FAMOUS GIRLS' SCHOOL DESTROYED.

New Zealand Tablet, 17 March 1921, Page 22

FAMOUS GIRLS' SCHOOL DESTROYED.

A recent atrocity by the military in Ireland, which will shock the Irish rape all over the world, is the destruction of St. Ha’s School, Rathfarnham, Dublin, the celebrated girls’ school, founded, like St. Enda’s College, by Padraic Pearse, the leader of the Easter revolt of 1916, and his brother William, and since their execution conducted by their mother and sister. Padraic Pearse, the first President of the Irish Republic, was a man who personified in himself the noblest traditions of the'country he loved, and for which he sacrificed his life. From their earliest days both he and his brother, William James Pearse, were ardent students of Irish history and Irish language, and when they were both mere boys took a vow that they would work and, if need be, die for Ireland. Shy, earnest, rather pale, but strikingly handsome, Pearse had the appearance of the student and the scholar. He impressed all who came into touch with him as being at once an enthusiast and a practical man of affairs. As a teacher of a language class under the Gaelic League in 1899, he already showed that he had imbibed the very soul of the Gael. He was full of enthusiasm for Irish linguistic studies, and delved deeply into Irish folk-lore and early Irish music and poetry. In 1901 Pearse was called to the Irish Bar, and was the recipient of many congratulations. He then set to work to found St. Enda’s and St. Ita’s Schools at Rath-

farnham, Co. Dublin. These two were the, only Irish colleges founded on a conception of all that was best in Irish life and tradition. There were other Irish colleges, such as that at" Ballingeary, where the Irish language was taught: but St. Enda's and St. Ita's were colleges where a thorough modern education was provided in all its branches, and where the spirit of the Gael was predominant in everything. Had Pearse done nothing else than found these schools, and thus demonstrate how a modem system of education need not exclude the true spirit of the Gael, be would have accomplished a work deserving of the gratitude of every man, woman, and child of the Irish race. Apart entirely from its national significance, St. Enda's was a most important contribution to the science of pedagogy, and its importance will be realised and conceded later when men turn away from destruction to peaceful pursuits.