Emily was a fluent French speaker. She also had a good command of German, and lastly she spoke Irish too, perhaps not as well as the first two. She may have grown up listening to her father speak in his native tongue but she would not have been taught it at school, given the time it was not encouraged. When the Gaelic League was set up in the 1890’s it became ‘fashionable’ to speak Irish.
The Gaelic League, or Conradh na Gaeilge, was founded in Dublin on July 31, 1893 by Douglas Hyde (Dubhghlas de hÍde in Irish), a Protestant from Frenchpark, County Roscommon with the aid of Eugene O’Growney, Eoin MacNeill, Luke K. Walsh and others. The league developed from Ulick Bourke’s earlier Gaelic Union and became the leading institution promoting the Gaelic Revival…
Read more:https://www.cnag.ie/en/info/the-irish-language/a-brief-history-of-conradh-na-gaeilge.html
As a Nationalist Emily promoted the Irish language, speaking it when and where possible. The purpose of Scoil Acla was to promote the speaking of Irish. She was also masterful at writing it too, as a regular correspondent with the Gaelic League’s weekly, An Claidheamh Soluis.
Achill Summer School
The Achill Summer School has been closed for this year. It was small but in every way a remarkable success. Its promoters claim that it has accomplished all that they had hoped from its institution. it has turned the tide of Anglicisation. it has been a pure well of Gaelic spirit and enthusiasm in an arid and neglected district. It has refreshed and renewed all who have had the happiness to visit it. Its good work has made itself felt all over the country side. Next year it will open with a reputation already made.
Emily Weddall 