The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-03-25
1t is Estimated That Twenty-Five
Thousand People in New York
Can Speak Irish.
There Are 100000 Children Studying
Gaelic in National Schools
of Ireland
The Irish Revival is Restoring the
Native Industries of the
Country.

Two Irishmen in New York made a !
bet one day, says the New York |
Sun" One was an enthusiast and !
one was a scotfer. The enthusiast
bet that in half-an-hour's walk, taken
at random through New York, he !
could raise an answer in the Irish |
language every time lie chose to speak !
it, The scoffer scoiied. They went
down West street first and stopped |
at the first group OF dock labnrers
The enthusiast let fall a salutation
in the Gaelic. He got an answer SO
quickly thai it cost him the drinks
for old Ireland before he got away. !
Next lie went into a dry goods store.
Behind the counter was a girl with
blue eyes. He uttered u sentence i'll
Gaelic, and though it did not cost
him the drinks this time he got an
answer and Il quotation from bit OF
; Irish poetry; and the girl was born
in New York, too. Last they wan
dered out on an old pier where came
the boats Of a little old New England
line. Out on the end they found
shack where, at a deck sat white
haired clerk, as he had been sitting
! for the last thirty or forty years. The
enthusiast sized up the Old man and
tried an observation in the Gaelic on
him. lie got an answer that nearly
wrung his hand Off, and then the old
clerk showed the visitors box OF
books in the Irish language, some OF
them dating back to the early days OF
printing, which he had stored i'll his
office.
Some Irish declare that $4,000 peo-
pie in New York,
The Largest Irish City
in the world, can speak Gaelic 9th
ers fix the number at double that.
Twenty years ago an educated per-
son in Ireland was apt to be a bit
ashamed to confess that he knew the
language Today 100000 children are
studying their own language in the
national schools of Ireland, and there
are Chairs of the Irish Language in
most of the Universities OF Germany
France and Scandinavia, and here ana
there in America The best Irish
scholar in the world is Scandinavian
professor The Gaelic League OF Am
erica has for it's object the aWakrn-
ing of interest in the ancient IAN
guage, art, customs, and history OF
Ireland and the financial assistance
of the home society for the same pur-
pose. Much money goes to Ireland
annually for the purpose. The League
has eight societies in New York, scv-
eral each in Boston and Chicago, and
others in Buffalo, Baltimore, Phla.
delphia, Washington, Worcester, West
field, Bridgeport, Pawtucket, Brock
ton, Holyolle, Springfield, Providence
Montreal, Quebec and San Francisco
Usually there is an hour or more OF
study under teacher provided BY
the society, and then musical ana
literary program, often with Irish
dancing as a finale, when someone
can be found who knows the real old
Irish steps.
A Lost Artist.
A passenger who crossed the At
antic not long ago found his way
down into the steerage when an en-
terlainmcnt was in progress. One
number was furnished by a little peas
ant girl fresh from the bogs, green a:
the grass of the Emerald Isle. She
+ was dancing a true Irish jig and the
!. little people themselves had put th'
/. motion in her feet. 1t was the poelr
of motion--a wild, primitive step, no
: vouptuous like the Oriental dances
but having that peculiar influence or
o the beholdcr that all primitive dance
have whether the Highland fling, th'
tarantella, or any other that has como
down from the childhood OF the race
9 Good round dollars were waiting fo
# the little farm maid could any one
j. have gently guided her steps to tht
= vaudeville stage. But she melted aWa'
S in the throng at Ellis Island, and TO
day no doubt stands over some pr