Correspondence

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 10, 6 March 1902, Page 3

Correspondence

[We are not responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.] The Celtic Revival.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — An article which you call ' Our Irish Letter,' and which haa the heading ' Hobbieg,' appears in your issue of November 21, 1901. That article is one of the most absurd, and at the same time one of the most mischievous, that I have read for a long time. It begins with a dissertation on hobbies in general. Then it names three hobbies. One of the three it calls the ' Celtic Revival.' Obviously the Celtic Revival is the strenuous effort which the people of Ireland are now making to cultivate the language of the Irish nation and to restore it to the position which it held as the national speeoh for thousands of years. According to your ' own correspondent ' that strenuous effort on the part of the present generation of Irishmen, is a ' hobby,' which is ' in danger of wearing out public patience.' 'It seriously threatens to become a nuisance and a bore.' The people who are engaged in it are ' a swarm of ants, leaving a nauseous trail behind them that disgusts all who taste the food afterwards.' Then this writer, without having given the slightest hint of a change in the subject matter of which he is treating, proceeds to talk of two Celtic Revivals, viz., ' The really strong current that has Bet in in Ireland in favor of the revival of our native language, games, etc.,' and, 'a number of anti-Catholic and anti-Christian men and women,' who want to force themselves ' into the very van of the movement.' Here the reader of the article gets lost. What has become of the ' hobby-horse 1 ' Is the Celtic Revival only one hobby, or is it two ? Is the ' really strong current ' one hobby, and is the thing with ' Pan 'at the head of it a second hobby ? Is it allowable to oall ' a really strong current ' a hobby ? Is it allowable to call by the name of ' hobby ' a deep-laid plan to turn the ' strong current ' aside from its legitimate course ? ' Fortunately, so far, our clergy are in the movement.' Which of the two hobbies are the clergy riding ? Or, are they riding tandem ? ' But they want, and they are beginning openly to say it, not Catholic Irish, but Pagan Irish.' Who are ' they ? ' Are they the people who are becoming a ' nuisance and a bore 1 ' Or are they a sub-division of that class, viz., the ' strong current ? ' Or are they the other subdivision, namely, the people with the prefix ' Pan ? ' The writer appears to possess a peculiar power of seeing the ' hobby ' sometimes single and sometimes double. If this article had appeared in a Dublin paper I would not have considered it necessary to call attention to it. Dublin readers would not be misled by it. If it had appeared in a paper of little note and of limited circulation I would not have taken any notice of it. But appearing as it does in so important, so influential, and so widely-read a paper as the Neav Zealand Tablet, it has naturally come under the eyes of people whose good opinion is valuable. It is not to be tolerated that such people Bhould take from the pages of the New Zealand Tablet the impression that the great movement going forward in Ireland at present for the rehabilitation of the Irish language ' is becoming a nuisance and a bore ! ' The article is calculated to produce that impression on the minds of people who live so far away from Ireland, and who have not had an opportunity of giving to the Irish language movement much close attention. I wish to assure them that the movement is not a ' hobby.' It is an all-pervading and an all-absorbing force which is driving people to the constant and steady performance of hardest work, and to the sacrifice of time and of health and even of life. That force has its origin in the settled conviction in the minds of all that the loss of the language would mean the loss of national life. To call that movement a ' hobby ' and a ' nuisance ' and a ' bore ' is not only an abuse of language but a gross misrepresentation of a great public fact. I will ask you to give to these few words of vindication the same opportunity of coming under the eyeß of your readers as the article on ' Hobbies ' got. — I am, etc., Peter O'Leary, P.P. Castlelyons, County Cork, Ireland, January 22, 1902. _^____ __^___