Evening star., 1938-06-26
Popular ndScholarly DR.. Hyde
Is Symbol of the New Ireland
Tolerance and Infinite Tact Are Traits of Erns
President, Famed for His Work to
Preserve Native Language.

heard to the very gates of dublin; by 1884,
wnen Hyde graduated, only 10000 spoke it
and nothing else. No wonder the London
Times glorined in the fact that the "Celts
are going :. going with q vengeance"
The early COS found Dr. Hyde teaching
modern languages at the State University
at New Brunswick, Canada. His period of
exile was short-lived. however. BY 1893
he was home again. And in July of that
year the dream he had dreamed In the
heart took form in dingy back room
in Dublin. There, in simple, homely Gaelic
words, Hyde addressed a meeting Of nine
people. Dressed in (the now familiar
homespun knickerbockers. he pleaded for
the necessity Of de-Anglicising Ireland"
But. he carefully explained such work wa
not "a protest against what Is best in the
English people" but was TO show the
folly of neglecting what is Irish and
fastening to adopt pell-mell everything
that is English, simply because it Is Eng
lish." Quoting the old proverb-"0an team
ga, gan tir" without language. without
a country)-he reminded his disciples that
- common speech spreads Its roots far
down in the complex psychology Of ma
tionhood
Without blare Of trumpets, the Gaelic
League movement was launched that night
with Hyde as its nrst president.
The founding league had hard struggle
for existence. Though its constitution pro-
claimed it to be "non-sectarian and non
political the West Britonised" Irish were
suspicious; many actually hostile. But
Hyde was undaunted. He cycled every
where, spoke at dishearteningly small meet
ings, opened league branches. He soon
became familiar figure-this tall, strik-
ing-looking Anglo Irishman with the
leonine head, Oriental-like cheek bones
and full. bushy mustache His perseverance
finally won. The national conscience slow
ly began to realize that the extinction of
the national language was matter Of moro
than antiquarian interest Enthusiasm for
the new cause swept the land. League
branches mushroomed. Funds poured in
Hyde went to America and came back with
100000. The precursor of Sim Fein anci
the Anglo-Irish treaty was now gathering
swift momentum. And all this time the
leagues president was putting the finish
ing touches to his monumental work.
literary history OF Ireland. Published il
1889 it marked the first time . connecte,'
and adequate survey had been made @.
the literary evolution Of Gaelic Ireland.
Facile Pen Never Idle.
Other works followed. Hyde's facile per
was never idle. In 1901 the Abbey Theater
produced his Twisting Of the Rope"-thc
first play to be spoken in the Gaelic tongue
on any stage. And though Hyde wrote
mostly in Gaelic and Of the peasant, he
pointed the way for synge and Yeats to
rehabilitate the native idiom IN Anglo
Irish.
The league was now emerging rs . power
full factor in the national scene. It turned
its guns on the educational system and
in 1908 forced the authorities to place
Irish on an equal footing with German
and French. But its greatest victory came
seven years later when, bludgeoned by the
county councils who threatened to with
draw their rate provided scholarships, the
Senate Of the National University (where
Hyde had the chair Of 1rish) decided the
native tongue should be obligatory for
matriculation after 1918.
That was the high-water mark Of the
leagues influence. The rise Of Sim Fein
the trend toward revolutionary theories on
the part Of Gaelic leaguers, found the ma
jority Of members deserting the Hyde axiom
a. <hn 10 ,,< k>fo
politics. The climax came at . meeting
held at Dundalk in 1918 when, faced with
fait accomph Of the politicians, Hyde
resigned the presidency.
It was no embittered Hyde who went
back to his chair Of Irish at National Uni
versity-a post he occupied until he re-
tired In 1882 His students worshipec
him. In the fateful years to follow, when
ugly guns sang their hymn Of hate, many
Of them interrupted the dirty business OF
killing to pay . hurried call to the cAthe.
dral-like quiet Of his home on Harcour,
terrace. Outside could be heard the inter.
mittent cracks Of rife and machinery
fre: inside-naught but the soft words O
an aging man intoning the folksonss oi
the poor.
| will Live IN Splendor.
Only once did DR.. Hyde deviate from hi
purposefulness to eschew anything re.
sembling . political pronouncement. That
was In 1921 when the first native govern
ment since the days Of orattan was beint
established in Dublin. Listening to bub
bling students who brought him the new.
he said with misty look, THE O. ant
the Macs are coming into their own"
1T Is . very great honor-but am Q,
DID," was DR.. Hydes reported oommen
when newsmen told him Of his nomination
He will now live in regal splendor. Tn
state will pay him homage and s7Sooo
year. He will be the symbol Of the ney
Ireland. Yet he will be something NOR
real. He will be the symbol Of toleranoe
For Protestant Dr. Hyde has that toleranc
that rarely blesses the Irish people in tn
south Or in the north. He has INFINITE tao
too; . wealth Of charm. Only Hyde coul
have answered the rabid listener ut leagl
meeting who had shouted, ITO hell Wit
England" With the yiek comeback: N