 Irish
men in Ireland who spoke their mother
tongue From then on until some twelve
years ago, when the Irish movement be-
gan to check the decay, the decline was
steady and rapid. AS an instance. the
census of 1901 gave the number of Irish
speakers IN Ireland as but 641,142.
The system of state education now ex-
istng in ireland is an English one. and
Irish patriotism, far from being en-
couraged, is dreaded. How, then, ask the
adherents of tie movement. shall the
gates of his countrys past be opened to
the Irish child? BY means Of the native
tongue, they answer which will make
the very names of hill and valley, river
and lake eloquent to him, and which will
enable him to ridicule the fable, long i'm
posed upon his ignorance. of a barbarous
Notwithstanding Ireland that owes all
characterization. prosperity and the
possession of Christian tongue-to her
Saxon cOnquerors.
And what of his mother tongue that has
been snatched from oblivion Just in the
nick of time? With the exception Of
Basque, it is the most ancient language
of Europe, and until the Cromwellian set
Suage spoken in Ireland, both by high
and low. Today, in many parts Of Ire
land. it is still the only language under
stood by most of the people. In County
GALWAY alone there are over 1900 Irish
men who know absolutely no English.
1t has vocabulary of at least 7U,OD
native words. and even the uneducated
lrlsh-speaking peasant uses as large
m hIti
lish speaker Like German it possesses
the power of making All unlimited num-
Der OF new words from pre-existing native
roots. 1t is said to be grammatically
1ntieXions, all the moods. most of which
have been lost in English, French and
other modern languages. Next to Rus
sian. 1t possesses more sounds than any
other European tongue; it has ninety-tive
sounds. as against about forty-five in
English. Its characters, sixteen in num-
Der. are not vastly unlike the Greek, as
a page of it shows.
"A hundred thousand welcomes is a
favor1te Salutation among IriShmen Tran
scribed into Gaelic it reads. by sound,
"Caed Mile F'ailthe." In like manner
the battle cry. God Save Irelandr' be-
comes ''Dia Saors Aira-'
Father O'Flanasan and Mr. MacColum
arrived in this country in October. On
the 4th of December a giant meeting was
held in New York city at the Grand Cen
trail Palace. Over two thousand men and
women were present. and the enthusiasm
became SO great that seven thousand dol
lars IN money was secured while the
women present took off their jewelry
and threw it into the contribution bas-
kets. 1t was in New York also that the
first committee was formed to aid in
securing funds. The chairman of the
committee is George j. Gillespie. while
Justice Martin J. Keogh of New Rochelle
is the treasurer and John jerome Rooney
the secretary. The committee also in
cludes nearly forty other prominent
Irishmen.
In the few other cities where the dele