THE GAELIC SOCIETY'S GATHERING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 17, 23 August 1895, Page 8

THE GAELIC SOCIETY'S GATHERING.

The fourteenth annual gathering of the Gaelic Society was held on Friday evtning in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin. The chair was takea by Mr J. F. M. Fraser, and on the platform, basidei the officials and the members of the committee, were his Worship the Mayor of the city aad representatives of kindrtd societies, such as the Burns Club, the Hawke's Bay Highland Society, the Waitaki Gaelic Society,' the Southland Gaelic Society, the Irish Gaelio Society. The Very Bey Father Lynch Adm., and the Bey Fathers Ntwport, J. O'Neill tod Hunt, who had come to be present at the concert, wert also invited, as representatives and patronß of the Irish Gaelic Society, to take seats upon th* platform. The report of the Society for the past year which showed a flourishing and promising state of affairs, had been circaleted, in English arid Gaelic, throughout the hall. It's adoption wa proposed by the Rev John Ryley, who, in a neatly turned speech" made graceful reference to the presence of the representatives Of other societies, and of other communions and nations and the good effects he believed it must produce. The rev speaker made kindly mention by name of the B«v Father O'Neill, with whom, he ssid, he frequently met in moving about. The motion was seconded by Mr Dugald M'Lachlan, who had recently, after manyyearß constant and valuable service, and on the plea of advancing age, retired from the Chair manship of the Society— where be had been worthily replaced by M'Lachlan McDonald. The Mayor enppcrLsd the motion, expressing his personal sympathy with the objects of the Society, The Bey Father O'Neill who was requested to act as the spokesman of the Irish Gaelic Society, in promotion of whose ends he takes a particularly active and successful part at Milton, also supported the motion. In a brief but telling speech he referred to a visit recently paid by him to Scotland, where, he said, he had sniffed the heather of the Highlands and been as nearly cbaDged by it into a Highlander a> it was possible for an Irishman to be. He identified Scotch Highlanders and Irishmen through their common ancestry, and appealed to tbe well-established fact that Gaelic was spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as a reason why its study should now be sustained and revived. In reply to the kindly reference made to him personally by the Rev Mr Byley, Father O'Neill said that bis acquaintance with the rev gentleman had broadened his views and be«n the means of ridding him of mistaken ideas on several points. Mr Byley he added, bad given him O'Neill; a section for a Catholic Church at Catling. Father O'Neiirs remarks were received with high appreciation and much applause and laughter by the audience. The other speakers wore Mr J. B. Thompson, representing the Burns Club ; Mr Chisholm, representing the Highland Society of Hawke'a Bay ; and Mr John McDonald (of Palmerston), who, like M t M'Lachlan, spoke in Gaelic. A telegram in the old tongue, conveying, from the Hon J. M'Kenzie and the Hon J. Macgregor, apologies for unavoidable absence, and a warm message of sympathy* was read. ' The work proper to the evening was then begun— that is, the work of recalling the finer sen ti men ta of the people,— the strain of course, humour, pathos, or pleasantry, that had been the distinctive feature of by-gone generations, and whose recollection and assimila. tion alone can keep alive in the generation now existing, and those that are to follow it, what is most ennobling and best worth preserving in tbe national Ufa. The chairman, in bis address, had alluded to objections that were sometimes brought against the existence of this Society, in a few apt sentences pointing out their emptiness. And is it not for the common good that every section of the populai tion should retain and devtlop its highest qualities ? Is it not senti.

ment that dignifies man and separates him from the lower creation ? Noble thoughts, honourable motives, and glorious recollections, however they may vary in detail, are substantially the same, and the characters moulded and sustained by them must unite in forming odo great people. Let each section of the community, therefore, English, Scotch, or Irish, develops in th« way best suited to it— by the recollection and imitation of bravery, beauty, glory, that may be best brought homo to its members by close, personal asfociations— its highest qualities and the gain must needs be a common one. It should be recorded to the undying honour of tbe Scottish Highlanders that they have everywhere throughout the world— as also in our own oity— taken the initiative in bo grand an undertaking. These national recollections and celebrations, too, serve as a check on that go-ahead bat sordid spirit to which self-interest and the influences of the times irresistibly impel us all, and whose danger is to make us hard unfeeling and narrow. They tend to prevent our becoming mere machines for money-making and material aggrandizement or eDJoy ment. " Ma's ciiram naomhtha c ciiram teangan na tire, is curam ceoil oa tire mar an g-cendna." This is a truth we find stated in a plea recently entered for a revival of Irish music. Our Highland friends, seem well aware of it. Their proceedings had begun with a stirring march performed on thpir instruments by a band of pipers, headed by Pipe Major McKechnie— all of course in the national garb. And all the music was Scotch. Three conga were snng in Gaelic, " Eilean an fbraoich," •« Gu ma slan a cbi mi," and " Bithibh aotrom "s togaibh form." The singers were, respectively, Mr Neil McFadyen (Bard) Miss Jane Cameron and Mr John McNeill— each of whom met with well merited applause. Mr McFadyen's singing was particularly mellow and expressive. Among the other singers the ladie» were Mesdames McDonald and Carmichael and the Misses M. Morris™, Ada Matheßon, M. Dow, A. McDonald, and I. L. Matheson R.A.MThe gentlemen were Messrs F. Young and J. Robertson. The singing in every instance was particularly awert and tunefu?, the sense of the fine old verses beiog at the same timp well interpreted- '• Hnntingtower " sung by Mies Morrison and Mr Young, and in which the singers accompanied the words by appropriateaction, waaone of the chief successes of the evening. All the honours of the evening did not however, fall to the lot of the vocalists. There was a gooily troop of dancers who took thoir fall share. A Highland fling, an Irhh hornpipe, a Highland reel, a double sword dance, a eeantruia, a doubl c Bailor's hornpipe and a Scotch jig, displayed the agility and grace of thoa 6 who took part in them. The " light fantastic toe," indeed, could hardly be more deftly exercised. The sword danco especially amazed the lookers on. The dancers were the Misses 0. and B. McDonald, N. McLean and B. McKechnie; Messrs J. an.l U. McKcchi.ie, R* Thompson, J. D. 8 Burt. J. Murray ; and Meters McDonald, Clark' Popham, Smith, McKechnie, and R. Burt. A pianoforte solo, Sivmi's 1 Balmoral " was brilliantly played by Miss I. L. Mit he son R AM ! and a cornet solo " Scottish Airs " was excellently performed by Mr H. T. Dickenaon. The programme coi eluded wi h " Au'd Lr.ng Syne " sung In choru? by the company. Oa the whole, the tr&ditions andjsentimen^s of the " Tir nam B3ann,nan Gleann's nan Gu*gaach," were fittingly', a^ well as pleasantly, commemorated— the echoes of the mountains and glens ; the of the heroes, were vividly recalled. Go mbudh fada buan mhairfeaa an Comuna Gh<ii ihniach Tir-a Mhaori ag beathughadh na Gaedhilge.