Page:Irish Made Easy - Shán Ó Cuív.pdf/16

 the old Roman letters, which Rome and the world, except Ireland, have discarded for the improved modern Roman; (3) to write the Irish letters costs 20 or 30 per cent. more of valuable time; (4) printing in Irish type is most expensive and less accurate. Father Hogan also says, and this is more important for our purpose:—

"As teacher and Examiner, I know that boys, in learning to write, and in writing, Irish text, lose half or one-third of their time, which would be better spent in lear the language and literature of Ireland. In the compositions of the boys of the Intermediate grade, I have met with an almost peerless specimen of penmanship, and it was the work of a lad who knew almost nothing of Irish; but as a rule the writing was so wretched as almost to deter a person from reading it. Hence I am sure that while the students will find more ease in writing their compositions and exercises in Roman hand, the numerous teachers throughout the country will find more comfort in reading and correcting them. Many gifted Irishmen, and Scots who speak Gaelic from their childhood, and are saturated with it, have been and are deterred from reading Irish books by the strange look of the letters, and fancy it is a language unknown to them. Since I feel that for these reasons Irish type is not as good as the modern Roman, I do not employ it, as I would not use an old Roman or old Irish plough, or go in a boat like St. Brendan’s from Kingstown to Holyhead, or in a 'chariot' like Cuchulain’s from Dublin to Cork, or give up coal, gas, and electric light for turf, rush lights, and candles."

Mr. Maurice Healy, of Cork, in a series of