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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6599.txt b/6599.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d912b8a --- /dev/null +++ b/6599.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10630 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters of "Norah" on her Tour Through +Ireland, by Margaret Dixon McDougall + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Letters of "Norah" on her Tour Through Ireland + +Author: Margaret Dixon McDougall + +Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6599] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 30, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORAH ON HER TOUR THROUGH IRELAND *** + + + + +Produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + + + + +THE LETTERS OF "NORAH" ON HER TOUR THROUGH IRELAND, + +BEING A SERIES OF LETTERS TO THE MONTREAL "WITNESS" + +AS SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT TO IRELAND + + + + +COMPLETE LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE PUBLICATION +OF MRS. McDOUGAL'S LETTERS FROM IRELAND. + + +Monsignore Farrelly. Belleville, Ont. $ 5.00 +Wm. Wilson, Montreal 10.00 +Edward Murphy, Montreal 5.00 +Joseph Cloran, " 5.00 +Timothy Fogarty, " 5.00 +Robert McCready, " 5.00 +James Stewart, " 5.00 +T.J. Potter, " 5.00 +John Mahan, Paris (France) 5.00 +Henry Hogan, Montreal 5.00 +Bernard Tansey, " 2.00 +B. Connaughton, " 2.00 +F.G. Gormely, " 2.00 +J.C. Fleming, Toronto 2.00 +C.D. Hanson, Montreal 2.00 +D. McEntyre Jr., " 2.00 +Ald. D. Tansey, " 4.00 +Wm. Farrell, " 2.00 +M. Avahill, " 2.00 +E.P. Ronavae " 2.00 +Michael Sullivan," 1.00 +James Guest " 2.00 +M.P. Ryan " 5.00 +Joseph Dunn, Cote St. Paul 4.00 +Owen McGarvey, Montreal 5.00 +Daniel Murphy, Carillon, P.Q. 5.00 +John Kelly " " 5.00 +C.J. Doherty, Montreal 5.00 +James McCready " 5.00 +Andrew Colquhoun, Winnepeg 5.00 +P. Cuddy, Montreal 5.00 +W.S. Walker " 5.00 +M.J. Quinn " 5.00 +Rev. M.J. Stanton, Priest, Westport, + Ont. 5.00 +E. Stanton, Ottawa 5.00 +J. Fogarty, Montreal 5.00 +P. McLaughlin, Montreal 3.00 +P.J. Ronayne, " 5.00 +William Redmond, " 2.00 +J.J. Milloy, " 2.00 +C. Egan, " 2.00 +John Cox, " 2.00 +P.J. Durack, " 2.00 +John McElroy, " 2.00 +Michael Fern, " 2.00 +J.I. Hayes, " 2.00 +James Maguire, " 2.00 +J.J. Curran, M.P., " 2.00 +Mrs. McCrank, " 2.00 +Dr. W.H. Hingston, " 5.00 +John B. Murphy, " 5.00 +Tim. Kenna, " 2.00 +Matthew Hicks, " 5.00 +Patrick Wright, " 5.00 +Wm. S. Harper, " 2.00 +Richard Drake, " 1.00 +James O'Brien, " 5.00 +H. Hodgson, " 2.00 +P.A. Egleson, Ottawa, Ont. 5.00 +John Keane, " 2.00 +B.J. Coghlin, Montreal 5.00 +Henry Stafford, " 2.00 +Mrs. P. McMahon " 2.00 +P. Cadigan, Pembroke, Ont. 5.00 +H. Heaton, Nebraska, U.S. .50 +Thomas Simpson, Montreal 1.00 +Alexander Seath, " 2.00 +M.C. Mullarky, " 5.00 +John Fahey, " 5.00 +J.J. Arnton, " 5.00 +Richard McShane, " 2.00 +B. Emerson, " 2.00 +J.D. Purcell, " 2.00 +W. O'Brien " 5.00 + +(Signed) + +W. Wilson + +_Treasurer "Norah's Letters" Fund._ + + + + +A TOUR THROUGH IRELAND + + + + +I. + +OFF--EXPERIENCES IN A PULLMAN CAR--HOARDING THE "ONTARIO"--THE CAPTAIN-- +THE SEA AND SEA-SICKNESS--IMAGININGS IN THE STORM--LANDING AT +BIRKENHEAD. + + +On January 27th I bade good-bye to my friends and set my face resolutely +towards the land whither I had desired to return. Knowing that sickness +and unrest were before me, I formed an almost cast-iron resolution, as +Samantha would say, to have one good night's rest on that Pulman car +before setting out on the raging seas. Alas! a person would persist in +floating about, coming occasionally to fumble in my belongings in the +upper berth. Prepared to get nervous. Before it came to that, I sat up +and enquired if the individual had lost anything, when he disappeared. +Lay down and passed another resolution. Some who were sitting up began +to smoke, and the fumes of tobacco floated in behind the curtains, clung +there and filled all the space and murdered sleep. Watched the heavy +dark shelf above, stared at the cool white snow outside, wished that all +smokers were exiled to Virginia or Cuba, or that they were compelled to +breathe up their own smoke, until the morning broke cold and foggy. + +Emerged from behind the curtains, and blessed the man who invented cold +water. Too much disturbed by the last night's dose of second-hand smoke +for breakfast at Island Pond. The moist-looking colored gentleman who +was porter, turned back to Montreal before we reached Portland. I +strongly suspect that a friend had privately presented him with a fee to +make him attentive to one of the passengers, for he came twice with the +most minute directions for finding the Dominion Line office, at +Portland. Still his conscience was unsatisfied, for finally he came with +the offer of a tumbler full of something he called pure apple juice. +There are some proud Caucasians who would not have found it so difficult +to square a small matter like that with their consciences. + +It was pleasant to look at the comfortable homes on the line as we +passed along. Not one squalid looking homestead did we pass; every one +such as a man might be proud to own. All honor to the State of Maine. + +The train was three hours late--it was afternoon when we arrived in +Portland. Following the directions of my colored friend, I went up an +extremely dirty stair into a very dirty office, found an innocent young +man smoking a cigar. He did not know anything, you know, so sat grimly +down to wait for the arrival of some one who did. Such a one soon +appeared and took a comprehensive glance of the passenger as he took off +his overshoes. + +"Passenger for the 'Ontario,'" explained the innocent young man. + +"Take the passenger over to the ship," said the energetic one, +decidedly. "We will send luggage after you. How much have you?" + +Explained, handed him the checks, and meekly followed my innocent guide +down the dirty stair, across a wide street, up some dirty-looking steps +on to the wharf where the 'Ontario' lay, taking in her cargo. Large and +strong-looking, dingy white was she, lying far below the wharf. + +My guide enquired for the captain, who appeared suddenly from somewhere-- +a tall man with a resolute face and keen eye, gray as to hair and +whiskers, every inch a captain. I knew that his face--once a handsome +face, I am sure--had got that look of determination carved into it by +doing his duty by his ship and facing many a storm on God Almighty's +sea. I trusted him at once. + +Did not sail through the night as I expected, but were still in Portland +when morning came. We had fish for breakfast; found mine frozen beneath +the crisp brown outside. After breakfast went up on deck. The sky was +blue and bright, the air piercing cold. The town of Portland looked +clean and beautiful in the fair sunlight. It is a place that goes +climbing up hill. The floating ice and the liquid green water ruffled +into white on the crest of the swells, are at play together. The ship +moves out slowly, almost imperceptibly. Portland fades from a house- +crowned hillside into a white line, darkness comes down. We are out at +sea. + +The glass has gone down; the storm has come up; the sea tyrant has got +hold of the solitary passenger and dandles her very roughly, singing +"The Wreck of the 'Hesperus'" in a loud bass to some grand deep tune, +alternating with the one hundred and third Psalm in Gaelic. The +passenger holds on for dear life and wonders why the winds sing those +words over and over again. + +Sabbath passes, day melts into night, night fades into day, the storm +tosses the ship and sea-sickness tosses the passenger. The captain +enquires, "Is that passenger no better yet?" Comes to see in his +doctoral capacity, looks like a man not to be trifled with, feels the +pulse, orders a mustard blister, brandy and ammonia, and scolds the +patient for starving, like a wise captain and kind man as he is. All the +ship stores are ransacked for something to tempt an appetite that is +above temptation; but the captain is absolute, and we can testify that +eating from a sense of duty is hard work. It was delightful to get rid +of an occasional apple on the sly to one of the ship's boys and be +rewarded with a surprised grin of delight. + +It is grand to lie on cushions on the companion-way and watch long +rollers as they heave up and look in at the door-way. They rise rank +upon rank, looking over one another's shoulders, hustling one another in +their boisterous play, like overgrown schoolboys, who will have fun at +whoever's expense. Sometimes one is pushed right in by his fellows, and +falls down the companion-way in a little cataract, and then the door is +shut and they batter at it in vain. Then there is a great mopping up of +a small Atlantic. + +The storm roars without, and within the passenger lies day after day +studying the poetry of motion. There is one motion that goes to the tune +of "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," but this rocking is so violent +that as one dashes from side to side, holding on to the bars above and +the edge of the berth, one is led to pity a wakeful baby rocked wickedly +by the big brother impatient to go to play. The tune changes, and it is +"Ploughing the Raging Main," and the nose of the plough goes down too +deep; then one is fastened to the walking beam of an engine and sways up +and down with it. A gigantic churn is being churned by an ogre just +under our head, and the awful dasher plunges and creaks. Above all the +winds howl, and the waves roll, and sometimes slap the ship till she +shivers and leaps, and then the "Wreck of the Hesperus" recommences. +Things get gloomy, the variations of storm grow monotonous, nothing +delights us, no wish arises for beef tea, nothing makes gruel palatable. +Neither sun nor stars have been visible for some days; the only sunshine +we see is the passing smile of the ship's boys, who are almost +constantly employed baling out the Atlantic. + +It was the ninth night of storm. They say every ninth wave is larger +than the rest; the ninth night the wind roared louder than ever, the +Almighty's great guns going off. The ship staggered and reeled, +struggling gallantly, answering nobly to the human will that held her to +her duty, but shivering and leaping after every mighty slap of the mad +waves. I got one glimpse at the waves through a cautiously opened door. +I never thought they could climb upon one another's shoulders and reach +up to heaven, a dark green wall of water ready to fall and overwhelm us, +until I looked and saw the mountains of water all around. + +Land in sight on the 8th of February, the Fasnet rock, then the Irish +coast; the great rollers drew back into the bosom of the Atlantic: the +winged pilot boats appeared; the pilot climbed up the side out of the +sea; we steamed over the harbor bar and stopped at Birkenhead on the +Cheshire side to land our fellow-passengers the sheep and oxen. + +I might have gone up to Liverpool but was advised to remain another +night on board and go direct to the Belfast packet from the ship. I +considered this advice, found it good and took it. + + + + +II. + +FROM LIVERPOOL TO BELFAST--IRELAND'S CONDITION DISCUSSED--EVICTIONS--A +SUNDAY IN BELFAST. + + +From Liverpool to Belfast, including a cup of tea, cost in all four +dollars and fifty cents. It seems ridiculous to a stranger that the cars +and cabs always stop at a little distance from the steamers, so as to +employ a porter to lift a trunk for a few yards at each end of the short +journey by cab. + +The kind steward of the "Ontario" came over to the packet to look after +his passenger; had promised to see that passenger safely conveyed from +one steamer to the other, but, detained at home by sickness in the +family, came back to the ship a few minutes too late, and then came over +to explain and say good-bye. There could not possibly be a more +courteous set of men than the captain and officers of the steamship +"Ontario." + +On the Belfast packet two ladies, one a very young bride on her way from +her home in South Wales to her new home in Belfast, were talking of the +danger of going to Ireland or living in it at the present disturbed +time. A gentleman in a grey ulster and blue Tam o'Shanter of portentous +dimensions broke into the conversation by assuring the handsome young +bride that she would be as safe in green Erin as in the arms of her +mother. Looking at the young lady it was easy to see that this speech +was involuntary Irish blarney, a compliment to her handsome face. "You +will meet the greatest kindness here, you will have the heartiest +welcome on the face of the earth," he continued. + +"But there is a great deal of disturbance, is there not?" asked her +companion. + +"Oh, the newspapers exaggerate dreadfully--shamefully, to get up a +sensation in the interest of their own flimsy sheets. There is some +disturbance, but nothing like what people are made believe by the +newspaper reports." + +Old lady--"Why are Irish people so turbulent?" + +Tam O'Shanter--"My dear lady, Ireland contains the best people and the +worst in the world, the kindest and the cruelest. They are so emotional, +so impulsive, so impressible that their warm hearts are easily swayed by +demagogues who are making capital out of influencing them." + +Old lady--"Making money by it, do you mean?" + +Tam O'Shanter, with a decided set of his bonnet--"Making money of it! +Yes, by all means. They have got up the whole thing to make money. But +here in Belfast, where you are going," with a bow to the bride, "all is +tranquil, all is prosperous. In fact all over the north there is the +same tranquillity, the same prosperity." + +Here, a new voice, that of an enthusiastic supporter of the Land League, +joined in the conversation, and the controversy becoming personal the +ladies disappeared into the ladies' cabin. There was an echo of drunken +argument that was likely a continuation of the land question until the +wind increased to a gale. The little boat tossed like a cork on the +waves; there was such a rattle of glass, such a rolling and bumping of +loose articles, such echoes of sickness, above all, the shock of waves +and the shriek of winds, and the land question was for the time being +swallowed up by the storm. + +Belfast, with its mud and mist, was a welcome sight. The dirty-faced +porters who lined the quay and beckoned to us, and pointed to our +luggage silently, seemed to be a deputation of welcome to _terra +firma_. At a little distance from the line of porters the jaunting +cars were stationed to convey passengers to the hotel. It did look +ridiculous to see full-grown people take the long way round in this +fashion. + +At noon Saturday, the 19th of February, I had the blissful feeling of +rest connected with sitting in an easy chair before a coal fire, trying +to wake up to the blissful fact of being off the sea and in Ireland. + +On Sunday it was raining a steady and persistent rain; went through it +to the Duncairn Presbyterian Church because it was near, and because I +was told that the minister was one skilled to preach the gospel to the +poor. Found myself half an hour too early, so watched the congregation +assemble. The Scottish face everywhere, an utter absence of anything +like even a modified copy of a Milesian face. Presbyterianism in Ulster +must have kept itself severely aloof from the natives; there could have +been no proselytizing or there would have been a mixture of faces +typical of the absorption of one creed in another. + +Judging from the sentiments I have heard expressed by the sturdy +descendants of King Jamie's settlers, the sympathy that must precede any +reasonably hopeful effort to win over the native population to an alien +faith has never existed here. There is a great social gulf fixed between +the two peoples, with prejudice guarding both sides. The history, the +traditions of either side is guarded and nourished in secret by one, +openly and triumphantly by the other, with a freshness of strength that +is amazing to one who has been out of this atmosphere long enough to +look kindly on and claim kindred with both sides. Still there is a +perceptible difference between these Hiberno-Scotch and their cousins of +Scotland. Their faces have lost some of the concentrated look of a +really Scottish congregation. They are not so thoroughly "locked up;" +the _cead mille failte_ has been working into their blood +imperceptibly. The look of curiosity is kindly, and seems ready to melt +into hearty welcome on short notice. + +It is not the minister of the Duncairn Church who preaches, but a +returned missionary, who tells us by what logical hair-splitting in the +regions of Irish metaphysics he confounds Hindoo enquirers after truth, +and argues them into the Christian religion. Pity the poor Hindoos upon +whom this man inflicts himself. In the afternoon I strayed into a small +Sabbath-School where the Bible never was opened; heard a stirring Gospel +sermon at night, and joined in a prayer-meeting and felt better. + + + + +III. + +BELFAST--TEMPERANCE--"THE EVE OF A GREAT REBELLION"--THE POOR HOUSE-- +THE POLICE--COUNTY DOWN--MAKING ENDS MEET--WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO +TURN UP. + + +Belfast seems a busy town, bustle on her streets, merchandise on her +quays. Did not meet one man on the streets with the hopeless look on his +face of the poor fellow who carried my trunk in Liverpool. There must be +distress however, for the mills are not running full time, and there are +entertainments got up for the benefit of the deserving poor. I saw no +signs of intoxication on the streets, yet the number of whiskey shops is +appalling. Had a conversation with a prominent member of the Temperance +League, who informed me that temperance was gaining ground in Belfast. +"Half of the ministers are with us now; they used to, almost entirely, +stand aloof." But where are the rest? + +The land question is the absorbing topic. Every one seems to admit that +there is room for vast improvement in the land laws, that there has been +glaring injustice in the past. They acknowledge that rents are too high +to be paid, and leave anything behind to support the farmer's family in +any semblance of comfort. There is a very strong feeling against Mr. +Parnell among the Protestants of the north. In fact they talk of him +exactly as they did of Daniel O'Connell when in the height of his power. +Many whisper to me that we are on the eve of a great rebellion. One +strong-minded lady who informed me that she had come of a Huguenot stock +talked of the Land Leaguers as if they were responsible for the +revocation of the Edict of Nantes: but she acknowledged that the land +laws were very unjust and needed reform. + +Visited the Poor House, a very noble building in well-kept grounds. Went +on purpose to see a sick person and did not go all over it. It was not +the right day, or something. It was very distressing to see the number +of able-bodied looking young men and rosy-cheeked women about the +grounds who begged for a halfpenny, and so many loungers in hall and +corridor--perhaps they were only visitors. If they were inmates there +was plenty of cleaning to be done--the smell in some parts was dreadful. +In the hospital part the floors were very clean, and the head nurse, a +bright, cheery woman, seemed like sunshine among her patients. She +showed us all her curiosities, the little baby born into an overcrowded +world on the street, the little one, beautiful as an angel, found on the +street in a basket. It was very touching to see the beggar mothers +sparing from their own babies to nourish the little deserted waif. A +poor house is a helpless, hopeless mass of human misery. + +One thing that impresses a stranger here is the number of policemen; +they are literally swarming everywhere. Very dandified as to dress and +bearing, very vigilant and watchful about the eyes, with a double +portion of importance pervading them all over as men on whom the peace +and safety of the country depend. These very dignified conservators of +the peace are most obliging. Ask them any question of locality, or for +direction anywhere, and their faces open out into human kindness and +interest at once. + +Went out into County Down by rail about twenty miles. No words can do +justice to the beauty of the country, the cleanness of the roads, the +trimness of the hedges, and the garden-like appearance of the fields. +The stations, as we passed along, looked so trim and neat. The houses of +small farmers, or laborers I suppose they might be, were not very neat. +Many of them stood out in great contrast as if here was the border over +which any attempt at ornament should not pass. + +On the train bound for Dublin was a little old woman travelling third +class like myself, who scraped an acquaintance at once in order to tell +me of the disturbed state of the country. She emphasized everything with +a wave of her poor worn gloves and a decided nod of her bonnet. + +"They are idle you know, they are lazy, they are improvident. They are +not content in the station in which it has pleased God to place them. I +know all about these people. They are turbulent, they are rebellious; +they want to get their good, kind landlords out of the country, and to +seize on their property. It is horrid you know, horrid!" and the little +old lady waved her gloves in the air. "If they had a proper amount of +religion they would be content to labor in their own station. I am +content with mine, why not they with theirs? You understand that," +appealing to me. + +"Have you a small farm?" I enquired. + +"Indeed I have not," said the little old lady with the greatest disgust, +"I live on my money." + +It was quite evident I had offended her, for she froze into silence. As +I left the train at Tandragee she laid her faded glove on my arm and +whispered, "It is their duty to be content in their own station, is it +not?" + +"If they cannot do any better," I whispered back. + +"They cannot," said the little old lady sinking back on her seat +triumphantly. + +It is rather unhandy, that the names of the stations are called out by a +person on the platform outside the cars, instead of by a conductor +inside. + +The manufacturing town of Gilford is a pretty, clean, neat, little place +clustered round the mills and the big house, like the old feudal +retainers round the castle. Here, as in Belfast, a certain amount of +distress must exist, for the mills are not running full time. + +The wages of a common operative here is twelve shillings (or three +dollars) per week. If they have a family grown up until they are able to +work at the mills, of course it adds materially to the income. Girls are +more precious than boys, I have heard, as being more docile and easier +kept in clothing. They can earn about half wages, or six shillings (one +dollar and a half) per week. Rents are about two shillings (or half a +dollar) per week. It takes one and sixpence for fuel. A young family +would keep the parents busy to make ends meet in the best of times. In +case of the mill running short time I should think they would +persistently refuse to meet. No signs of distress, not the least were +apparent anywhere. The mill hands trooping past looked clean, rosy and +cheerful, and were decently clad. The grounds around the factory were +beautiful and very nicely kept, and beautiful also were the grounds +about the great house. I felt sorry that there were no little garden +plots about the tenement houses occupied by the operatives; so when hard +times come they will have no potatoes or vegetables of their own to help +them to tide over the times of scant wages. How I do wish that the +large-hearted and generous proprietors of these works could take this +matter into consideration. + +People waiting at the station talked among themselves of hard times, of +farms that were run down, that would not yield the rent, not to speak of +leaving anything for the tenants to live on. There was no complaint made +of the landlords; the land was blamed for not producing enough. Of +course, these people ought to know, but the fields everywhere looked +like garden ground. The only symptoms of running down that I could see +were in some of the houses, two-roomed, with leaky-looking roofs and a +general air of neglect. I must own, however, that houses of this +description were by far the fewest in number. At one station where we +stopped, one respectable-looking man asked of another, "Have you got +anything to do yet, Robert?" "Still waiting for something to turn up," +was the answer. This man was not at all of the Micawber type, but a +well-brushed, decent-looking person with a keen peremptory face, +evidently of Scottish descent. A group of such men came on the train, +whose only talk was of emigrating if they only had the means. + +I have heard a great deal of talk of emigration among the people with +whom I have travelled since I landed, but have not heard one mention of +Canada as a desirable place to emigrate to. The Western States, the +prairie lands, seem to be the promised land to everyone. One of these +would-be emigrants took a flute out of his pocket and played the Exile +of Erin. The talk of emigration stilled and a great silence fell on them +all. There were some soldiers on the car, young men, boys in fact, who +seemed by the heavy marching order of their get-up to be going to join +their regiment. Some of them struggled mannishly with the tears they +fain would hide. Truly the Irish are attached to the soil. I could not +help wondering if these lads were ordered to foreign service, and on +what soil they would lay down their heads to rest forever. + +Two persons near by, conversing in low tones on the state of the +country, drew my attention to them. One was a sonsie good-wife with any +amount of bundles, the other a little old man with a face of almost +superhuman wisdom. + +"The country will be saved mem, now; when the Coercion Bill has passed +the country will be saved," said the old man. + +"There's a great deal too much fuss made about everything," remarked the +good-wife. "Look at that boy ten years old taken up, bless us all! for +whistling at a man." + +"Did you take notice, mem, that the whistling was derisive, was +derisive, it was derisive. That is where it is, you see," said the old +man with a slow, sagacious roll of his head. + +"I would not care what a wee boy could put into a whistle: it was +awfully childish for a man and a gentleman to take up just a wean for a +whistle." + +"You see mem, they have to be strict and keep everything down. The +Government have ways of finding out things; they know all though, they +don't let on. There will be a bloody time, in my opinion." + +Oh, the wisdom with which the old man shook his head as he said this, +adding in a penetrating whisper, "The times of '98 over again or worse." + + + + +IV. + +LOYALTY IN THE "BLACK NORTH"--GENTLEMEN'S RESIDENCES--A MODEL IRISH +ESTATE--A GOOD MAN AND HIS WIFE--VISITING THE POOR. + + +Down in the North the loyalty is intense and loud. An opinion favorable +to the principles of the Land League it would be hardly prudent to +express. Any dissatisfaction with anything at all is seldom expressed +for fear of being classed with these troublers of Ireland. + +The weather is very inclement, and has been ever since I landed. Snow, +rain, hail, sleet, hard frost, mud, have alternated. Some days have been +one continuous storm of either snow or sleet. + +The roads through Antrim are beautifully clean and neat, not only on the +line of rail but along the country roads inland. The land is surely +beautiful, exceedingly, and kept like a garden. The number of houses of +some, nay of great, pretensions, is most astonishing. Houses set in +spacious and well-kept grounds, with porter lodges, terraced lawns, +conservatories, &c., abound. They succeed one another so constantly that +one wonders how the land is able to bear them all, or by what means such +universal grandeur is supported. There is an outcry of want, of very +terrible hard times, but certainly the country shows no signs thereof. +The great wonder to me is where the laborers who produce all this +neatness and beauty live? Where are the small farmers on whom the high +rent presses so heavily? Few houses, where such could by any possibility +be housed, are to be seen from the roadside. There are so very few +cottages and so very many gentlemen's houses that I am forced to believe +that the peasantry have almost entirely disappeared. Yet I know there +must be laborers somewhere to keep the place so beautiful, + +Ballymena, always a bustling place, has spread itself from a thriving +little inland town into a large place of some 8,000 inhabitants. +Notwithstanding the depression in the linen trade, this town presents a +thriving, bustling appearance as it has always done. The number of +whiskey shops is something dreadful. The consumption of that article +must be steady and enormous to support them. There is squalor enough to +be seen in the small streets of this town, but that is in every town. + +The public road from Ballymena to Grace Hill passes through the Galgorm +estate which passed from the hands of its last lord, through the +Encumbered Estates Court, into the hands of its present proprietor. On +this estate a most wonderful change has been effected, and in a short +space of time to effect so much. During the old _regime_, and the +good old times of absentee landlordism, squalor and misery crept up to +the castle gates. The wretchedness of the tenants could be seen by every +passer-by. The peasantry tell of unspeakable orgies held at the castle +even upon the Sabbath day. The change is something miraculous. The waste +pasture-like demesne is reclaimed and planted. The worst cabins have +entirely disappeared; the rest are improved till they hardly know +themselves. + +They match the new cottages for which the proprietor took a prize. These +little homes with their climbing plants, their trim little gardens, look +as if any one might snuggle down in any of them and be content. The +castle itself looks altered; it has lost its grim Norman look, and +stands patriarchal and fatherly among the beautiful homes it has +created. + +Not far from the castle gate is a pretty church and its companion, an +equally pretty building for the National School. I enquired of several +how this great improvement came about; the answer was always the same, +"The estate passed into the hands of a good man who lived on it, and he +had a godly wife." Passing the pretty little church I heard the sound of +children's voices singing psalms, and was told that the daughter of the +castle was teaching the children to sing; I noticed _In Memoriam_ +on a stone in the building, and found that this church was built in +memory of the good lady of the castle, who has departed to a grander +inheritance, leaving a name that lingers like a blessing in the country +side. So the old landlord's loss of an estate has been great gain to +this people. + +It is in the country parts, more remote from the public eye, that one +sees the destitution wrought by the depression in the linen trade. +People there are struggling with all their might to live and keep out of +the workhouses. Hand-loom weaving seems doomed to follow hand-spinning +and become a thing of the past. Weavers some time ago had a plot of +ground which brought potatoes and kale to supplement the loom, and on it +could earn twelve shillings a week. But alas! while the webs grew longer +the price grew less and they are in a sad case. + +I called, with a friend, on some of these weavers: one, an intelligent +man, with the prevailing Scotch type of face. We found him, accompanied +by a sickly wife, sitting by a scanty fire, ragged enough. This man for +his last web was paid at the rate of twopence a yard for weaving linen +with twenty hundred threads to the inch, but out of this money he had to +buy dressing and light, and have some one, the sickly wife I suppose, to +wind the bobbins for him. He must then pay rent for the poor cabin he +lived in, none too good for a stable, and supply all his wants on the +remainder. + +Another weaver told me that all this dreary winter they had no bed- +clothes. They think by combining together they will be able to obtain +better prices; but they are so poor, the depression in the trade is such +a fearful reality that I am afraid they cannot combine or co-operate to +any purpose. However, people in such desperate circumstances grasp at +any hope. + +It is wonderful with what disfavor some of these people receive a hint +of emigration. It seems like transportation to them. Truly these Irish +do cling to the soil. + +The weavers seem to blame the manufacturers for the reduction of wages. +They complain that the trade is concentrated into a few hands; that +therefore they cannot sell where they can sell dearest, but are obliged +to take yarn from a manufacturer and return it to him in cloth. They +complain that he still further reduces the poor wage by fines. As many +of these have only a hut but no garden ground, they have nothing to fall +back on. There are many suffering great want, and with inherited Scotch +reticence suffering in silence. There may be some injustice and some +oppression, for that is human nature, but the hand-loom weaving is +doomed to disappear, I am afraid. + +There are some complaints of the high price of land here, and of the +hard times for farmers, but there is no appearance of hard times. +Laborers are cheap enough. One shilling a day and food, or ten shillings +a week without food, seems to be the common wage. The people of Down and +Antrim, as far as I have gone, are rampantly loyal to Queen and +Government and to all in authority. If a few blame the manufacturers, or +think the land is too dear, the large majority blame the improvidence of +the poor. "They eat bacon and drink tea where potatoes and milk or +porridge and milk used to be good enough for them." It is difficult to +imagine the extravagance. + +I went through part of the poor-house in Ballymena. It is beautifully +clean and sweet, and in such perfect order out and in that one is glad +to think of the sick or suffering poor having such a refuge. What fine, +patient, intelligent faces were among the sufferers in the infirmary. +The children in the school-room looked rosy and well-fed, and the babies +were nursed by the old women. So many of them--it was a sad sight +indeed. + + + + +V. + +ONE RESULT OF THE COERCION ACT--THE AGRICULTURAL LABORERS IN DOWN AND +ANTRIM--WHISKEY--RAIN IN IRELAND--A DISCUSSION ON ORANGEISM. + + +It is the eighth of March. The weather remains frightfully inclement; +the snow and sleet is succeeded by incessant rain storms. The Coercion +bill has become law and even in the north there seems a difference in +the people. There is a carefulness of expressing an opinion on any +subject as if a reign of governmental terror had begun. The loyalty +always so fervent is now intense and loud. The people here think that +there is an epidemic of unreasonableness and causeless murmuring raging +at the south and west. + +In all that I have seen in Down and Antrim, the agricultural laborers +seem to be never at any time much above starvation; any exceptionally +hard times bring it home to them. In cases of accident, disease, or old +age, they have no refuge but the workhouse. There is a constant +struggle, as heroic in God's sight as any struggle of their Scottish +ancestors, to escape this dreaded fate. When it does overtake them, +however, the beggar nurses wait upon the sick beggars with a tenderness +that is inexpressibly touching. + +Emigration is impossible to the laborer or the hand-loom weaver. They +have no money, they have nothing to sell to make money, and they are +utterly unwilling to be torn from the places where they were born to be +expatriated as beggars, and as beggars set down upon a foreign shore. I +am literally giving utterance to the opinions expressed to me. + +I have heard these people loudly accused of extravagance; on enquiry was +told that they bought American bacon and drank tea, whereas, if thrifty, +they would be content with potatoes and buttermilk, or ditto and stir- +about. As the cow has disappeared, and potatoes have been known to fail, +I did not see the extravagance so clearly as I saw the parsimony that +would grudge the hard-worked laborer or the pale over-worked weaver any +nourishment at all. + +The charge of spending on whiskey seems more likely by the frightful +amount of whiskey shops. Ireland's whiskey bill is going up into +somewhere among the millions. It is a fearful pity that this tax on the +industry and energy of the people could not be abolished. Truth compels +me to add that faces liquor-painted abound most among the well-dressed +and apparently well-to-do class whom one meets on the way. + +The tenant-farmers, in some cases, complain of their rents, and would +complain more loudly but for fear of being classed with the Land League, +for they in the north are intensely loyal. As for the mere laborer, no +one seems to consider him or think of him at all. + +The weather has been so inclement, the days all so much alike, rain, +hail, snow, sleet, high winds, and we were so busy coughing that the +days slipped by almost unnoticed. Refusing the tempting offer of a free +trip to see the beauties of Glengarriff, through the medium of a heavy +rain we started for Derry by train. Ah! it does know how to rain in +Ireland. Such a downpour, driven aslant by a fierce wind, so that, +disregarding the thought of an umbrella, we held on to the rail of the +jaunting car and were driven in the teeth of the tempest, smiling as if +we enjoyed it, up to the station. + +Both sides of the road at the station were crowded with men in all sorts +of picturesque habiliments. If it had been near the poor-house we would +have thought that the population was applying for admittance _en +masse_. As it was, seeing the station likewise crowded, the platform +beyond crammed, all eager, expectant, waiting on something, we thought +it was some renowned field preacher going to give a sermon, or a +millionaire going to give largess. Not a bit of it. It was some person, +idle and cruel, who was bringing a couple of poor captive deer to be +hunted, and the hounds to hunt them, and the immense crowd represented +the idle and cruel who had assembled to get a glimpse of this noble and +elevating diversion. If it were possible for the deer and the man to +change places the crowd would be still more delighted. + +Leaving Ballymena behind we panted through a completely sodden country. +Everything was dripping. In many places the waters were out, and the +low-lying lands were in a flood. Potatoes in pits linger in the fields, +turnips and cabbages in the rows where they grew, bearing witness that +even the last hard winter was many degrees behind the winters of Canada. +The land on this road is not so good as what I left behind; therefore +there were few gentlemen's houses, and the small farmhouses wore the +usual poverty-stricken and neglected appearance. There were more waste +hillsides devoted to whins, and flat fields tussocked with rushes as we +swept on through the dripping country, under the sides of almost +perpendicular rocks, down which little waterfalls, like spun silver, +fell and broadened into bridal veils ere they reached the bottom. Then +along the historical Foyle, "whose swelling waters," rather muddy at +this season of the year, "roll northward to the main," and so following +its windings and curvings we flashed into Derry. + + + + +VI. + +THE HILLS OF LOUGH SWILLY--TENANTS' IMPROVEMENTS--A MAN-OF-WAR AND MEN +OF LOVE--THE PIG--RAMELTON--INTELLIGENT ROOKS--FROM POTATOES AND MILK +TO CORNMEAL STIRABOUT AND NOTHING--MILFORD--THE LATE LORD LEITRIM'S +INJUSTICE AND INHUMANITY--ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH. + + +On the 14th March we left Derry by train, crossing from the banks of the +Foyle to Lough Swilly. Got on board a little steamer, marvellously like +an American puffer, and panted and throbbed across the waters of the +Lough. The sun shone pleasantly, the sky was blue, which deserves to be +recorded, as this is the very first day since I arrived in Ireland on +which the sun shone out in a vigorous and decided manner, determined to +have his own way. We have had a few--a very few--watery blinks of sun +before, but the rain and sleet always conquered. Sailed up among whin- +covered mountains, with reclaimed patches creeping up their sides, and +pretty spots here and there, with handsome houses, new and fresh +looking, built upon them. It is an inducement to merchants and others to +build their brand new houses here, that the air is fresh and pure, the +scenery grand and beautiful and the salt water rolls up to the foot of +the rocks. + +It was pointed out to me by a friend, that these mountain-side farms +were reclaimed, by great labor I'm sure, by the tenants, trusting to the +Ulster custom, but the landlords, knowing that custom was not law, then +raised the rents upon them. If they could not, or were not willing to +pay the increased rent, increased because of their own labor, they could +leave; others would rent the places at the increased figure. "As for +you, ye shiftless, miserable tillers of the soil, ye can go where you +like; emigrate if you can; get you to the workhouse or the grave if you +cannot." It is hard to believe that this could be done, or has been done +lawfully again and again. If it is true it spoils the comfort of looking +at the pleasant homes built upon reclaimed spots. We look more kindly on +the cottage homes nestled among nooks of the hills. + +The sky did not cloud over again, it remained blue and bright and coaxed +the waters of Lough Swilly to look blue and bright also. Flocks of white +sea gulls dipped, darted and sailed about in an abandonment of +enjoyment. Flights of ducks rose on the wing and whirled past. + +We sailed between two forts that frown at one another in a grim and +desolate manner at Rathmullen. Was informed that a man-of-war ordinarily +lay at anchor in this Lough to keep half an eye on things in general, +and poteen, I suppose, in particular. It was complained that the blue +jackets, finding these mountain girls sweet and pretty, and easy to +keep--for since cows are become such a price, a good one, not one of the +bovine aristocracy, but a commonly good one, being value for L20, the +damsels of the hills are accustomed to "small rations of tea and +potatoes"--the sailors marry them, "and that," said my informant, "makes +servant girls scarce about here." + +I did not sympathize properly with this complaint. I was glad to hear +that any form of humanity in this island is scarce. I hoped the blue +jackets were happy with their Irish wives, for a Liverpool sailor +lamented in my hearing that the girls of seaport towns did not often +make good sailors' wives. Let us hope that they did better who chose +among the wild hills of Lough Swilly. + +I am told that another cherished institution of Ireland is passing away-- + + "The pig that we meant + To drynurse in the parlor to pay off the rent." + +The pig is becoming an institution of the past. I was told by a +gentleman of the first respectability in Derry, that sucking pigs are +sold in that market for thirty shillings. These would be precious to the +peasant if he had them, but he has not, nor means to get them. This +great resource for paying the rent is gone. + +Up the Lough we sailed into beautiful Ramelton, an exceptionally pretty, +clean little place, boasting of a very nicely kept hotel. The scenery +all around is delightful. Across the Lannon River, on the banks of which +is one of the principal streets, is a lofty ridge crowned with grand +trees. The Lannon runs into Lough Swilly, and is affected by the ebb and +flow of the tide. The trees on the ridge are tenanted by a thriving +colony of rooks, very busy just now with their spring work. Two +delightful roads, one above another, run along the brow of the hill +under the shade of the trees. + +I discovered that rooks know a great deal; that there is infinite +variety of meaning in their caw. The young couples who are starting +housekeeping have not only to provide materials and build their homes, +but to defend their property at every stage from the rapacity of their +neighbors. They have also to build in such a manner as to satisfy the +artistic taste of the community. I saw an instance of this during a +morning walk. Five rooks were sitting in judgment on the work of a young +and thoughtless pair of rooks, I suppose. The work was condemned, the +young couple were evicted without mercy and the nest pulled to pieces by +the five censors with grave caws of disapprobation, while the evicted +ones flew round and showed fight and used bad language. The Coercion Act +was not in favor among the black coated gentry of the air. + +It has fallen like a spell over Ireland though, and evictions are +hurried through as if they thought their time was short. People are +afraid to speak to a stranger. + +I have succeeded in obtaining introductions, which I hope will give me +an entrance into society in Donegal. + +Was driven by my new friends over a part of Lord Leitrim's estate, and +through his town of Milford. The murdered Earl has left a woeful memory +of himself all over the country side. He must have had as many curses +breathed against him as there are leaves on the trees, if what +respectable people who dare speak of his doings say of him be true, +which it undoubtedly is. Godly people of Scottish descent, Covenanters +and Presbyterians, who would not have harmed a hair of his head for +worlds, have again and again lifted their hands to heaven and cried. +"How long, Lord, are we to endure the cruelty of this man?" + +One case (which is a sample case) I will notice. In the plantation of +Scottish settlers in the North it seems that either for company or +mutual protection against the dispossessed children of the soil, the +farmhouses are built together in clachans or little groups. After a +lapse of years these clachans in some cases expanded into small towns. +The people built houses and made improvements on their holdings, paying +their rent punctually, but holding the right to their own money's worth, +the result of years of toil and stern economy under the Ulster custom. +In this way the greater part of the town of Milford sprung into +existence. + +One John Buchanan, a Presbyterian of Scottish descent, son of +respectable people who had lived on this estate for generations, was +employed in the land office of the Earl of Leitrim over twenty years. +This man trusting to the Ulster custom, and the honest goodness of the +old Earl, grandfather of the present Earl, a good landlord and a just +man, by all accounts, invested his savings in building on the site of +the old farmhouse in Milford a block of buildings--quarrying the stone +for them--consisting of two large houses on Main street, and the rest +tenement houses on Buchanan street. He improved his farm by reclaiming +land, making nice fields out of bog. + +When the good Earl died and the late Earl came into possession, he +immediately raised the rent to nearly double what was paid before, +making John Buchanan pay dearly for his improvements. John Buchanan died +rather suddenly, leaving a widow and five children. The widow in her +overwhelming grief was visited by Lord Leitrim personally. He told her +with great abuse and outrageous language, that she had no claim whatever +to a particle of the property, "she did not own a stone of it." The +widow, worn and nervous with the great trouble she had passed through, +was unable to bear this new trouble; his Lordship's violence gave her a +shock from which she never recovered. He then sent his bailiffs and put +her and her children out; put out the fires, as taking possession, and +re-let the place to her, again doubling the rent. Her eldest son, a +young lad, boiling with wrath over the wrong done and the language used +to his mother, went to his aunt, living at some distance, and besought +her to send him out of the country, lest he should be tempted to take +vengeance in his own hand. His aunt seeing this danger, fitted him out +from her own pocket, and the poor lad, his mother consenting, was +expatriated out of harm's way to far Australia. + +The widow never recovered the shock which Lord Leitrim had given her. It +was aggravated by despair at seeing all the savings of her husband's +lifetime appropriated by the strong hand, and her children left +destitute. She was also in debt to the value of L600 for building +material for an addition built to the house and some office houses, +built later on, some time after the rest of the property. This debt of +L600 wore on her. She had no means of payment; all her means were +swallowed up in this property. The creditors could not collect it off +the property, it was not held liable for the debt, neither was Lord +Leitrim, who had seized the property. Her sense of honesty and the honor +of her husband's name made her fret over this debt. The doctor had +declared her illness heart disease brought on by a shock, and her death +imminent. To soothe her mind her sister again came forward and out of +her own pocket paid the money. The widow died and was buried. Their only +relative tried what the law would do to redress the grievances of the +orphans. The presiding judge, the chairman of the quarter sessions, +lifted up his hands saying, "Must I issue a decree that will rob these +helpless orphans." The decree was issued, and the children ejected +without a farthing of compensation. To leave no stone unturned, the +children went in a body to Lord Leitrim to ask, as justice had been +powerless, for mercy from him. He ordered his servant to put them out. +At the time these orphans were turned out of the house their father +built, there was not a farthing of rent due, all had been paid up at the +unjust Earl's own estimate. + +This case had been heard by the Royal Commissioners sent to enquire into +these things, but it appears that there is no law to redress a tenant's +wrong. This occurred under the tenant custom of Ulster. + +I drove round this fine property in Milford. It was pointed out to me +that almost all the houses in the town were acquired by Lord Leitrim, by +the strong hand, in the same way. Passed the house from which the +Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Mr. White, was evicted. It was his own +private property. It stands windowless and roofless, a monument to the +dead earl. The priest of the parish had no house of his own; he was a +boarder with one of his flock, who had built himself a house in the time +of the good earl. When Lord Leitrim fancied that he had cause of quarrel +with the priest he obliged his tenant to put him out, on pain of losing +the house which he had built. After he had got rid of priest and +minister, he built a little Episcopal Church, that the people might +worship at his shrine. The little church stands empty now. The graveyard +about this little church was a rocky corner with little soil. The +minister ventured to request that the people might have leave to draw a +little clay from a hill nearby, to cover the bodies interred there, as +there was not soil enough. "I'll not give a spoonful; let their bones +bleach there," said the earl. + +During the life-time of the good earl, the people being encouraged to +improve their lands, crept up the mountain side, reclaiming whatever +land they could. I have seen some of these portions, and noticed how +they had got up close to the rocks, by using the spade where the plough +would not go. They cleared off the whins of the mountain; they drained +the bogs. They made kilns and burned lime for top-dressing. When the +wicked lord came into possession he not only raised the rent on the +tenants' improvements, but built a kiln of his own, and burned lime, +forbidding them to use theirs, compelling them to buy from him at his +price. He would not even allow them to make manure of the floating sea- +weed that drifted in from the sea. + +Went to see the place where Lord Leitrim was done to death. Looked down +on Milford Bay, dotted with little treeless and shrubless islands. Round +it are round-shouldered hills, brown and bare now--purple with heather +bells in summer time, I dare say. On a point stretching out into this +bay stands his residence, Manor Vaughan. The road leading from Manor +Vaughan to Milford is screened by a plantation of trees. On the opposite +side of the bay the hills are really mountains. The murderers crossed +the bay, tied their boat to a stone, and waited in the plantation. Lord +Leitrim, with his clerk, was driven along on one car, followed by +another containing his servants. His car, somewhat in advance, went +slowly up a little hill. Those lying in wait fired; the driver fell +dead. Lord Leitrim was wounded; he jumped off on one side, the clerk on +the other. He had pistols but they were in the car; he retreated, trying +to defend himself as they poured on him shot after shot. Those in the +other car, instead of coming up, stopped in mortal terror. The clerk, +only slightly wounded in the ear, ran to them, exclaiming, "They are +killing Lord Leitrim, they have killed me," and dropped dead with +nervous terror. The assassins had poured in all their shot, still the +Earl was not dead. He might yet have been saved if there had been any +one to help him. What must his thoughts have been in that supreme +moment. They beat the life out of him, he defending himself to the last. +They cut loose their boat, rowed across the bay, cast it adrift, took +the mountains and escaped. + +The Earl fell, his head in a little pool of water. The country people +coming in to Milford town passed by with white faces on the other side; +no one lifted his head, no one looked to see if life was extinct. At +length the constabulary came, and the remains of the dreaded lord were +carried in a cart into Milford. There was a _post mortem_ +examination; part of his poor remains was buried in the graveyard of the +little church which he built, and a load of the clay he refused to his +tenants brought to cover it. His name will long linger in evil fame +among the mountains and deserts. + +It is but just to the memory of this man to say, that some, who with +good reason abhor his memory, do not believe that charges of gross +immorality made against him were true. Others who think themselves +equally well informed hold a contrary opinion. To think of mentioning +all I have heard of his oppressive injustice would be impossible. I was +told that when news of his death came into certain places, men clasped +hands and drank one another's health as at a festival; that pious people +thanked God for the deliverence, who abhorred the means by which it came +about. + +I saw among the hills three nice farms, which a well-to-do farmer bought +and improved, and finally bequeathed to his three sons. One died and the +Ahab-like Earl took possession. Wishing to evict another for the purpose +of throwing two farms into one, he offered the farm to the remaining +brother in addition to his own. The man refused to ruin his brother. The +Earl, to punish him, raised his rent from L35 to L70. Griffith's +valuation of this farm is L29 5s. Another eviction from Milford was so +pitiful in its cruelty that the compassion of the country was aroused, +and a home bought by subscription for the old people. I saw the property +from which these people were evicted in Milford, a valuable row of +houses. + +The present Earl acknowledged the justice of the claim of John +Buchanan's children, and spoke of restitution, but his agent, on whom +the mantle of the late Earl had fallen, persuaded him against it, as +nearly all the property in Milford town had been acquired in the same +way. "Making restitution to one would open up the question of the +others, and could not be afforded." + + + + +VII. + +IRISH COLD AND CANADIAN COLD--EVIDENCES OF THE FAMINE--PREPARING FOR +THE IRISH LAND BILL--THE BAD PEOPLE OF DONEGAL--INFLUENCE OF THE BALLOT +ON LANDLORDS--A MOUNTAIN STORM--A "BETTER CLASS" FARMER'S HOME. + + +To make excursions to a short distance from this pretty town of +Ramelton and to return again has been my occupation for the last week. +It was arranged that on Monday, March 21st, I was to go with some kind +friends to see life up among the mountains of Donegal, but down came +another storm. Snow, hail, sleet, rain, hail, sleet and rain again. +Storms rule and reign among these hills this March, destroying all +prospect of March dust I am afraid. Nothing could be done but wait till +the storm was over, going to the windows once in a while to watch the +snow driving past, or to notice that it had changed to sleet or rain. + +The mountain tops are white again, and look wild and wintry. To-day it +rains with a will. The cold here at present is more chill and +penetrating than Canadian cold. I have put on more, and yet more +clothing, and I am cold. Many, very many, people during the past dreary +winter have had no bed-clothes at all. + +I am afraid from what I see and hear that the famine was more dreadful +here in Donegal than we in Canada imagined. Plenty of people even now +are living on Indian meal stirabout, without milk or anything else to +take with it. This, three times a day, and thankful to have enough of it +to satisfy hunger. It was pitiful to see little children and aged women, +with but thin clothes on, walking barefoot through the snowy slush of +yesterday. + +My attention was drawn to a ballad singer, almost blind, "whose looped +and windowed raggedness" was picturesque. His dreary attempts at singing +with his teeth chattering, the rain and sleet searching out every corner +of his rags, was pitiful. He was hardly able to stand against the +cutting wind. I sent out and bought his ballad as an excuse to give him +the Queen's picture. The songs were clever for local poetry. They were +treasonous too, but then loyalty is the song of the well fed, well clad, +well-to-do citizen. Treason and wretchedness fit well together, in a +helpless, harmless way. + +Your London correspondent of February 11th remarks, "Even Ireland has +nothing left but to settle down and attend to putting in the crops." +This is an English and comfortable view--the remark of a man who was not +there to see. It is far otherwise here in County Donegal. Evictions are +flying about as thick as "the leaves of the forest when autumn hath +flown." This wild second winter is the time selected for these +evictions. Every local paper has notices of evictions here and there. + +They tell me that the reason of the great number of evictions at present +is to prevent the wretched tenants from having any benefit under the +promised Land Bill. If they are evicted now and readmitted as +caretakers, they can be sent off again at a week's notice and have no +claim under the Ulster custom for past improvements. I think any candid +person can see that these people are not in a position to pay back rent, +or even present rent at the high rate to which it is raised. In some +instances they are not able to pay any rent at all. There had been some +years of bad seasons ending in one of absolute famine. + +The report of the Relief Committee for northern Donegal was published on +28th of October, 1880. I met with a member of that Committee, which was +composed of sixteen Protestants and eleven Catholics, including the +Catholic Bishop of Raphoe and the Presbyterian member of Parliament. +This gentleman informed me that food was given in such quantities as to +preserve life only. Seed was also given. Many people of respectable +standing, whose need was urgent, applied for relief secretly, not +wishing their want to be known. Helped in this careful way the amount +given, exclusive of expenses, in North Donegal was L33,660.17.1, of +which amount the New York _Herald_ gave L2,000, besides L203 to an +emigration fund enabling 115 persons to leave the country. Surely we +must think that before these people applied for public charity--and +every case was examined into by some of the Committee or their agents-- +they had exhausted all their means, and sold all they had to sell. How, +then, could they possibly be able to pay back rent in March, 1881? + +In the middle of my letter I got the long-waited-for opportunity to +leave Ramelton behind and go up into the Donegal Hills. + +The environs of Ramelton are wonderfully beautiful, sudden hills, green +vales, lovely nooks in unexpected places, waters that sparkle and dash, +or that flow softly like the waters of Shiloh, great aristocratic trees +in clumps, standing singly, grouped by the water's edge, as if they had +sauntered down to look about them, or drawn up on the hill-side many +deep, stretching far away like the ranks of a grand army. All that these +can do to make Ramelton a place of beauty has been done. It is hemmed in +by hills that lie up against the sky, marked off into fields by whin +hedges, till they look like sloping chequer-boards. Beyond them, in +places, tower up the mountain-tops of dark Donegal, crusted over with +black heather, seamed by rift and ravine, bare in places where these +rocks, those bones of the mountains, have pushed themselves through the +heather, till it looks like a ragged cloak. The sun shines, the rooks +flap busily about, as noisy as a parliament, the air is keen, and so we +drive out of Ramelton. + +The sky was blue, although the wind was cold, and it was blowing quite a +gale. We had not left the town far behind when the storm recommenced in +all its fury. The hail beat in our faces until we were obliged to cover +up our heads. Finally the pony refused to go a step farther, but turned +his obstinate shoulder to the storm and stood there, where there was no +shelter of any kind, and there he stood till the storm moderated a +little, only to recommence again. Up one hill, down another, along a +bleak road through a bog, past the waters of Lough Fern, up more hills, +round other hills, across other bleak bogs, the little town of +Kilmacrennan, up other hills, the storm meanwhile raging in all its fury +until we drew up on the lee side of a little mountain chapel. + +The clergyman, who happened to be there, received us most courteously, +and conducted us to his house. We were offered refreshments, and treated +with the greatest kindness. Owing to this priest's courtesy and kindness +I was provided with a room in the house of one of his parishioners, a +mountain side farmer. + +I parted with my friends with great regret. They returned to Ramelton +through the storm, which increased in fury every moment. I, in the safe +shelter of the farmhouse, looked out of the window, hoping the storm +would moderate, but it increased until every thing a few yards from the +house, every mountain top and hill side were blotted out, and nothing +could be seen but the flurrying snow driven past by the winds. + +I have now left the Presbyterians of the rich, low-lying lands behind, +and am up among the Catholic people of the hills. I have felt quite at +home with these kindly folk. They remind me of the kindliness of the +Celtic population of another and far-off land. I like the sound of the +Irish tongue, which is spoken all around me. I feel quite at home by the +peat fire piled up on the hearth. The house where I am staying is that +of a farmer of the better class. A low thatched house divided into a but +and a ben. The kitchen end has the bare rafters, black and shining with +concentrated smoke. The parlor end is floored above and has a board +floor. Among the colored prints of the Saviour which adorn the wall are +two engravings, in gilt frames, of Bright and Gladstone, bought when the +Land Bill of 1870 was passed. + +This Bill, by the way, has been evaded with great ease, for the law +breakers were the great who knew the law, and the wronged were the poor +who were ignorant of it. The farmer's wife could not do enough to make +me welcome. She had the kind and comely face and pleasant tongue that +reminded me of Highland friends in the long ago. Their name of Murray, +which is a prevalent name on these hills, had a Highland sound. Feeling +welcome, and safe under the care that has led me thus far, I fell asleep +in the best bed, with its ancient blue and white hangings, and slept +soundly. + +These people are very thrifty. The blankets of the bed were homespun; +the fine linen towel was the same. The mistress's dress was home-made, +and so was the cloth of her husband's clothes. In noticing this I was +told that where they could keep a few sheep the people were better off, +but it was harder now to keep sheep than formerly. + + + + +VIII. + +THE HILL COUNTRY OF DONEGAL--ON THE SQUARE--OFFICE RULES + + +Left up among my country people in this hill country of Donegal, I set +myself to see and to hear what they had to say for themselves or against +their landlords. In the pauses of storm I walked up the mountains to see +the people in their homes. I seem to have lost the power of description. +I will never think of scenes I saw there without tears. I never, in +Canada, saw pigs housed as I saw human beings here. Sickness, old age, +childhood penned up in such places that one shuddered to go into them. +Now, mark me! every hovel paid rent, or was under eviction for failing +to pay. + +The landlord has no duties in the way of repairing a roof or making a +house comfortable. Such a thing is utterly unknown here. To fix the +rent, to collect the rent, to make office rules as whim or cupidity +dictates, to enforce them, in many instances with great brutality, is +the sole business of the landlord; and the whole power of the Executive +of England is at his back. This is not a good school in which to learn +loyalty. Submission to absolute decrees or eviction are the only +alternative. + +The tenant has no voice in the bargain. He has no power to be one party +to a contract. This irresponsible power of an autocrat over serfs of the +soil is bad for both parties. I will try to tell these people's side of +the question as nearly in their own words as I can. + +When the native population was driven off the good valley lands to the +hills of Donegal during the confiscation times, they built their cabins +in groups, like the Scotch _clachans_, for company, perhaps even +for protection. Each man broke up, clearing off stones and rooting up +whins, the best patch within his reach. He ditched and drained pieces of +low-lying bog, and paid for what he cultivated, all the rest being +common. + +By what title the Clemens of Leitrim got lordship over the wild hills as +well as the fat lowlands I cannot tell; but all the country here, for +miles and miles, up hill and down vale, is his. The people have +absolutely no rights, far as the land is concerned. + +The first move towards this dreadful state of things was called +"Squaring the farms." This was done to compel the people to pay for the +wild as well as the cultivated lands. Under the old system a man might +have a few goats or sheep, or a heifer, on the hills, and, if his crop +was not good, or a hail storm threshed out his oats, he could sacrifice +these to pay the rent. When the farms were squared each man drew lots +for his new holding. I am speaking of Lord Leitrim's estate. This was a +hard decree, but the tenant had no alternative but to submit. A man +often found himself squared out of the best of his clearing, squared out +of his cabin and all accommodation for his cow or horse, and squared on +to a new place without any house on it at all. + +I made particular enquiry if Lord Leitrim had ever made any allowance or +compensation to a man deprived of the house, which he or his fathers had +built, after this summary fashion. No compensation. Every fixture put +upon the land belonged to the landlord absolutely. + +"Was there ever any help allowed to a man in building a new house?" + +"In a very few instances a man got a door and a couple of window-sashes +as a charitable assistance, not by any means as a compensation." + +After some time the wild mountains, where there was nothing but rocks +and heather, were fenced off. Before this the goats and sheep grazed up +there. A new office rule made the price for a sheep or goat picking a +living among the heather. It was one shilling and sixpence for a sheep +with a lamb at her foot, and other animals in proportion. Still the +wretched men of the hills struggled to live on in the only homes they +had, or had ever known. Then the rents were raised. In one instance from +L3 11s 4d to L6 5s for 6 Irish acres, the increased value being the +result of the man's own hard labor. In another instance from L1 9s 4d to +L13. Another office rule charges five shillings for the privilege of +cutting turf for fuel even if cut on the little holding for which he is +paying rent. + +Now, when every nerve was strained to pay this rack rent, and cattle +were high in price, if the unfortunate tenant failed, why, he was +evicted. He might go where he liked, to the workhouse or the asylum, or +the roadside, his little clearing would make pasture, and this, at the +price of beef cattle, would be still more profitable. For any landlord +in this part of Donegal to speak of freedom of contract is a fallacy. It +does not exist. + +The oppression at present exercised by Captain Dopping on the Leitrim +estate, which he can carry out safely under the protection of bayonets, +would raise up Judge Lynch in America before three months. Lately, the +people told me, he visited the farm-houses in person, pulled open the +doors of the little room that the better class strive to have, without +permission asked, and walked in to inspect if there were any signs of +prosperity hidden from the eye that might warrant further extortion. +This act was resented with a feeling that found no relief in words. I +noticed that there was no word of complaint or denunciation anywhere. +Facts were stated, and you understood by glance and tone that the time +for mere complaint was past. + +I was taken to see a paralytic schoolmaster who had dared to build a +room next to the school-house out of which he was helped into school +every morning, for he could teach, though he had lost the use of his +limbs. No sooner did Lord Leitrim know this than he had the paralytic +carried out and laid on the road, and the room which he had built with +his earnings and the help of his neighbors, was pulled down--not one +stone was left upon another. He then lost his situation which was his +living. I can hardly bear to describe this man's dwelling in which I +found himself, his wife, four children and the cow. The winds of the +mountain and the rains of heaven equally found their way in. His wife +teaches sewing in the school at a salary of L8 per annum. This, with +other help from the Rev. Mr. Martin, formerly Episcopal Rector of +Kilmacrennan, who got the wife the post of schoolmistress, has kept +these people alive. The father has not seen the sky since he was evicted +in 1870. At present there is a writ of ejectment on the house for L9 of +back rent, and he is sued for seed, got in the time of scarcity. + +The house is horrible--there are boards with some straw on them over the +beds. The children are very pretty, and as hardy as mountain goats. The +father was quite an educated man, to judge from his speech. I, who was +well clothed, shivered at the hearth, but want and nakedness stayed +there constantly. If this poor man were put in the poor-house, he would +have to part from the faithful wife and sweet children; but that is the +doom that stares him in the face. + +The longer I stayed among the hills the more I became convinced that the +people had strained every nerve to pay what they considered unjust and +extortionate rents. They worked hard; they farmed hard; they wore poor +clothing; they left their hill and went over to Scotland or England, at +harvest time, to earn money to pay the rent. "And we were not considered +as kindly, or as much respected, as their hogs or dogs," said a farmer +to me. There was nothing left after the rent for comfort, or to use in +case of sickness; they always lived on the brink of starvation. + +"Why did you not refuse to pay these increased rents when they were put +upon you first? You should have refused in a body, and stood out," I +said to one man. "Some could do that, my lady, but most could not. At +first I had the old people depending on me, and I could not see them on +the hillside; now I have little children, and the wife is weakly. And +there were many like me, or even worse." + +Now consider some of the office rules. My lord had a pound of his own: +for a stray beast, so much; for a beast caught up the mountain without +leave, eviction; for burning the limestone on your own place instead of +buying it at the lord's kiln, eviction; for burning some parings of the +peat land, the ashes of which made the potatoes grow bigger and drier, +eviction. Not only did the man who did not doff his hat to the landlord +stand in danger, but the man who did not uncover to his lowest under- +bailiff. One exaction after another, one tyranny after another has dug a +gulf between landlord and tenant that will be hard to bridge. I saw a +stone house used as a barn. Lord Leitrim made the man who built it, who +had got permission to build from the good Earl, tear down the chimney +and make an office-house of it, on pain of eviction. He must continue to +live himself in the hovel. Another widow woman, evicted for not being +able to pay her rent, had the roof torn off her house, but has a place +like a goose pen among the ruins, and here she stays. Every day rides +out Capt. Dopping with his escort of police, paid for by the county, and +evicts without mercy. Since the eyes of the world have been drawn to +Ireland by the proceedings of the Land League none have been left to die +outside. The tenants are admitted as caretakers by the week, but the +eviction, I am told, extinguishes any claim the poor people might have +under the Ulster Custom. + +I have seen nothing yet to make me think I was in a disturbed country +except meeting Captain Dopping and his escort, and seeing white police +barracks and dandy policemen, who literally overrun the country. It +carries one's mind back to the days of bloody Claverhouse or wicked +Judge Jeffries to hear and see the feelings which the country people-- +Catholic as well as Protestant--have towards the memory of the late +Earl. "Dear, the cup of his iniquity was full, the day of vengeance was +come, and the earth could hold him no longer," said a Protestant to me. + +"It was bad for the people, whoever they were, that took vengeance out +of the hands of the Almighty, but many a poor creature he had sent out +of the world before he lay helpless at the mercy of his enemies," said +many an orthodox person to me. One poor girl on that dreadful day +thanked God that the oppressor was laid low. Her mother evicted, had +died on the roadside exposed to the weather of the hills, her brother +went mad at the sight of misery he would almost have died to relieve but +could not, and is now in the asylum at Letterkenny. One can imagine with +what feeling this desolate girl lifted her hands when she heard of the +murder, and said, "I thank Thee, O Lord." + +What kind of a system is it that produces such scenes, and such +feelings? It is a noticeable fact how many there are in the asylum in +Letterkenny whose madness they blame on the horrors of these evictions. +Wise legislation may find a remedy for these evils, but the memory of +them will never die out. It is graven on the mountains, it is stamped on +the valleys, it is recorded on the rocks forever. + + + + +IX. + +ALONG A MOUNTAIN ROAD--WHY THE RENT WAS RAISED--TURNING FARMS INTO +PASTURES--ST. COLOMBKILL--IRISH HOSPITALITY--A NOTABLE BALLAD. + + +The twenty-sixth of March rose sunny and cold, and I decided to hire a +horse and guide to go to Derryveigh, made memorable by Mr. John George +Adair. The road lay through wild mountain scenery. Patches of cultivated +fields lay on the slopes; hungry whin-covered hills rose all round them, +steep mountains rank upon rank behind; deep bog lands, full of +treacherous holes, lay along at the foot of the mountain here and there. +The scenery is wild beyond description, not a tree for miles in all the +landscape. + +On some of the lower hills men were ploughing with wretched-looking +horses. Men were delving with spades where horses could not keep their +footing. The houses were wretched, some only partly roofed, some with +the roof altogether gone and a shed erected inside, but for the most +wretched of all the hovels rent is exacted. + +Every bit of clearing was well and carefully labored. The high, broad +stone fences round hillside fields were all gathered from the soil. + +At one place, I was told that the brother of the occupant had sent him, +from America, money to make the house a little more comfortable. He +roofed it with slate. The rent was raised from L2 9s 4d to L13 10s. I +may remark here that the tenants complain that the present Earl, through +his agent, Capt. Dopping, is even more oppressive in a steady, cruel +manner than the late Earl. + +The late hard times--the cruel famine--has led to the sacrifice of all +stock, so that some of these people have not a four-footed beast on +their holding. + +As we wound along among the hills my guide spoke of getting another man +to accompany us, who was well acquainted with the way to Derryveigh, and +we stopped at his place accordingly. He came to the car to explain that +he was busy fanning up corn, or he would be only too glad to come. In a +subdued whisper he told my guide of Capt. Dopping having been at his +house, with his bailiffs and body-guard of police--threatening the wife, +he said. He then told of the sacrifices he had made of one thing and +another to gather up one year's rent. He had to pay five shillings for +cutting turf on his own land, and one shilling for a notice served on +him. Poor little man, he had a face that was cut for mirthfulness, and +his woefulness was both touching and amusing. So we left him and went +our way. + +Along the road, winding up and down among the hills, by sudden bogs and +rocky crags still more desolate and lonely looking, we came upon a +cultured spot, now and then, where a solitary man would be digging round +the edges of the rocks. Again we were among wild mountains heaving up +their round heads to the sky and looking down at us over one another's +shoulders. It brought to my mind the Atlantic billows during the last +stormy February. It is as if the awful rolling billows mounting to the +sky were turned into stone and fixed there, and the white foam changed +into dark heather. After driving some time the landscape softened down +into rolling hills beautifully cultivated, and sprinkled here and there +with grazing cattle. + +We are coming to Gartan Lake, and where there is a belt of trees by the +lake shore stands the residence of Mr. Stewart, another landlord. He, +when cattle became high-priced, thought that cattle were much preferable +to human beings, so he evicted gradually the dwellers who had broken in +the hills, and entered into possession, without compensation, of the +fields, the produce of others' toil and sweat. His dwelling is in a +lonely, lovely spot, and it stands alone, for no cottage home is at all +near. He has wiped out from the hill sides every trace of the homes of +those who labored on these pleasant fields and brought them under +cultivation. Since the Land League agitation began he has given a +reduction of rents, and the whole country side feel grateful and +thankful. + +There is no solitude so great that we do not meet bailiffs at their +duty, or policemen on the prowl. + +We are now nearing Derryveigh. There are two lakes lying along the +valley connected with a small stream. My guide informed me that both +lakes once abounded with salmon. The celebrated St. Colombkill was born +on the shores of the Gartan Lake. Being along the lake one day he asked +some fishermen on the lower lake to share with him of the salmon they +had caught. They churlishly refused, and the saint laid a spell on the +waters, and no salmon come there from that day to this. They are +plentiful in Upper Gartan Lake, and come along the stream to the +dividing line, where the stream is spanned by a little rustic bridge; +here they meet an invisible barrier, which they cannot pass. I told my +guide in return the story of the Well of St. Keyne, but he thought it +unlikely. So there is a limit to belief. + +Since Mr. Adair depopulated Derryveigh, and gave it over to silence, the +roads have been neglected, and have become rather difficult for a car. +The relief works in famine time have been mainly road-making, and there +are smooth hard roads through the hills in all directions, so the people +complain of roads that would not be counted so very bad in the Canadian +backwoods. However, the difficulty being of a rocky nature, we left the +car at the house of a dumb man, the only one of the inhabitants spared +by Adair. He and his sister, also dumb, lived together on the mountain +solitudes. She is dead, and a relative, the daughter of one of the +evicted people, has come to keep house for him. He made us very welcome, +seeing to it that the horse was put up and fed with sheaf oats. I and my +guides, for we were now joined by the man who had had the oats to fan-- +he had got his brother to take his place and came a short cut across the +hills to meet us--so we all three set out to walk over Derryveigh. + +It was a trying walk, a walk to be measured by ups and downs, for the +Derryveigh hamlets were widely scattered. There they were--roofless +homes, levelled walls, desolation and silence. And it is a desolation, +indeed. Broken down walls here and there, singly and in groups, mark the +place where there was a contented population when Mr. Adair bought the +estate. He had made plans for turning his purchase into a veritable El +Dorado. The barren mountains are fenced off, surely at a great expense, +that no sheep or lamb might bite a heather bell without pay. It was to +be a great pasture for black-faced sheep. The sides of the mountains, +which are bog in many places, are scored with drains to dry up the bog +holes and give the sheep a sure footing. I did not see many sheep on the +hill or many cattle on the deserted farms. It is an awfully lonesome +place; desolation sits brooding among the broken-down walls. My guide, a +lonesome-looking man, enlivened our way by remarks like these: "This was +a widdy's house. She was a well-doin' body." "Here was a snug place. +See, there's the remains of a stone porch that they built to break off +the wind." "That was Jamie Doherty's, he that died on the road-side +after he was evicted. You see, nobody dare lift the latch or open the +door to any of the poor creatures that were put out." + +And this has been done; human beings have died outside under the sky for +no crime, and this under the protection of English law. Many of these +people lost their reason, and are in the asylum at Letterkenny. Some are +still _coshering_ here and there among their charitable neighbors, +while many are bitter hearted exiles across the sea. After walking up +and down amid this pitiful desolation, and hearing many a heart-rending +incident connected with the eviction, a sudden squall of hail came on, +and we were obliged to take shelter on the lee side of a ruined wall +till it blew over. To while away the time one of the guides told me of a +local song made on the eviction, the refrain being, "Five hundred +thousand curses on cruel John Adair." + +Across the Gartan Lake we could see from our partial shelter the point +to which Mr. Stewart wasted the people off his estate. Mr. Stewart's is +a handsome lonely place, but when one hears all these tales of +spoliation it prevents one from admiring a fine prospect. "He is dealing +kindly with the people now," said my guides, "whatever changed his heart +God knows." + +The shower being over we returned to the house of the dummy. In our +absence dinner had been prepared for us. She had no plates, but the +table on which she laid oat cakes was as white as snow. She gave us a +little butter, which, by the signs and tokens, I knew to be all she had, +boiled eggs, made tea of fearful strength, and told us to eat. My guides +enjoyed the mountain fare with mountain appetites. I tried to eat, but +somehow my throat was full of feelings. I had great difficulty to make +this mountain maid accept of a two shilling piece for her trouble. We +returned by the way we came to a point where we had a view of a rectory +which was pointed out to me as the abode of another good rector. These +people do seem to feel kindness very much. Here we took another road to +visit Glenveigh and see Adair's castle. On the way we were informed by a +woman, speaking in Irish, that a process-server near Creeslach was fired +at through the window of his house. He had been out serving processes, +and was at home sitting with his head resting on his hand. Three shots +were fired, two going over his head and one going through the hand on +which his head was resting. Two men are taken up to-day. + + * * * * * + +I have secured a copy of the ballad referred to by our guide, which +records the desolation of Derryveigh. All such actions are celebrated in +local poetry; but this is one of the fiercest; you can publish it if you +think best:-- + +DERRYVEIGH. + + "The cold snow rests on levelled walls, where was a happy home, + The wintry sky looks down upon a desolate hearthstone. + The hearth by which the cradle song has lulled our infant's sleep, + Is open to the pitying skies that nightly o'er it weep. + There is rippling in the waters, there is rustling through the air, + Five hundred thousand curses upon cruel John Adair. + + "It is not we that curse him, though in woe our sad heart bleeds, + The curse that's on him is the curse that follows wicked deeds. + He suspected and he punished, he judged, and then he drew + The besom of destruction our quiet homesteads through; + So it's rippling in the waters, it is rustling through the air, + Five hundred thousand curses upon cruel John Adair. + + "We little dreamed upon our hills destruction's hour was nigh, + Woe! Woe the day our quiet glens first met his cruel eye! + He coveted our mountains all in an evil hour, + We have tasted of his mercy, and felt his grasp of power; + Through years to come of summer sun, of wintry sleet and snow, + His name shall live in Derryveigh as Campbell's in Glencoe. + + "A tear is on each heather bell where heaven's dew distils, + And weeping down the mountain side flows on a thousand rills; + The winds rush down the empty glens with many a sigh and moan, + Where little children played and sang is desolate and lone. + The scattered stones of many homes have witnessed our despair, + And every stone's a monument to cruel John Adair. + + "Where are the hapless people, doomed by John Adair's decree? + Some linger in the drear poor-house--some are beyond the sea; + One died behind the cold ditch--back beneath the open sky, + And every star in heaven was a witness from on high. + None dared to ope a friendly door, or lift a neighbor's latch, + Or shelter by a warm hearthstone beneath the homely thatch. + + "Beside the lake in sweet Glenveigh, his tall white castle stands, + With battlement and tower high, fresh from the mason's hands; + It's built of ruined hearth stones, its cement is bitter tears, + It's a monument of infamy to all the future years, + He is written childless, for of his blood no heir + Shall inherit land or lordship from cruel John Adair. + + "His cognizance the bloody hand has a wild meaning now, + It is pointing up for vengeance to Cain-like mark his brow, + It speaks of frantic hands that clasped the side posts of the door; + Pale lips that kissed the threshold they would cross, oh, never more. + The scattered stones of many homes, the desolated farms, + Shall mark with deeper red the hand upon his coat of arms. + The silver birches of Glenveigh when stirred by summer air + Shall whisper of the curse that hangs o'er cruel John Adair." + + + + +X. + +WHY THE RENT IS RAISED--THE HISTORY OF AN EVICTION FROM ONE OF THE +EVICTED--A DONEGAL CONGREGATION--A CLIMB TO THE TOP OF DOONHILL--DOON +HOLY WELL--MAKING THE BEST OF A STRANGER. + + +In the silence of the night when sleep would not come, and when my +imagination rehearsed over and over again sights I had seen and tales I +had heard, I made an almost cast-iron resolution to escape to the estate +of Stewart of Ards and have one letter filled up with the good deeds of +a landlord. Alas for me! another storm, a rain storm, and a touch of +neuralgia conspired to keep me "ben the house" in the little room upon +the mountain side. One can weather snow or hail easier than a mountain +rain storm. The rain is laden with half-melted snow, and the wind that +drives it is terribly in earnest. + +It is one queer feature of this mountain scenery, the entire absence of +trees. The hills look as if the face of the country had been shaved. Up +the hill sides the little fields are divided off by high, broad stone +fences, the result of gathering the stones out of the fields. The bog +land to be reclaimed requires drains three feet deep every six feet of +land. + +To trench up a little field into ridges six feet apart, to gather stones +out of a little field sufficient to surround it with a four feet high +stone fence, to grub out and burn whins, to make all the improvements +with your own labor, and then to have your landlord come along with his +valuator and say, "Your farm is worth double what you pay for it; I can +get thirty shillings an acre for it," and to raise the rent to its full +value, which you must pay or go out. This sort of thing is repeated, and +repeated, in every variation of circumstances and of hardship, and the +people submit and are, as a whole, quiet and law-abiding. + +I was called out of my little den to see a woman, one of the evicted +tenants of Mr. Adair. She was on her way to Letterkenny to see her son, +who is in the asylum since the eviction. It was hard enough to wander +through the ruins and hear of the eviction scenes from others, but to +sit by the turf fire and listen to one who had suffered and was +suffering from this dreadful act, to see the recollection of it +expressed in look and tone was different. This woman--husband dead, son +in the asylum--was a decent-looking body in cloak and cap, with a +bleached face and quiet voice. + +"We were all under sentence of eviction, but it was told to us that it +was for squaring the farms. Then we were warned to pay in the half- +year's rent. It was not due till May, and we had never been asked to pay +the rent ahead of us before. But the landlord was a new one, and if he +made a rule, why, we must obey him; so we scraped up and sold this and +that and paid it. If we had known what was coming we might have kept it, +and had a penny to turn to when we were out under the sky. It was to get +the rent before he turned us out that he made that plan. We were put out +in the beginning of April; our rent was paid up to May. Oh, I wish, I +wish that he had driven us into the lake the day he put us out. A few +minutes would have ended our trouble, but now when will it end! I have +been through the country, my lady, and my boy in the asylum ever since." + +Went to the Catholic chapel up here in the mountains. It was quite +convenient to my lodging. It is a very nice building with a new look. I +was surprised to see such a fine building in the mountains, for, owing +to the poverty of the people, there were no chapels at all in some +places a little time ago. Mass was celebrated in _scalans_, a kind +of open sheds, covered over head to protect the officiating priest from +the weather, while the people clustered round in the open air. When I +spoke of the nice appearance of the chapel I was told that the children +of these hills scattered through the United States, Canada, New Zealand +and Australia, had helped in its building. There were between seven and +eight hundred people present. There were no seats on the floor of the +chapel. I could not help admiring the patient, untiring devotion of +these people, and the endurance that enabled them to kneel so long. The +prevailing type of face is eminently Scottish, so is the tone of voice, +and the names, Murrays, Andersons, and the like. + +Were it not for the altar and the absence of seats I could have imagined +myself in a Glenelg Presbyterian congregation. The Irish spoken here, +and it is spoken universally, has a good deal of resemblance to Glenelg +Gaelic. I was surprised at how much I understood of the conversations +carried on around me. The women, too, in their white caps, with their +serious, devotional comely faces, reminded me of faces I have seen in +dear old Glengarry. + +There were not half a dozen bonnets in the whole congregation--snow- +white caps covered with a handkerchief for the matrons. They wore cloaks +and shawls, and looked comfortable enough. I saw some decent blue cloth +cloaks of a fashion that made me think they had served four generations +at least. The lasses wore their own shining hair "streeling" down their +backs or neatly braided up; abundant locks they had, brown color +prevailing. Fresher, rosier, comelier girls than these mountain maidens +it would be hard to find. + +The men's clothing, though poor, and in some instances patched in an +artistic fashion, was scrupulously clean. In the congregation were some +young men well dressed, bold and upright, whose bearing, cut of +whiskers, and watch chains, showed that they had lived among our trans- +Atlantic cousins of the great Republic. + +The priest of the hills is the one man whom these people trust. The +prevailing type of landlord has been their enemy and oppressor. The +priest has been friend, counsellor, sympathizer, helper, as well as +clergyman, and so he is _soggarth aroon_. + +The storm continues at intervals. I get one clear, cold bit of fair +weather to climb to the top of Doune hill, where the Ulster kings used +to be crowned, a sugar-loaf shaped hill with the top broken off, rising +in isolated grandeur up high enough to give one a breather to get to the +top. + +The weather returned to its normal condition of storm, and I was shut up +again. I became a little homesick, had the priest to tea, and enjoyed +his conversation very much, but he had to go off in the storm on a sick +call. A priest in these mountains has not the easiest kind of life in +the world. + +Illusions took possession of my brain. I fancied myself a great queen, +to say the least of it. A whisper got among the hills that a great +American lady with unlimited power had come seeking the welfare of the +country, and so any amount of deputations wafted on me. I will give a +few specimens. + +Two men to see my lady in reference to a small still that had been +misfortunately found on the place of an old man upward of eighty. He was +fined L12, and would my lady do anything? + +Two women under sentence of eviction, my lady (I saw the place of one of +these, the roof was on the floor, and a little shelter was in one corner +like the lair of a wild beast, and here she kept possession in spite of +the dreadful Captain Dopping; the agent). Would my lady send out their +two daughters to America and place them in decent places? + +And here was old Roseen, old and miserable, without chick or child, or +drop's blood belonging to her in the wide world, and would my lady +remember her? + +Here's the crature of a widow from the mountain with four small +children, and no man body to help her with the place, and not a four- +footed beast on it belonging to her; all went in the scarcity; would my +lady look to her a little, sure she was the neediest of all? + +And here was the poor cripple boy that his reverence was so good to, +&c., &c., &c., in endless file. + +Nothing kept this over-dose of "my lady" from going to my head like +Innishowen poteen, but the slenderness of my purse. Determined at last, +warned by my fast-collapsing _portmonnaie_, to refuse to see any +more deputations and keep ben-the-house strictly. A cry arose that +Captain Dopping and his body-guard, on evictions bent, were coming up +the hill. I rushed out, mounted a ditch of sods for one more look at the +little tyrant of their fields. As I stood shading my eyes with my hand +and looked across at the dreaded agent, a plaintive "my lady," bleated +out at my side, drew my eyes down. It was a woman; she did not speak any +more, but looked, and that look drew out my fast collapsing purse. I +walked slowly into the house, determined to escape from the hills while +I had the means left of escaping. + + + + +XI. + +THE JAUNTING CAR--SCENERY IN DONEGAL--MOUNTAIN PASTURES--A VISIT TO +GLENVEIGH CASTLE. + + +I have returned to pleasant Ramelton, and will write my visit to +Glenveigh Castle from here. This town will always be a place of +remembrance to me on account of the Christian kindness, sympathy, +encouragement and counsel which I have received in it. + +It was my great good fortune to get an introduction to Mr. and Miss +McConnell, a brother and sister, who are merchants in this place. They +are of the stock of the Covenanters, a people who have left the stamp of +their individuality on the piety of the North of Ireland. Sufferers +themselves from Lord Leitrim's tyranny and greed, they sympathize with +other sufferers, and sympathize with me in my work to a greater extent +than any others since I left home. I can say with feeling, I was a +stranger and they took me in. + +I have been driven in many directions sight-seeing in their cosy little +pony carriage. It is a nice little two-wheeled affair. I believe the +orthodox name of it is a croydon. It carries four, who sit back to back, +while the back seat turns up when not wanted. It was in quite a +different trap that I rode in on my visit to Glenveigh. During my +journey there we talked, my guide and I, of what constitutes a good +landlord. It was a negative sort of goodness which he expected from the +good landlord--"that he would not harry the tenants with vexatious +office rules; that he would let them alone on their places so long as +they paid their rent; that he would not raise the rent so that all grown +on the land would be insufficient to pay it." Since the Land League +agitation some landlords have granted a reduction of rents, and some +have even given a bag of potatoes for seed as a gift to the poorer +tenants. + +The road to the new castle leads through scenery of grand mountain +solitudes, treeless, houseless and silent. Our road wound in a +serpentine fashion among the mountains. The drains that regularly score +the foggy mountain sides produce a queer effect on the landscape. + +As we wound along the serpentine road nearing the castle, the hills +seemed to get wilder and more solemn. No trace of human habitations, no +sound of human life, treeless, bare, silent mountains, wastes of black +bog, rocks rising up till their solemn heads brushed the sky,--Irish +giants in ragged cloaks of heather. + +At last we came in sight of Loughveigh lying cradled among the rocks, +and got a glimpse of the white tower of Glenveigh Castle. There is a +small skirting of wood near the castle where the silver barked birch +prevails from which the glen takes its name, interspersed with holly +trees, which grow here in profusion, and some dark yews, prim and +stately, drawn up like sentinels to guard the demesne. + +No place could be imagined more utterly alone than Glenveigh Castle. The +utter silence which Mr. Adair has created seems to wrap the place in an +invisible cloak of awfulness that can be felt. Except a speculative rook +or a solitary crane sailing solemnly toward the mountain top, I saw no +sign of life in all the glen. Owing to the windings of the road it +seemed quite a while after we sighted the top of the tower before we +entered the avenue which sweeps round the edge of the lake shore, and +finally brought us to the castle. The castle stands on a point +stretching out into the lake. Opposite, on the other side of the lake, a +steep, bare, dark rock rises up to the dizzy height. It is the kind of +rock that makes one think of fortified castles, and cities built for +defence, that ought to be perched on a summit, but Glenveigh Castle +should be a lady's bower, instead of a fortalice. Behind the castle the +mountain slopes are clothed with young trees. The castle itself is a +very imposing building from the outside; grand, strong, rather +repellant; inside it has a comfortless; ill-planned, unfinished +appearance. The mantel-piece of white marble with the Adair arms carved +on it--the bloody hand, the motto _valor au mort_, the supporters +two angels--lies in the hall cracked in two. A very respectable +Scotchman, a keeper, I suppose, showed me over the building. He must +enjoy a very retired life there, for in all the country for miles there +is not a human habitation except the police barrack that looms up like a +tall ghost at the other end of the lake. + +As we drove home through the mountains I noticed that Mukish wrapped +herself in the misty folds of her veil. Soon after the storm rolled down +the mountain sides and chased us home. + + + + +XII. + +GOOD-BYE TO RAMELTON--ON LOUGH SWILLY--A RUINED LANDLORD--FARM STOCK VS. +WAGES--A GOOD LANDLORD--A REMINDER OF CANADA--MOVILLE--PORT-A-DORUS +ROCKS--ON GOOD TERMS WITH THE LANDLORD. + + +Left Ramelton at seven o'clock Monday morning, April 4th, the hoar- +frost lying white on the deck of the little steamer. The cabin was black +with smoke that would not consent to go in the way it should go, so one +had to be content with the chill morning, the hoar frost and the deck. + +We steamed up past the town of Rathmullen with the two deserted forts +grinning at one another. + +Two women of the small farming class were, like myself, sitting close to +the machinery to get warm. They were gravely discussing the value of a +wonderful goose owned by one of them. I do not think the owner of a fast +horse could go into greater raptures or more minute description of his +good points than these two ladies did about the goose. One declared that +she had been offered eight shillings ($2) for the goose and had refused +it. This is one proof of the high figure at which all animals, birds and +beasts, common to a farm are held. Although this goose was exceptionally +valuable, yet a goose is worth five shillings or $1.25. + +A laborer's wages is two shillings, without food, so it would take him +two and a half days' work to earn a goose, a day's work to earn a hen or +a duck, fifteen days' work to earn a suckling pig, nearly four months to +buy the cheapest cow; always considering that he has food to support him +while so earning. I have heard poor men blamed for not raising stock. +When the price of stock is considered, and that a small field for +grazing purposes is rented at L8, I confess I wonder that any poor man +has a cow. If he has, butter is now thirty cents per pound in this +locality, and a cow is therefore very valuable. + +Before I leave bonnie Ramelton behind altogether, I must say that it has +been in the past fortunate in a landlord. Old Sir Annesly Stewart, lord +of this fair domain at one time, invariably advised his tenants who +purposed to build houses, to secure titles first, saying, "Do not trust +to me, I am an old man and will soon pass away: who knows what manner of +man may succeed me? I will give a free farm grant, equivalent to +guarantee deed, I am told, to anyone wanting to build." So the owners of +houses in Ramelton pay ground rent, while at Milford, Kilmacrennan and +Creaslach the strong hand has seized the tenants' houses without +compensation. It is said that the present owner of old Sir Annesly's +estate, who is not a lineal descendant, however, feels as Bunyan +describes the two giants to feel, who can grin and gnash their teeth, +but can do no more. + +All this and more I hear, as the sun comes up and the frost disappears, +and we sail over bright waters. One might enjoy sailing over Lough +Swilly, the whole of a long summer day. Everything pleasant comes to an +end, and we land at Fahan, and while waiting for the train my attention +is drawn to the fair island of Inch, with its fields running up the +mountain side, and the damp black rocks through which the railway has +cut its way at Fahan. The train comes along, and we go whirling on past +Inch, Burnfoot Bridge, and into Derry. A Presbyterian doctor of divinity +is in our compartment, and some well-to-do farmers' wives, and again and +yet again the talk is of the land and the landlords. Instance after +instance of oppression and wrong is gone over. + +But Derry reached, I must say good-bye to some agreeable travelling +companions, and take the mail car to Moville for a tour round +Innishowen; Innishowen, celebrated for its poteen; Innishowen, sung +about in song, told about in story. + + "God bless the dark mountains of brave Donegal, + God bless royal Aielich, the pride of them all-- + She sitteth for ever a queen on her throne, + And smiles on the valleys of green Innishowen. + A race that no traitor or tyrant has known + Inhabits the valleys of green Innishowen." + +From Derry to Moville is, as usual, lovely--lovely with a loveliness of +its own. Fine old trees, singly, in groups, in thick plantations; +beautiful fields; level clipped hedges; flowers springing everywhere, +under the hedges, in little front gardens, up the banks. The land is +dreadfully overrun with gentry's residences fair enough to the eye, some +of them very beautiful, but one gets to wonder, if the land is so poor +that it is spueing out its inhabitants, what supports all these? + +The wide Lough Foyle is in sight of the road most of the way, and a sea- +bound steamer carries me away in thought to Canada. The air is nipping +enough to choke sentiment in the bud. It is bitter cold, and I have the +windward side of the car, and shiver at the nodding daffodils in +blooming clumps at every cottage as we pass along. There are some waste +unreclaimed fields, and the tide is out as we drive along, so that long +stretches of bare blue mud, spotted with eruptions of sea weed, fit well +with the cold wind that is enjoying a cutting sweep at us. Then we come +again to trim gardens and ivy garnished walls. The road follows the +curves of the Lough, and we watch the black steamers ploughing along, +and the brown-sailed little boats scudding before the breeze. + +The Lough is on one side, and a remarkable, high steep ridge on the +other, yellow with budded whins, green with creeping ivy, and up on the +utmost ridge a row of plumed pines. When I noticed their tufted tops +standing out against the sky, I felt like saying, "Hurrah! hurrah for +Canada!" the pines did look so Canadian looking. I soon was recalled to +realize that I was in my own green Erin, and certainly it is with a cold +breath she welcomes her child back again. + +We knew we were nearing Moville: we saw it on a distant point stretching +out into the Lough. I forgot to mention that the land began to be full +of castles as we drove along the road. We passed Red Castle and White +Castle and when we reached Moville, Green Castle was before us a few +miles further down. Further down I wished to go, for a very distant +relative was expecting me there--Mr. Samuel Sloan, formerly of the Royal +Artillery, who had charge of Green Castle Fort for years; but now has +retired, and lives on his own property. I like people to claim kindred +with me; I like a hearty welcome, the _Cead mille faille ghud_, +that takes you out of hotel life and makes you feel at home. I was so +welcomed by my distant kinsman and his excellent wife that I felt very +reluctant to turn out again to hotel life. + +Next day after my arrival we got a car and made an excursion down along +the coast to Port-a-dorus. I thought I had seen rocks before, but these +rocks are a new variety to me. They occur so suddenly that they are a +continual surprise. Along the coast, out in the water, they push up +their backs in isolated heaps like immense hippopotami lying in the +water, or petrified sharks with only a tall serrated back fin visible. +There would occur a strip of bare brown sand, and outside of that row +upon row of sharp, thin, jagged rocks like the jaw teeth of pre-Adamite +monsters. In other places they were piled on one another in such a +sudden way, grass growing in the crevices, ivy creeping over them, the +likeness of broken towers and ruined battlements, that one could hardly +believe but that they were piled there by some giant race. + +When we had driven as far as the car could go we left car and driver, +and scrambled over the rocks like goats. Rocks frowned above us, between +us and the sky, rocks all round in black confusion. As we climbed from +slippery rock to slippery rock, over long leathery coils of thick sea +weed, like serpents, on, on through the _Dorus_ to the open sea, +noticing the dark passages, the gloomy caves, the recesses among the +cliffs, the narrow passes, where one could turn to bay and keep off +many, it was natural to think of rebels skulking here, with a price on +their heads, after the '98, or of lawless people stilling illicit +_poteen_ to hide it from the gaugers. Sheltered by the rocks of +Port-a-dorus, I could enjoy the sea air flavored with essence of sea +weed. We watched for a while the waves playing about the rocks and +washing through the door in innocent gambols. This sportfulness did not +impose upon me nor the rocks either, for the marks of the Atlantic in a +rage were graven on their brows in baldness and in wrinkles. + +Along the road as we drove back I noticed the white cottages of coast +guardsmen who have married the maidens of the hills. They were there in +their patches of ground, delving with the spade, scattering sea weed +manure, the landlords here allowing them to gather all the sea weed that +drifts to their shores. Decent looking men these, in their blue uniforms +and thoughtful sea-beaten faces, with hardy little children around them, +playing or helping. The rocks rise among the fields with the same +startling abruptness as they do along the shore, looking still more like +ruins of old castles. Round these rocks and among them, in every nook +and cranny where there is a spadeful of earth, is delved carefully by +these mountain husbandmen. + +As I looked at the rocks and crags, and the workers among them, I could +hardly help thinking they dearly earned all that grew upon them, +although there would be no half-yearly rent hanging over them. In one +little clearing some children were scattering manure. One, a sturdy +little maiden, but a mere baby of about seven years of age, had a fork +cut down to suit her size, and was handling it with infantile vigor, +laying about her with great vim. It was such a comical sight that we +stopped the car to watch her. As soon as she saw she was watched, she +dropped the fork and scampered off to hide. A pretty little child, hardy +and healthy and nimble as a goat. + +Of course on this coast there are tall, white light houses, two of them +keeping guard over the rocks. Here and there are coast guard stations, +white and barrack-like, only holding blue jackets instead of red or +green. + +The tenants along here praised their landlords. One of them, the Marquis +of Donegal, was spoken of as a merciful lord all through the hard years. +He had forgiven them rent which they could not pay, and lowered the rent +when they did pay, returning them some of the money, and the poor people +spoke of him with warm gratitude. + +I notice that the people here have a good many sheep. They are not so +very wretched as the mountaineers I saw in northern Donegal. Poor they +must be, to dig out a living from among these rocks and keep up a lord +besides, but their lord has had a more human heart toward them than +other lords over whose lands I have been. + + + + +XIII. + +GREEN CASTLE--A LOOK INTO THE FORT--THE OLD AND THE NEW--MARS IN +WAITING--A KIND WORD FOR THE LANDLORDS--IN TIME FOR AN EVICTION--FEMALE +LAND LEAGUERS--THE "STUPID" IRISH--THE POLICE. + + +Went on an exploring expedition to the ruins of Green Castle. One +authority told me it had been the castle of the chief of the clan +Doherty, once ruling lord here in the clannish times. Another equally +good authority told me it was built by De Burgo in the sixteenth century +to hold the natives in awe. Whoever built it, the pride of its strength +and the dread of its power have passed away forever. It is a very +extensive ruin and covers a large tract of ground. It looks as if three +solid, high, square buildings were set, not very regularly, end to end, +the outer wall of one built in a semi-circle, and towers raised at every +corner and every irregularity of the wall. Of course the roof was on the +floor, turrets and towers have lost part of their height and stand, rent +and ragged, tottering to their fall. + +A good deal is said about the Norman style of arch and the Saxon style +of arch found in old buildings. I am convinced that the arches of Green +Castle, and its architecture generally, had been formed on the pattern +of the rocks at Port-a-dorus and the other heaps along the coast. The +same massiveness, the same wedge-like stones piled together to form +arches prevail in both. + +Seaward the castle sits on a steep rock, like the rock on which Quebec +sits for height, but cleaner scarped, and more inaccessible I should +think. To stand on the shore and look up, the castle seems perched on a +dizzy height, its ruined battlements and broken towers rising up into +the sky. The pretty green ivy forms a kindly hap and a garment of +beauty, both for rock and ruin. Long live the ivy green. + +There is a clean, smooth new fort standing beside the ruined old castle +like a prosperous, solid, closely-shaven, modern gentleman beside +dilapidated nobility. Its fat, broad tower looks strong enough and solid +enough and grim enough for anything. Inside of the fort everything is +clean, regular and orderly, as becomes a place under the care of British +soldiers. The house, or quarters I suppose they should be called, are +clean and bright, whitewashed (I almost said pipe-clayed), to the +highest point of perfection. There are fortifications above +fortifications here, and plenty of cannon pointed at an imaginary foe. +There are cannon balls in scientific heaps waiting to be despatched on +errands of destruction. Long may they wait. + +I saw the outside of the magazine, cased over with so many feet--oh, a +great number--of solid masonry, padded over that with a great many feet +of earth, containing a fabulous amount of powder--tons and tons of it. +Saw also the slippers which the worshippers of Mars put upon their +martial feet when they enter into his temple--slippers without a +suspicion of shod, hob nail or sparable, with which the heels of the +worshippers of Ceres in this country are armed. If any one of these +intruded on this domain sacred to Mars, he would in his indignation gift +them with the feathered heels of Mercury and send them off with an +abrupt message for the stars. + +Had a great desire to go up to the top of the great tower and see what +could be seen from it. I was informed, delicately, that in these +disturbed times it was not thought best to admit strangers. The lonely +martello tower on the opposite sands was pointed out to me, sitting +mistress of desolations in the shadow of the rocks of MacGilligan. I was +informed of the money's worth of pile work, thousands upon thousands of +pounds sterling, on which this ugly and useless tower is sitting. As I +walked around the outside of the fort landward and seaward, I think it +quite possible to take it. I make this spiteful remark because I did not +get into the tower. + +On the opposite shores of the lough at the inland end of the range that +rose above and behind the martello tower where it slopes down, I saw the +rocky figure of a woman, gigantic, solemn, sitting with her hands on her +knees looking southward. Looking for what--for the slowly approaching +time of peace, plenty and prosperity, of tardy justice and kindly +appreciation? The cost of tower and fort would give Innishowen a peasant +proprietary, loyal, grateful and loving, that would bulwark the lough +with their breasts. Burns is true--a patriotic, virtuous populace forms +the best "wall of fire around our much-loved isle." + +It is not easy to get up and leave Green Castle, and the friends there +who made me feel so pleasantly at home; but hearing of evictions that +were to take place away in the interior of Innishowen, I bid a reluctant +good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Sloan at Green Castle, and hiring a special car +set off in the direction of Carndonagh. The road lies between mountains. +The valley through which the road threads its way is varied enough; in +parts bog of the wildest, and barren-looking fields sloping up to as +barren, rocky mountains in their tattered covering of heather, black in +its wintry aspect as yet--mountain behind mountain looking over one +another's shoulders ever so many deep with knitted brows, wrinkled into +deep gullies. One of these mountains (Sliabh Sneach, snow mountain) +deserves its name; snowy is its cap, and snow lingers in the scarred +recesses running down its shoulders. We passed fair, carefully cultured +farms and farm houses, spotlessly white under the shade of trees. Other +farms meeting these ran up far on the mountain side. The white houses, +with which the mountain sides are plentifully dotted over, show very +plainly, and are rather bare-looking and unsheltered among the dark +heather. There are more dwellings on the same space in Innishowen among +the hills than in the parts of the Donegal mountains where I have been. +The people seem better off and more contented. Many of them have a kind +word for their landlords. + +In no part of Innishowen that I saw is the same wretchedness and misery +apparent as I saw in "northern Donegal." There is, there must be a less +crushing set of office rules. As an instance of this, the car driver +informed me that the high, utterly heath-clad mountains were allowed to +the people for pasturage, with very little if anything to pay. This +accounts for the number of sheep I saw trotting about with lambs at +their feet, twins being the rule and even triplets far from uncommon. My +informant told me that lambs in early autumn were worth from thirty-five +shillings to two pounds when fit to kill. I thought this a fabulous +price, but it was confirmed to me by a cattle dealer on the train from +Derry to Limavady. If a small farmer had many lambs to sell, he would +have material help in making up the rent. My driver had three acres of +land; he told me if he owned it out and out, after he got it paid for, +he could lived comfortably. He had two horses and a car, and let out his +car for hire. I considered that if he got much call for his car he might +do that--a special car for four or five miles costing $1.25, and if the +driver is a hired man he often depends on his chance, so there must be +25 cents for him also. + +It is very necessary, if one wants to see anything of the country to get +off regular routes at regular times, so posting becomes a necessity. + +Suddenly we became aware of a great crowd assembled at a group of small +houses a little off the public road, and turned our horse's head in that +direction. There were a great many cars--well there might be, for there +were seventy police on the ground, under the command of a police officer +named McLeod. There was an immense crowd of people, who were entirely +unarmed, not even a shillelagh among them; but if knitted brows and +flashing eyes mean anything, there were men there capable, if any +incident set pent-up rage free, to imitate the men of Harlech, who, with +plaided breasts, encountered mail clad men. A large proportion of the +crowd were women and girls, for there is a flourishing branch of the +Ladies' Land League here. + +The tenants to be evicted were, some of them, tenants of the Rev. +William Crawford. I was told by what seemed good authority that the +tenants did not owe much rent, but were pressed just now to punish them +for joining the Land League. It was believed that the tenants were able +to pay, but there was a strike against what they believed exorbitant +rent. The evictions were to demonstrate the landlord's power to compel +them to pay. There was a great crowd. + +The policemen were formed in fours, and the crowd howled and hooted as +they proceeded to the first house, McCallion's. The policemen took up a +position convenient to the house, and a few were stationed at the door. +The under sheriff was on the spot. + +The little cottage was neat and tidy, white-washed of course. I was not +inside; I did not like to go; those who were said it was very clean and +neat. A room with a few ornaments, a table and some chairs, and a +kitchen with its dresser and table, and a few chairs and stools. The +rent was L14 6s. The tenant stated that he objected to pay the rent on +account of it being too high. The family were sad-looking, but were very +quiet. A paper was presented to him to sign, acknowledging himself a +tenant at will, and promising to give up the holding on demand; on +signing the paper, he got a respite of six months. + +The crowd then went to the house of James McCauley, when the same form +was gone through and the same respite granted. + +The next house was John Carruthers'. Here the crowd were very much +excited, the women screeched, the men howled, and the poor constabulary +came in for unlimited hooting. + +The next place was the joint residence of Owen and Denis Quigley, joint +tenants of a little patch. The cottage is in a gulley on the mountain +side, about a mile of crooks and turns from John Carruthers' house. The +crowd was very large that was gathered round the door. As the police +came up how they did howl! How they did shout, "Down with Harvey (the +agent), and the Land League for ever." Some of the women declared +themselves willing to die for their country. + +Another man was evicted, a tenant of Mr. Hector McNeil. The rent here +was L22 3s and the valuation L18 10s. Like the rest he said he could not +pay it because it was too high. + +At the next place a young lady Land Leaguer delivered a speech--Mary +McConigle, a rather pretty young girl. Her speech was a good deal of +fiery invective, withering sarcasm and chaff for the police, who winced +under it, poor fellows, and would have preferred something they could +defend themselves from--bayonets, for instance--to the forked lightning +that shot from the tongue and eyes of this female agitator. Whatever +would be the opinion of critics about it, Mary McConigle voiced the +sentiments of the people and was cheered by the men and kissed by the +women. There were a good many speeches made at different times. + +Father Bradley, a tall, sallow young priest with a German jaw, square +and strong and firm, spoke very well, swaying his hearers like oats +before the wind. He praised them, he sympathized with them, he +encouraged them, putting golden hopes for the future just a little way +ahead of them, but through it all ran a thread of good advice to them to +be self-restrained and law-abiding. I think I rather admired Father +Bradley and his speech. I had a little conversation with him afterward. +He said the lands were really rented too high, too high to leave for the +cultivator of the soil anything but bare subsistence in the best of +years; and when bad years followed one another, or in cases of sickness +coming to the head of the family, want sat down with them at once. + +Mr. Cox, the representative of the Land League, was also there, and made +a speech. He and some gentlemen of the press arrived in a car with +tandem horses. Such grandeur impressed upon the people the belief that +they were connected with law and landlords, so, in enquiring the way, +they found the people very simple and ignorant. When they came where +roads met they were at a loss to know how to proceed, and a countryman +whom they interrogated was both lame and stupid; when he knew, however, +who Mr. Cox was, he recovered the use of his limbs and brightened up in +his intellect in a truly miraculous manner. There were other speeches +during the forenoon of the evictions from Father O'Kane, the gentle +little priest of Moville, Mr. McClinchy, the Poor Law Guardian, and +others. + +The greatest success of the day as to speech-making was, after all, the +speech of Mary McConigle, to judge of its present effect--no one else +was kissed. The gist of most of the speeches which I heard, or heard of, +was, advising to hope, to firmness, to stand shoulder to shoulder, and a +counsel to be law-abiding, wrapped up in a little discreet blarney. + +As we drove away in the direction of Carndonagh we passed on the way a +wing of the Ladies' Land League, marching home in procession two and +two. A goodly number of bareheaded sonsie lasses, wrapped in the +inevitable shawl; rather good-looking, healthy and rosy-cheeked were +they, with their hair snooded back, and gathered into braids sleek and +shining. Brown is the prevailing color of hair among the Irish girls in +the four counties I have partly passed through. These Land League +maidens reminded me of other processions of ladies which I have seen +marching in the temperance cause. They were half shame-faced, half +laughing, clinging to one another as if gathering their courage from +numbers. + +Carndonagh, which we reached at last, is another clean, excessively +whitewashed little town, straggling up a side hill, with any amount of +mountains looming up in the near distance. + +A little after we arrived the Carndonagh contingent of the police on +duty at the evictions came driving in, horses and men both having a +wilted look. The drivers came in for some abuse as they took their +horses out of the cars on the street. One old man could not at all +express what he felt, though he tried hard to do so, and screeched +himself hoarse in the attempt. + +The police, as they alighted down off the cars, made for their barracks-- +a tall white house standing sentry at a corner. As one entered, a +little child toddled out to meet him with outstretched arms. He stopped +to kiss and pet the child, looking fatherly and human. I am sure the +little kiss was sweet and welcome after the howls and hoots of the crowd +and the sarcastic eloquence of Miss McConigle. I pity the police; they +are under orders which they have to obey. I have never heard that they +have delighted in doing their odious duty harshly, and the bitter +contempt of the people is, I am sure, hard to bear. + + + + +XIV. + +THE PEASANTRY--DEARTH OF CAR DRIVERS--A PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER'S OPINION +OF THE LAND LAWS--PADDY'S LAZINESS--ILLICIT WHISKEY. + + +After dinner at Cardonagh, went down to the establishment of Mrs. Binns, +an outlying branch of the great factory of Mr. Tillie, of Derry. Saw the +indoor workers, many in number and as busy as bees. Some of them were +very, very young. Mrs. Binns informed me that the times were harder in +this part of the country than a mere passer-by would ever suspect; that +the clothing to be worn when going out was so carefully kept, from the +ambition to look decent, that they appeared respectable, while at the +same time sorely pinched for food. The employment given in this factory +is all that stands between many households and actual want. The machines +here are not run by steam, but by foot power. I noticed weary limbs that +were beating time to work! work! work! Mrs. Binns, a kind motherly +woman, spoke earnestly of the industry, trustworthiness, self-denial, +loyal affection for parents, and general kindliness that characterized +the Irish peasantry. + +This testimony to the qualities of the Roman Catholic peasantry has been +the universal testimony of every employer who spoke to me on the +subject. I have met with those who spoke of the native Irish, as they +spoke of the poor of every persuasion, as lazy, shiftless and +extravagant. These people talked from an outside view, and looked down +from a certain height upon their poorer neighbors. Invariably I found +the most favorable testimony from those who came into nearest contact +with these people. As far as personal danger is concerned, having +neither power nor inclination to oppress the poor of my people, I feel +free to walk through the most disturbed districts as safely as in the +days of Brian Boru. + +To come back from that stately king down the centuries to the present +time, I had intended to go from Carndonagh to Malin, and afterward to +Buncrana, and from thence to Derry, having nearly gone round Innishowen. +But this was not to be. Regular mail cars did not run on the days or in +the direction in which I wished to go. I deliberated with myself a +little, heard the comments of the people on the events of the day--the +regrets that a greater force had not gathered and a greater +demonstration been made. The women especially who had been forced to +remain at home on the occasion of to-day regretted it very much. My car- +man must return home to plough on the morrow; could not by any means go +any further with his car just at present. I do think he is afraid. +Another car in this little place is not to be had in the present state +of police demand, for they are going out for further evictions on the +morrow. + +I retained the car and driver I had brought with me, and returned to +Moville. My driver, a rather timid lad, told me he would not like to +drive the police to these evictions and then return after dark the same +way; he would be afraid. He would not drive the police, he said, on any +account; he thought it wrong to do so. I noticed that, on pretence of +showing me more of the country, he brought me back to Moville another +way. Whether he thought I was likely to be taken for Mrs. Doherty, of +Redcastle, who was one of the evicting landholders at the present time, +or only for a suspicious character, I cannot say. + +I was very glad afterward that I had not been able to carry out my +original intention of going to Malin, for some of the evictions there +were of a most painful character. It was better that I was spared the +sight. In the case of a Mr. Whittington, whose residence, once the +finest in that locality, is now sorely dilapidated, his wife, with a new +born babe in her arms, and a large family of little children around her, +were evicted. Is there not something very wrong when such things can be? +Of course, when the bailiff carried out the furniture to the the +roadside he was jeered and hooted at. + +All the sympathy of the press is on the side of the landlords, and none +but the very poor, who have suffered themselves, have pity, except of a +very languid kind, for scenes such as this. + +There are evictions and harassments flying about, as thick as a flight +of sparrows through Innishowen at present. + +At Moville I had the pleasure of an interview with the Rev. Mr. Bell, +the Presbyterian minister of that place. He has studied the subject of +the land laws in general and as they affected his own people in +particular. Mr. Bell admits that there is great injustice perpetrated +under the Land Law as it stands; that the Land Law of 1870 gave relief +in many instances, and was intended to give more, but that numerous +clauses in the bill made it possible to evade it, and it was evaded by +unscrupulous men in many cases. "The necessity of a large measure of +land reform, we admit," he says; "we must get this by constitutional +means. Real wrongs must be redressed by agitating lawfully, +persistently, continually and patiently, till they are redressed +constitutionally. We must remain steadfast and never give in, but never +transgress the law in any case or take it into our own hands. The +Parnell agitation goes beyond this, and when they travel out of the safe +path of using constitutional means, into something that leads to +confiscation of property and robbery of landlords, and a concealed +purpose, or only half concealed, of separation from England, we cannot +follow them there." + +Mr. Bell instanced many cases of gradual prosperity and attainment of +wealth among his flock, but they were exceptional cases, and there were +better farms in the case for one thing, and leasehold tenure for +another, combining with their industry and thrift to account for the +success. + +I had conversation with another gentleman of this congregation, who, +like many others, believed firmly in Paddy's laziness and carelessness +at home. I am very tired of these statements, for any one can see the +thrifty way mountain sides, scraps amid rocks, strips of land inside the +railway fences, and every spade breadth is cultivated. It is not fair +for a man who has means to judge a poorer man from the outside view of +his case. There was a strange inconsistency in this gentleman's +opinions, for while he declared laziness to be the cause of poverty and +not the oppression of rent raised above value, yet when peasant +proprietorship was mentioned as a remedy, he declared he would not take +the farms as a gift and try to raise a living out of them. + +I heard some lament the prevalence of stilling illicit whiskey in +Innishowen. The excuse for doing so was to raise money for help in the +prevailing poverty. They said the manufacture on the hills, whiskey +being so easy to be had, nourished drinking customs among men and women +alike, and what was made one way was lost one hundred-fold in another. A +priest, recently deceased, a certain Father Elliott, had devoted talents +of no mean order and great loving-kindness to the work of stemming this +great evil. At his funeral there were between three and four thousand +members of the temperance bands, which were the fruit of his labors. He +died of typhus fever, and I heard his name mentioned with respectful +regret by all creeds and classes. + + + + +XV. + +A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST--THE DERRY OF TO-DAY--PURCHASING TENANT +RIGHTS--NIBBLING AT THE TENANT RIGHT--INSTANCES OF HARDSHIP--"LIBERTY OF +CONTRACT." + + +At Moville I heard that there were some who had become peasant +proprietors by purchasing out and out their holdings, and that they had +bitterly repented of so doing; for they had tied a millstone about their +necks. I was advised to go to Limavady and see the Rev. Mr. Brown, who +had made the purchase for these people, and knew how the bargain was +turning out. + +I was still at Moville. I was to return to Derry by boat, a much +preferable mode of travelling to the post car. I mistook the wharf. +There are two, one hid away behind some houses, one at the Coast Guard +Station standing out boldly into the water. I walked over to the most +conspicuous wharf and had the pleasure of hearing the starting bell ring +behind me, and seeing the Derry boat glide from behind the sheltering +houses and sail peacefully away up the Foyle like a black swan. Why do +they paint all the steamers black in this green Erin of ours? Well, as +my belongings were on board, there was no help for it but to take a +special car and go after my luggage, a long, cold drive to Derry. So +much for being stupid. + +I have been in Derry for some time. At different times I have tried to +admire it, and it is worthy of admiration; but some way it is a little +difficult to think up thoughts as one ought to think them. Thoughts will +not come to order. Besides, Derry "is an old tale and often told." + +Still, it is an event in one's life to go round the old Derry walls. +Owing to the kindness of Mr. Black, I have had that sensation. The +gateways, without gates now of course, look like the arches of a bridge, +and the walls like streets hung up out of the way. When one looks +through a loop hole or over a parapet, there does a faint remembrance +come up, like a ghost, of the stirring times that have wrapped +themselves in the mist of years, and slid back into the past. I stood +over the gates--this one and that one--trying to look down the Foyle +toward the point where the ships lay beyond the boom, and to fancy the +feelings of the stout-hearted defenders of Derry, as they watched with +hungry eyes, and waited with sinking hearts but unflinching courage on +the relief that the infamous Colonel Kirk kept lying, a tantalizing +spectacle, inactive, making no effort of succor. But the houses are +thick outside the walls, and shut up the view and choke sentiment. Of +course I was in the cathedral, and looked at the rich memorial windows +that let in subdued light into the religious gloom. Saw the shell which +was thrown over with terms of capitulation, sitting in a socket on a +pillar in the cathedral like a dove on its nest. It might tell a tale of +what it saw in its flight through the air from one grim bank to the +other, but it maintains a blank silence. + +Of course I looked up at Walker on his monument, and went home to read +Professor Witherow's book on the siege, which was kindly presented to me +by Mr. Black, and to listen to people who scruple not to say that the +monument, like the London monument of the great fire as described by +Pope, + + "Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies." + +The moderns are plucking some of the feathers of glory from the wings +fame gave to Walker. That is the way the fame of one generation is +served by another. + +Derry seems a very prosperous old maid, proud of her past, proud of her +present. The great industry of Derry is shirt making. Was over the +largest factory, that of Mr. Tillie, whose branch factory I saw at +Carndonagh. This factory employs about twelve hundred hands. These work +people were more respectably dressed than any operatives I have seen in +Ireland. They all wore bonnets or hats; the mill people at Gilford and +Ballymena went bareheaded or with a shawl thrown over the head. In the +present woeful depression of the linen trade, it is cheering to look at +this busy hive of industry. The shirts are cut out by machinery, the +button holes are machine made and the machines are run by steam, a great +relief to the operatives. This industry has prospered in Mr. Tillie's +hands. He is also a landed proprietor. His own residence, Duncreggan, is +very beautiful, and the grounds about it are laid out in fine taste. + +There are now many other factories in Derry, but this is the largest. +There was an effort to begin ship-building here, but it was defeated by +the parsimony of the London companies, which are extensive landlords in +Derry, and would not give a secure title to the necessary land; so +Belfast is the gainer and Derry the loser by so much. + +Was a Sunday in Derry. She has got faithful watchmen on her spiritual +walls. Visited a large living Sabbath-school in connection with Mr. +Rodgers' church. Had the privilege of a class, and found that the little +maidens had an appreciative knowledge of their Bibles. I hear that there +is considerable religious earnestness in Derry, especially among the +young men. + +From Derry I ran down to Limavady to have an interview with the Rev. Mr. +Brown anent the purchases made by tenants and how they were getting +along afterward. Went down in the evening train. Behold, there was no +room for me in the inn, and there was no other hotel in the little town. +This was not so pleasant. Had a letter of introduction to a person in +the town; made a voyage of discovery; found out his residence, and he +was not at home. Obtained a guide and went to the Rev. Mr. Brown's--a +good _bittie_ out in the environs; found him just stepping on a car +to leave for a tenant right meeting. Got a recommendation from him to a +private house where I might, could, would or should get accommodation +for the night, and made an appointment with Mr. Brown for the morrow. + +I may here remark that the residence of the Rev. Mr. Brown is both +commodious and elegant. As a rule the ministry are comfortably and even +stylishly housed in the North. + +The next day had an interview with Mr. Brown, a frank, able and +communicative man. Under his agency the people had bargained for a part +of the Waterford property from the Marquis of that ilk. "The Marquis was +a good and generous landlord; all his family, the Beresfords, were good +landlords." I had heard that said before. There were reasons why the +Marquis was willing to sell, and the tenants were eager to buy. It was a +hard pull for some of them to raise the one-third of the purchase money. +They paid at the rate of thirty years' rent as purchase money. They are +paying now a rent and a half yearly, but hope is in the distance and +cheers them on. So if they have a millstone about their necks, as my +Moville friend insinuated, it will drop off some day and leave them free +for ever. Some of them have already paid the principal. + +The Marquis got such a high price for his land that he only sold two- +thirds of the estate, retaining the rest in his own hands, and raising +the rents. Some two or three of the purchasers had a good deal of +difficulty in raising their payments, but Mr. Brown has no doubt they +will eventually pull through. + +I heard again and again, before I met with Mr. Brown, of Limavady, that +it was about thirty years since the tenants of the rich lands of the +Ulster settlement began to feel the landlords nibbling at their tenant +right. The needy or greedy class of landlords discovered a way to evade +the Ulster custom, by raising the rents in such a way as to extinguish +the tenant right in many places. For instance, a tenant wished to sell +his interest in a certain place. The agent attended the sale to notify +parties wishing to buy that rent would be doubled to any new tenant and +there was no sale, for the place was not worth so much. The tenant's +right was more than swallowed up by the increase of rent. This was done +so successfully that were it not for the Act of 1870, there would be no +trace of the Ulster custom left. + +It has been the custom from the plantation times to let the tenants +build, clear, fence, improve, drain, on lands let low because they were +bare of improvement. The difference between what the land was worth when +the tenant got it, and what generations of thrifty outlay of time and +the means made it was the tenant's property, and the Ulster custom +allowed him to sell his right to his improvements to the highest bidder. +On some lands the tenant right was much more than the rent, as it should +be when it was made valuable by years and years of outlay; but +landlords, pinched for money, or greedy for money, naturally grudged +that this should be, and set themselves by office rules to nip and pick +the tenant right all away. + +One great difference between the men of the lowland farms and the +Donegal Celt of the hills is that they have felt and treasured up the +remembrance of injustice since the settlement. Their lowland neighbors +never began to sympathize with them until they knew how it felt +themselves. In speaking of injustice and cruelty toward the hill +tenants, I was often told, "Oh, these things are of the past," they +occurred thirty years ago. How philosophically people can endure the +miseries they do not feel. The sponge has not been created that will +wipe off the Donegal mountains the record of deeds that are graven +there. + +To come back to tenant right, an office rule was made giving the out- +going tenant three years' rent, in some cases five years' rent for his +claim on the farm, and "out you go." Mr. McCausland, whose estate joins +Limavady, gave three years' rent. Since the Land Act of 1870, and since +the eyes of the world have been turned on the doings of Ireland, he has +allowed something more for unexhausted manuring. He has also advanced +money to some extent for improvements, adding five per cent, not to the +loan, but to the rent, thus making the interest a perpetual charge on +the property. Landlords in Donegal did the same with the money they got +from Government to lend to the people--got it at one and a half per cent +from Government, re-lent it at five per cent, making the interest a +perpetual rent charge. + + "When self the wavering balance shakes + 'Tis rarely right adjusted." + +The tenants, I think, are naturally averse to borrowing money which +brings interest in perpetuity over them, and enables the landlord to +say, "I made the improvements myself." Into these improvements enters +the tenant's labor, as well as the perpetual interest. + +A good man, a minister, not Mr. Brown, reasoned with me that the +landlord was sleeping partner with the tenant, that he gave the land, +the tenant the labor, and both should share the profit of improvement. +If the land was rent free I could see that partnership just, but as long +as a man paid the rent value of the land as he got it, the improvement +made by his labor and means through the slow years should be his own. I +might think differently if I had an estate with daughters to portion, +sons to establish in life, a castle to build, a fine demesne to create, +or even a gambling wife or horse-racing sons tugging at my purse +strings. + +Whatever good and sufficient reasons may be found for skinning eels +alive, nothing will ever reconcile the eels to it. + +The companies of Derry, who are great landlords there, the Fishmonger's +company, the Mercers, &c., are following suit with the rest in evading +the Ulster Custom. It is thought, as these companies never observed the +conditions upon which these grants were made to them, but held them +merely to make money of them, they should be compelled to sell to the +tenants. I agree with this. Still, if the same rule of non-fulfilment of +obligation were laid to private landlords there would be compulsion of +sale there too. The companies on the whole get the name of being better +landlords than private individuals, and are more liberal to their +tenants. In cases of hardship the managers for the companies, not the +companies themselves, get the blame. + +The great complaint is the landlord's power to raise the rents as often +as he pleases. When a landlord appoints a valuator, the latter +understands what he is to do and why he was appointed. The tenant has no +say in this matter. Where is the freedom of contract of which so much is +said? This arbitrary power of raising the rent at will irresponsibly and +thus confiscating the tenant's rights, the people who are affected by +the wrong with one voice declare must cease to exist. + +Instances were given me by Mr. Brown, who, by the way, had just come +home from giving his testimony before the Bessborough Commission. A man +named Hamilton Stewart was put out of his place, receiving three years' +rent as compensation. His predecessors had bought the tenant right of +the place; he had improved it after it fell into his hands. All his +rights, including the purchase money paid, except the three years' rent, +were confiscated. + +Another case he mentioned as happening on the estate of one Major Scott. +A tenant, one John Loughrey, was lost in the river. His widow died in a +few months afterward, leaving two little boys absolutely orphans. Their +uncle, who lived near, offered to manage the place for the boys and to +pay the rent till one of them came of age. Answer--"No, we cannot allow +minors to hold land on our estate." Very much against the wishes of the +uncle he was obliged to fall in with this landlord's arrangement, and +five years' rent were laid down as a settlement of the case by Mr. King, +the agent. The boys' uncle thought it a great hardship to have to give +up the place the boys' father had improved, for he was a thrifty man, +had some money, and was able to improve. When the five years' rent was +counted out on the table, Mr. King said to the boys' uncle, "That is the +money coming to the boys, count it." He counted it and said, "This is +five years' rent certainly." "Now," said Mr. King, "there is a bad house +upon the farm; it is not in as good repair as I would like and I would +like a good house upon it. I will take L100 of this money and with it I +will build a house upon the place." He took L100 of the five years' rent +and built a house that was never inhabited. The children never got this +money back. This case was referred to again and again in public meetings +and other places till Mr. King was obliged to make an effort to explain +it away. The children's uncle was rich, and they thought that, +therefore, the orphans need not get all the money. Mr. Brown knew this +case intimately, as the drowned man, his widow, and orphans were members +of his congregation. This is liberty of contract. + +The argument that the children had relatives comparatively rich was the +same argument as Captain Dopping used as a reason for not restoring what +was robbed from the Buchanan children--their relatives were rich and +therefore they did not need it. Now, what person who was touched with a +trial like this would not consider this freedom of contract absolute +robbery. In the case of the Loughrey children there had been no +agreement or shadow of an agreement with the drowned man to keep up the +house, and the house was as good as any of the neighboring houses--a +good substantial farm house. This case was brought before the +Bessborough Commission. + + + + +XVI. + +REMEMBRANCES OF "THE LONG AGO"--A SOAP AND WATER REMEDY NEEDED--SPOILING +FOR A FIGHT. + + +After I had seen Mr. Brown, and heard how well his new proprietors were +getting along, and had given attention to the complaints of those who +were not yet peasant proprietors, I made a sudden determination to run +over to Grace Hill for Easter and rest among my ain folk. Was not very +well and as home-sick for Canada as an enthusiastic Irishwoman could +afford to be. + +Found a package of letters and papers from home awaiting me and felt +better after reading them. Made an effort for old times' sake to be at +all the meetings on Easter Sunday and enjoyed them all, seasoned with +early recollections. The quaint Litany held heartfelt petitions for me. +The love feast with its tea and buns so noiselessly served, brought back +many a pleasant memory. Even the minister's face, son of parents much +beloved, had a special power of recalling other days. I felt as if in a +dream when I sat in Grace Hill church among the people, in the place to +which I have so often desired to return. I have felt as if, were I to +turn my head as I used naughtily to do when a child, I should see the +dear Miss Borg, sitting on the foot-board--a raised seat running along +the front wall of the church when it had an earthen floor--her sweet +face tinted with autumn red, bearing sweetly and graciously the burden +of consecrated years. What a spot of memories is the "God's Acre" on the +hill to me, surrounded by solemn firs, shaded by spreading sycamores. + +Rose up in the morning and left Grace Hill behind me once more. Passed +into Derry and found that veteran maiden lady quite well, with a small +stir on her streets caused by the Land League meeting. Heard no one +speak of it at all, no more than if it had not been, while I waited some +hours for the Omagh train. + +This train, like all third-class trains, which I have yet seen, +including one second-class train, by which I travelled a little way, was +extremely filthy. One would think a little paint or even soap and water +were contraband of war as far as these cars are concerned. After +steaming a short distance the solitary lamp went out for want of oil. +When the cars were stopped at the next station we were told to go into +another compartment that had a lamp--they never seemed to think for a +moment of replenishing with oil the lamp in the compartment where we +were. The compartment into which we were moved was pretty full already. +A good many were smoking strong tobacco, some were far gone in the tipsy +direction, one of whom was indulging very liberally in profanity. I was +the only woman in the compartment; but my countrymen, as always, were +polite, inconveniencing themselves for my accommodation. Even the +profane person made a violent effort to curb his profanity when he +noticed me. + +A good many of these persons were going to the Land League meeting. One +respectable man spoke to me of the high rate of land and the miseries of +the poor, but acknowledged that there were wealthy farmers in Tyrone. He +recommended me to a nice quiet hotel near the railway, but it being late +and I feeling a little strange, went to the best hotel in the town, the +"White Hart," where I was received with uncommon kindness and attention, +and allotted a quiet, comfortable bedroom away from the noise of the +street. + +In preparation for the Land League meeting the next day the following +lively placard was posted in Omagh: + +"A general public meeting, with bands and banners, of the Tyrone Orange +Leaguers against the murderous, blood-stained, seditious Popish League, +commonly called the Irish National Land League, will be held in Omagh on +Thursday, April the 21st, 1881, to consider the terms of the Land Bill, +and transact other necessary business. A protest will be made at this +meeting against the introduction of the principle among the Protestant +people of Tyrone that it is good to murder Protestants under the guise +of a Land Reform cry. The Land Leaguers have proved themselves murderers +and robbers! Why allow the system to be introduced into Tyrone? They are +boasted rebels. The swindler Parnell stated in his speech in Cincinnati, +'We will not be satisfied till we have destroyed the last link which +keeps Ireland bound to England.' It is now sought to have this disloyal +society and association of murderers established in Omagh. They tried in +Dungannon first, but the Orangemen frustrated the design. The Orangemen +of Omagh and neighborhood know well how to shoulder their rifles. Let +them be ready. Trust in God and keep your powder dry! No peace with +Rome. No surrender. By order of the Committee." + +This proclamation was pulled down by the police, but people seemed to +expect a faction fight. There was a great force of constabulary in town, +and military also. It was pointed out to me how skilfully they were +posted, the military entirely out of sight, but in readiness. There were +twos and threes here and there, lounging about apparently, but with eyes +alert and watchful. + + + + +XVII. + +HONORED AS MISS PARNELL--A LAND LEAGUE MEETING--AN EXPENSIVE DOCUMENT-- +THE LAND LAW DISCUSSED. + + +In the morning a good many police were scattered about the corners, but +no massing of them. All the fiery placards had completely disappeared. I +was a little astonished at the scrupulous courtesy with which I was +treated, a guide volunteering to show me the place of meeting. Found out +afterward that when I arrived at the hotel I was mistaken for Miss +Parnell, and felt highly flattered. Omagh was quiet enough; no more stir +than would be likely for a fair or market day. No sign or sight of a +counter Orange demonstration. The meeting was held in a field on the +outskirts of the town, on the property of a gentleman, whose name I +forget, but who was described as a very good, kind and considerate +landlord. + +On the highest ground in the field a rather slenderly put up platform +was erected, while farther back and lower down a large tent was pitched +for the banquet which was to follow the speechifying. The platform, +slightly railed in and protected by a primitive gate, was furnished with +two tables and a number of chairs. As soon as I came near the platform a +gentleman opened the little gate which admitted into the sacred +enclosure and invited me to a seat on the platform. I accepted gladly, +for I was very tired. Not knowing the mistake under which the people +labored, I wondered at the respectful attention that was directed to me. +Groups of people came and stared at me through the board enclosure, to +go away and be succeeded by other groups, mostly ladies of the country- +bred kind. Finally I drew my chair to the back of the platform to be +more out of the way, and sat there watching the crowd gather. + +The crowd was assembling slowly in dozens and half dozens straggling +along, no great enthusiasm apparent at all. The great majority wore +corduroys of a great many varieties of color and states of preservation +or dilapidation. The irrepressible small boys were clustering over the +slight fence that surrounded the platform, crawling under it, roosting +on top of it, squatting round my chair and smiling up at me as if they +expected a universal pat on the head. + +The time for the meeting arrived, and with it a squad of reporters, who +monopolised one table, all the chairs but one, and proceeded to make +themselves at home, producing their pencils and note books in a +business-like manner. The crowd clustered at the back of the platform +began to fling jokes from one to the other about penny-a-liners. Two +policemen, one tall, blonde, pleasant featured, one short, dark and +rosy-cheeked, arrived next with their note books and pencils. There were +a few more policemen at the entrance gate into the field, one soldier +standing carelessly on the road, an unconcerned spectator to all +appearance. + +Presently the straggling crowd began to concentrate round the platform. +The women who were peeping into the tent and the men who were helping +them forsook that pleasing occupation and made for the platform at a +double quick trot. Many voices said, "yon's them." Looking along the +road toward the town black with the coming crowd, I saw a waggonette +drawn by four horses, gallant greys, coming along at a spanking pace. + +The crowd around me disputed whether the driver was able to bring his +four in hand safely through the rather narrow gate, which involved a +sharp turn, but he did, and drew up inside with a flourish, to the great +admiration of all. The gentlemen came on the platform, Mr. Dillon, a +half dozen or so of priests and some other gentlemen. There was a goodly +number of people assembled; still not as many as I expected to see. +There were not many thousands at all. The faces of the crowd were not by +any means so fine as the faces of the Donegal peasantry. They were mixed +faces, all but a few seemed simple country people, some of the heavy, +low English type, some keen and Scotch, some low Irish. The women were +not so fair skinned and rosy as the mountain lasses. There were a good +many ladies and gentlemen present. I do not think all who were present +were in favor of the Land League, by the remarks which reached me, but +the large majority were. As none of the gentlemen speakers spoke to me +when they came on the platform, I lost my prestige at once. + +The first speakers, not accustomed to pitch their voices so as to be +heard by a crowd, were quite inaudible where I sat. On the contrary, +every word Mr. Dillon said was distinct and clearly audible. He has a +clear voice, pleasant to listen to after those who preceded him. He is +tall, slim, rather good-looking, very black hair, which he wears long, +and which was so smooth and shining that it made him look like an +Indian, and truly he is as well made, lithe and nervous-looking as one. +His manner is cold and clear and self-repressed; not a word but tells. +His speech was exactly the same as he gave in Derry. He did not approve +of the Land Bill--and I had thought it so good--but he pointed out a +great many defects in it. Faults I never should have suspected to be +there, were picked out and brought to view. + +A very telling speech was made by a dark, thin, wiry man named O'Neil. +His speech dealt with the hardships which they had passed through owing +to excessive rents and hard years of poor crops. He spoke what the +people felt, for many a voice chorused, "True for you; we know that +well." In the middle of the speeches the platform prepared to break +down, but only collapsed in the middle and fell half way and stopped. +Two of the priests spoke also, and spoke well to judge by the people's +applause. No one spoke in favor of the Bill. + +I thought as I sat there of the remark made to me by a Catholic +gentleman of Innishowen, who said: "The Irish people have hoped in vain +so long, have been deceived so often, that it is hard now to win their +confidence." The more I move through the country the more I believe +this. Mr. Dillon was the idol of the assembly, that was easy to be seen. +A few words with him, a touch of his hand, was an honor. He apologized +for Mr. Parnell's absence, who being elsewhere could not possibly be at +Omagh that day. I left before the meeting was over. + +As far as I hear from the Common people themselves, they think the law +and the administrators of it sympathize with the landlords only, and let +that sympathy influence their decisions. They are, therefore, very +averse to go to law to obtain what they consider justice from a +landlord. + +Another great complaint that I hear again and again is the expense +attendant on a transfer of property. As an instance, a little property +of the value of a hundred pounds changed hands when I was in Ramelton. +The deed of transfer was a parchment as big as a table-cloth, and cost +L10. + + + + +XVIII. + +IRISH HUSBANDRY--A DESCRIPTION OF LORD LEITRIM--ABOVE AND BELOW THE +SALT--LANDLORD AND TENANT + + +The valley through which the railway passes from Derry to Omagh is one +long stretch of beauty, fertility and careful tillage. Every field, +whatever its shape, is cultivated up to the fence and into the corners +with a mathematical nicety. The regular fields, the green separating +ditches with their grassy covering, the hills cultivated to the very +tops, and the trees growing here and there all over made a landscape +that should delight the heart of a farmer. Whenever I come to careless +husbandry, I will be sure to record it. I have seen nothing of the kind +yet on mountain side or valley. I do not wish to fling a rose-colored +veil over everything because it is Irish. + +The country is simply beautiful--no works can do justice to it. Still +there are some things one could find fault with freely. Between Omagh +and Strabane I took a third-class car. It was dirty, of course, horribly +dirty, but, as Mrs. McClarty said, "the dirt was well dried on," and it +was almost empty, so I entered. At a way station a great crowd, great +compared to the size of the compartment, came surging in. Every man had +a clay pipe, every man had a supply of the most villanous tobacco. I do +not wonder the Government taxes such tobacco, that it has to be sold by +license--some would not grieve if the duty were prohibitory. + +Soon matches were struck, a tiny flash and a fusilade of reports like +toy pistols--all matches here go off like that. Every man began to smoke +for dear life, and smoked furiously with great smacks and puffs. And the +floor! when the mud of many days that had hardened and dried there was +moistened again by tobacco juice! Soon the compartment was filled with +smoke, there was literally nothing else to breathe. The car began to +heave about like a ship at sea. Fortunately we stopped at a station and +some on board got out, so that there was an opportunity of getting close +to the door and letting down the glass and a faint was prevented. + +It was not pleasant to sit there craning one's neck round to breathe at +the window, for the seats ran lengthways of the carriage, and keeping +all crushed up to keep out of the way of a cross fire of tobacco juice +from the opposite benches. Made a vow there and then against third-class +carriages. + +When the train stopped at Strabane was quite dizzy and sick and took +refuge in the first 'bus, which 'bus belonged to that superfine +establishment, the "Abercorn Arms." Was informed that the late Lord +Leitrim had stopped there a day or two before his death on his way to +Manorvaughan. "Stopped in this very room," said my informant. "He left +here on the Sabbath day in his own carriage for Manorvaughan; he had not +much reverence for the day. He was a very old man, walked lame with one +leg, had a fiery face and very white hair. I did think they might have +respected his gray hair. He had not long to live anyway, they might have +spared him." He rested one day at Manorvaughan, the next day he set out +for Milford and was killed. + +"Why did they murder him?" + +"They said he was a cruel landlord. Yes, a very bad landlord they said +he was. He was very impatient to get away from here that morning. He +little thought he was hurrying to his death." + +From Strabane took the Finn Valley Railway, and went off on a voyage of +discovery to Rusky. + +From Killiegordon took a first class ticket, as the distance was short, +to see what first-class passengers enjoyed. There is a great difference +indeed between first and third. Third-class is a penny a mile, first is +two pence half-penny; third is simply horrible with filth, first is as +luxurious as carpets, curtains, cushions, spring seats and easy chairs +can make it. There is not nearly so much difference in price, as +difference in style. As a first-class passenger I was assisted in and +out, and the door held open for me; as third or second-class one can get +in or out as they please for all the officials care. There is a very +wide difference in every respect between those above and those below the +line which separates "gentry from commonality." Of course I am using +local words. Gentry are expected to have a well-filled and an open hand. +If they have not both, what business have they to set up for gentry? +Popular opinion thinks of them as Carleton's hedge scholar expressed +himself, "You a gentleman? No, nor one of your breed, seed or generation +ever was, you proctoring thafe you!" + +Now the line of demarcation between the people trained by ages to stand +with open hand expecting a gift, and those to whom a gift is an insult +is hard to find sometimes. A young lad, a sharp boy, had been my guide +to two or three places and carried my bag for me. I offered him pay, for +pay had been expected from me by every one with whom I came in contact +from the moment I landed. Tears came into the poor lad's eyes with +mortified anger. One feels bad to hurt anyone's feelings, and between +those who have a desire for a gift and are hurt if they do not get one, +and those to whom offering a gift is the worst form of insult, one is +sometimes puzzled to know what to do. + +I find a very strong feeling in some places where I have been in +connection with the contempt which some owners of the soil feel for the +cultivators of it. A landlord--lately an attorney in a country town-- +who has succeeded, most unexpectedly, to a great estate, takes no pains +to conceal the contempt in which he holds his tenants. He sauntered into +a shop, also the post-office of the town, and in the course of +conversation informed them that his tenantry were a lazy lot of +blackguards. Two of his tenants were present standing in the shop. He +did not know them, but they knew him. To the eyes of an outsider like +myself the tenants seemed the more gentlemanly of the two parties. This +gentleman, it was explained to me by his tenants, was not a specimen of +the usual landlord, who, whatever the fault of the land law might be +which they believed in and ruled their conduct by, they were gentlemen +who would not degrade themselves by such an utterance. + +The idea is brought forward to me again and again that the best landlord +clings to the power to oppress, absolute unquestioned power to do as he +likes with his tenantry though he might never exercise it. The +Protestants of Derry, Donegal, Tyrone, farmers with whom I have had the +opportunity to converse, all refer to this fact. The good landlord +considers it an infringement of his rights as a landlord, to take away a +power he is too kind to use, although he will admit that some have used +it unmercifully. + +A recent speech of Lord Lifford's complains that things are now claimed +as a right that used to be regarded as a favor on the part of the +landlords. There is a strong, deep feeling among the best of the tenants +against such utterances as these and the spirit behind them. + + + + +XIX. + +LANDLORD AND TENANT--THE LAND QUESTION FROM BOTH SIDES. + + +As far as I have travelled yet, in the mountains of Donegal, through +Derry, Antrim, Tyrone and Down, I have seen no trace of what Dr. +Hepworth lays to the charge of the Irish--laziness, never cultivating a +holding up to the line or into the corners. What excited my wonder again +and again, is the fact that up to the boundary ditch or hedge, into the +corners, up to the very edge of the rocks the tillage extended. I saw +men dig up little fields entirely with the spade among the sudden rocks +of Port-a-dorus. Some of the patches a horse with a plough attached +could not turn in, yet they were tilled; there was not a spade's breadth +left in any corner. And they paid high rent for this ground, rocks and +all. They fell behind in famine time--not so very far--and humbly +grateful were they for the help that came from outside in that time, and +a mercy that forgave a little of the rent. I saw men digging on the +mountain-side on the Leitrim estate, and wondered how they could keep +their footing. As far as I have seen, it is a slander on the people to +say they are averse to labor. On the contrary, they are very laborious, +and singularly uncareful for their personal comfort. I heard a fellow- +countryman at Moville talk of Paddy's laziness. I pointed out to him how +carefully mountain-side and rough bog were cultivated. He admitted it, +but spoke of want of rotation of crops and absence in many instances of +fall-ploughing. This, I humbly consider, is want of skill, or maybe want +of means--not laziness. + +Every one says that the country depends almost solely on agriculture; +agriculture rests on farm labor; farm labor pays rents high enough to +produce periodical famine. The L90,000 rental of one estate, the L40,000 +of another, is all produced by these lazy people. If there were any spot +so rocky, so wild, that it was under no rent, one might think them lazy +if they failed to make a living out of it, but they make a living and +help to support a landlord, too, out of these rocks and morasses. I hope +to see life farther south, and see if these lazy people exist there. +They do not exist in the north so far as I have seen. + +It seems to me that the tenant-farmers have been out of sight +altogether. Now they have waked up, and there is no power to put them to +sleep again. I am more than astonished to find not one intelligent +person to defend the Land laws. There is no possibility of understanding +previous apathy from an American standpoint unless we think of the +thoughtlessness with which the Indians have been treated. The +thoughtless landlord has looked upon his own needs according to the +requirements of his station, not thinking whether the tenant could pay +so much or not, and, whether, if the rent was raised, it left the means +of existence behind. I met with very estimable people, who were taking a +very high rent; higher than any man could honestly pay, and at the same +time laughing at the poverty-stricken devices of their tenants. They did +not think. + +It must be borne in mind that there was a famine in the land but a short +time ago, that these thousands and thousands of people who are under +eviction now have no money and no place to go to but the ditch-back, or +the workhouse. The workhouse means the parting with wife and children. +These things must be taken into consideration, to understand the +exasperation of mind which is seething through the whole country. + +I do not think the people here, generally speaking, have any idea of the +amount or intensity of hidden feeling. I confess it frightens me. I +stayed in a country place for a week. I boarded with a family who were +much better off than their neighbors. They were favorites at the office +of the landlord, and paid him their rent punctually. I often sat at the +kitchen hearth as neighbor after neighbor came in in the evening and +told in Irish the tale of some hard occurrence that had taken place. I +understood enough to guess the drift of the story. I understood well the +language of eye and clinched hand with which my host listened. The +people who suffered were his people; their woe was his; he felt for them +a sympathy of which the landlord never dreamed; but he never said a +word. I thought as I sat there--silent too--that I would not like to be +that landlord and, in any time of upheaval, lie at the mercy of this +favorite tenant of his. + +They talk of agitators moving the people! Agitators could not move them +were it not that they gave voice to what is in the universal heart of +the tenantry. + +A gentleman connected with the press said to me to-day: "The fact is +that any outrage, no matter how heart-rending, committed by a landlord +upon his tenantry is taken little notice of--none by Government--but +when a tenant commits an outrage, no matter how great the provocation, +then the whole power of the Government is up to punish." + +One great trouble among the people is, they cannot read much, and they +feel intensely; reading matter is too dear, and they are too poor to +educate themselves by reading. What they read is passed from hand to +hand; it is all one-sided, and "who peppers the highest is surest to +please." + +The ignorance of one class, consequent upon their poverty, the +insensibility of another class, are the two most dangerous elements that +I notice. It is easy to see how public sympathy runs, in the most +educated classes. There is great sympathy, publicly expressed, for +Captain Boycott and his potatoes; for Miss Bence-Jones, driven to the +degrading necessity of milking the cows; but I have watched the papers +in vain for one word of sympathy with that pale mother of a family, with +her new-born infant in her arms, set upon the roadside the day I was at +Carndonagh. Policemen have been known to shed tears executing the law; +bailiffs have been known to refuse to do their duty, because the +mother's milk was too strong in them; but the public prints express no +word of sympathy. + +In the papers where sympathy with the people is conspicuous by its +absence, there will be paragraph after paragraph about prevention of +cruelty to animals. I had the honor of a conversation with a lady of +high birth and long descent, and, as I happen to know, of great kindness +of heart, a landlady much beloved by a grateful and cared-for tenantry. +I remarked to her that justice seemed to me to be rather one-sided: +"There is much difference unavoidably between one class and another, but +there are three places where all classes should stand on an equality-- +on a school room floor, in a court of justice, in the house of God." "I +would agree with you so far," said the lady, "that they should be on a +level when they come before God." I am sure there would be no agitation +nor need of coercion if all the landladies and landlords were like this +kind-hearted lady in practice. + +Another instance of kindly thought on the part of another landlady. The +famine left many a poor tenant without any stock at all; every creature +was sacrificed to keep in life. This lady bought cows for her tenants +who were in this sad plight. She left the cows with them until a calf +grew up into a milking cow; then the cow was sold to pay the landlady +the money invested. If the cow sold for more than was paid for it the +balance was the tenant's, and he had the cow besides. "Thus," said the +lady to me, "I benefitted them materially at no expense of money, only a +little." This lady, who claims and receives the homage of her tenants +for the ould blood and the ould name, has by these acts of inexpensive +kindness, chained her tenants to her by their hearts. "It's easy to +see," said one to me, "that the ould kindly blood is in her." + +There have been many humble petitions for reduction of rent; many have +been granted, more have been refused. The reasons given in one case +were, a ground-rent, a heavy mortgage, an annuity, and legacies. The +question whether one set of tenants was able to meet all these burdens, +not laid on by themselves mind, and live, never was taken into +consideration for a moment. + +When I arrived in Ireland, I met with an English gentleman who took a +lively interest in the purpose for which I crossed the sea, namely, to +see what I could see for myself and to hear what I could hear for myself +on the Land Question. He volunteered a piece of advice. "There are two +different parties connected with the Land Question, the landlords and +the tenants. They are widely separated, you cannot pass from one to the +other and receive confidence from both. If you wait upon the landlords +you will get their side of the story; but, then, the tenants will +distrust you and shut their thoughts up from you. If you go among the +tenants you will not find much favor with the landlords. You must choose +which side you will investigate." + +Considering this advice good, I determined to go among the people and +from that standpoint to write my opinions of what I saw and heard. I +made up my mind to tell all I could gather of the opinions and +grievances of the poor, knowing that the great are able to defend +themselves if wrongfully accused, and can lay the land question, as they +see it, before the world's readers. + +I hear many take the part of the landlords in this manner: "You are +sorry for the tenants, who certainly have some cause of complaint; can +you not spare some sympathy for the landlords who bought these lands at +a high figure, often borrowing the money to buy them and are getting no +return for the money invested?" + +Land hunger is a disease that does not attack the tenants alone. The +poor man hungers for land to have the means of living; the rich man +hungers for land because it confers rank, power and position. As soon as +men have realized fortunes in trade they hasten to invest in land. That +is the door by which they hope to enter into the privileged classes. Men +accustomed to "cut things fine," in a mercantile way, are not likely to +except a land purchase from the list of things which are to pay cent. +per cent. The tenant has created a certain amount of prosperity, the new +landlord looks at the present letting value of the land and raises the +rent. This proceeding extinguishes or rather appropriates the Tenant +Right. The landlord thinks he is doing no wrong, for, is he not actually +charging less than Lord So-and-so, or Sir Somebody or other? which is +perhaps very true. All this time the tenant knows he has been robbed of +the result of years, perhaps of generations of hard and continuous +labor. It is impossible to make such a landlord and such a tenant see +eye to eye. + +A gentleman asked a lady of Donegal if she would shut out the landlord +from all participation in profits arising from improvements and +consequent increase in the value of the land. I listened for the answer. +"I would give the landlord the profits of all improvements he actually +made by his own outlay; I would not give him the profits arising from +the tenant's labor and means." Now I thought this fair, but the +gentleman did not. He thought that all profit arising from improvements +made by the tenant, should revert to the landlord after a certain time. +I could not think that just. + +As a case in point, a brother of Sir Augustus Stewart said to a Ramelton +tenant: + +"My brother does not get much profit from the town of Ramelton." + +"He gets all he is entitled to, his ground rent, we built the houses +ourselves," was the answer. + +These people are safe, having a secure title, not trusting to the Ulster +Custom or the landlords' sense of justice. + +I have not been much among landlords. I did sit in the library of a +landlord, and his lady told me of the excessively picturesque poverty +prevailing in some parts, citing as an instance that a baby was nursed +on potatoes bruised in water, the mother having hired out as wet-nurse +to help to pay the rent. There was no cow and no milk. I had a graphic +description of this family, their cabin, their manner of eating. The +mother cannot earn the rent any longer and they are to be evicted. I was +told they were quite able to pay, but trusting to the Land League had +refused. + +Naturally what I have seen and heard among the poor of my people, has +influenced my mind. I could not see what I did see and hear what I did +hear of the tyranny wrought by the late Earl of Leitrim, and the present +Captain Dobbing, or walk through the desolation created by Mr. Adair, +without feeling sad, sorry and indignant. + + + + +XX. + +LORD LIFFORD--THE DUKE OF ABERCORN--WHOLESALE EVICTIONS--GOING SOUTH-- +ENNISKILLEN--ASSES IN PLENTY--IN A GRAVEYARD. + + +On the banks of the Finn, near Strabane, was born the celebrated hero +Finn ma Coul. I think this just means Finlay McDougall, and, therefore, +claim the champion as a relative. Strabane lies in a valley, with round +cultivated hills, fair and pleasant to the eye, swelling up round it. +Near it is the residence of Lord Lifford. I have heard townspeople +praise him as a landlord, and country people censure him, so I leave it +there. His recent speech, in which he complains of the new Land Bill, +that, if it passes into law, it will give tenants as a right what they +used to get as a favor from their landlords, has the effect of +explaining him to many minds. + +Leaving Strabane behind, went down or up, I know not which, to Newtown- +Stewart, in the parish of Ardstraw (_ard strahe_, high bank of the +river). In this neighborhood is the residence of the Duke of Abercorn, +spoken of as a model landlord. + +The Glenelly water mingles with the Struell and is joined by the Derg, +which forms the Mourne. After the Mourne receives the Finn at Lifford it +assumes the name of the Foyle and flows into history past Derry's walls. + +At the bridge, as you enter the town of Newtown-Stewart, stands the +gable wall of a ruined castle, built by Sir Robert Newcomen, 1619, +burned by Sir Phelim Roe O'Neil along with the town, rebuilt by Lord +Mountjoy, burnt again by King James. + +Upon a high hill above the town, commanding a beautiful view of the +country far and wide, stand the ruins of the castle of Harry Awry O'Neil +(contentious or cross Harry), an arch between two ruined towers being +the only distinct feature left of what was once a great castle. This +castle commanded a view of two other castles, owned and inhabited by two +sons or two brothers of this Harry Awry O'Neil. These three castles were +separate each from each by a river. Here these three lords of the O'Neil +slept, lived and agreed, or quarrelled as the case might be, ruling over +a fair domain of this fair country. I do not think the present +generation need feel more than a sentimental regret after the days of +strong castles and many of them, and hands red with unlimited warfare. + +Towering up beyond Harry Awry's castle is the high mountain of Baissie +Baal, interpreted to me altar of Baal. I should think it would mean +death of Baal. (Was Baal ever the same as Tommuz, the Adonis of +Scripture?) In the valley beyond is a village still named Beltane (Baal +teine--Baal's fire), so that the mountain must have been used at one +time for the worship of Baal. The name of the mountain is now corrupted +into Bessie Bell. + +In the valley at the foot of the mountain is the grand plantation that +stretches miles and miles away, embosoming Baronscourt, the seat of the +Duke of Abercorn, and the way to it in the shade of young forests. There +are nodding firs and feathery larches over the hills, glassing +themselves in the still waters of beautiful lakes. Lonely grandeur and +stately desolation reign and brood over a scene instinct with peasant +life and peasant labor some years ago. The Duke of Abercorn was counted +a model landlord. His published utterances were genial, such as a good +landlord, father and protector of his people would utter. Some one who +thought His Grace of Abercorn was sailing under false colors, that his +public utterances and private course of action were far apart, published +an article in a Dublin paper. This article stated that the Duke had +evicted over 123 families, numbering over 1,000 souls, not for non- +payment of rent, but to create the lordly loneliness about Baronscourt. +His Grace did not like tenantry so near his residence. Those tenants who +submitted quietly got five years' rent--not as a right, but as a favor +given out of his goodness of heart. They tell here that these evictions +involved accidentally the priest of the parish and an old woman over +ninety, who lay on her death-bed. He had called upon the priest +personally and offered ground for a parochial house; he forgot his +purpose and the priest continued to live in lodgings from which he was +evicted along with the farmer with whom he lodged. Of the evicted +families 87 were Catholics and 36 Protestants. If they had been allowed +to sell their tenant right they might have got farms elsewhere. Of those +cleared off seventeen who were Protestants and six who were Catholics +got farms elsewhere from His Grace. Some sank into day laborers, some +vanished, no one knows where. + +People here say that the reason why there are Fenians in America and +people inclined to Fenianism at home is owing to these large evictions-- +clearances that make farmers into day laborers at the will of the lord +of the land. The people feel more bitterly about these things when they +consider injustice is perpetrated with a semblance of generosity. +Nothing--no lapse of time nor change of place or circumstances--ever +causes anyone to forget an eviction. Now they say that the Duke of +Abercorn holds this immense tract of country on the condition of rooting +the people in the soil by long leases, not on condition of evicting them +out; therefore, he has forfeited his claim to the lands over and over +again. This article, published in a Dublin paper, was taken no public +notice of for a time, but when sharply contested elections came round, +the Duke and four others, sons and relations, were rejected at the polls +because of the feeling stirred up by these revelations. Such is the +popular report of the popular Duke of Abercorn. + +Omagh is a pretty, behind-the-age country town. The most splendid +buildings are the poor-house, the prison, and the new barracks. The +hotels are very dear everywhere; they seem to depend for existence on +commercial travellers and tourists. Tourists are expected to be prepared +to drop money as the child of the fairy tale dropped pearls and +diamonds, on every possible occasion, and unless one is able to assert +themselves they are liable to be let severely alone as far as comfort is +concerned, or attendance; but when the _douceur_ is expected plenty +are on hand and smile serenely. + +Left Omagh behind and took passage for Fermanagh's capital, Enniskillen +of dragoon celebrity. The road from Omagh to Enniskillen showed some, I +would say a good deal, of waste, unproductive land. Land tufted with +rushes, and bare and barren looking--still the fields tilled were +scrupulously tilled. The houses were the worst I had yet seen on the +line of rail, as bad as in the mountains of Donegal, worse than any I +saw in Innishowen. I wonder why the fields are so trim and the homes in +many cases so horrible. Not many, I may say not any, fine houses on this +stretch of country. + +Arrived at Enniskillen on market day, towards the close of April. The +number of asses on the market is something marvellous. Asses in small +carts driven by old women in mutch caps, asses with panniers, the +harness entirely made of straw, asses with burdens on their backs laid +over a sort of pillion of straw. I thought asses flourished at Cairo and +Dover, but certainly Enniskillen has its own share of them. The faces of +the people are changed, the tongues are changed. The people do not seem +of the same race as they that peopled the mountains of Donegal. + +A little while after my arrival, taking a walk, I wandered into an old +graveyard round an old church which opened off the main street. +Underneath this church is the vault or place of burial of the Cole +family, lords of Enniskillen--a dreary place, closed in by a gloomy +iron gate. A very ancient man was digging a grave in this old graveyard, +sacred, I could see by the inscriptions, to the memory of many of the +stout-hearted men planted in Enniskillen, who held the land they had +settled on against all odds in a brave, stout-hearted manner. None of +the dust of the ancient race has mouldered here side by side with their +conquerors. There was a dragoonist flavor about the dust; a military +flourish about the tombstones. A., of His Majesty's regiment; B., +officer of such a battalion of His Majesty's so-and-so regiment; C., D., +and all the rest of the alphabet, once grand officers in His Majesty's +service, now dust here as the royal majesties they served are dust +elsewhere. Went over to the ancient grave-digger, who was shovelling out +in a weakly manner decayed coffin, skull, ribs, bones, fat earth--so fat +and greasy-looking, so alive with horrible worms. He was so very old and +infirm that, after a shovelful or two, he leaned against the grave side +and _peched_ like a horse with the heaves. + +"How much did he get for digging a grave?" + +"Sometimes a shilling, sometimes one and six, or two shillings, +accordin' as the people were poor or better off." + +"How were wages going?" + +"Wages were not so high as they had been in the good times before the +famine. A man sometimes got three-and-six or four shillings then; now he +got two shillings." + +"And board himself?" + +"Oh, yes, always board himself." + +"Some people now want a man to work for a shilling and board himself, +but how could a man do that? It takes two pence to buy Indian meal +enough for one meal. You see there would be nothing left to feed a +family on." + +A stout, bare-legged hizzie appeared now, and kindly offered the old man +a pinch of snuff out of a little paper to overcome the effects of the +smell, and keep it from striking into his heart. This was one errand; to +find out who was talking to him was another. She did not; we gave the +poor old fellow a sixpence and moved away. + + + + +XXI. + +ENNISKILLEN MILITARY PRIDE--THE BOYS CALLED SOLDIERS--REMNANTS OF BY- +GONE POWER--ISLAND OF DEVENISH--A ROUND TOWER--AN ANCIENT CROSS--THE +COLE FAMILY + + +Owing to the very great kindness of Mr. Trimble, editor of the +Fermanagh Reporter, we have seen some of the fair town of Enniskillen. +Knowing that Innis or Ennis always means island, I was not surprised to +find that Enniskillen sits on an island, and is connected with the +mainland by a bridge at either end of the town. Of course, the town has +boiled over and spread beyond the bridges, as Derry has done over and +beyond her walls. There is a military flavor all over Enniskillen, a +kind of dashing frank manner and proud steps as if the dragoon had got +into the blood. There is also nourished a pride in the exploits of +Enniskillen men from the early times when they struggled to keep their +feet and their lives in the new land. They feel pride in the fame of the +Enniskillen dragoon, in the deeds of daring and valor of the 27th +Enniskilleners all over the world. Enniskillen military pride is closely +connected with the Cole family, lords of Enniskillen. + +The town is not old, only dating back to the reign of the sapient James +the First. Remembrance of the sept of Maguires who ruled here before +that time, still lingers among the country people. + +Had a sail on Lough Erne at the last of April; tried to find words +sufficiently strong to express the beauty of the lake and found none. It +is as lovely as the Allumette up at Pembroke. I can not say more than +that. The banks are so richly green, the hills so fertile up to their +round tops, checked off by green hedges into fields of all shapes and +sizes; the trees lift up their proud heads and fling out their great +arms as if laden with blessing; the primroses, like baby moons, more in +number than the stars of heaven, glow under every hedge and gem every +bank, so that though the Lake Allumette is as lovely as Lough Erne, yet +the banks that sit round Lough Erne are more lovely by far than the +borders of Lake Allumette. They are as fair as any spot under heaven in +their brightness of green. + +Sailing up the lake or down, I do not know which, we passed the ruins of +Portora old castle; ruined towers and battered walls, roofless and +lonely. Kind is the ivy green to the old remnants of by-gone power or +monuments of by-gone oppression, happing up the cold stones, and draping +gracefully the bare ruins. + +The Island of Devenish, or of the ox, is famed for the good quality of +its grass. Here we saw the ruins of an abbey. It has been a very large +building, said to have been built as far back as 563. The ruins show it +to have been built by very much better workmen than built the more +modern Green Castle in Innishowen. The arches are of hewn stone and are +very beautifully done without the appearance of cement or mortar. The +round tower, the first I ever saw, was a wonderful sight to me. It is 76 +feet high, and 41 in circumference. The walls, three feet thick, built +with scarcely any mortar, are of hewn stone, and I wondered at the skill +that rounded the tower so perfectly. The conical roof is (or was) +finished with one large stone shaped like a bell; four windows near the +top opposite the cardinal points. There is a belt of ribbed stone round +the top below the roof, with four faces carved on it over the four +windows. Advocates of the theory that the round towers were built for +Christian purposes have decided that there are three masculine, and one +feminine face, being the faces of St. Molaisse, the founder of the +abbey; St. Patrick, St. Colombkill and St. Bridget. + +Near the round tower is the ruins of what was once a beautiful church. +The stone work which remains is wonderfully fine. The remaining window, +framed of hewn stone wrought into a rich, deep moulding, seems never to +have been intended for glass. It is but a narrow slit on the outside, +though wide in the inside. There are the remains of two cloistered +cells, one above another, very small, roofed and floored with stone, +belonging to a building adjoining the church. Climbed up the little +triangular steps of stone that led into the belfry tower, and looked +forth from the tower windows over woodland hill, green carpet and blue +waters, with a blessing in my heart for the fair land, and an earnest +wish for the good of its people. + +There is in the old churchyard one of the fair, skilfully carved, +ancient crosses to be found in Ireland. It was shattered and cast down, +but has been restored through the care of the Government. It is very +high and massive, yet light-looking, it is so well proportioned. There +are pictures of scriptural subjects, Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, +&c., carved in relief over it. Two I saw at Ennishowen had no +inscription or carving at all. + +The Government has built a wall around these fine ruins for their +protection from wanton destruction. It takes proof of the kind afforded +by these ruins to convince this unbelieving generation that the ancient +Irish were skilled carvers on stone, and architects of no mean order. I +have looked into some of what has been said as to the uses for which the +round towers were built with the result of confusing my mind hopelessly, +and convincing myself that I do not know any more than when I began, +which was nothing. I am glad, however, that I saw the outside of this +round tower. I saw not the inside, as the door is nine feet from the +ground and ladders are not handy to carry about with one. + + + + +XXII. + +THE EARL OF ENNISKILLEN AND HIS TENANTS--CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION-- +SPREAD OF THE LAND LEAGUE AMONGST ENNISKILLEN ORANGEMEN--A SAMPLE +GRIEVANCE--THE AGENTS' COMMISSION--A LINK THAT NEEDS STRENGTHENING--THE +LANDLORD'S SIDE. + + +It seems a great pity that the attachment between the Earl of +Enniskillen and his tenants should suffer interruption or be in danger +of passing away. The Earl, now an old man, was much loved by his people, +until, in a day evil alike for him and for his tenants, he got a new +agent from the County Sligo. Of course, I am telling the tale as it was +told to me. Since this agent came on the property, re-valuation, rent +raising, vexatious office rules, have been the order of things on the +estate. The result of this new state of things, has been that the Land +League has spread among the tenants like wildfire. I did not feel +inclined to take these statements without a grain of salt. To hear of +the Land League spreading among Enniskillen Orangemen, among the Earl's +tenants, of dissatisfaction creeping in between these people +historically loyal and attached to a family who had been their chiefs +and landlords for centuries, was surprising to me. + +To convince me that such was the case, I was requested to listen to one +of the Earl's tenants reciting the story of his grievances at the hands +of the Earl's agent. It was a sample case, I was told, and would explain +why the people joined the Land League. It was pleasant enough to have an +opportunity of going into the country and to have an opportunity of +seeing the farms and the style of living of the Fermanagh farmers, as +compared with the Donegal highlands. + +The country out of Enniskillen is very pretty. May has now opened, the +hedges have leafed out and the trees are beginning lazily to unfold +their leaves. The roads are not near so good as the roads in Donegal, +which are a legacy from the dreary famine time, being made then. The +hedges are not by any means so trim and well kept as the hedges by the +wayside in Down or Antrim. The roads up to the farm houses are lanes, +such as I remember when I was a child. The nuisances of dunghills near +the doors of the farmhouses have been utterly abolished for sanitary +reasons, also whitewashing is an obligation imposed by the Government. +For these improvements I have heard the authorities both praised and +thanked. In these times of discontent, it is well to see the Government +thanked for anything. The country is hilly and the hills have a uniform +round topped appearance, marked off into fields that run up to the hill +tops and over them and down the other side. There are, of course, +mountains in the distance, wrapped in a thick veil of blue haze. + +The house to which I was bound was, like most of the farm houses, long, +narrow, whitewashed, a room at each end and the kitchen in the middle. I +will now let the farmer tell his grievances in his own words. He is +about sixty years of age, a professor of religion of the Methodist +persuasion, an Orangeman, and a hereditary tenant of Lord Enniskillen, +and now an enthusiastic adherent of the Land League. "In 1844 I bought +this farm--two years before I was married. There is 17-1/2 acres. I paid +L184 as tenant right--that is, for the goodwill of it. The rent was L19 +7s 4d. I should have gone to America then; it would have been better for +me. I have often rued that I did not go, but, you see, I was attached to +the place. My forbears kindled the first fire that ever was kindled on +the land I live on. I held my farm on a lease for three lives; two were +gone when I bought it. I have been a hard-working man, and a sober man. +There is not a man in the country has been a greater slave to work than +I have been. I drained this place (fetches down a map of the little +holding to show the drains). It is seamed with drains; 11 acres out of +17-1/2 acres are drained, the drains twenty-one feet apart and three +feet deep. Drew stone for the drains two miles, L100 would not at all +pay me for the drainage I have done. I built a parlor end to my house, +and a kitchen; also, a dairy, barn, byre, stable and pig house. Every +year I have bought and drawn in from Enniskillen from sixty to one +hundred loads of manure for my farm; this calculation is inside of the +amount. I have toiled here year after year, and raised a family in +credit and decency. When the last life in my lease died, my rent was +immediately raised to L27 10s. I paid this for a few years, and then the +seasons were bad, and I fell behind. It was not a fair rent, that was +the reason I was unable to pay it. I complained of the rent. I wanted it +fixed by arbitration; that was refused. I asked for arbitration to +decide what compensation I had a right to, and I would leave; that was +refused too. I was served with a writ of ejectment. The rent was lowered +a pound at two different times, but the law expenses connected with the +writ came to more than the reduction given. I had the privilege, along +with others, of cutting turf on a bog attached to the place at the time +I held the lease; that was taken from us. We had then to pay a special +rate for cutting turf, called turbary, in addition to our rent. So that +really I am struggling under a higher rent than before, while I have the +name of having my rent lowered: I once was able to lay by a little money +during the good times; that is all gone now. I am getting up in years. +If I am evicted for a rent I cannot pay, I cannot sell my tenant right; +I will be set on the world at my age without anything. I joined the Land +League. At the time of an election it was cast up to Lord Enniskillen +about taking from us the bog. It was promised to us that we should have +it back, in these words: 'If there is a turf there you will get it.' +After the election we petitioned for the bog, and were refused. We were +told our petition had a lie on the face of it. It is the present agent, +Mr. Smith, that has done all this. He is the cause of all the ill- +feeling between the Earl of Enniskillen and his tenants. He has raised +the rents L3,000 on the estate, I am told. He gets one shilling in the +pound off the rent; that is the way in which he is paid; so it is little +wonder that he raises the rents; it is his interest to do so." + +I listened to this man tell his story with many strong expressions of +feeling, many a hand clench, and saw he was moved to tears; saw the +hereditary Enniskillen blood rise, the heart that once throbbed +responsive to the loyalty felt for the Enniskillen family now surging up +against them passionately. I thought sadly that the loss was more than +the gain. Gain L3,000--loss, the hearts that would have bucklered the +Earl of Enniskillen, and followed him, as their fathers followed his +fathers, to danger and to death. I decided in my own mind that Mr. +Smith's agency had been a dear bargain to the Enniskillen family. "The +beginning of strife is like the letting out of water; therefore, leave +off contention before it be meddled with." + +After I had listened to the farmer's wrongs and heard of others who also +had a complaint to make, I was obliged to think that their case was not +yet so hard as the case of those who suffered from the +_eccentricities_ of Lord Leitrim. Still, it is a hard case when we +consider that the man's whole life and so much money also sunk in rent, +purchase, improvements, and when unable to pay a rent raised beyond the +possibility of paying, to lose all and begin life again without money or +youth and hope, at sixty years of age. People with exasperated minds are +driven to join the Land League, in hope that union will be strength, and +that ears deaf to petition of right will grant concessions to agitation. + +I began to feel afraid that I was hearing too much on one side and too +little on the other, and I requested to be introduced to some who had +ranged themselves on the side of the landlords. I was, as a consequence, +introduced to several gentlemen at different times, but I got no light +on the subject from any of them. They were so very sure that everything +was just as it should be, and nothing short of treason would induce any +one to find fault. Still when the question was asked squarely, "Are +there no reasons for wishing for reform of the land laws?" the answer +was, "We would not go quite so far as that?" There was a vague +acknowledgment that, generally speaking, some reform was needed, and yet +every particular thing was defended as all right on the whole, or not +very far wrong. + + + + +XXIII. + +A MODEL LANDLORD--ERIN'S SONS IN OTHER LANDS. + + +I have, at last, heard of a model landlord; not that I have not heard +of good landlords before, as Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Stewart, of Ards, in +Donegal. I have seen also the effects of good landlordism. When passing +through the Galgorm estate I saw the beneficial changes wrought on that +place by Mr. Young; but I have heard of many hard landlords, seen much +misery as the result of the present land tenure, and I did feel glad to +hear men praising a landlord without measure. It was a pleasant change. +This landlord who has won such golden opinions is Lord Belmore, of +Castle Coole. "The Land League has gained no adherents on his estate," +says one to me, "because he is such a just man. He is a man who will +decide for what he thinks right though he should decide to his own hurt. +Eviction has never occurred on his place; there is no rack rent, no +vexatious office rules." + +As I have listened to story after story of tyranny on the Leitrim +estate, so here I listened to story after story of the strict justice +and mercy of Lord Belmore. His residence of Castle Coole is outside of +Enniskillen a little, and is counted very beautiful. Of course I went to +get a peep at it, because he is a lord whom all men praise. "His +tenants," said one, "not only do not blame him but they glory in him. +Why should they join the Land League? They get all it promises without +doing so." As we drove along I heard his justice, his sense of right, +his praise, in short, repeated in every way possible. I have noticed +about this lord that to mention his name to any one who knows him is +quite enough to set them off in praise of him. As he is not an immensely +wealthy peer, but has been obliged to part with some of his property, it +is the more glorious the enthusiastic good name he has won for himself. + +We drove across a long stretch of gravel drive through scenery like +fairyland. A fair sheet of water lay below the house, bordered by trees +that seemed conscious of their owner's renown by the way they tossed +their heads upward and spread their branches downward, as saying, "Look +at us: everything here bears examination and demands admiration." Swans +ruffled their snowy plumage and sailed with stately bendings of their +white necks across the lake. Wild geese with the lameness of perfect +confidence grouped themselves on the shore or played in the water. Coots +swam about in their peculiar bobbing way, as if they were up to fun in +some sly manner of their own. Across the lake were sloping hills rising +gently from the water arrayed in the brightest of green. Grand stately +trees stood with the regal repose of a grand dame, every fold of their +leafy dress arranged with the skilful touch of that superb artist, Dame +Nature. + +My driver, with a becoming awe upon him of the magnificent grounds, the +stately house and the high-souled lord, drove along the most +unfrequented paths, and we came, in the rear of the great house, to a +quaint little saw-mill in a hollow, a toy affair that did not mean +business, but such as a great lord might have as a proper appanage to +wide land and as a convenience to retainers. + +After some whispered consultation with the man in charge, it was +certified that we might drive round, quite round the castle, and, +favored by fortune, might chance to see the housekeeper and get +permission to see the inside of the house. I knew the house was very +nice by intuition; it was very extensive, and I was sure held any +quantity of pleasant and magnificent rooms; but someway I did not desire +to go through it. I should have liked to have seen its lord, this modern +Aristides, whom I was not tired of hearing called the just. The lord +with the cold stately manner, but the heart that decided matters, like +Hugh Miller's uncle Sandy, giving the poor man the "cast of the bauk," +even to his own hurt. + +We drove down the broad walk just out of sight of the extensive gardens +and conservatories, between trees of every style of magnificence down to +the lodge gate which was opened to us promptly and graciously. You can +always judge of a lord by the courtesy or the want of it in his +retainers. Indeed I believe that even dogs and horses are influenced by +those that own them, and become like them in a measure. I waft thee my +heart's homage, lord of Castle Coole! Thy good name, thy place in the +hearts of thy countrymen, could not be bought for three thousand pounds +sterling wrung "by ways that are dark," from an exasperated tenantry. +The drive back to Enniskillen with another suggestive peep at the lake +was delicious and enjoyable. + +In Enniskillen I wandered into the Catholic church, the only church I +could wander into without a fuss about getting the key. It is grand, and +severely plain in the absence of pictures and ornaments. + +I am told there was a good deal of distress in the County Fermanagh, and +that they obtained relief from the Mansion House Fund and from the +Johnston Committee Fund. This Johnston was a Fermanagh man, and has +risen to wealth in the new world under the Stars and Stripes. The sons +and daughters of Ireland do not forget, in their prosperity on far-off +shores, the land of their birth and of their childhood's dreams. + + Like the daisies on the sod, + With their faces turned to God, + Their hearts' roots are in the island green + that nursed them on her lap. + +Suffering from want in those hard times must have been comparatively +slight in Enniskillen, as the local charity was strong enough to relieve +it, I was informed by an Episcopal clergyman. + + + + +XXIV. + +SELLING CATTLE FOR RENT--THE SHADOW OF MR. SMITH--GENERATIONS OF +WAITING--UNDER THE WING OF THE CLERGY--A SAFE MEDIUM COURSE--THE +CONSTABULARY--EXERTIONS OF THE PRIESTS--A TERMAGANT. + + +Hearing that there was a great disturbance apprehended at Manor +Hamilton, in the County Leitrim, and that the military were ordered out, +I determined to go there. I wanted to see for myself. I put on my best +bib and tucker, knowing how important these things are in the eyes of +imaginative people. Arrived at the station in the dewy morning, and +found the lads whom I had seen carrying their dinners at the Redoubt +drawn up on the platform under arms. How, boyish, slight and under-sized +they did look, but clean, smart and bright looking, of course. Applied +at the wicket for my ticket, as the 'bus man was eager to get paid and +see me safely off. The ticket man told me curtly I was in no hurry, and +shut the wicket in my face. The idea prevails here, except in the cases +of the local gentry who are privileged, and to whom the obsequiousness +is remarkable, that the general public, besides paying for their +accommodation, ought to accept their tickets as a favor done them by the +Company. This stately official at last consented to issue tickets; as I +had not change enough to pay I gave him a sovereign, and, not having +time to count the change, I stuffed it into my portmonnaie and made a +rush for the cars as they snorted on the start. + +In spite of my determination, made amid the smoke and filth of the +third-class cars between Omagh and Strabane, I took a third-class car, +and to my agreeable surprise it was clean, and I had it to myself. We +steamed out of Enniskillen, all the workers in the fields and the people +in the houses dropping their work to stare at the cars, crowded with +soldiers, that were passing. I had a letter of introduction to an +inhabitant of Manor Hamilton, as a precaution. We passed one of the +entrances to Florence Court, the residence of the once-loved Earl of +Enniskillen. When I understood that this nobleman was up in years, his +magnificent figure beginning to show the burden of age, and that he was +blind, I felt a respectful sympathy for him, and wished that the shadow +of Mr. Smith and his three thousand of increase of rent had never fallen +across his path. After passing the road to Florence Court, when the +train was not plunging through a deep cut, I noticed that the land did +not, all over, look so green or so fertile as in the farther down North. +There was much land tufted with rushes, much that had the peculiar shade +of greenish brown familiar to Canadian eyes. There were many roofless +cottages standing here and there in the wide clearings. There were bleak +bogs of the light colored kind that produce a very worthless turf, that +makes poor fuel. + +At one of the way stations, a decent-looking woman came into the +compartment where I sat. Divining at once that I had crossed the water, +she spoke pretty freely. Their farm was on a mountain side. It had to be +dug with a spade; horses could not plough it. The seasons had been +against the crops for some years. Yes, their rent had been raised, +raised at different times until it was now three times was it was ten +years ago. She was going to the office to try to get some favor about +the rent. They could not pay it and live at all, and that was God's +truth. Had no hope of succeeding. Did not believe a better state of +things would come without the shedding of blood. "Oh, yes, it is true +for you, they have no arms and no drill, but they look to America to do +for them what they cannot do for themselves. Oh, of course it should be +the last thing tried, but generations of waiting was in it already, and +every hope was disappointed some way." The laws got harder and the crops +shorter, that was the way of it. + +Arrived at Manor Hamilton, every male creature about congregated with +looks of wonder to watch the military arrive. They were a totally +unexpected arrival, and caused the more sensation in consequence. There +were none to answer a question until these boyish soldiers had been +paraded, counted, put through some manoeuvres of drill, and then "'bout +face and march" off. They seemed so alive, so eager for fun, so +different from the stolid-faced veteran soldier that I hoped inwardly +that to-day's exploits would not deepen into anything worse than fun. + +When they tramped off, carrying their young faces and conscious smiles +away from the station, I found a porter to inform me that Manor Hamilton +was a good bit away. As there was no car I must walk, and a passing +peasant undertook to pilot me to the town. Passed a large Roman Catholic +church in process of erection. It will be a fine and extensive building +when finished. They were laying courses of fine light gray hewn stone +rounded, marking where the basement ended and the building proper began. +Such a building, at such a time, is one of the contradictions one sees +in this country. + +Stopped at a hotel and was waited on by the person to whom my letter of +introduction was directed, who introduced me to some other persons, +including some priests. It was ostensibly an introduction, really an +inspection. Only for this introduction I should not have got admittance +into the hotel. People were arriving from every quarter. I stood at an +upper window watching the people arrive in town. The first band, +preceded by a solemn and solitary horseman, consisted of a big drum +beaten by no unwilling hand, and some fifes. They played, "Tramp, Tramp, +the Boys are Marching," with great vim. The next detachment had a banner +carried by two men, the corners steadied by cords held by two more. It +was got up fancy, in green and gold, a picture of Mr. Parnell on one +side, and some mottoes on the other. "Live and let live," was one. The +band of this company, some half-dozen fifers, were dressed in jackets of +green damask rimmed with yellow braid, and had caps made of green and +yellow, or green and white, of the same shape as those worn by the +police. The operator on the big drum had a white jacket and green cap. +He held his head so high, his back was so straight, his cap set so +knowingly on one side, he rattled away with such abandon, and looked as +if he calculated that he was a free and independent citizen, that I +guessed he had learned those airs and that bearing in classic New York. +The next detachment had a brass band and some green favors and a green +scarf among them. + +One of the clergy to whom I was introduced, volunteered to show me to a +position from which I would safely see the whole performance, which was +the auction of cattle for rent--I was quite glad to have the kind +offices of this gentleman, as without them I would have seen very little +indeed. As I passed down the street under the wing of the clergy, I was +amused at the innocent manner in which a half-dozen or so would get +between his reverence and me, blocking the way, until they understood I +was in his care, when a lane opened before us most miraculously, and +closed behind us as the human waves surged on. + +The police officers and men were patient and polite to high perfection. +We made our way to the Court House, where the soldiers were drawn up +inside, crowding the entrance hall and standing on the stairs. It was +thought the sale would be in the Court House yard, in which case the +official offered me a seat on the gallery. As the building was low, the +long windows serving for both stories, it would be only a good position +if the cattle were auctioned in the Court yard. This had been done +before, and would be prevented if possible this time, as it was too +private a proceeding. Meanwhile I sat in the official room, the kitchen +in short, and waited looking at the peat fire in the little grate, the +flitches of bacon hanging above the chimney, the canary that twittered +in a subdued manner in its cage, as if it felt instinctively the +expectant hush that was in the air. + +It was decided to hold the sale on the bridge, so I was piloted through +the military, through a living lane of police, through the surging +crowd, to a house that was supposed to command the situation, and found +a position at an upper window by the great kindness of the clergyman who +had taken me in charge. + +It is something awful to see a vast mass of human beings, packed as +closely as there is standing room, swayed by some keen emotion, like the +wind among the pines. It is wonderful, too, to see the effects of +perfect discipline. The constabulary, a particularly fine body of men, +with faces as stolid as if they were so many statues, bent on doing +their duty faithfully and kindly. They formed a living wall across the +road on each side of an open space on the bridge, backs to the space, +faces to the crowd, vigilant, patient, unheeding of any uncomplimentary +remarks. + +The cause of all this excitement was the seizure of cattle which were to +be sold for rent due to Cecil White, Esq., by his tenants, at the manor +of Newtown. + +The crowd here was far greater than at Omagh the day of the Land League +meeting. The first roll of the drum had summoned people from near and +far in the early morning. I am not a good judge of the number in a +crowd, but I should say there were some thousands, a totally unarmed +crowd; very few had even a stick. There were few young men in the crowd-- +elderly men and striplings, elderly women and young girls, and a good +many children, and, of course the irrepressible small boy who did the +heavy part of the hissing and hooting. These young lads roosted on the +Court House wall, on the range wall of the bridge so thickly that the +wonder was how they could keep their position. The crowd heaved and +swayed at the other end of the bridge, a tossing tide of heads. The +excitement was there. + +I could not see what was going on, but a person deputed by the clergyman +before mentioned, came to bring me to a better station for seeing what +was going on at the other end of the bridge. The crowd made way, the +police passed us through, and we got a station at a window overlooking +the scene. Out of the pound, through the swaying mass of people, was +brought a very frightened animal. If she had had no horns to grip her +by, if she had had the least bit of vantage ground to gather herself up +for a jump, she would have taken a flying leap over the heads of some +and left debtor and creditor, and all the sympathizers on both sides +behind her, and fled to the pasture. She was held there and bid for in +the most ridiculous way. All that were brought up this way were bought +in and the rent was paid, and there the sale ended + +There might have been serious rioting but for the exertions of the +Catholic clergy. Members of the Emergency Committee were particularly +liable to a hustling at least. The least accidental irritation owing to +the temper of the crowd would have made them face the bayonets with +their bare breasts. The police were patient, the clergy determined on +keeping the excitement down, and all passed off quietly enough. There +were a few uncomplimentary remarks, such as addressing the police as +"thim bucks" which remark might as well have been addressed to the court +house for any effect it had. There were a few hard expressions slung at +Mr. White which informed all who heard them that Mr. White was cashiered +from the army for flogging a man to death, that he had well earned his +name of Jack the flogger, &c. + +The crowd dispersed from the bridge. The youthful military passed on the +march for the train to return to their barracks, the crowd, now good- +natured, giving them a few jokes of a pleasant kind as they passed; the +soldiers looking straight ahead in the most soldierly manner they could +assume, but smiling all the same, poor boys, for surely compliments are +better than hisses and hoots. + +I never heard a sound so dreadful as the universal groan or hoot of this +great crowd. There was some speaking, a good deal of speaking, from the +window of the hotel, praising the crowd for their self-control, and +advising them to go home quietly for the honor of the country and the +good cause. + +After the sale, the three bands and the great crowd, paraded the +streets. The cattle were brought round in the procession, their heads +snooded up for the occasion with green ribbon. I do not think the cattle +liked it a bit; they had had a full share of excitement in the first +part of the day. + +The most active partisan of the Land League was an elderly girl. She was +the inventor and issuer of the most aggravating epithets that were put +into circulation during the whole proceedings. Her hair was dark and +gray (dhu glas), every hair curling by itself in the most defiant +manner. The heat of her patriotism had worn off some of the hair, for +she was getting a little bald through her curls--such an assertive +upturned little nose, such a firm mouth, such a determined protruding +chin. This patriot had a short jacket of blue cloth, and could step as +light and give a jump as if she had feathered heels. She reminded me of +certain citizenesses in Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities." May God of His +great mercy give wisdom and firmness to the rulers of this land. + + + + +XXV. + +THE LABORING CLASSES IN MANOR HAMILTON--THEIR HOMES--LOOKING FOR HER +SHARE--CHARGES AGAINST AN UNPOPULAR LANDLORD. + + +I called upon a clergyman in Manor Hamilton in pursuit of information +as to the condition of the laboring class. Manor Hamilton is a small +inland town, depending solely on agriculture. Want of work is the +complaint. Out of work is the chronic state of things among the laboring +population. A few laborers are employed on the Catholic church in +process of erection. The railway is newly finished between Enniskillen +and Manor Hamilton. While it was being made it supplied work to a great +many. Rail communication with the rest of the country must be a benefit +to the town and the surrounding country. + +The hopes nourished by the Land League prevent the people from sinking +into despair or rousing to desperation. "Have the laboring class any +garden ground to their homes?" I asked. "No. You would not like to see +their homes. They are not fit for anyone to go into," was the answer. It +is good sometimes to look at what others are obliged to endure. + +Having provided myself with infinitesimal parcels of tea and sugar for +the very aged or the helplessly sick, I set out with the clergyman and +went up unexpected lanes and twisted round unlikely corners, dived into +low tenements and climbed up unreliable stairs into high ones. One home, +without a window, no floor but the ground, not a chair or table, dark +with smoke, and so small that we, standing on the floor, took up all the +available room, paid a rent of $16 per year, paid weekly. The husband +was out of work, the wife kept a stall on market days, and sold sweets +and cakes on commission. + +Another hovel, divided into two apartments like stalls in a horse +stable, a ladder leading up to a loft where an old gate and some +indescribably filthy boards separated it into another two apartments, +accommodated four families. The rent of the whole was $52 per year, paid +weekly. One of the inmates of this tenement, an old, old man, whose +clothing was shreds and patches, excused himself from going into the +workhouse by declaring that there were bad car-ack-ters in there, while +he and his father before him were ever particular about their company. + +Children, like the field daisy, abound everywhere. In one hovel a brand +new baby lay in a box, and another scarcely able to walk toddled about, +and a lot more, like a flock of chickens, were scattered here and there. +In one of these homes a small child was making a vigorous attempt to +sweep the floor. On asking for her mother, the little mite said, "She is +away looking for her share." This is the popular way of putting a name +on begging. + +One inhabitant made heather brooms, or besoms, as they are called here. +He goes to the mountain, cuts heather, draws it home on his back, makes +the besoms, and sells them for a halfpenny apiece. + +In one hovel a little boy lay dying of consumption--another name for +cold and hunger--his bed a few rags, a bit of sacking and a tattered +coat the only bed-clothes. "I am very bad entirely, father," was the +little fellow's complaint. I stood back while the father talked to him, +and it was easy to see that he had well practised how to be a son of +consolation. It was a cold windy day, and the wind blew in freely +through the broken door. Surely, I thought, the workhouse would be +comparative comfort to this child; but it seems that the whole family +must go in if he went. The saddest consideration of all is the want of +work--excitement like what is in the country now must be bad for idle +and hungry men. + +Mr. Corscadden and Mr. Tottenham, the contractor for the railway, are +the two landlords who are most unpopular. Mr. White, one of those who +had the cattle seized for rent, is also unpopular, very. Mr. Corscadden +is a new landlord, comparatively speaking; was an agent before he became +a proprietor. He is at open war with his tenantry. He requires an escort +of police. His son has been shot at and missed by a narrow enough shave, +one ball going through his hat, another grazing his forehead. This is +coming quite nigh enough. Some buildings on his property in which hay +was stored were burned--by the tenants, thinks Mr. Corscadden; by the +Lord, say the people. I hope to see Mr. Corscadden personally, so I have +made particular enquiries as to what he has done to deserve the ill- +feeling that rages against him. + +The chief charges against Mr. Corscadden are wasting away the people off +the land to make room for cattle and black-faced sheep; taking from the +people the mountain attached to their farms which they used for pasture, +and then doubling the rent on what remained after they had lost part. + +The land out by Glenade (the long glen) is very poor in parts. The +amount of cultivated fields does not seem enough to supply the +inhabitants with food. The country has in a large degree gone to grass. +There is also a suspicion of grass on the mountain sides which are bare +of heather and whins. They say the grass is sweet and good, and that +cattle flourish on it, but the improved quality of stock and milch cows +require additional tub feed to keep them in a thriving condition. There +are some rich-looking fields, but the most of the land has a poverty- +stricken look and the large majority of the houses are simply +abominable. + +It is spring weather and spring work is going on. Men are putting out +manure, carrying it in creels on their backs. Asses are the prevailing +beasts of burden, carrying about turf in creels or drawing hay--a big +load to a small ass. Men and women and children are out planting +potatoes in patches of reclaimed bog. Very few cattle are to be seen +compared to the extent of the grazing lands. + +The formation of rock here in the mountain tops has a resemblance to the +fortification-looking rocks at McGilligan, but they are neither so lofty +nor so abrupt. In one place there was a mighty cleft in the rock, as if +some giant had attempted to cut a slice off the front of the rock and +had not quite succeeded. I was told by my driver that an old man lived +in the cleft behind the rock; it was said also that a ghost haunted it. +I wonder if the ghost makes poteen. + +Apart from the condition of the country and the poverty of the people a +drive through the long glen of Glenade on a pleasant day is delightful. +The hills swell into every shape, the houses--if they were only good +houses--nestle in such romantic nooks, and the eternal mountains rising +up to the clouds bound the glen on each side. I saw one house made of +sods, thatched with rushes, that was not much bigger or roomier than a +charcoal heap. I would have thought it was something of that kind only +for the hole that served for a chimney. + +The people are very civil, and if they only knew what would please you, +would say it whether they thought it or not. If they do not know what +side you belong to, no people could be more reticent. + +The Land League is very popular. Since the Land League spread and the +agitation forced public attention to the extreme need of the people many +landlords have reduced their rents. Lord Massey is a popular landlord; +anything unpopular done on his estate, Mr. LaTouche, his agent, has laid +to his door. + + + + +XXVI. + +TENANTS VOLUNTARILY RAISING THE RENT TO ASSIST THEIR LANDLORDS-- +BEAUTIFUL IRISH LANDSCAPES--CANADIAN EYES--RENTS IN LEITRIM--THE +POTATO. + + +Determined, if possible, to hear something of the landlord's view of +the land question, I wrote to Mr. Corscadden, the so unpopular landlord, +asking for an interview. This gentleman, some time ago, moved the +authorities to erect an iron hut for the police at Cleighragh, among the +mountains that garrison Glenade. There had been an encounter there, a +kind of local shindy, between him and his tenants, when they prevented +him from removing hay in August last. The police came in large numbers +to erect the hut, but it could not be got to the place, for no one would +draw it out to Glenade. + +Mr. Corscadden bought this small parcel of land at Glenade from a Mr. +Tottenham; not the unpopular Tottenham, but another, much beloved by his +people. He lived above his income, and was embarrassed in consequence. +His tenants voluntarily raised the rents on themselves for fear he would +be obliged to sell the land, and they might pass into the hands of a bad +landlord. They raised the rent twice on themselves, and after all he was +obliged to sell, and the fate they dreaded came upon them; they passed +into Mr. Corscadden's hands. + +During the famine this part of Leitrim got relief from the Mansion House +Fund. Mr. Corscadden never gave a penny; never answered a letter +addressed to him on the subject. + +Having posted my letter I went out among the people who were, or were to +be, evicted in the country around Kiltyclogher, (church of the stone +house, or among the stones). We left the bright green fields that belt +around Manor Hamilton and the grand trees that overshade the same green +fields, and drove up among the hills, in a contrary direction from +Glenade. A beautiful day, warm and pleasant, shone upon us; the round- +headed sycamores are leafed out, and the larch has shaken out her +tassels, the ditch backs are blazing with primroses and the black thorns +are white with bloom, and there are millions of daisies in the grass. We +passed over some good land at the roadside, some green fields in the +valleys, but there is a very great deal of waste and also of barren +land. A great deal of the tilled land is bog, a good deal of the waste +land is shallow earth overlying rocks, some is cumbered with great +boulders, and rough with heather and whins. + +My companion, a lady active in the Ladies' Land League, thought it good +land and worth reclaiming if let at a low rent. I, looking at it with +Canadian eyes, would not have taken a gift of it and be bound to reclaim +it. If I rented a few acres of those wild hills, and rooted out the +whins and raised and removed the stones, I would think it unjust to +raise the rent on me because of my labor. + +It is admitted by all who know anything of the matter, that the tenants +have reclaimed what land is reclaimed. Rent in County Leitrim has been +raised from L24,990 to L170,670 within the last eighty years, and is +L34,144 above the Government valuation. + +We called at the house of a tenant farmer who had been evicted for non- +payment of rent, and was back as a weekly tenant. He was putting in some +crop, working alone in the field. He came to speak to my companion. He +had got no word from the landlord as to whether he would put in any crop +or not. He was in sore anxiety between his fear of offending the +landlord, and the fear of doing anything against the rules of the Land +League. His little boys were putting out manure in creels, carrying it +on their shoulders. He had no means of paying rent. If he were forgiven +the rent due and a year's rent to come, he might then be in a position +to resume paying rent. This is my own opinion. The poor man himself was +sorely perplexed and cast down. A thin, white, helpless-looking man. The +terrors of the eviction had taken hold of his wife, who was sickly. The +only hope they had was that God would bless the potato crop, for they +had secured Champion potatoes for seed. + +The potatoes that used to flourish in Ireland forty years ago, have +entirely passed away. Even the Champion potato is not very good. The +skin is thick and has a diseased appearance and the potato has black +spots on the outside. I think the land is suffering from an overdose of +such manure as they apply here, and the leaf mould is entirely +exhausted. Of course this is the opinion of one who knows nothing of +farming. + +Passed another house, a widow's, who has been evicted. The family had +been put out and the official went to get some water to quench the fire; +all the little household belongings were scattered about. Putting out +the fire and fastening up the door were the last acts of the eviction. +While the official's back was turned, the widow slipped in again, and +was fastened up in the house, the children being outside. Her sons are a +little silly. The children camp outside and she holds the garrison +inside. She thinks the Land Bill or the Land League, or something +miraculous will turn up to help her if she keeps possession for a while. +Fear that she has done wrong and laid herself open to some greater +punishment, and excitement have blanched her face. In the dim evening +she sits at the window inside; the children have a gipsy fire and sit +under the window outside. When the gloaming has passed and dark night +settled down, the police come over from the barracks to see if any of +the children have gone in beside the mother. This would be taking +forcible possession, and some other process of law would be possible. To +make assurance sure, the policeman puts his head close to the window, +sees the widow's white face and wild eyes sitting in the dark alone, and +the children sitting under the window, and then the party, with +something like tears in their eyes, something very like pity in their +hearts, go back to the barracks. + +I wonder how these things will end. It is not stubbornness, but +helplessness and despair that makes them cling so to their homes, +combined with an utter dread of the disgrace and separation involved in +going to the workhouse. I listened to one tale after another of +harassment, misery and thoughtless oppression in Kiltyclogher till my +heart was sick, and I felt one desire--to run away that I might hear no +more. I applied the traditional grain of salt to what I heard, but could +not manage to add it to what I saw. + +Mr. Tottenham rules part of Kiltyclogher. This man has a very evil name +among the tenants. Reclamation of land by very poor people is a very +serious matter. Not only do the bogs require drains twenty-one feet +apart and three deep (I have seen the people in the act of making such +drains again and again); not only do the surface stones require to be +gathered off, but great stones and immense boulders that obstruct the +formation of the drains, have to be removed, and as they have no powder +for blasting, they take the primitive method of kindling great fires +over the rock and splitting it up that way, so that their husbandry is +farming under difficulties. As the Fermanagh farmer said, they put their +lives into it. + +In the long ago the landlords of Ireland, though extravagant, were not, +as a class, unkindly, but their waste involved the land, and their +absenteeism prevented any thoughts for the benefit of the country ever +occurring to them. + +The commercial spirit has invaded the aristocracy and men have begun to +see visions of redeeming their lands from encumbrances and to dream +dreams of still greater aggrandizement, all to be realized by commercial +tact in raising the rents and abolishing the long-suffering people who +could not be squeezed any farther. It was then that the beginning of the +present desperate state of things was inaugurated. I do not think the +landlords deliberately meant to oppress. I think they looked to the one +thing, raising their rental, increasing their income, and went over +everything, through everything to the desired end. They have succeeded +in making a wide separation between the land-holding and land-tilling +classes. It will be a difficult matter to bring them together again. + + + + +XXVII. + +A HARD LANDLORD INTERVIEWED--CONFLICTING STATEMENTS--COLD STEEL. + + +The morning after our return to Manor Hamilton, Mr. Corscadden called +on me in response to my note asking for an interview. I had formed a +mental picture of what this gentleman would be like from the description +I had heard of his actions. I found him very different. An elderly man, +tall, gray-haired, soft-spoken, with a certain hesitation of manner, +dressed like a better class-farmer, eyes that looked you square in the +face without flinching, and yet had a kindly expression. This was Mr. +Corscadden. I need not say he was not the man I expected him to be. + +He, very kindly indeed, entered into an explanation of his management of +this property since it fell into his hands. He mentioned, by the way, +that he was a man of the people; had risen to his present position by +industry and stern thrift; what he had he owed, under the blessing of +God, to his own exertions and economy. He declared that he ruled his +conduct to his tenants by what he should wish to be done to himself if +in their place. + +He then took up the case of one tenant, James Gilray, who waited on him +to enquire, "What are you going to do with me?" This man, according to +Mr. Corscadden's statement, owed three years' rent, amounting to L30; +owed L15 additional money paid into the bank for him; owed L6 for a +field, "for which I used to get L11 to L12." "Now," said Mr. Corscadden +to him, "what do you want?" "I want," said the man, "to have my place at +the former rent." "Do you," said Mr. Corscadden, "want your land at what +it was 118 years ago? Land has raised in value five times since then." +There is here a wide discrepancy between this statement of Mr. +Corscadden's and the statement of another gentleman--not a tenant--who +professed himself well acquainted with the subject. He said that before +Mr. Corscadden bought the land the tenants had voluntarily increased the +rent on themselves twice, for fear of passing out of the hands of the +man they knew into the hands of a stranger; so that it was under a rack +rent when Mr. Corscadden bought it. + +Another case referred to by Mr. Corscadden was that of a man to whom he +had rented a farm of 20 acres at L16. He got one year's rent; two and a +half years were due, when he served a writ of ejectment. Mr. Corscadden +said to this man; "You are a bad farmer and you know it. You have about +L150 worth of stock; I will give you L40; leave my place and go to +America. He took the money," said the old gentleman pathetically, "and +did not go to America, but rented another farm. The woman at Glenade +whom you went to see I have kept--supported--for years. Her husband did +not pay his rent, and I gave him L10 to pay his passage to America. He +is a bad man. It is rumored that he has married another woman; his wife +never hears from him." + +"It is wonderful, Mr. Corscadden," I remarked, "when you are so kind +that you have such a bad name as a landlord. Mr. Tottenham and you are +the most unpopular landlords in Leitrim." + +"I do not know why; I act as I would wish others to do to me. I do not +forget that I have to give an account to the Holy One." + +"You are accused of wasting away the tenants, because cattle and sheep +are more profitable than people." + +"I transferred two to places down near the sea and gave them better land +than I took from them. I have been speaking about the others whom I paid +to remove." + +"People complain that you took the mountain pasture from the tenants and +then raised the rent of the remainder to double of what they had paid +for all." + +"Not double, nearly double. As to the mountain, I called them together +and proposed taking the mountain, as they had nothing to put on it; they +had not a beast. They consented, at least they made no objections. I +wanted the mountains for Scotch sheep. I put on about a hundred; there +are few to be seen now; they have disappeared." + +He then mentioned the shooting at his son, the burning of the office +houses with hay and potatoes stored there, the trouble he had had about +the police hut which the constabulary had drawn to Glenade that morning. + +"That will cost the country as much as L500," said Mr. Corscadden. "They +are unthrifty in this country, they eat all the large potatoes, plant +all the little runts, till they have run out the seed." (Alas, what will +not hunger do!) "They come into market with their butter in small +quantities, wasting a day and sacrificing the butter." (Need again: time +is wasted here, for labor is so plentiful and men are so cheap that time +has no value in their eyes.) + +I asked Mr. Corscadden what he thought would be a remedy for this +dreadful state of things. He did not see a remedy except emigration. Mr. +Corscadden took his leave politely, wishing me a pleasant tour through +my own country. I have as faithfully as possible recorded Mr. +Corscadden's side of the story. The tenant's side I have softened +considerably, and omitted some things altogether to be inside of the +mark. One thing I forgot to mention: Mr. Corscadden said that the +tenants might raise a couple of pigs or a heifer and pay the rent and +have all the rest to themselves. + +I said, "When these bad years ending in one of positive famine have +stripped the poorer tenants bare, and pigs are so dear, where could a +poor man get thirty shillings to buy a sucking pig or buy provender to +feed it?" This is true, the first step is the difficulty. They might do +this, or this, or this, and it would be profitable, but where are the +means to take the first step? It is easy to stand afar off and say, be +economical, be industrious, and you will prosper. In the meantime pay up +the back rent or get out of this and give place to better men. They tell +me that Mr. LaTouche charges the poor creatures interest on all the back +rent. Some who have paid their rent here did not--could not--raise it on +their farms, but got it from friends in America. + +Mr. Corscadden asked me in the course of our conversation what I would +consider a fair rent. I said I would consider the rent fair that was +raised on the land for which rent was paid, leaving behind enough to +live on, and something to spare, so that one bad season or two would not +reduce the tenant to beggary. + +The fact of the matter is, and I would be false to my own conscience if +I hesitated to say it, these people have been kept drained bare; the +hard years reduced them to helpless poverty, and now the only remedy is +to get rid of them altogether. The price of these military and police, +the price of these special services rendered to unpopular landlords to +aid them in grinding down these wretched people, spent to help them +would go far to make prosperity possible to them once more. If they had +a rent they could pay and live, the millstone of arrears taken from +about their necks, I believe they would become both loyal and contented. +Empty stomachs, bare clothing, lying hard and cold at night through +poverty is trying to loyalty. + +The turbary nuisance is the great oppression of all. Want of food is +bad, but want of fuel added to it! Forty years ago renting land meant +getting a bit of bog in with the land. When there is a special charge +for the privilege of cutting turf and the times so hard there is much +additional suffering. + +In the famine time people getting relief had to travel for the ticket, +travel to get the meal, and then go to gather whins or heather on the +hills to cook it, and the hungry children waiting all the time. A +respectable person said to me the famine was worst on respectable +people, for looking for the red ticket and carrying it to get meal by it +was like the pains of death. + +Wherever I went through Leitrim I saw people, scattered here and there, +gathering twigs for fuel or coming toward home with their burden of +twigs on their backs. I declare I thought often of the Israelites +scattered through the fields of Egypt gathering stubble instead of +straw. A tenant who objects to anything, who is not properly obedient +and respectful, can have the screw turned upon him about the turf as +well as about the rent. + + + + +XXVIII. + +THE MANOR HAMILTON WORKHOUSE--TO THE SOUTH AND WESTWARD--A CHANGE OF +SCENERY--LORD PALMERSTON. + + +Before leaving Manor Hamilton, I determined to see the poor-house, the +last shelter for the evicted people. I was informed that it was +conducted in a very economical manner. It is on the outskirts of the +town. On my way there I went up a little hill to look at a picturesque +Episcopalian church perched up there amid the trees, surrounded by a +pretty, well-kept burying-ground. The church walls were ornamented with +memorial slabs set in the wall commemorating people whose remains were +not buried there. A pretty cottage stood by the gate, at the door of +which a decent-looking woman sat sewing. I addressed a few questions to +her as to the name of the pastor, the size of his flock, &c. Her answers +were guarded--very. + +I made my way down the hill, and over to the workhouse. The grounds +before the entrance were not laid out with the taste observable at +Enniskillen. Perhaps they had not a professional gardener among their +inmates. At the entrance a person was leaning against the door in an +easy attitude. I enquired if I might be allowed to see through the +workhouse. He answered by asking what my business was. I informed him +that I was correspondent for a Canadian newspaper. He then enquired if +the paper I wrote for was a Conservative paper. I replied that I would +not describe it as a Conservative paper, but as a religious paper. He +then said the matron was not at home, and I prepared to leave. I +enquired first if he was the master. He replied in the affirmative, and +then said he would get the porter to show me round. "You will show her +through," he said, to a stout, heavy person sitting in the entry. + +This gentleman, who brought to my mind the estimable Jeremiah +Flintwinch, accordingly showed me through the building. We passed the +closed doors of the casual ward, where intending inmates were examined +for admittance, and casuals were lodged for the night. Every door was +unlocked to admit us and carefully locked behind us, conveying an idea +of very prison-like administration. The able-bodied were at work, I +suppose, for few were visible except women who were nursing children. +There was a large number of patients in the infirmary wards. One man +whose bed was on the floor was evidently very near the gate we all must +enter. He never opened his eyes or seemed conscious of the presence of a +stranger. I noticed a little boy lift the poor head to place it easier. +I saw no one whom I could imagine was a nurse. The kindness and +tenderness of the beggar nurses in the sick wards of the workhouse at +Ballymena struck me forcibly. The absence of anything of the kind struck +me forcibly in Manor Hamilton. + +The children in this workhouse were pretty numerous. They demanded +something from me with the air of little footpads. The women were little +better. I was told, pretty imperatively, to look in my pockets. One +woman rushed after me half way up stairs as if she would compel a gift. +Coming back with my throat full of feelings, I was directed to a little +desk behind the door, where lay the book for visitors: I was shown the +place where remarks were to be entered. I wrote my name standing, as +there was no other way provided. I was hardly fit to write cool remarks. +The locked doors, the nurses conspicuous by their absence, the +importunate beggars, the absent matron, the whole establishment was far +below anything of the kind I had yet seen in Ireland. One woman had made +her appearance from some unexpected place, and explained to me with +floury hands, that if she were not baking she would herself show me +through the house. + +I think it is hard for struggling poverty to go down so far as to take +shelter in the workhouse. It must be like the bitterness of death. I +cannot imagine the feeling of any human beings when the big door clashes +on them, the key turns, and they find themselves an inmate of the +workhouse at Manor Hamilton. I do not wonder that the creatures starving +outside preferred to suffer rather than go in. When I returned to the +entrance the master had been joined by some others who were helping him +to do nothing. He asked me over his shoulder what I thought of the +house. I answered that it was a fine building, and walked down the +avenue, wishing I was able to speak in a cool manner and to tell him +what I thought of the house and of his management of the same. + +Left Manor Hamilton on the long car for Sligo. The long car is the +unworthy successor of the defunct mail coach of blessed memory. It is an +exaggerated jaunting car arranged on the wheels and axles of a lumber +waggon and it is drawn by a span sometimes; in this case, by four +horses. A female was waving her hands and shouting incoherent blessings +after us as we started. It might be for me or it might be for the land +agent, who sat on the same side. I smiled by way of willingness to +accept it, for it is better to have a blessing slung after one than a +curse or a big stone. + +Our road skirted Benbo (the hill of cattle), sacred now to rabbits and +hares and any other small game that can shelter on its bald sides. Up +hill and down hill, between hills and around hills, mountains of every +shape and degree of bareness and baldness looking down at us over one +another's shoulders as we drove along. An ambitious little peasant clung +on behind with his hands, his little bare feet thudding on the smooth +road and over the loose layer of sharp stones that lay edge upwards in +places. He thought he was taking a ride. We passed small fields of +reclaimed bog, where ragged men were planting potatoes in narrow ridges. +We passed the brown fields where nothing will be planted; passed the +small donkeys with their big loads; passed green meadows on a small +scale; in places here and there, passed the houses, dark, damp and +unwholesome, where these people live. + +After we had rumbled on for some miles, enjoying blinks of cold +sunshine, enduring heavy scudding showers, the landscape began to soften +considerably. The grass grew green instead of olive, and trees clustered +along the road. Umbrageous sycamores, claiming kindred with our maples, +began to stand along the road singly and in clusters. We were still in a +valley bounded by mountains, but the hill-sides waved with dark green +and light green foliage, where the fir stretched upward tall plumes and +the larch shook downward tasseled streamers. The green of the fields +became greener and richer, the dark sterile moss-covered mountains +retreated and frowned at us from the distance; we were leaving the +hungry hills of north Leitrim for the pleasant valleys that lie smiling +around Sligo. + +The trees grew larger, the sycamores massed together in their full +leafiness, bringing visions of a sugar bush in the time of leaves; they +were mingled with the delicious green of the newly-leaved beech. The +round-headed chestnuts, with their clustered leaves, were covered with +tall spikes of blossom like the tapers on an overgrown Christmas tree. +The ash and oak are shaking out their leaves tardily; the orchards are +white with the bridal bloom of May. The fields are flocked with myriads +of happy eyed daisies, the ditch backs glowing with golden blossoms. My +eyes make me wealthy with looking at beauty. + +We are nearing the town, for the woodland wealth is enclosed behind high +walls. Grand houses peep from among the branches; trim lodges, ivy- +garnished, sit at the gates, glimpses of gardens are seen, all the +wealth of leafage and blossoming that fertility spreads over the land +when spring breathes is here. In a glow of sunshine after the rain-- +smiles after tears--we enter Sligo. + +We draw up in the open street, everyone alights from our elevation as +they can. No one takes notice of any other by way of help. Each gets off +and goes his several way. The land agent, who has sat in high-bred +silence all the way, pays his fare and goes off on the car that awaits +him. The rest disperse. I pay my fare. The driver asks to be remembered. +I mentally wonder what for. I paid a porter to place my bag on the car. +I got up as I could, I scramble down as I may. I will pay another porter +to take me to a hotel. The driver's whip takes as much notice of me as +he does. Why in the world should I remember him? It is part of a system +of imposition and it would be rank communism to find fault, so I +remember him; he thanks me, and this little game of give and take ends. + +Installed in the Imperial Hotel I send off my one letter of +introduction, which remains. Discover the post office, find no letters, +return and sit down to write across the water. The lady proprietor of +the Imperial Hotel has been across the Atlantic and has a warm feeling +toward the inhabitants of the great republic; she shares the benefit of +this feeling with the wandering Canadian and takes us out to see Sligo. + +Gladly do we lay down the pen to look Sligo straight in the face. Sligo +looks nice and clean. Belfast is large, prosperous, beautiful; but many +of her fine buildings and public monuments look as if they required to +have their faces washed, but Sligo buildings are fair and clean. We pass +a rather nice building, suppose it a school, but we are informed it is +the rent-office of the late Lord Palmerston. That astute nobleman showed +his usual good sense, if it was his choice, to own lands in the sunny +vales of Sligo instead of the hungry hills of Leitrim. If some have +greatness thrust upon them, some in the same way inherit lands. Out of +the town we went, and climbed up a grassy eminence; with some difficulty +got upon the "topmost tow'ring height" of an old earthwork--blamed on +the Danes of course; everything unknown is laid on them. The square +shape, the remains of the ditch that surrounds it look too much like +modern modes of fortification not to have a suspiciously British look. +Of course we are both delightfully ignorant on the subject. + +The scenery from our elevated position is glorious. At our feet Sligo, +all her buildings, churches and convents white in the sunshine, around +her the fairest of green fields; the blue waters of Lough Gill sparkling +and glancing from among trees of every variety that in spring put on a +mantle of leaves. On every side but the gate of the west through which +we see a misty glance of the far Atlantic, Sligo has mountains standing +sentry around her. One, Knock-na-rea, is seen from a great distance, a +long mountain with a little mountain on her breast. The bells were +chiming musically, the sound floating up to where we stood. Below us, on +the other side of the old earthwork, a little apart from one another, +stood two great buildings, that are so necessary here, the poor-house +and the lunatic asylum. These magnificent and extensive buildings must +have cost an immense sum. The asylum has been enlarged recently, as the +freshly-cut stone and white mortar of one wing testified. + +As I looked, a band struck up familiar airs. We saw them standing in a +field beside the asylum. I was told that the band was composed of +patients. This made the music more thrilling. When they struck up "Auld +Lang Syne," or "There Is no Luck About the House," there was a wail in +it to my ears, after home, happiness and reason. We got down from our +high position and came home by another way, passing through some of the +poorer streets of Sligo, which are kept scrupulously clean. Even here +women and girls were gathering sticks to cook the handful of meal. The +poor are very poor on the bare hills of Leitrim, or in this green valley +of Sligo. + + + + +XXIX. + +ON LOUGH GILL--TWO MEN--STAMPEDE FROM SLIGO--THE ANCIENT AND THE +MODERN. + + +I was a little disappointed that I was getting no information on any +side of the question of the day, and my letters which were to be sent to +Sligo not coming to hand, I was advised to go down the beautiful Lough +Gill to Drumahaire to see the ruins of Brefni Castle, the place from +which the fair wife of the O'Ruarke, Prince of Brefni, fled with +McMurrough, which was the cause of the Saxon first gripping green Erin. +I thought I might as well, and set out to walk to the boat landing, a +good _billie_ out of Sligo, along the street, past small tenement +houses inhabited by laborers, who do not always obtain work, past the +big gloomy gaol, past the dead wall and the high bank on the top of +which goats are browsing, down to the landing beside the closely-locked +iron gate, and the little lodge sitting among the trees behind it, +belonging to the property of a Captain Wood Martin. Had the felicity, +while yet some way off, of seeing the shabby little boat cast off the +rope and puff herself and paddle herself slowly off down the lake. + +Coming back a very pretty girl electrified me by informing me that I was +from America. She advised me to take a small boat and have a sail on +Lough Gill, for I would always regret it if I did not see its beauty +when I had the opportunity. In her excessive kindness she introduced me +to a river maiden, strong and comely, who would row me about with all +kindness for a small consideration. Prudently discovered what the +consideration was to be, and then gave in to the arrangement. + +The water nymph had been away gathering sticks; she had to empty her +boat and I waited a little impatiently, a little ruefully. The boat was +big, clumsy and leaky, but the girl was eloquent and eager to persuade +me it was a fast and comfortable boat. She produced an ancient cushion +from somewhere; there was a clumsy getting on board, and she pushed off. +We went sailing down among the swans, the coots and the rushes, and +passed little tree-laden islands, hooped with stone wall for fear they +might be washed away. The sun shone pleasantly, the swans floated on +majestically, or solemnly dived for our pleasure, the coots skimmed +about knowing well we had not often enjoyed the pleasure of watching +them. The grand woods that encompass the residence of Wynne of Hazelwood +spread out over many, many acres, caught the sunlight on one side. The +broad green meadows of Captain Wood Martin lying among the trees looked +like visions of Eden on the other. My river maiden discovered to me a +swan's nest among the reeds; told me stories of the fierceness of +brooding swans, and offered to get me a swan's egg for a curiosity, +nevertheless. + +Remarking to her that Captain Wood Martin kept his grounds locked up +very carefully; enquired what should happen if we drew ashore and landed +on his tabooed domain. The water maiden said one of his men would turn +us out. Enquired if he was a good landlord. "Oh, sure he has ne'er a +tenant at all at all on his whole place; it does be all grazing land. He +takes cattle to graze. He charges L2 a year for a yearling and L5 a year +for a four-year-old, and he has cattle of his own on it." How do you +know the price? "Sure I read it on the handbills posted up." + +Looking at the other side of the glorious lake, at the long thicket of +trees that shades the demesne that Wynne of Hazelwood keeps for his home +and glory, stretching over miles of country; saw the little grey +rabbits, more precious than men in my native land, that were hopping +along, after their manner, quite a little procession of them, at the +edge of the bush; and said, "What kind of a landlord does Wynne of +Hazelwood make?" "Is it Mr. Wynne, ma'am? Oh, then, sure it's him that +is the good landlord and the good man out and out. He is a good man, a +very good man, and no mistake." "Why, what makes you think him such a +good man?" "Because he never does a mane or durty action; he's a +gentleman entirely." "Come now, you tell me what he does not do; if you +want me to believe in your Mr. Wynne, tell me some good thing he has +done." "I can soon do that, ma'am," said my water maiden. "Last winter +was a hard winter; the work was scarce, and the poor people would have +starved for want of fire but for Mr. Wynne of Hazelwood." "He let you +gather sticks in his woods, then?" "He did more than that; he cut down +trees on purpose for the people, and we drew them over the ice, for the +lough was frozen over. We had no fire in our house all last winter, and +it was a cold one, but what we got that way from Mr. Wynne." Mr. Wynne's +eloquent advocate rowed along the lake close in shore, for fear of any +doubt resting on my mind, and showed the stumps of the trees, cut very +close to the ground, a great many of them indeed, as a proof of Mr. +Wynne's thoughtful generosity. + +We rowed along over the laughing waters among the pretty islands, and +finally pulled ashore on the Hazelwood demesne and landed. We walked +round a little bit, filling our eyes with beauty; feloniously abstracted +a few wild flowers and a fir cone or two, and reluctantly left +Hazelwood. Now this gentleman was not a perceptible whit the poorer for +all the cottage homes that were warmed by his bounty--yes, and hearts +were warmed, too, through the dreary winter. "Blessed is he that +considereth the poor." There is riches for you--oh master of Hazelwood! + +The emigration from Sligo amounts to a stampede now. How many more would +leave the island that has no place for them, if they only had the means? + +I missed that Drumahaire boat no less than three times--that is, she +was either gone before the time when she was said to go, or was lying +quietly at the wharf, having made up her mind not to stir that day. She +seemed to have no stated time for going or coming, or if she had, to +keep it as secret as an eviction, for no one could be found to speak +with certainty of her movements. When disappointed for the third time, +my very kind friend, Mrs. O'Donell, of the Imperial Hotel, took me on +her own car to Drumahaire. We drove completely round lovely Lough Gill, +seeing it from many points of view. Sligo is not altogether a garden of +Eden, for we passed a great deal of poor stony barren land here and +there during this journey. Like all hilly land, there are pretty vales +among the hills and fair, broad fields here and there, but there is much +barren and almost worthless soil. + +Now, there is one thing that has struck me forcibly since I came to +Ireland. I saw it in Down, Antrim, Derry, Donegal, wherever I have been +as well as in Sligo. The poorer and more worthless the land, there were +the tenants' houses the thickest. The good land has been monopolized to +an immense extent for lands laid out for grandeur and glory--and they +are grand and gloriously beautiful. Then pride and fashion demand that +the mountain commons be reserved for game, that is, rabbits. A man must +have extensive wilds to shoot over, so the poor laborers are huddled +into houses--awful hutches without gardens, and the poor farmers are +clustered on barren soil, trying to force nature to allow them to live +after paying the rent. + +We got to Drumahaire, stopped at a dandy iron gate beyond which the +turrets of Brefni Castle were waving funereal banners of ivy, entered +and found ourselves in a private domain. Here in the shadow of the old +castle was the handsome modern cottage, extensive and stylish, inhabited +by Mr. Latouche, the agent so much dreaded, so much hated in Northern +Leitrim. This is the gentleman who is accused of charging the tenants +10s. 6d. for potatoes which the landlord sent down to be given to the +tenants at five. If racking the tenantry is the condition on which he +gets this lovely home, it is a temptation certainly. We felt as if we +were in the wrong place, as, after glancing at the handsome cottage, the +trim lawn fringed with shrubbery and then at the ruins we took the lower +walk hoping to get round under the shelter of some trees to the ruins. A +small river brawled over the stones below--far below where we were +walking. A detached portion of the ruins sitting on a rock overlooked +both us and the river. Was it in any part of this building that the +naughty lady watched for her lover? + +A little further on we looked down some steps into gardens stretching +along beside the river--gardens blazing with flowers and sweet with +blossomed fruit trees. It was so unexpected, so splendidly beautiful, it +surpassed a dream of fairy-land. We passed on, saw a shadowy lady among +the flowers on the lawn, knew it was the wraith of the unhappy and +guilty Dearvorgill. Stole out of the farther gate--at least I did-- +feeling naughty and intrusive. Found ourselves in the clean little town +of Drumahaire, a pretty little village, straggled over a hillside among +the trees. + +Went into a shop to enquire for the veritable Brefni Castle. A sad and +hungry-looking man scenting a possible sixpence started forward as +guide. He piloted us back by the way we came into the ruins we had +passed. Was determined to see visions and dream dreams amid these +historical ruins. Alas, it was a disgraceful failure. Not only was the +back of the modern tyrannical cottage laid up against the tyrannical +castle of history, but the ancient and modern were dovetailed into one +another, trying to bewilder you as to where ancient history and legend +ended, and modern anecdote began. We looked into the great hall with its +deep fire-place at the side, and upwards where another stately apartment +had once been, a lofty presence room over the great hall, but the week's +wash of the La Touches was flapping in the wind that moaned through the +deserted halls of the O'Ruarke. Looked into a tower to find a peat +stack, climbed over a load of coal to see the withdrawing room of the +departed, but not forgotten great lady, or the kitchen that cooked for +the men-at-arms, who waited on the lord's behest. Peeped into a turret +and was insolently asked what we meant by a splendid but ill-tongued +peacock; admired the ivy green that happed the bare walls and noticed +that the chickens roosted there in its shelter. + +We drove home by another way, among gay, green woods under the shelter +of mighty rocks, passed more ruins. We stopped to examine these older +ruins of the ancient O'Ruarkes. A Milesian gentleman showed us through +them. It is the correct thing to have a ruin on your place; it is a kind +of patent of gentility. If a banshee could be thrown in along with a +ruin, a new man would give a great price for an old place. But banshees +are getting scarce and decline to be caught. This ruin has been patched +over, clumsily but earnestly, so that hardly a speck of the original +ruin is left. It was delightful to listen to our Milesian guide. My +companion was bound to get some information out of him. He was cautious, +not knowing who we were or what design we might have to entangle him in +his talk; he was determined that he would not give the desired +information. He conquered. The ruins were not worth sixpence altogether +to look at, but I gave him sixpence as a tribute to genius. And so in +the dim evening we drove back to Sligo. + + + + +XXX. + +SLIGO'S GOOD LANDLORDS--THE POLICE AND THEIR DUTIES--A DOUBTFUL +COMPLIMENT--AN AMAZON. + + +It has been something wonderful to me that when I left Leitrim, I +seemed to have left all bad landlords behind me. Every one I came in +contact with in Sligo, rich or poor, had something to say about a good +landlord. Some were thoughtfully kind and considerate, of which they +gave me numerous instances; others if the kind actions were unknown, +positively unkind ones were unknown also, so their portraits came out in +neutral tints. I conversed with high Tories and admirers of the Land +League, but heard only praise of Sligo's lords of the soil. I thought I +should leave Sligo, believing it an exceptional place, but just before I +left I heard two persons speak of one bad landlord of Sligo. + +On May 18th I left the green valleys of Sligo behind and took passage on +the long car for Ballina. I found that the long car was to be shared +with a contingent of police, who were returning to their several +stations after lawfully prowling round the country protecting bailiffs +and process-servers in their unpopular work. I cannot believe that these +quiet, repressed conservators of the peace can possibly feel proud of +their duties. These duties must often--and very often--be repugnant to +the heart of any man who has a heart, and I suppose the majority of them +have hearts behind their trim jackets. I liked to look at these men, +they are so trim, clean, self-respectful. They have also a well-fed +appearance, which is comfortable to notice after looking at the hungry- +looking, tattered people, from whom they protect the bailiffs. + +We passed Balasodare--I did not stop, for I felt that it was better to +get this disagreeable journey over at once. + +We stopped at a place called Dromore west, to change horses and to +change cars. We had dropped the police, a few at a time, as we came +along, so that now the car was not by any means crowded. We all stood on +the road while the change of horses was being made. It was slow work, +and I went into a shop near to ask for a glass of water. The mistress of +the shop enquired if I would take milk. I assented, and was served with +a brimming tumbler of excellent milk. Payment was refused, and as I +turned to leave, I was favored with a subdued groan from the women +assembled in the shop. Evidently they thought I was some tyrant who +required the protection of the police. It would not flatter me--not +much--to be taken for some landholders here. + +When my police fellow-voyagers were dropped at their comfortable white +barracks here and there, and only one was left, we fell into +conversation to beguile the time. He had been at one time on duty in +Donegal and knew how matters were there, from his point of view, better +than I did. We spoke of Captain Dopping, and his opinion of him was if +anything lower than mine. He expressed great thankfulness that guarding +the Captain had never been his duty. Whether he disliked it from moral +causes, or for fear of intercepting in his own person a stray bullet +intended for the gallant captain, he did not say. + +Arrived at Ballina after a long, tiresome journey, yet like everything +else in this world it had its compensations. Ballina is a kind of +seaport town, in the Rip Van Winkle way. An inlet from Killala Bay +called the Moy runs up to the town. There is no stir on the water, no +perceptible merchandise on the quay. One dull steamboat painted black, +in mourning for the traffic and bustle of life that ought to be there, +slides out on its way to Liverpool and creeps back again cannily. Unless +you see this steamboat I can testify that you might put up quite a while +at Ballina and never hear its existence mentioned, so it cannot be of +much account. The streets are thronged with barefoot women and ragged +lads with their threepenny loads of turf. The patient ass, with his +straw harness and creels, is the prevailing beast of burden everywhere I +have travelled since I entered Enniskillen with the exception of Sligo. + +Sligo town, like Belfast in a lesser degree, has the appearance of +having something to do and of paying the people something who do it. The +traders who come to Ballina market seem to trade in a small way as at +Manor Hamilton. Still, the town is handsome and clean, a large part of +the population, prosperous-looking, in an easy going way, the ladies +fine-looking and well dressed. One wonders what supports all this, for +the business of the town seems of little account. + +Spent a Sunday here and after church became aware that the too, too +celebrated Miss Gardiner, with her friend Miss Pringle, had arrived at +the hotel on their way to Dublin, on evictions bent. The police had +marched out in the evening to her place to protect her in. I was eager +to see this lady, who enjoys a world-wide fame, so sent her my card +requesting an interview, which she declined. I caught a glimpse of her +in the hall as she passed out with her friend and guard. She is a very +stout, loud-voiced lady, not pretty. The bulge made by the pistols she +carries was quite noticeable. "Arrah, why do you want to see either of +them," said a maiden to me. "Sure they both of thim drink like dragons"-- +dragoons she meant, I suppose--"an' swear like troopers, an' fight like +cats." This was a queer bit of news to me. I did not take any notice of +it at that time; but, dear me, it is as common news as the paving +stories on the street. + +Miss Gardiner is almost constantly at law with her tenants, lives in a +state of siege, maintains, at the cost of the country, an armed body +guard, and is doing her very best to embroil the country in her efforts +to clear the tenants off her property. At the Ballycastle petty sessions +a woman summoned by this lady for overholding, as they call it, appeared +by her son and pleaded that she had been illegally evicted. Miss +Gardiner told them they might do what they liked, but she must get her +house. Now this house never cost Miss Gardiner a farthing for repairs +nor for erection, and it is all the house the wretched creatures have, +and, of course, they hold to it as long as they are able. The priest +attempted to put in a word for the woman, and was unmercifully snubbed +by the bench. In Miss Gardiner's next case, the bench decided that the +service was illegal. Miss Gardiner then called out, "I now demand +possession of you in the presence of the court." The bench would not +accept this notice as legal. She had a great many cases and gained them +all but this one. This particular Sunday when I had the honor of seeing +her she was bound for Dublin on eviction business. + + + + +XXXI. + +KILLALA--THE CANADIAN GRANT TO THE FAMINE FUND AND WHAT IT HAS DONE-- +BALLYSAKEERY--THREE LANDLORDS--A LANDLORD'S INTERESTING STATEMENT. + + +I had the very great pleasure of a drive to the ancient town of +Killala, accompanied by the wife of the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, who +superintends the orphanage and the mission schools in connection with +the Presbyterian Church of Ballina. Killala is an old town with a gentle +flavor of decay about it. It has a round tower in good preservation, and +an ancient church. I was shown the point where the French landed at the +stirring time of war and rebellion. + +It makes my heart glad to hear in so many places of the benefit the +Canadian grant has been to this suffering country. I heard with great +pleasure of fishing boats along the coast named Montreal, Toronto and +other Canadian names in affectionate remembrance of the Canadian dollars +that paid for them. This grant has been a means of convincing the people +that there is such a place as Canada. The peasant mind had a sort of +belief that America consisted of two large towns, New York and +Philadelphia. In one instance the Canadian paid nets arrived on +Thursday; they were in the water on Saturday, and many boats returned +laden with mackerel. So great a capture had not been remembered for many +years. In one locality where the nets given were valued for less than +L200, it was proved that the boats had brought in during four weeks over +L1,200 worth of mackerel. + +After we had taken a view of Killala we had a pleasant interview with +the good minister at Ballysakeery. Here we received one of those +welcomes that cheer the travellers' way and leave a warm remembrance +behind. The famine pressed hard upon Mayo. Many respectable people were +obliged to accept relief in the form of necessary food, seed potatoes +and seed oats. It is a noticeable fact that here, as in Leitrim--that +part at least of Leitrim in which I made investigations--the landlords +in a body held back from giving any help to the starving people on their +lands. Sir Roger Palmer gave potatoes to his tenants and sold them meal +at the lowest possible figure, thus saving them from having the +millstone of Gombeen tied round their neck. Sir Charles Gore, a resident +landlord, has the name of generosity at this time of want, and justice +at all times, which is better to be chosen than great riches. The Earl +of Arran, who has drawn a large income, he and his ancestors, from this +part of Mayo for which they paid nothing, not only gave nothing but gave +no reply whatever to letters asking for help. + +The land belonging to the Earl of Arran here--I cannot undertake to +write the name of the locality by the sound--was a common waste and was +let by the Earl at two shillings and sixpence per acre to Presbyterian +tenants, who came here from the North I believe. Of course they had to +reclaim, fence, drain, cultivate for years. They built dwellings and +office houses, built their lives into the place. After they had spent +the toil of years on improvement, their rents were raised to seven and +sixpence per acre, five shillings at one rise; then it was raised to ten +shillings; the next rise was to fifteen shillings and then to twenty. +The land is not now able to bear more than fourteen shillings an acre +rent and support the people who till it. These people have been paying a +rack rent for years to this nobleman, the Earl of Arran, yet when +starvation overtook them, he had neither helping hand nor feeling heart +for them. + +The distress of this last famine was so great in this corner of Mayo +that people on holdings of thirty acres were starving--would have died +but for the relief afforded. It takes some time--and more than one good +harvest--for people who have got to starvation to recover themselves +far enough to pay arrears of rent. + +We visited the ruins of Moyne Abbey, which are in good preservation yet. +One of the present lords of the soil had a part of it made habitable and +lived there some time, but it is again unroofed and left to desolation. +It has been a very extensive building, stretching over a great extent of +land now cleared of ruins. What remains is still imposing. + +We had a pleasant interview with the Rev. Mr. Nolan, the kind and +patriotic priest of this neighborhood, and we returned to Ballina as +gratified and as tired as children after a holiday excursion. + +I was introduced at Ballina to a landlord, a fine, clever-looking man, +with that particularly well-kept and well-fed appearance which is as +characteristic of the upper classes in Ireland as a hunger-bitten, +hunted look is characteristic of the poor. I would not like to employ as +strong language in speaking of the wrongs of the tenantry as this +gentleman used to me. He is both landlord and agent. He condemned all +the policy of the Government toward Ireland in no measured terms. Spoke +of the emigration that is going on now, as well as the emigration that +had taken place after the last famine, as men going out to be educated +for and to watch for the time of retribution. Retribution for the +accumulated wrongs which mis-government had heaped upon Ireland he +looked upon as inevitable, as coming down the years slowly but surely to +the place of meeting and of paying to the uttermost farthing. Well, now, +these are queer sentiments for a landlord to hold and to utter publicly. +He acknowledged freely that a great part--a very great part--of the +excessive rents extorted on pain of eviction, the eviction taking place +when the unfortunate fell behind, were really premiums paid on their own +labor. Furthermore, he acknowledged that he himself had raised the +tenants' rents on the estates for which he was agent, compelling them to +pay smartly for the work of their own hands. He spoke highly of the +people as a whole, of their patience, their kindliness to one another, +and their piety. He spoke of the case of one man, a peasant, who could +only speak broken English, who came under his notice by coming to him to +sell rye-grass to make up his rent. This man with the imperfect English +was a tenant of the gentleman's brother. He held three acres, two roods +of land in one place at a rent of L7 5s, where his house stood; one +acre, at L1 4s. Of course he or his ancestors built the house. His poor +rate and county cess is 16s, or $46.25 yearly for four acres, two roods +of land. If they got it for nothing they could not live on it, say some. +The best manure that can be put upon land is to salt it well with rent, +say Mr. Tottenham and Mr. Corscadden. Well, this man since the famine, +has no stock but one ass and a few hens. He cut and saved his rye-grass +himself, sold it for L3 10s, sold his oats for L3 4s 6d; had nothing +more to sell; had remaining for his wife and two little ones a little +meal and potatoes. He is a year and a half behind in his rent, and +likely, after all his toil and struggle, to be set on the roadside with +the rest. He has no bog near, there is none nearer than over five miles, +except some belonging to Miss Gardiner. Of course that mild and sober +spinster that will not oblige her own tenants has nothing in the way of +favor for outsiders. It took him twelve days last year to make +sufficient turf to keep the hearth warm. He went to the bog in the +morning on his breakfast of dry stirabout, with a bit of cold stirabout +in his pocket to keep off the hungry grass, as the peasant calls +famished pains, and walked home to his dry stirabout at night, having +walked going and coming eleven Irish miles over and above his day's +work. He drew home seventy ass loads of turf at the rate of two loads +per day--twenty-two Irish miles of a walk. Let Christians imagine this +man at his toil in his thin clothing, poor diet and bed of straw with +scanty coverlet, toiling early and late to pay an unjust rent. Often +after his hard day's work he has gone out at night with the fishers and +toiled all night in hopes of adding something to his scanty stores. Said +the landlord, "The vilest criminal could not have a harder life than +this God-fearing uncomplaining peasant. What I tell you I drew from him, +for he made no complaint." "You have a hard life of it, my man," said +the landlord to him. He was not his tenant. "Well, sir, sure God is good +and knows best," was the man's answer. + +I was very much astonished at this gentleman's narrative and his other +admissions, and I ventured to enquire for my own satisfaction had he +made restitution to the tenants. "Have you, sir, restored what you have +robbed?" I did not suggest the four-fold which is the rule of that Book +which we acknowledge as a guide and law-giver. "I am doing so," he +replied, and he handed me a printed address to the tenants, offering +twenty-five percent reduction on arrears, if paid within a certain time. +Now, I was very much interested in this gentleman and in his opinions, +but I could not bring myself to agree with him that this was +restitution. However, I state the matter and leave it to that +enlightened jury, the readers of the _Witness_, "too large to pack +at any rate," and let them give their decision. I think myself that a +little of the Sermon on the Mount, applied conscientiously, would be +good for those who hold the happiness of Ireland in their hands. When +justice becomes loud-voiced and likely to pass into vengeance, they talk +of giving a little as charity. + + + + +XXXII. + +THE STORY OF AN EVICTION. + + +On the 20th of May I received a whisper of an eviction that was to +occur up in the neighborhood of the Ox Mountains. Great opposition was +expected, and therefore a large force of police was to be there. I +procured a car, and in company with the local editor went to see. The +landlord of this property is an absentee; the agent--a Mr. Irwin--lived +in a pleasant residence which we passed on our way. We noticed that it +was sheepshearing time at his place, and many sheep were in the act of +losing their winter covering. + +After we left Ballina behind, and followed in the wake of the police for +some time, we seemed to have got into the "stony streak." Such land! +Small fields--pocket handkerchiefs of fields--the stones gathered off +them built into perfect ramparts around them! I enquired of one +gentleman what was the rent exacted for this land so weighted down with +stones--for in addition to the high, broad fences surrounding the little +fields some of them had cairns of stones built up in the middle of them. +He said thirty shillings an acre ($7.50); asked another who said fifteen +($3.75). I fancy one would need to see the office receipts to know +correctly. + +There is little cultivation in this part of the country. Hopeless- +looking ragged men, and barefoot ragged women, were at work in the +fields; little ragged children peeped from the wretched houses at the +police as they passed. And indeed they were a fine squad of broad- +shouldered, good-looking men, heavily-armed, marching along, square and +soldier-like, with a long, swinging step that goes over the ground +quickly. + +We followed them up a stone-fenced lane just wide enough for the car to +pass. As we went along, men working at building a stone wall, looked at +the procession with a cowed frightened look. Our carman gave them the +"God save you" in Irish, and in answering they turned on us surely the +weariest faces that ever sat on mortal man. The lane becoming narrower, +we soon had to leave the car and follow the police on foot through a +pasture sprinkled with daisies. + +Suddenly we saw the police scatter, sit down on the ditch and light +their pipes, throw themselves on the grass, group themselves in two's +and three's here and there. The end of the journey was reached. + +We looked round for the wild men of Mayo from whom the bailiff, sub- +sheriff, and agent were to be protected, who were, I was told, to shed +rivers of blood that day. They were conspicuous by their absence. There +were three or four dejected-looking men standing humbly a bit off, three +women sitting among the bushes up the slope, that was all. The house +where the eviction was to be held was a miserable hovel, whose roof did +not amount to much, sitting among untilled fields, with a small dung +heap before the door. It was shut up, silent and deserted. + +The bailiff, a gentleman who, if ever he is accused of crime, will not +find his face plead for him much, broke open the door and began to throw +out the furniture on the heap before the door. Here are the items: One +iron pot, one rusty tin pail, two delf bowls,--I noticed them +particularly, for they rolled down the dungheap on the side where I +stood,--one rheumatic chest, one rickety table, one armful of +disreputable straw, and one ragged coverlet. This was supposed to be the +bed, for I saw no bedstead; there was no chair, no stool, or seat of any +kind. The sub-sheriff with the bailiff's assistance fastened the door +with a padlock. He handed the agent a tuft of grass as giving him +possession, and the eviction was over. + +The agent--a large-featured man--seemed undecided as to whether he would +view the transaction in a humorous light or as a scene where he was +chief sufferer. He came forward and offered some rambling remarks +addressed to nobody in particular. He drew our attention to the +condition of the roof which needed renewing, to the fields that were +uncropped. This was certainly shiftless, but when he mentioned that the +man had gone to England "in the scarcity" to look for work, and was +lying sick in an English hospital, we did not see how he could help it. +He told us how bad the man was; how he pitied his wife, who was, he +said, worse than himself. She was not present, being from home when her +poor furniture was pitched out. He lamented over the fact that this man +had sent him nothing of his wages, while another man had sent him as +much as thirty pounds. He then went into details of these evicted +tenant's married life; how his wife and he lived, and how they agreed; +and rambled off into general philosophic remarks rather disagreeable and +nasty. + +No one seemed to pay any attention, although he looked from one to +another for an answering smile of appreciation to his funny attempts to +justify himself and amuse his hearers. Some one asked him how much rent +was due; he said ten or eleven years. Two years were due, as we found by +the law papers on returning to Ballina. He then made an attack on the +poor men standing there, asking why they were not at home working, and +telling them what they should be doing. While he lectured these men in a +joking voice, he turned his eye from one to another of those present as +if he were seeking for applause. + +These men, not heeding the agent, were presenting a petition to the sub- +sheriff. I drew near to learn what it was. They were thin, listless +looking witted men. One could not help wondering when they had last +eaten a square meal. Half-starved in look, wretched in clothing, stood +like criminals awaiting sentence, with dreadfully eager eyes and parched +lips that would not draw together over their teeth, before the plump +rosy sub-sheriff. They asked for some meal on credit which the sub- +sheriff refused. I asked them if they owed any rent. No, they did not +owe a penny of rent, they said. Remember there was only one harvest +between them and the famine year. They had also put in the crops in +their little holdings, they said, "but as God lives we have neither bite +nor sup to keep us till harvest time." The sub-sheriff asked why they +did not go to a certain dealer. They said the terms were so hard that +they could never pay him. "How much would keep you till the crops come +in," he asked. Two hundred of Indian meal for each they said. Finally he +promised them one hundred each on credit, even if he had to pay it out +of his own pocket. "That is what you will have to do," said the agent. + +We left and drove home. We saw the police, hot and tired, march past to +their barracks after our return. These men had a long march, loaded down +with arms to protect the bailiff, the stalwart agent, the rosy sub- +sheriff from a crowd of five hunger-bitten peaceable men and three +ragged women. The whole crowd might have been put to flight by any one +of the three with one hand tied behind him. + +I forgot to mention that the agent offered to one of the women there all +the tenant's poor things that were thrown out, which was an honest and +honorable proceeding on his part, and very generous. + + + + +XXXIII. + +A SEVERE CRITICISM JUSTIFIED--PROCESS SERVING BY THE AID OF THE POLICE-- +THE WHITE HORSE OF MAYO--PEASANT PROPRIETORSHIP. + + +I am glad to see by the papers that the state of the workhouse at Manor +Hamilton has been censured by the doctors, and deliberated about at a +meeting of guardians. It is certainly the worst conducted workhouse I +have seen as yet in Ireland, and it says with a loud voice, woe to the +poor who enter here. It was told me on this twenty-seventh day of May +that if I really wanted to see a disturbance a serious collision was +apprehended between the constabulary and the people, at some distance +from Ballina. I have been led to distrust the accounts of disturbances +that appear in the papers, or at least to admit them with caution. I was +assured that now at least I should see the wild men of Mayo, for they +had assaulted the process server and stripped him of his clothing, +taking his processes from him, some days before, and they would be out +in thousands this day to oppose the serving of the processes. + +Got a car, as travelling companion the local editor, and driven by a +knowledgable man, followed in the wake of the police, seventy of them, +toward the scene of the disturbance to be. The police had one hour the +start of us. It was a dim day of clouds and watery blinks of sunshine. +As we drove along all historical spots were pointed out to me, being a +stranger, with great politeness. A place on the road where the French +had surged up from Killala and met and fought with the English, was +pointed out to me. "Here they were defeated, thim French." + +We passed the place where lived from colthood to glory the celebrated +white horse of Mayo, the "Girraun Bawn." This horse, a racer, "bate" all +Ireland in his day, and was ridden without a saddle or bridle. Mayo was +very proud of this racing steed, so much so that when horses were seized +and impounded for the county cess, a farmer who had received his mare +back again, considering that it would be a disgrace if the king of +horses were left in the pound, returned to Castle Connor to the pound, +left his own horse there and released "Rie Girraun." + +This celebrated horse was stolen it appears. After some time a troop of +dragoons were quartered in Mayo, whose commanding officer rode a horse +suspiciously like "Rie Girraun." The servant man who had ridden and +cared for the white horse of Mayo recognized the horse and drew +inconveniently near to the soldiers on parade to make sure whether it +was "Rie Girraun" or not. The officer, annoyed at the man intruding +where he was not wanted, asked him what business he had there. He said, +"The horse your honor rides was stolen from this place, and I was +looking at him to be sure. He is the famous white horse of Mayo." He was +asked to prove it, which he undertook to do if the officer would alight, +which he did. The peasant, then, hidden behind a stone ditch, called to +the horse in Irish, asking him if he would have a glass of whiskey. The +horse had been accustomed to get this when he had won a race, and knew +the taste of poteen. He pricked up his ears and galloped round, looking +for the voice. On the words being repeated two or three times, he +vaulted over the stone wall and came to his old friend hidden behind. +The officer would not part with the horse, but he paid liberally for +him--so it seems the white horse of Mayo ended his days in the service +of royalty. + +The grandson of the possessor of the white horse was the other day fined +L6 for possessing poteen, and was unable to pay it. + +Listening to these stories we came up with the police, who had alighted +from their cars and were going through their exercise preliminary to a +march. We made our way through the cars, our driver chaffing a little +with the drivers of the other cars. Just opposite where the police left +the cars was the most utterly wretched house that I had yet seen. A +large family of ragged people gathered at the door, looking to be in +anything but fighting trim. We drove slowly, the police marched quickly, +until we saw them take to the fields, when we alighted per force and +followed them. + +A slim, fair-haired woman, with her arms bare and her feet and legs in +the same classic condition under her short dilapidated skirts, began to +make some eloquent remarks. If there had been a thousand or two like her +I do think the seventy police would have had hard work to protect the +bailiff. One of our company, a gentleman, remarked to her that she had a +fine arm of her own. "Troth, sir," said she, "If I was as well fed as +yourself it's finer it would be." We agreed with this gentleman that if +this woman was fed and clothed like other people she would certainly be +a fine-looking person. She drew near to enquire if we were in any way +connected with the police. Her enquiries were especially directed to +myself. She was told that I was an American lady, and a few faces that +scowled were smoothed into smiles immediately. + +There were by this time four women and half a dozen boys present. No one +spoke above their breath but our woman of bare arms. In answer to +something addressed to her by our party, she said, "Sure they could not +take a better time than seed time to droive us out of our senses. Sure +God above has an eye and an ear for it. Look here," she said, throwing +out her handsome bare arm, "look at the bare fields lying waste because +the seed cannot be got to put in the ground; they're cryin' up to God +against it. The cratures here have not enough yellow male to keep the +hunger off. If they had waited till harvest there would be a color of +justice to it." This woman had all the talking to herself, no one else +had anything to say. She herself was not among those against whom the +processes were served. + +We saw the process server leave the ranks of the police and walk down to +a wretched little cabin and return in a few moments. The order to march +was given, and the police tramped along to the next house, a bit off the +road. Two or three little children were in the field, apparently herding +cattle. The least one said to his brother in an accent of terror, +"Jimsey, Jimsey, the war is come at last." + +Along the road, tramp, tramp, off the road through the bogs, every house +called at seeming worse than the last. A rumor had been running along +before us--ever before us--of an Amazonian army with pitchforks, tongs +and the hooks used for drawing the sea weed ashore, armed and ready, +some three hundred strong, waiting for the police. We never came up to +this army or caught a sight of their rags. Crossing a field we were told +of a merciful lady, a Mrs. Major Jones, who gave them seed potatoes and +trusted them with meal when they had nothing to eat. As the police +halted before some houses we heard the muttered exclamations of the few +women near, "Eagh! eagh! oh, Lord, and them in need of charity!" + +Well, we never came up with the army of women. The processes were not +all served, for some of the houses were empty, and there was no one on +whom to serve them; we turned our steps, or our horses rather, homeward +to Ballina, the boys calling out in compliment to America, "Three cheers +for the noble lady," as we drove off. + +The threatened rain came on and came down heavily and we got our share +of it before we got under shelter. An elderly gentleman was introduced +to me at Ballina who had had a very great opportunity of noticing the +working of the law and the struggles of the people. He admitted to me +that some might possibly have paid some rent before the agitation began, +but kept it back hoping for a permanent reduction, and then when they +had it by them had used it for living, and now had nothing to meet the +rent with. He said, however, that the most part had not recovered from +the effects of the scarcity sufficiently to be able to pay up arrears-- +or, indeed, to pay anything on arrears. + +We conversed a little about peasant proprietorship. He instanced the +case of two persons who had become owners of church land, one of eight +acres, another of sixteen. He spoke of the prosperity that had crowned +their labors ever since hope came to them and they had something to +struggle for. He said they came now decently clad to church and market. +He had been in their houses and noticed as much as two flitches of bacon +hanging in the chimney. One of them owned a team of horses. A man with a +team of horses on his farm is in a different position from a man with +only an ass and creels. Absolutely, said he, the man has devoted a +portion of his land to apple trees. + +It was a touching thing to see the earnestness with which this man spoke +of these great evidences of prosperity--horses to work the farm, two +flitches of bacon and planting apple trees. In Mayo, in two instances, I +have seen a corner left untilled in a field. As there was an ass in one, +and a goat browsing in the other, I do not know but what it was the best +thing they could do to leave them untilled. + +I may as well mention that the wretched people on whom the processes +were served lived in Sligo, and the landlords who were pursuing them, as +it were between the hay and the grass, were Sligo landlords, of those +whom I heard praised so highly in Sligo town. Round Ballina, as round +Sligo, there are few tenants on the land near the town; it has gone to +grass and has cows instead of tenants. Sir Charles Gore's demesne and +residence is very fine, and, as he seems to have a blessing with it, +long may he enjoy his good things. + + + + +XXXIV. + +THE LAND OF FLAMES--A RELIC WITH A HISTORY--CATTLE VS. MEN--THE MEETING +OF EXTREMES--"PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE." + + +Was invited by a friend to visit Rappa Castle to see a celebrated +vessel which once belonged to Saint Tighernain, the saint who belongs +more especially to the west and the clock which was removed from Moyne +Abbey when it was dismantled. This vessel, belonging to the saint called +Mias Tighernain--which I would freely translate as meaning Tighernain's +own--has been used until of late years, when the clergy interposed and +forbid it, for the discovery of stolen goods. Any one swearing falsely +on the Mias Tighernain was sure to come to grief. People swearing +falsely on the Bible have been known to escape visible consequences. Our +car driver, a not very old man at all, told us he was present himself +when a numerous household were brought together to be sworn on the Mias +Tighernain for the discovery of a large sum of money which had been +stolen. The thief was discovered but money was not. + +It is very pleasant to drive along through the fair but tenantless lands +that surround Ballina. The county of Mayo is beautifully diversified by +mountain and valley, wood and water, glen and stream. The tall hedges of +white thorn in their bridal white perfume the air. Myriads of primroses +smile at the passer-by from sunny banks. Small golden blossoms, like +whin blossoms, cluster thickly here and there, and the starry-eyed +daisies, white and sweet with blushes edged, lift their modest faces to +the sky. Even the bog waste is nodding all over with a cotton flower, +white as a snowflake; they call it _ceanabhan_ in Irish, and the +peasantry use it as a comparison when praising the white arms and bosoms +of the Mayo maidens. Surely one might say this bright May morning with +Tim, "Glory be to God, but it is a purty world!" + +When we crossed the boundaries, passed the lodge gates into the demesne +lying around Rappa Castle, the residence of Captain Knox, there was a +change to still greater beauty. Money will build a grand and stately +home in the fair proportions of a castle, but money has to run in the +blood for centuries to produce a scene like this. Broad lands swelling +and sinking like an emerald sea, trees that stand out singly wrap +themselves in aristocratic leafiness, spreading their magnificent arms +toward you, saying, "Look at me! I am not of yesterday; the dews of +heaven, the fatness of the earth, the leisure of centuries, fanned by +breezes, tended by culture, have made me what I am, a 'thing of beauty' +to gladden your eyes." They stand in groups upon the slopes and whisper +this to one another; they open their ranks to give you delicious +glimpses into further away "spots of delight:" they are drawn up in +ranks shading mysterious walks that lead away into the grand dim woods. +They distract you and bother you with their loveliness till you wish +that the English language had a bushel more adjectives. + +Rappa Castle where we arrived with a beggarly feeling of having +exhausted our adjectives is a large comfortable building not very much +like one's idea of a castle. We drove up to the rear entrance--it is +always prudent to take the lowest room--and waited on the car while a +messenger was despatched with our request. Presently the messenger came +back with directions to us to drive round to the hall door. We were +received by a respectable servant in plain dark clothes, who looked like +a minister or a mild edition of a churchwarden. He ushered us from the +entrance hall--a comfortably furnished apartment--across a second, into +the crowning glories of a third, where we were requested to wait till +Captain Knox made his appearance, which was not a long time. + +The owner of Rappa Castle, a landlord against whom nothing in the way of +blame is said, was assuredly of as much interest to us as the relics +which his house possessed. A tall, fine looking, kindly faced man, rosy +with health, courteous and pleasant, came into the room. We told our +errand and the Captain went for the Mias Tighernain and placed it in our +hands. It is evidently only part of the original dish, the socket where +the upper part rested being still there. It is very heavy, formed of +three layers of thin bronze bound at the edge with brass--evidently a +later thought, and done for preservation. There are three bands of +silver across it, which show the remains of rich figuring. There was +originally a setting of three stones, one of which still remains and +looks as if it might be amber. It is as large as a soup plate. Something +is among the layers of metal which rattles when shaken. It is one of the +oldest relics in the country. Whoever made it had no mean skill in the +art of working metals. According to a certain Father Walsh it was used +to wash the saint's hands in at mass. This dish, after lying at the +bottom of Lough Conn for a hundred years, came up to the surface and +revealed itself. It has been used as a revealer of secrets ever since it +came into the hands of the Knox family. We requested afterwards to see +the clock of Moyne Abbey, and were taken by the courteous captain across +other rooms to the flagged kitchen, where the clock ticked as it has +done for three hundred years--or since the Abbey was dismantled, how +long before history hath not recorded. The case is of some dark wood +beautifully carved. I thought it was bog oak; Captain Knox said +mahogany, which would make the case to be much younger than the clock. +The Captain assured us that it was the best time-keeper in the world. It +only requires winding once a month; used to show the day of the month, +but some meddler disarranged that part of the machinery. The dial plate +is of some white metal, brilliant and silvery. Captain Knox said it was +brass, but I have seen things look more brazen that were not so old. + +Nothing could exceed the courtesy of Captain Knox. He made some +enquiries about Canada, and deplored the rush of cattle across, which +was injurious to the interests of graziers, of whom he was one. It would +have been discourteous to express the wish that lay in my mind, that +they might come in such numbers as to lower the price of cows and +grazing also till the poor man might be able to have a cow oftener and +milk to his "yellow male" stir-about till it might be not quite so +impossible to replace the cow seized for the rent and the County cess. + +I saw a trial in the papers lately of a woman who was in bed, in her +shake-down, when she became aware that the cow--the only cow--was taking +a lawful departure. Up she got, in the same trim as that in which Nannie +danced in Kirk Alloway, and by the might of her arm rescued the cow. She +was condemned to jail, but one's sympathies go with the law breakers +here often. At least mine do. I did sympathize with this woman of one +cow and a large family. Why should any one have power lawfully, to +"lift" the only cow from half-starved children. The defence for this +woman was that through trouble she did not know what she was doing. It +was a mean, paltry defence; she did know that she wanted to keep her +cow, and the law should be altered to enable her to do so. The law that +enables men of means to strip these poor wretches of everything that +stands between them and their little children and starvation, is a +monstrous law for Christians to devise and execute, and is worse for the +rich and for the executive of the law than even for the sufferers. All +these things flashed through my mind as we conversed with Captain Knox. + +On leaving Rappa Castle we paused a little on the doorsteps to take one +more look at the beauty of the grounds. I wish I had words to convey to +others a little of the delight which the scene gave to me. The trees, +branched down almost to the ground, have gotten themselves into so many +graceful attitudes. The bending thick-leaved branches look like green +drapery, the larch flings its tassels down in long pendants fluttering +in the breeze, the spruce and balsam--they are a little unlike ours of +the same name, but I do not know any other names for them--rise in +pyramids of dark green tipped with sunny light green, the cedars fling +their great arms about cloaked with rich foliage, the laburnums shake +out their golden ringlets and tremble under the weight of their beauty, +the copper beeches stand proudly on an eminence where every graceful +spray shows against a background of blue sky. There are vistas opening +among the trees giving glimpses of the brightest green and dashes of +waters like bits of captured sky. + +I gave a glance at the owner, tall and stately, with ruddy, pleasant +face and kind blue eye, and acknowledged that he looked every inch an +English squire. + +With many thanks for his kindness we took our departure. Were glad to +hear from both friend and car driver that nothing of cruelty and +oppression could be laid to the charge of this man. As I stood beside +him at his own door, drawing all of the beauty I could into my soul +through my eyes to carry away with me, I thought if I were born into +that place with its associations, could I, would I mar any corner of it +to make a homestead for starving Thady, ragged Biddy, and the too +numerous children? Who knows what transformation might lie in the pride +and power of possession! + +There was a single laborer working before the castle raking up the +gravel walk, I think. "I would he were fatter!" If he were only in as +good condition as the beautiful dogs of superior breed which we saw in +the castle yard; but the dogs are fed at the expense of the proprietor +of this fair domain, the thin laborer at his own. We returned by another +way. After we left the grounds we noticed with sad eyes the miserable +cabins and barren fields at his gates. People of the upper, middle and +comfortable classes are so used to horrible cabins, thin laborers, old +women, barefoot, toothless, ragged and wretched, begging by the wayside +to keep out of the dreaded workhouse, that the sight makes not the +slightest impression. People tell me over and over again that they +deserve their poverty, for it is the result of extravagance and +drunkenness. This assertion makes one stare and then consider whose +faces show the greater evidence of the action of different liquors. It +would be an easy matter in a national gathering to pick out the class +and the strata of society that is the support of the liquor traffic in +Ireland. + + + + +XXXV. + +WORKHOUSES--THE POOR LAW--A REASONABLE SUSPECT. + + +Returning from Rappa Castle we must pass the Ballina workhouse. My +friend had business there. As it was Board day, and I had about an hour +to spare, I thought I would look in and see what I thought of it in the +light of a possible refuge for many evicted ones. There were some +wretched looking people, applicants for out-door relief, waiting about +the entrance when we went in. I have been informed and have seen it +confirmed in newspaper reports of the proceedings of Boards of +Guardians, that it is a rule of universal application by every means +possible to discourage out-door relief in every form. "Let the poor come +into the union altogether," is the spirit that actuates the Boards of +Guardians, so it was pointed out to me that these applicants for out- +door relief had small chance of success. + +It was a Board day, and the master of the house, a polite little man, +apologized profusely for not accompanying me over the building. He +deputed the schoolmaster of the establishment to show me through in his +place. I followed the Ballina Schoolmaster of the Union from the +entrance along the gravel walk bordered with flowers to the house +proper, and into the refectory or eating room. One does not want in +every workhouse to look at the same things, when they see they are the +same as in the last. I noticed the set of printed rules hung up on a +card and lifting it down sat down to read the rules contained on it. +They were very strict, and conceived in such a spirit that a naturally +tyrannical man could make a pauper's life a very miserable burden to +him. + +After I read these rules I questioned the schoolmaster, a very nice +person, as to the administration of this workhouse. He casually +mentioned that able-bodied paupers only got two meals in the day. This +was such a surprising statement to me that I said, "Your workhouse then +is harder to the poor inmates than the workhouses elsewhere. I have made +enquiry in several places as to the diet given, and they invariably told +me of three meals, mentioning also that they had meat allowed them three +times per week."--They have given you "the infirmary diet," said the +schoolmaster, gravely. We conversed a little while on this subject, and +as I was to go by train to Castlebar, fearing my time was too short, I +did not penetrate into the workhouse any further. + +Coming out we encountered the doctor, a very courteous person. Hoping to +get further information, confirmatory or contradictory of this most +astounding piece of news respecting the food allowance, I referred to it +before the doctor, who qualified the statement by informing me that if +actually engaged at work for the house they were allowed a third meal. I +was thoroughly surprised at this. The conviction forced itself upon me, +that the poor having taken refuge in the house from actual starvation, +the house considered itself justified in keeping them on short commons +ever after. + +As I left the building feeling very sad over this information, I could +not help wishing that these creatures, guilty of the crime of poverty, +had the nourishing fare given to the criminals in our common gaol at +Pembroke on the Ottawa. Now the workhouses are by no means crowded; the +Ballina workhouse, for instance is empty enough to afford a wing as a +temporary barracks for some military. I have been told by what I +consider good authority, that for every shilling levied of the +distressingly great poor rate eightpence is needed to pay the +administrative officials. While thinking of these things, I take up the +Castlebar local paper and notice in the report of the proceedings of the +Board of Guardians, that a doctor not attending to his duty through +being "in a state of health not compatible with much exposure to rough +weather or country professional work," was to be allowed for a still +greater length of time a substitute at three guineas per week. During +the debate on this motion a member reminded the Board that last year +they paid L54 for substitute work for one official on the plea of ill- +health; another complained that sums of L50 were voted to officials, +while paupers were denied shillings of out-door relief. Still another +complained that the auditors would disallow the relief given to cases +which require relief, while they never disallow sums paid incurred by +leave of absence of officials. + +The whole administration of the poor law is complained of pretty +universally in this style. The poor rate is excessively high, the +administration very expensive, and the economy is practised where it is +least needed, is the complaint I hear again and yet again. + +At the station a great crowd and a rather excited one was assembled. A +Mr. Moffany had been arrested as a reasonable suspect, and was to be +taken to Kilmainham. The man who was arrested was a small, sickly- +looking, by no means interesting specimen of humanity, slightly lame. He +was in some sort of shop-keeping business. The crowd on the platform was +dense and composed mostly of the poorer class, who were enthusiastic +enough for anything. The policemen in charge, civilly and politely, with +no fuss or force, got their suspect into a second class carriage and got +in beside him. The suspect put his head out of the window and addressed +the crowd, expressing his willingness to suffer for the good cause, and +said he was not likely to come out of the prison alive owing to his +state of health. He advised them to be law-abiding and to go home +quietly. + +Oh, the cheering there was; the endeavors to get near enough to shake +him by the hand; the surging to and fro of the crowd, the half-crying +hurrahs of the women; the waving of handkerchiefs and caps was something +to be remembered. As the train moved off slowly the people ran alongside +cheering themselves hoarse, shouting words of encouragement and +blessing, of hope and farewell till the train quickened its speed and +left them behind. + + + + +XXXVI. + +DEPARTURE OF EMIGRANTS--TURLOUGH--THE FITZGERALDS--FISH--THE ROYAL +IRISH WATCHDOGS. + + +The day on which I had to return to Sligo from Castlebar an immense +crowd was gathered at the station, and I wondered what was the matter. +It was a gathering to see emigrants start for America. The emigrants +took the parting hard. If they had been going to instant execution they +could not have felt worse. Three young girls of the party had cried +until their faces were swollen out of shape. The crowd outside wept and +wailed; some clasped their hands over their heads with an upward look to +heaven, some pressed them on their hearts, some rocked and moaned, some +prayed aloud--not set prayers, but impromptu utterances wrung out by +grief. The agony was so infectious that before I knew what I was about I +was crying for sympathy. + +I was not to say sorry for them, for I knew the fine, healthy, strong +girls were likely to have a better chance to help their parents from the +other side of the water than here, and the young men might make their +mark in the new world and make something of themselves over there. Still +it was hard to witness the agony of their parting without tears. + +When the carriage moved off, the cry "O Lord!" with which the passengers +started to their feet and the relatives outside flung up their hands, +was the most affecting sound I ever heard. It was a wail as if every +heart-string was torn. A countryman explained to me that the Irish were +a people that wept tears out of their hearts till they wept their hearts +away. By the conversation of the emigrants, I found that one girl had +turned back. "She failed on us, my lady," said her comrade. "Her heart +gave up when she saw the mother of her in a dead faint and she turned +back. One has but the one mother and it is hard to kill her with the +bitter grief of parting before the time." + +People who have travelled much, and are loosely tied to any spot on +earth, ridicule the affection of these mountain people for their cabin +among the hills, but love of home is a glorious instinct, and if the +country of these people could afford them a little bit of the soil for a +home--liberty to live and toil--they would be both loving and loyal. All +the poor want is permission to live in a corner of their own country. + +Castlebar is reached by rail. The station is a little out of town. +Castlebar is the first town where my few belongings were fought for. The +victor in the strife was a most determined old man. I thought he had a +car, but he had only his sturdy old legs. He shouldered my big bag, +little bag and bandbox and trudged off. I ventured to ask him had he not +a car. "Sorra a car, miss. After all your sitting in the cars sure it +will do you all the good in life to walk a bit." They think to flatter +elderly women by calling them Miss individually. + +I had an introduction to a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary in +Castlebar. He was son to a gentleman who was kind enough to claim +kindred with me in Antrim. When I alighted from the cars I noticed a +sub-constable with quiet face taking note of all arrivals, and saw that +he was good enough looking to be an Antrim man. Found I was right and +entered Castlebar protected by a member of the force. Paid the +victorious old heathen who had walked off with my luggage the price of a +car, partly for his bravery and partly for his impudence. The approach +to Castlebar from the station, about a mile, is bounded on one side by +Lord Lucan's demesne, shut in behind a high wall, over which the tall +trees wave their arms at you. Another domain, Spencer Park, I think, is +on the other side, and as it is only shut in by a hedge, one gets +delicious peeps at it as one goes along. + +Went, with my new acquaintance, who got leave and put on plain clothes +for the occasion, to the small Presbyterian Church in Castlebar. There +were about a dozen present. Presbyterianism does not, as a rule, +flourish in Mayo, though there are a good many small congregations and +many mission schools. + +My friend of "the force" got leave of absence for a day and having got +into plain clothes drove with me to Pontoon Bridge between Lough Conn +and Lough Cullin. As we passed the poor-house he told me of the awful +crush that took place round its doors, where the relief was served +during the scarcity. The press and struggle of the hungry creatures were +so dreadful that no serving could be attempted for some days. I could +not help pitying the force standing in mud ankle-deep trying to beat +back the frantic people, to make serving the relief possible. But, oh! +the despair of the people who had to go and come again because the press +was so great. It seemed to a civilian like me that the matter was badly +planned and by heartless people, or two or even three places would have +been appointed for the distribution of the relief and not send them home +without. I often wonder if I am too tender-hearted, too easily moved. +The want of feeling toward the very poor strikes me forcibly wherever I +turn. I think that it was not so to such a perceptible degree before the +poor-houses were built. I solemnly think the Poor Law system educates +people into hardness of heart. + +The road out from Castlebar was very beautiful but thinly populated. All +gone to grass near the town, hardly any cottages at all. Our first visit +was to Turlough where there is a round tower with an iron gate quite +close to the ground. The other two which I had seen before at Devinish +and at Killala had their doors about eleven feet from the ground. The +top of this round tower was broken and it had been mended by the +Government. There is a story among the peasantry to the effect that it +never had been finished at all. They say it was the work of the +celebrated _Gobhan saer_, an architect who seems to have had a hand +in every ancient building almost. The finishing of the rounded top of +this tower was done by an apprentice who was likely to rival his great +master. He, in a sudden fit of jealousy, before it was quite finished +pulled away the scaffolding and the too clever apprentice was killed. + +There is a ruined abbey adjoining the round tower. It is roofless and +open, yet still an iron gate opens from one part to another. Here in +this abbey has been the burying-place of many of the sept of the +Fitzgeralds, and it was interesting to pass from tablet to tablet and +read of the greatness that had returned to dust. The most remarkable +dust which moulders here is the celebrated George Robert Fitzgerald, a +man who was handsome, well educated, who had spent much of his time at +the French Court. In Ireland he felt himself as absolute as King Louis +(le petit grand). In pursuance of a private feud he arrested his enemy, +and with a slight color of law murdered him. The act was too glaring, he +was tried and to his great surprise hung. The rope broke twice, and the +country people believe that the breaking of the rope gave him a right to +a pardon. They tell me that the sheriff, a personal enemy, in spite of +the signs and tokens of the breaking ropes, hung him while he had a +reprieve in his pocket. There is a kind of Rob Royish flavor about the +memory of this man in the country side. + +Continued our drive to Pontoon. As soon as the land became rugged, boggy +and comparatively worthless the tenant houses became more plentiful. Saw +some sheep about, which is always a cheering sign amid the utter poverty +of the people. On the way to Pontoon, on the top of a rock stands one of +the famous rocking stones of the Druidical time in Ireland. A party of +soldiers in their boisterous play determined to roll it down from the +rock. This they were unable to do, easy as the matter looked, but they +destroyed the delicate poise of it, and it rocks no more. + +The rocks become bolder and the scenery wilder as you come to the shores +of Lough Conn. Lough Cullen, or lower Lough Conn, has bare round- +shouldered rocks sleeping round it, reminding one of the rocks on the +Ottawa about the Oiseau. The Neiphin Mountain towers up among the rocks +far above them all, looking over their heads into the lake. Lough Conn +is three miles long, and in its widest place three miles wide. Where the +upper and lower lakes meet it is narrow as a river, and over this the +bridge is placed. The marvel here is that a strong current sets in from +Lough Conn to Lough Cullen half the time, and then turns and sets from +Lough Cullen to Lough Conn. The bridge is called Pontoon because a +bridge of boats was made here at the time of the French invasion. + +Saw some fishermen fishing in the lakes. There were many boats here and +there lying on the sandy shore, or anchored out in the lake. These +fishermen had no boats; they had waded out waist-deep, and stood fishing +in the water dressed in their shirts. As the fishing is strictly +monopolized, I should not wonder if these breekless, boatless fishermen +were poaching. + +The quantum of fish in the waters, the scarcity of fish on the shore is +often referred to as a proof of the people's laziness. The fishing is so +severely monopolized that fish diet and fishing are to the people almost +lost arts. I heard of the delicious oysters found on the coast, but one +would require to go to England or Dublin to test their flavor. Lobsters +could be purchased in their season at Montreal, but not at the seaports +in Mayo. I asked for a bit of fish at Castlebar, where I remained some +time, and once succeeded in buying a small herring, for which I paid 2 +1/2 pence. + +To return to Pontoon; we stood on the bridge in the sunlight and drank +in the scene--broad blue waters, spotted with islands, guarded by the +munitions of rocks, watched over by the eternal mountains, bald and +wrinkled, every wrinkle scored deep on their brows, heather on the +cliffs, ivy creeping some places, ferns waving their delicate fronds in +another; bare, desolate grandeur here, tree-crowned hill tops waving +their magnificence before you there. This was the scene spread out on +either hand. + +We came back over the bridge to the police barracks, sitting on a rock +with its back to a grove of trees, and reached by a flight of stone +steps. I was introduced to the sergeant in charge, a fine specimen of +the Donegal men. Tall and straight, strong and kindly are the men of +Donegal. The sergeant took us to a hill back of the barracks where was a +very lonely vale surrounded by steep hills wooded to the top. Down the +perpendicular sides of this hill a waterfall dashes in the rainy +seasons, but it was only a tinkling splash at this time. The sergeant +and I had some conversation about Donegal, and of course Lord Leitrim. +This noblemen has graven his name with an iron pen and lead on the rocks +for ever. + +We bade adieu to the kindly sergeant and drove back to Castlebar in the +quiet evening. Opposite the Turlough round tower is the charming +residence of a Fitzgerald, one of the race whose dust moulders in an +aristocratic manner in the ruined abbey of Turlough. This gentleman, not +thinking himself safe even under protection, has left the country. Only +fancy a squad of police marching from their barracks in the dusk, five +or ten miles as the case may be, pacing round a gentleman's house in +rain or snow, sleet or hail, no shelter for their coercion heads, no +fire at which to warm their protecting fingers; pace about from dusk +till dawning, march back to barracks and to a few hours' rest. I was +silly enough to suppose that the protected family would provide a bowl +of hot coffee for their protectors through the silent watches of the +night, or a glass of the handier and very popular whiskey, but dear, oh +no! the most of them would not acknowledge the existence of the Royal +Irish protectors with a word or a nod no more than if they were watch +dogs. + + + + +XXXVII. + +CASTLEBAR--WASTING THE LAND--CASTLE BOURKE--BALLINTUBBER ABBEY. + + +Castlebar is not a large town at all. It is, like all other towns which +I have yet seen in Ireland, swarming with houses licensed to sell +liquors of different kinds to be drunk on the premises. In one street I +noticed on the side of the car on which I sat every house for quite a +little distance was a licensed whiskey shop. + +The country people bring in ass-loads of what they have to sell. Very +few horses are to be seen in the hands of country people. Their trading +is on a decidedly small scale. The number of women who attend market +barefoot is the large majority. The ancient blue cloth cloak is the +prevailing hap. Upon a day my friend and I went out to see the glories +of Ballintubber Abbey. It was not possible for him to go in plain +clothes so soon again; so I had the appearance of an obnoxious lady of +the land, protected by a member of the force. + +We drove out of Castlebar some seven or eight miles in the opposite +direction from where Pontoon Bridge lies. Our road lay for miles through +the country wasted of inhabitants by the Marquis of Sligo after the +great famine. Here and there a ruin where a cabin has been speaks that +it was once inhabited. The people tell that Lord Sligo's people were +rented the land in common by the settlement. All but two of one +settlement had paid; as those two could not pay, the whole were evicted. +My informant thought the settlement deserved eviction when they did not +subscribe and pay for the two who could not pay. He never seemed to +think they might not be able to do so, nor that it was cruel to evict +all for the sake of two. + +Lord Lucan made a great wasting also at that time. Between the land near +the town devoted to private demesnes, laid out for glory and beauty, and +the lands wasted of inhabitants, you can travel miles and miles on more +than one side of Castlebar and see scarcely a tenant; a herd's cabin, a +police station, being the only houses. As soon as we come to barren land +over-run with stones, tenant houses become thicker. + +We passed a cabin of indescribable wretchedness; a woman who might have +sat for a picture of famine stood at the door looking at us as we +passed. She had a number of little children, of the raggedest they were, +around her. Some time ago the father of these scarecrows was suspected +of having stolen some money, and a posse of the much enduring police +were sent out to search in the dead of the night. The family were in +bed. The bed was a few boards laid on stones, on which was spread a +little green hay, and among the loose hay they slept. The terror of the +little creatures pulled out of bed, while the wretched lair was searched +and they stood on the floor naked and shivering, was described to me by +one who assisted at the search. The bed was overturned, but the money +was not found. We drove on through the "stony streak" out to a clearer +grass country to Castle Bourke, a lonely looking ruin sitting among her +own desolations. It once covered a great deal of land, and there is +evidence of additions having been made to it at different times. This +Castle Bourke was one of the castles of the Queen of the West, the +celebrated Grace O'Malley. This castle is one of those given to Grace by +her husband of a year, Sir Richard Bourke. + +There are still the remains of three buildings; one, said to be the +prison, was loopholed through the solid stone, some loopholes being +quite close to the ground, some straight through, some slanting, so as +to cover a man come from what direction he might, or what height soever, +even if he crept on the ground. Most of the castle, as well as these +buildings attached, had their roof on the floor, but in the square tower +of the castle proper still remains a stone staircase of the circular +kind. + +As you go up this stair lit by narrow slits in the wall formed in hewn +stone you find an arched door at three different places admitting to +three arched galleries roofed and floored with stone. These have their +loophole slits to peep out of, or fire out of, stone spouts through +which molten lead or boiling water could be poured on the besiegers. In +one gallery a trap door let down to an underground passage which came +out at the lake some distance off. By this they could send a messenger +to raise the O'Malley clans, or by it could escape if necessary. + +The goats of Mayo are inquisitive, and would persist in climbing the +circular stair and exploring the galleries. Whenever they found this +secret passage, for pure mischief they fell down and were killed, to the +great loss of their owners; so the secret passage is filled up, for +which I was very sorry. + +We must take our car again and rattle back over the road to Ballintubber +Abbey. Ballintobar (town of the well) near this was one of the sacred +wells of St. Patrick. The abbey gates were locked, and it was some time +before the key was forthcoming. The church part of the abbey is entire +except the roof and the lofty bell tower. The arch that supported the +tower was forty-five feet in height, but I do not know how high the +tower was which it supported. At last the key was found and we were +admitted into the church. The chancel is still roofed, and here in these +solemn ruins, watched over by the crows and the jackdaws, the few +inhabitants still left assemble for mass. There is a rude wooden altar +and a few pine benches; the ivy waves from the walls; the jackdaws caw +querulously or derisively; the dead of the old race for centuries sleep +underneath, and now in a chancel the remnant gather on a Sabbath. I +cannot describe it as an architect or antiquarian, and these classes +know all about it better than I do, but I want to convey as far as I can +the impression it made upon me to others as delightfully ignorant on the +subject. The roof is made in the same way as all arched roofs of old +castles which I have yet seen, of thin stones laid edge-wise to form the +arch and cemented together. The country people tell me that a frame of +wood was made over which they formed the arch and then poured among the +stones thin mortar boiling hot. On the inside of the arch run along ribs +of hewn stone cemented into their places, running up to meet in a carved +point at the extreme top. These groinings spring from short pillars of +hewn stone that only reach part way down the wall to the floor and run +to a point. These consoles are highly ornamented with sculpture. The +mouldings round the doors, and the stone window frames and sashes, are +wonderfully well done, and would highly ornament a church of the +nineteenth century. + +I think we undervalue the civilization of the far past of Connaught. +Those who erected such churches, such abbeys and such castles were both +intelligent and possessed of wealth in no small degree. The ingenuity of +the cut stone hinge on the stone that closes the tomb in the chancel, +the carving on the tomb of the Prince of the O'Connor line, the staunch +solidness of every wall, the immense strength of every arched roof, show +skilled builders, whether they worked under the direction, of the Gobhan +Saer or another man. The plans of the castles, for offence, defence or +escape, show them to have been built by men of skill for men of large +means and great power. + + + + +XXXVIII. + +OVER-POPULATION OF THE WEST--HOW PEOPLE FORM THEIR OPINIONS--MR. +SMITHWICK AND JONATHAN PYM--A DEARTH OF FISH. + + +Left Castlebar with regret and went down to Westport. I find at every +step since I landed the information that in going round Ireland I should +have begun at Dublin. In Dublin I could have procured a guide book. I +have sought for one in every considerable town from Belfast round to the +edge of Galway without obtaining it. If I had started from Dublin I +should have taken a tourist's ticket there. Well, I am not sorry for +that, for it is rather hard on me when I get into the beaten track where +I encounter tourists--some of them are trying specimens of humanity. +However, I am made to feel as if I was patting the wrong foot, instead +of the best foot foremost. + +I got into Westport in the fair sunlight in the early part of June. +Between Castlebar and Westport the land is part stony, part bog, part +better land under grass. Mountains with hard names, that one makes haste +to forget, are to be seen all round from whatever side of the car you +look. They are all over--a good deal over--one thousand feet high. A few +lakes are spread out here and there also. I am as ignorant of their +names as of those of the lakes I saw crossing Maine. Westport, like +Castlebar, has a mall. Castlebar mall is a square of grass with some +trees drawn up on one side. It is fenced in with chains looped up on +posts--a fence that nobody minds except to step over and they track the +grass with paths running in every direction. Westport's mall is a long +space with trees standing sentry by a river, walled in as if it were a +canal. + +I had a wish to meet with a Mr. Smithwick, a land agent, from whom I +might receive a good deal of information. I had information from himself +that he should be at Newport upon the day after I arrived at Westport. I +fought successfully against myself, and got up at an uncomfortably early +hour and went to Newport by mail car. Newport, Mayo, is six Irish--seven +and a half English--miles from Westport and is at the head of Clew Bay. +The road lies through a nice rolling country, entirely desolate and +empty. + +The only passenger by the car besides myself, was a gentleman, English I +presume, who, after he became tired of silence, began a conversation +with me, taking for his subject the over-population of the West. I +looked to the side of the car where we sat--it was a country of fine +grassy hills with not one wreath of smoke curling up from a solitary +chimney as far as the eye could reach. I leaned over the well of the car +and looked to the other side--to the limit of the horizon, behold, the +land was empty of house or home or human being. I looked over the +horses' ears--there was the same scene of utter desolation. I turned +round with difficulty and looked behind us--saw the same grassy hills +swelling up in green silence without man or beast. I said softly, "Lift +up thine eyes, sir stranger, and look northward and southward, eastward +and westward. Is not the land desolate without inhabitant, where then is +the over-population?" The strange gentleman looked, not at the empty +hills and the silent green valleys, but at his fellow-traveller with +emotions of fear. To doubt that this fair and desolate Mayo is over- +populated is to show signs of lunacy or worse. Fenianism, Communism, or +even Nihilism, is possible if there is no lunacy to account for such +strange ideas. + +Mildly, but with resolution like Samantha's, I urged on the gentleman to +look at the prospect, and he was like one awakening from a dream, for +the country from Newport to Westport, seven and a half miles, is without +inhabitants. I believe Lord Lucan was chief exterminator over this +stretch of country. Brought up at the little inn at Newport, and the +stranger and I had breakfast together. We conversed about over- +population. He had travelled much, and when he recollected what his eyes +saw instead of what his ears heard of a false cry, he admitted that a +loneliness had fallen upon this part of the west. + +After breakfast he went his way, with a new subject for thought, and I, +deserted in a wilderness of a commercial room, took out some paper and +began to write. There was no sound but the steel scratch of a pen that +grew monotonous. After a long time--some hours--of solitude, the door +opened and a gentleman entered with some luggage and a young woman +followed him. I gathered up my scribblings and put them away. The +gentleman took off his overcoat, and shining out of the breast pocket +was a bright revolver. I grew afraid, though, generally speaking, I am +too busy to think of being afraid. There was a trans-Atlantic look about +the gentleman, a Mississippi appearance about the too conspicuous +revolver, and, I admit, I thought of some Fenian leader and wondered +what Stephens was like. I heard the gentleman order lunch and afterward +he left the room. + +When he returned he introduced himself as Mr. Smithwick. He was not at +all the kind of gentleman I had expected to see. By some perversity he +had become fixed in my imagination as a very tall gentleman with fair +curled hair. Now this was sheer foolishness, but it had a disastrous +effect on the interview. My mind, instead of gathering itself up into an +attitude for receiving information about the land question, would go off +wool-gathering in speculation whether this was the very Mr. Smithwick or +not. The gentleman said with all politeness that he was willing to give +me all the information in his power on any subject on which I wanted +information. + +There is something not canny in the west. I had felt it before, but +never as I did then. I could not possibly disentangle my ideas enough to +be clear as to what information I did want. I was under some spell. I +could only look at Mr. Smithwick, wondering if he was he, and smile at +my own stupidity. Time passes quickly; the gentleman remained but about +an hour and a half at most, and he had to have luncheon out of that and +attend to some little business in town besides. Before I got to be +myself he was gone. We did talk a little about reclaiming bog land. He +put the cost per acre for trenching, laying stones in the drains, sand +and manure, at L21 per acre. Reclaiming bog land has been done by tenant +farmers all over the country, who were evicted afterward when they fell +behind in rent in the bad years, and did not get any compensation for +the land so reclaimed. Mr. Smithwick did not think the relief money in +all cases reached those for whom it was intended; believed it was partly +intercepted on the way. Did not have a high opinion of his countrymen of +the poorer class. Thought them a useless set who did not do the work of +their farms properly; did not even make a drain properly if done for +themselves; made it in a proper manner if made on another man's land, +because there he was overseen, and if he slighted his work he would not +get paid for it. In short, "Paddy anywhere but at home is a splendid +man, but at home he is worthless." + +Mr. Smithwick deplored the present agitation among the people; deplored +it as an agitation got up, not for people's benefit, but to feather the +nests and fill the pockets of agitators. He informed me that he himself +had to carry a pistol wherever he went. In speaking of rents Mr. +Smithwick informed me that the lands were really rented low; that the +people could pay, and were quite able to pay, were it not for the advice +of agitators; said he was getting no rent at all these years. The total +cessation of rent coming in was a great deprivation to landlords, who +depended on their rents for the means of living. + +Mr. Smithwick thought emigration was the remedy for the undeniable +poverty of the country, for if the people got their farms for nothing +they could not make a living out of them, owing to their shiftless +method of farming. I objected that it would be scarcely fair to send +their people, who were so useless and helpless, over to be a burden on +us, but Mr. Smithwick thought that they would soon come in to our ways, +and help themselves, and be not a burden but a help to the community. I +found out in conversation with this gentleman that to reach Ballycroy, +where he lives, I should have come from Ballina. I seem perversely to +take the long way round. Mr. Smithwick kindly explained to me the way I +should go to reach Ballycroy by private car. He thought there was so +little of interest in that direction that it would hardly repay me for a +long tiresome journey, and that Connemara direction was much more full +of interest. After his croydon had driven off I began to remember +various points on which I should have liked to obtain his opinion that I +had never thought of once when I had the opportunity. Perhaps it was the +very early drive that had wearied me, but I was dreadfully stupid all +through the interview. I had counted a great deal on seeing this man, +and I seemed to myself to have gained nothing of facts to which one +could refer triumphantly in support of an opinion in consequence of it. + +To wake myself up I enquired of the civil landlady if there were any +wonderful sights to be seen in the neighborhood within an easy drive. +Yes, there was Borrishoole Monastery (the place of owls) and Carrig a +Owlagh (rock of the fleet) Castle, one of the strongholds of Granna +Uisle Well, got a car and driver and drove off to see these ruins. I was +told that no tourist ever visited Newport without going to see them. + +As we rattled and jolted over the roughest bit of road which I have yet +seen in Ireland, the driver, a dark, keen-eyed man, began to talk of +landlords, of the wasting and exterminating Lords Lucan and Sligo. I +asked him whom did he think a good landlord. He answered immediately, +"Jonathan Pym." "If you think him so good you might say Mr. Pym." "When +a man is the best in any way he's too big for Mr.," said the man +readily. "I dare say," I remarked, "that this Jonathan Pym is very +little better than the rest." "But I say he is," retorted the man +fiercely. "Where inside of the four seas of Ireland will you get his +aiquil? He bought the land, coming among us a stranger, and he did not +raise the rents. The people live under the rents their fathers paid." +"Well, that's not much?" "If you were a tenant you would think +differently. He took off the thatch of the cabins and put on slates at +his own expense: There is not a broken roof on the land that he owns. +Every tenant he has owns a decent house, with byre and barn, shed and +stable, and he done it all out of the money he had, that never was +lifted out of the land, and after all left them in at the ould rents. +There has never been wan eviction on his place yet." "Has he been shot +at yet?" I enquired innocently. "Arrah, what would he be shot for?" +demanded the man, turning his swarthy face and black eyes full on me. "I +thought maybe some one might shoot him for fun," I explained, feebly. +"Fun!" growled the car-man, "quare fun! If a man is shot or shot at he +deserves it richly. He's not a rale gentleman, word and deed, like +Jonathan Pym." + +The driver continued to praise the wonderful landlord, Jonathan Pym, in +a growling kind of tone as if, were I his spouse, he would thwack me +well to cure my unbelief, as we jolted over the stones to the ruins of +the monastery of owls. + +There is a lake, the lake of owls, near this ruin, and in it, it is +said, gentlemen anglers can readily obtain leave to fish. I have heard +that amateur anglers give the fish they catch to the person who gives +the permit, retaining the sport of catching as their share; or if they +want the fish paying for them at market price. I think this unlikely, +but it may be so nevertheless. + +The monastery was once a splendid place, to judge by the remains of the +carving on window and arched door. One of the skulls of Grace O'Malley +used to be kept here as a precious relic. There was another at Clare +Island and I think I also heard of another. It seems some speculative +and sacrilegious Scotchman brought a ship round the west coast of +Ireland to gather up the bones lying in the abbeys to crush them for +manure, and they took the brave sea queen's bones and skull with the +rest. + +Returned to Newport in a very undecided frame of mind whether to go to +Ballycroy or not. There was a Land League meeting to be held there, and +I might see that; but then I had been at two Land League meetings, and +they are pretty much alike. Of course it is well to see a great +assemblage of people, for they always are of interest as showing what +condition the people are in, and what sentiments find an echo in their +hearts. But the length of the way, the uncertainty of a place to stop at +had some weight, and I found myself unable to decide. To clear up my +brain I asked for a bit of fish for dinner, but such a thing could not +be obtained at Newport. The fish caught there are exported. They might +get a fish by going down to the boat for it, and paying dearer for it +than the Dublin price. I asked for fish at Westport with the same +result. If you mention salmon they will say, "Oh, yes," and if not +stopped, rush off and buy a can of American salmon for you. I got +something to eat--not fish, and not very eatable--and wrote a little +while, with the same stupid sensation bothering me that I had felt +during my interview with Mr. Smithwick, and decided to put off all +decision and go to bed, which I did. + +In the morning, having found that Newport was the nearest point by which +to reach Achill Island, I determined to go there, and if I thought I +could endure the journey to diverge at Mulrany and drive to Ballycroy on +my return from Achill Island. + + + + +XXXIX. + +BY THE SHORE OF CLEW BAY--ACROSS ACHILL ISLAND--A LONELY LOVELY +RETREAT. + + +The drive from Newport, Mayo, to Mulrany was very pleasant. The roads +winds along Clew Bay, that bay of many islands, for quite a distance. +Clew Bay was resting, calm as a mirror, blue and bright, not a lap of +the wave washed up on the shore of Green island or Rocky Point the day +we drove past. No fisher's boat divided the water with hopeful keel. The +intense solitude of bays and inlets as well as the loughs looks like +enchantment. It reminds one of the drowsy do-nothingness of "Thompson's +Castle of Indolence," only here the indolence is not the indolence of +luxurious ease but of hunger and rags. If the knight of arts and +industry will ever destroy monopoly, and these silent waters will be +alive with enterprise: + + "When many fishing barks put out to fish along the coast." + +there will be a happy change in the comfortless cabins that dot the +shores of Clew Bay. + +The islands of Clew Bay, being treeless and green, have a new look, as +if they had just heaved up their backs above the waters and were waiting +for the fiat that shall pronounce them good. I looked with longing eyes +in the direction of Clare Island, that has one side to the bay and one +side to the broad Atlantic which lies between me and home. On Clare +Island is the remains of Doona Castle, the principal stronghold, of the +heroic Grace, where she held the heir of Howth captive till ransomed, +and till his father learned to understand what _Cead mille failte_ +means at dinner time. + +Here, by Tulloghan Bay, I was told to look across the bay, where the +heather-clad mountains rise above the broad heather-clad bog, where the +road to Ballycroy winds along between the bay and the mountains, past +houses of mortarless stone, hard to be distinguished from the heath; for +over there in a certain spot occurred the shooting affray which has made +young Mr. Smith, the son of the then agent for the Marquis of Sligo, a +man of renown. + +The hard feeling between the exterminating Marquis, the agent who +executed his will and the tenantry was intense. Four men were lying in +wait here with the intention of shooting Mr. Smith, who was expected to +pass that way. He drove along accompanied by his son. The would-be +assassins fired; they were concealed above the road; the shots passed +harmlessly over the heads of the two Smiths. Young Mr. Smith, who is an +exceptionally good shot--can hit a small coin at an immense distance-- +saw the men run and fired after them, killing one, fired again, wounding +another, and would have fired again, but was prevented by his father. + +Young Mr. Smith is quite a hero among the people on this account. There +is an expressed regret that Mr. Smith the elder interfered to prevent +the young marksman from shooting them all; very few would blame him if +he did, as the men, though too nervous to do harm, lay in wait for the +purpose of murder. Still it is revolting to hear people in cold blood +regret so heartily that there was not more bloodshed. + +The scenery--as scenery--was as grand as bare heathery mountains and +wide desolate waters could make an almost treeless solitude, but viewed +as a home for human beings, viewed as land that has rent and taxes and +existence to be carved out of it, it has a hopeless look. + +The houses are something dreadful, to consider them in the light of +human habitations. Limestone does not abound here, and therefore the +houses of the poorer sort are built like a cairn or a fence of loose +stones without mortar. When the Atlantic winds sweep in here in winter +time, the crevices in these houses will be so many chinks to whistle +through. God pity the poor! + +The people along the road here had a thrifty look; the men wore homespun +coats; the pinned-up dresses of the women showed petticoats which were +homespun of warm madder red, well dyed, good and comfortable looking. Of +course the majority of the women were barefoot, but they were used to +it. + +At Molraney we stopped to deliver mails. In these cases the passengers +sit on the car in the street, while the driver hands in the mail, +gossips awhile, goes into the convenient "licensed to sell" for a taste +of something, and the police saunter down for the mail and look you +over, judiciously but not offensively, and at last you make another +start. + +Arrived at the Sound, you find a nice-looking hotel for such a remote +place. There is any amount of liquor to be got: you can also get the +never-varying chop or steak served up with another variety of miserable +cooking, but you cannot get a bit of fish any more than if the sea were +five hundred miles off instead of lapping on the rocks less than a perch +away. Was pulled across the Sound by two young girls, who handled the +big oars as if they were used to them, and urged the boat with its load +of men across the green waters very swiftly with their strong white +arms. As we neared the island of Achill trees were conspicuous by their +absence, and purple heather was plentiful. + +Achill island is a treeless place. There are mountains beyond mountains +lying against the sky, heather clad or mossgrown; there are small lakes +lying at the foot of mountains or between mountains; there are dreary +expanses of bog stretching for miles on each side of the road between us +and the mountains, and rising out of the bog are wee bits of fields and +most horrible habitations. We passed the plantation, noticeable because +there is not another, that Mr. Pike has coaled to flourish round his +fine house. There are dark green firs, feathery light green larches, +birches, and other trees that dress in green only when summer comes; +great clumps of laurel and rhododendron, the latter one mass of blossoms +that almost hide the leaves beneath their rosy purple. Mr. Pike has +already made for himself a delicious looking home amid this barren +waste. It enriched our eyes to look at it. + +Mr. Pike and Mr. Stoney, of the castellated new building down at the +edge of Clew Bay, have the distinction of being the most unpopular +landlords in this part of the country. After we passed Mr. Pike's place +there were no more trees. The houses are very bad indeed; the cattle in +the pasture are of the small native breed, and have little appearance of +milk; the sheep are very miserable and scraggy. I have often heard of +Cook's recipes saying, "Take the scrag end of a piece of mutton." These +recipes must have emanated from Achill Island, where the mutton must be +pretty much all scrag. + +After we drove a long way--what appeared a long way--I do not believe +they measure all the crooks and turns this most serpentine of roads into +the miles--we passed establishment of lay brothers called the Monastery. +There is quite a block of white buildings, and a good many reclaimed +fields, green with the young crops, lie in the valley below them. There +is a bell in a cupola that will call to work and worship, and a chapel +where they meet to pray. The valley where their fields lie stretches to +the sea, and in the bay lay a smack of some kind by which they trade to +Westport. They labor with their own hands, so have not the name of +employing any laborers, but have the name of dispensing charity. I +should have liked to see the buildings and the brethren, but did not +make the attempt. + +At length we came to Dugart, the Missionary settlement. A little row of +white-washed houses on one side of a street that ran up hill, another +row of whitewashed houses that ran along the brow of the hill at a right +angle. Slieve Mor behind towering up between the village and the sea; +below the hill at the foot of another mountain is the rectory, beside it +the church, both having a trimming of young trees; some good fields, the +best I have seen in Achill, and a pretty garden lie round both rectory +and church. This is the mission village of Dugart. + +At the corner where the two rows of whitewashed houses meet is the Post +Office. As we drove up there was a gentleman with a northern kindliness +in his face, a long brown beard, an unmistakable air of authority, whom +we found out was the rector of Achill. After introduction and some +conversation, he kindly invited me to the rectory after I had brushed +off some of the dust of travel. + +The Dugart hotel possesses a large collection of stuffed sea birds, the +proprietor having taste and skill in that direction, and I was enabled +to take a nearer view of specimens of the birds that sail and scream +round the Achill mountains, eagles and gulls, puffins and cormorants, +than I would otherwise have done. After a little rest and refreshment I +walked down the hill to the lonely, lovely rectory in the valley below. + +There is a solidity about a stone house, stone porch and stone wall in +every part of Ireland; a strength that makes one think how easily a +house could be turned into a fortalice at a short notice. + +I confess I liked this rector, so tall and stately, with his long beard, +grave, kindly face, northern speech, penetrating look, with a certain +air of authority as became a pastor in charge. When he asked me +pleasantly if I had come as a friend, I thought at once of the Bethlehem +elders to Samuel, "Comest thou peaceably?" I think I almost envied this +man his position, the power which he holds as a leader to be a patriot +worker for the good of his countrymen and countrywomen on the barren +isle of Achill. + +We walked upon the shady path that leads from rectory to church, under +green arches of leafage, in the real dim religious light which grand +cathedrals only imitate. There is a nice useful garden on one side of +the path, stocked with things good for food and pleasant to the eye. +Along one side is a hedge eight feet high of fuschia growing thus in the +open air, proving that it is possible to turn sheltered spots of barren +Achill into nooks suggestive of Eden. + +The little church to which this romantic path brought us was such a +church as one might snuggle down in to learn the way to Zion, and enjoy +the comfort of the old, old story. This mission was begun by the Rev. +Edward Naugh, I believe, in the famine time. It invaded the island with +bread and the Bible. I hear that it has done much good, chiefly, I +believe, in educating and emigrating the people. + +The village of the mission opposite the rectory has two schools, an inn +or hotel, a co-operative store, a post-office, some dwellings of +coastguard's men and other official and semi-official people, the agent +over the mission property for one. A little further away on the sea +sands is a miserable collection of cabins inhabited by the people. There +were some poor-looking farmhouses dotting the mountain side. + +As far as I could learn there was no industry on Achill Island but +tilling their miserable crofts. The fishing was monopolized by one man, +a Mr. Hector, a Scotchman. The people as far as I could learn had no +boats fitted for deep sea fishing and the coast fishing was monopolized. +They are said to be lazy, unthrifty, unenergetic. I enquired a little +about this and it seemed to me as if there was a door locked and barred +between them and any field for the display of energy with hope--without +an atmosphere of hope, energy is a plant that will not thrive. It is +hope, and nothing but hope, that nerves the backwoods settler of Canada +to do battle with summer heat and winter snow, with the inexorable logic +of circumstances, and he conquers because he has hope. Over every +peasant holding in Ireland of the western part there is written, "Here +is no hope." The superior mind looks upon the peasantry as minors who +are not able to judge for themselves, who need to be tied down with +office rules, and held in by proprietory bit and bridle. They admit, +that they do well in the free air of Canada, but they contend that +thrift, forethought, frugality is produced in them by desperation. I see +desperation all round here producing a recklessness and despair. I know +that hope is the star that shines for the backwoods Canadian to light +him to competence. + +I did not see any of the mission tenants in Achill. I saw nothing but +what lay on the surface. I have no doubt that the mission has done good +in many ways, great good. I am sorry, however, that they lost the +opportunity of testing the capabilities of the islanders to flourish as +peasant proprietors; it is not always well for the church to have +vineyards and oliveyards, manservants and maidservants. It is well +sometimes for the church to come down like her Master and to be +alongside of the discouraged mortal who has toiled through a lifetime +and caught nothing but hunger and rags, to share with them the toil and +want. + + + + +XL. + +REMEMBRANCES OF THE GREAT FAMINE--THE "PLANTED" SCOTCH FARMERS--A +BEAUTIFUL EDIFICE. + + +On my return from Achill Island I decided that I would not take another +post car drive to Ballycroy, and returned to Mulraney again along the +same road in the shadow of the mountains. On to Newport we drove, back +over the road winding along the side of Clew Bay, and across the head of +the bay through the lonely country leading back to Westport. + +The driver, a weather-beaten man in a weather-worn drab coat, +entertained me with tales of the clearances made in the famine time that +left the country side so empty. It is hard to believe that ever human +beings were so cruel to other human beings in this Christian land, and +that it passed unknown, or comparatively unknown, to the rest of the +world. + +This man told, with a certain grim satisfaction, of what he called God's +judgments which had fallen on "exterminators." The common people of the +West have a firm belief that God is on their side, no matter what +trouble he allows to come over them. "Sure I do feel my heart afire, +when gintlemen sit on my car driving through this loneliness an' talk of +over-population. Over-population! and the country empty!" I wish I could +remember all this old man said, but I can only recall snatches here and +there. + +It is most amazing to think that, when the world at large was sending +help to save the Irish people alive in the awful visitation, so many +were throwing their tenants out on the road to die. And these people had +by hard toil won a living here and paid rent. Every rood of this land, +every cabin had helped to swell princely revenues, until the finger of +God came down in famine, and then, when the revenue stopped, there was +no pity, and it seemed to these poor people that there was no one that +regarded them. I do not wish to ever come to that time of life when I +can hear of the scenes that wasted this country without feeling a +passion of sorrow and regret. + +I spoke of these things to a worthy gentleman resident in another part +of the country and he brushed it aside as if it were a fly, saying, "Oh, +that is long past, thirty years and more." Memory is very strong among +people who seem to have little to look forward to--the past seems the +principal outlook. Every incident of the French landing here so far back +as '98 is told to me in the West here with a freshness of detail as if +it happened a few years ago; one can imagine, therefore, how the cruel +evictions of the famine time fit themselves into the memory of the +people, especially as the rush of fresh evictions are awaking all the +horrors of the past. + +It seemed a gloomy satisfaction to this man to tell over what he +considered God's judgments which had fallen on exterminators. He pointed +out to me many who seemed doomed to be the last of their race. + +At last we passed the long, dead wall which encloses the magnificent +demesne of the Marquis of Sligo and drew up at Westport once more. The +local papers which await me are full of Miss Gardner and her war with +her tenants--more evictions, emergency men from Dublin to hold +possession--and all the rest. I was introduced by a Protestant clergyman +to a gentleman connected with the executive of the law for a quarter of +a century. He knows the heartrending inner history of legal eviction. +This gentleman has a wonderful tenderness in his heart for Miss Gardner. +"Sure she grew up among us. The other one (Miss Pringle) found her as +kindly a woman as was on God's earth and has made an ogre of her." + +I will give an extract or two out of the softest part of the statement +he has drawn up for me. + +He tells of a landlord who evicted whole townlands in 1847. He hated the +people because the famine swept over them. He became possessed with the +same ideas as other landlords of the period, whose income had diminished +through the visitation of God, that if the present possessors were +rooted out and depopulated lands planted with Scotchmen, their skill and +capital would prevent a recurrence of famine. + +Now it is a fact freely attested to me by clergymen of different +denominations that the planted people of Mayo required help, and help to +a very large amount to keep them from starvation during the last +scarcity. On many estates in Mayo and the adjoining parts of Sligo the +Protestant population would have died of hunger but for the large help +given both denominationally, and otherwise. They could not have seeded +their grounds but for seed freely given them. Fields in Mayo this season +are lying bare because the wretched people are not able to get seed to +put in the ground. Some of the planted people complained to me that +though when they settled on their present lands they got them cheap, two +shillings and sixpence an acre for wild land, yet as they improved their +land the rent was raised to five, to seven and six, to fourteen, and now +to over a pound an acre. These men also complained that they could not +possibly exist at all during these last seasons and pay the rent which +was laid on them in consequence of the improvements done by their own +labor. I find by the most conclusive proof that a difference of +religious belief did not enable the settlers any more than the natives +to pay a rent that could not be produced from the soil. The desire to +change the nationality and religion of his tenants was so strong in one +landlord that, in the words of my informant, "A scene of ruthless havoc +began among his tenantry. To stimulate the slowness of the crowbar +brigade he was known to tear down human habitations with his own hands." +I remember these poor people standing in the market in those dark days +of famine, having their bits of furniture for sale on the streets, and +there were none to buy. I have heard the wailing of men, women and +children on the coach-top day after day, when these fortunate +unfortunates were escaping from their native land forever. I saw those +who could not go in the agonies of death in the fever sheds. These +scenes happened over thirty years ago, but they will never be forgotten. +Four large townlands, on which eighty homes had been, became a +wilderness of grass and rank weeds. No Scotch were forthcoming for the +wrecked farms. There was a Nemesis in store for him. His day of eviction +came about, and in his trouble his tenants saw retribution. As charity +kept some of his tenants alive, so he also was indebted to the charity +of friends, and passed away to meet his tenants at a bar where high +blood or aristocratic connections do not sway the Judge who sits on the +throne of justice, nor does party prejudice blind his eyes. + +When Miss Gardner came of age it took all the property of her father to +pay the money secured to her by her mother's settlement, and she entered +into possession in his stead. Like Queen Elizabeth, whom Miss Gardner +greatly resembles, she had in her youth known troubles; sympathy for +these trials, so well known to the peasantry, made them receive her with +open arms and open hearts. In the interval between Miss Gardner entering +into possession and her coming under the influence of Miss Pringle she +set herself to repair the havoc made by her predecessor, and was the +idol of her tenantry. She was near neighbor to the model farm and +orphanage presided over by the Scotch ladies. Philanthropy collected the +vast sums which bought and stocked the model farm at Ballinglen. When +their mode of managing matters there could be no longer hidden from the +Presbyterian Church which they misrepresented, the mission came out +largely indebted to these ladies. It took all the stock to pay off its +indebtedness to one lady, and the farm itself to pay the other. It is +the lady who got the farm as her share, that lives with Miss Gardner, +and gets the credit of her every unpopular act. She has divided between +her and her only friend in the dark days. This Scotch hag found her a +kind-hearted woman, and has made her into an ogre. Some of this +communication, the hardest of it, I shall reserve, also several +confirmatory anecdotes given me at Westport. + +In mercy to the readers, I will only say that Miss Gardner has intense +courage and an intellect of masculine strength, and resembles Queen +Elizabeth in more ways than one. It is a great pity that she has not +Queen Bess's popularity or her care for her people. + +Westport, when I have time to look at it, is a very pretty town. Its +buildings, its hotels and the warehouses on the quay look as if it once +had an extensive and flourishing trade, or was prepared for and +expecting it. There was, I am told, once a flourishing linen trade here, +but it has gone to decay. The town is in a little hollow, with pleasant +tree-crowned green hills rising all round it; at one side is the demesne +of the Marquis of Sligo, which is open to the public. These grounds +extend for miles, and are as beautiful as gorgeous trees, green grass, +dark woods, waters that leap and flash, spanned by rustic bridges, can +make them. There are winding walks leading through the green fields, +under trees, into woods, up hill and down, into shady glens, where you +might wander for miles and lose yourself in green-wood solitudes. Crowds +of Westport folk, in the calm evening, saunter through the grounds and +enjoy their beauty. + +The little town has a subdued expression of prosperity. You feel +conscious that some business is going on that enables the inhabitants of +the town to live comfortably and to dress respectably. You hear of the +mills of the Messrs. Livingstone, of their business in trading and land- +owning, until you are convinced that they are the centre round which +this little world revolves. + +I had a lady pointed out to me here as being in such embarrassed +circumstances, owing to the non-payment of rent, that her son was +obliged to join the police force to earn a living. I heard also great +sympathy expressed for another gentleman in Dublin who has many sons, +whom he has brought up to do nothing, and who has been reduced by the +strike against rent to absolute poverty. I am told that banks in Dublin +are glutted with family silver left as security for loans. These people +are to be pitied, for poverty is poverty in purple or in rags; but when +poverty comes to actual want, it is still more pitiful. + + + + +XLI. + +GOING TO ENGLAND FOR WORK--CANADA AND AMERICA. + + +I have been going against the stream on my travels. I am reminded, +incessantly that I should have begun at Dublin. Going backward, as I am +doing, the orthodox route is to Leenane, passing Erriff and the Devil's +Mother, but the regular cars were not yet running, I was told, nor were +they likely to run this summer, as, owing to the exaggerated reports of +outrage, tourists are not expected in any numbers. Was persuaded to take +a special car to go by Leenane round the coast. Would have liked to do +so, but not to bear all the expense myself. The further west the more +expensive the car, I find. Instead, I returned to Castlebar, and on to +Balla. Balla is the small town where the Land League was born. + +In the compartment to which I was consigned there were some gentlemen, +for gentlemen and ladies of very great apparent respectability do travel +in the cars devoted to the humbler people; there were also some +respectable looking laborers who were going over to England to look for +work. A discussion arose in our compartment as to what constituted +politeness. One gentleman defined it as ceremonious manners, the result +of early training; while another objected that that was only the veneer +of manners, as all true politeness arose from the heart. I listened +awhile and then spoke across the seat to a decent, dejected looking man +with a little bundle beside him tied up in a blue and white check +handkerchief. "Yes, he was going to England to look for work; many had +to go for the work was not to be had at home." "The rents were so high, +and the taxes, what with one thing and another, there was a new cut +always coming heavier than the last." "The people are being crushed out +of the country very fast, and that was God's truth." "And you are from +America? It is a fine country they say. I would be there long ago but +for the heavy care I have here that I can neither take with me nor leave +behind." "Yes, I go over to England every year. For a good many years +past I have always worked for the same man, ever since I went there +first." "It grows harder to live in Ireland every year." + +I told this man amid the craned necks and open mouths of his companions, +some of the advantages of Canada as a home. I do not know why it is that +the people know so little of Canada. I was listened to with exclamations +of "Well, well!" "Boys a boys!" "Dear O dear!" "Hear that, now! A man +might live there!" + +Getting at last across the Mayo plains to Claremorris, I parted from my +acquaintances with many a "God bless you," while many hands lifted out +my travelling bags. At Claremorris a car man asked if I was a pilgrim +for Knock which was the first intimation that I had that I was in the +vicinity of Knock. Hired this car man, who was also owner of the car, to +drive me there. I have always heard that those born on Christmas Day are +privileged to see apparitions. I have not yet come into that part of my +inheritance, but do not know how soon I may. + +On the way, which led through a well-cultivated, fertile country, waving +with trees, and showing glimpses of great houses peeping out among them, +the driver asked me if I had ever heard of Captain Boycott. I said there +were few who had not. "He used to live in that house up there; he was +agent in this part of the country, but he left us, thank God." "What +made people dislike him so?" "Because he was the height of a great +tyrant." "Come now, what did he do?" "Everything he could do to oppress +the creatures who were in his power. I have known a man come home to his +little family with three shillings for his week's wages, all the rest +scratched off him in fines. If you have a family yourself you will +understand what their living would be when they paid the rent of the +cabin. A man dazed with hunger would not have all his wits about him and +there would be more fines. In that way the mane hound got his work done +for half price, and ground the life out of the people. There was no word +of an emergency man to pity or help them. God help us; how true it is +that the help does not go where the want is." + +We got to Knock, a country church in a country place. Alighted, and +while the carman tied his horse I looked round me. There was an +enclosure round the chapel. At one side was a row of wooden booths, +where relics, beads and trinkets were sold. On the other side of the +enclosure was a school for girls. It was at the end of the church where +the apparition is said to have appeared that we entered. All the plaster +on this end was removed by devotees. In the spot where the apparition +was said to have been seen, there was a life-size statue of the Virgin +in plaster. All over the gable were strips of wood cleated on, behind +which were ranged walking-sticks and crutches in regular order till the +whole gable was covered. There was a long frame-work of wood about +twelve feet long and three broad, also filled with crutches and walking- +sticks. + +As I stood looking, the car man came in after tying his horse, and knelt +down on the damp earth before the Virgin's shrine and repeated a prayer. +He was not ashamed to practice what he believed before the world and in +the sight of the sun. When his prayer was over he joined me, and drew my +attention to the number of crutches and sticks left behind by those who +were benefited. I pointed out to him a very handsome black-thorn stick +among the votive offerings, and asked him would it be a sin to steal it, +as black-thorns were in demand over the water. He told me if I did that +whatever disease was laid down there by the owner of the stick would +cleave to me. I thought of Gehazi and restrained my hands from stealing +the black-thorn. There is one nice characteristic of a genuine Irishman, +he can take a joke. + +There were many masons working at an enlargement of the church. We went +in. It had an earthen floor, and there were many people kneeling on it +at their prayers. Some were silently making the stations of the cross, +others, a large number, were reciting the rosary aloud under the +leadership of a young woman, who repeated one part, when they all +answered in concert. The windows were darkened by the scaffolding and +building outside, and as I sat there seeing and hearing, looking toward +the altar, in the shadow of a pillar I saw a hand steal out. I own I was +startled; but when my eyes got accustomed to the gloom, I saw it was a +man at the top of a ladder quietly painting away as if the church were +empty. + +After a while I came out and went over to the school. There were 78 +children present, all girls, all clean and decent. There was one +teacher, a pleasant-faced young woman, who had two monitor assistants. +The order kept was very good, the school furniture neat, a good many +maps on the wall, and the children seemed busy and interested. The +teacher told me that the income of the school, owing to results fees--a +sum paid by Government according to the progress of the pupils, was +sometimes as high as L80 per annum. + +After leaving the school, went over to the booths to buy some trifle as +a memorial of Knock. The man in the booth told me I had come from +America. There was another man with his arm in a sling, who had come +from America also. He had come to visit Knock. I asked him if his arm +was better. He said it was, but not entirely well. I asked the man in +the booth if he had ever seen anything. He said that he did not come +there to see anything, but to make a living. He and the American had +both bits of the original plaster, which they showed to me. + +The priest of the place was not at home. He lives in a cottage down the +hill a bit, in sight of the church. I had seen all there was to be seen, +so I made my purchase and bid good-bye to Knock, and drove back to +Claremorris. + +Claremorris is a nice enough little town, very quiet, as if not much of +any great work was going on. Where there are factories I notice the +people step quickly and look straight ahead. Over towns which depend on +the trading of the country round there is an air of repose and leisure. +I did not see much of Claremorris, for I soon left it behind in going to +Ballinrobe by car. + +The land here seems very rich. I remarked this to my travelling +companions, who told me that I was on the rich plains of Mayo. The +fields are large and well cultivated. There were no signs of the abject +poverty, wee, stony fields, horrible rookeries of houses that exist in +the shadow of the Ox hills. Not that the houses of the laborers here +were good; for that, a good, decent laborer's house, I have not yet seen +in Ireland, except on Mr. Young's Galgorm estate. They may exist on +other estates, I dare say they do, but I have not seen them. This +country over which we were travelling was as rich with round-headed +trees and wide meadows as a gentleman's park. The road, a particularly +meandering one, passed through Hollymount--a lovely place--and through +Carrowmore, my companions telling me of the landlords and the tenants as +we drove along. The rent was high and hard to make up, the turf far to +draw, that was all. There was no account of vexatious office rules or +special acts of tyranny related to me at all. + +Ballinrobe, on the river Robe, is near Lough Mask, and is another quiet, +pretty, leisurely little town. I was troubled with neuralgia and did not +see much of it. Opposite the hotel was the minister's residence, amid +gardens, all shut in behind a stone wall high enough for a rampart. +Through an archway from the street was the church where he ministered, +sitting meditating among the tombs. I wandered into this place one day +on my way to the post-office. Noticed the great number of the name of +Cuffe who were buried there. Cuffe is the family name of Lord Tyrawley. + +The Catholic church sits back from the street a good way and the ground +before it is laid out in flowers. There are some images of saints +through the grounds, which are set in arches of rock work, over which +climbing plants are trained. There is also a community of Christian +Brothers, who have a school here. Their building had so much glass in +front, with so many geraniums in flower, a perfect blaze of them behind +the glass, that it looked like a conservatory. + +Left Ballinrobe behind and drove to Lough Mask Castle, where the +celebrated Captain Boycott managed to kick up such a fuss. We passed a +couple of iron huts occupied by policemen, who came out to look at us. I +may as well mention that after I left Ballinrobe I found that the driver +was more "than three-quarters over the bay." He had a way of talking to +himself on the land question, of Captain Boycott, Lord Mountmorris and +Lord Ardilaun, that was not pleasant to listen to, especially as he +spiced his monologue with many words that savored strongly of brimstone. +I was not without hope that the fresh air might dissipate the fumes of +liquor from his brain as we drove along. I had the more hope of this as +I could see that he was a habitual drinker, poor man, as his face but +too plainly testified. Drink is universal here, as medicine a universal +remedy, as a daily, almost hourly, stimulant for young, and old, rich +and poor, man and woman. They tell me that Scotland is worse; if so, +Scotland should be prayed for. I confess that I have not seen much +drunkenness. I saw very few that I could call drunk, but it is constant, +steady, universal, or almost so, sipping and tippling. + + + + +XLII. + +LOUGH MASK CASTLE--CAPTAIN BOYCOTT AND HIS POLICY--LORD MOUNTMORRIS. + + +Well, my Jehu did sober up considerably before we halted at the +entrance gates of Lough Mask Castle. The sharp hi! hi! of the driver +brought out the gate keeper, a poor looking and sour looking woman, who +admitted us into the drive which lay through some fields and beside some +young plantations. In one place the driver pulled up, our way lay +through a large field divided by the road into two unequal parts. + +He told me to look round me, which I did. "On one side here, were the +dragoons; their horses were picketed here; on the other side was the +infantry. It was awful weather. What them men and their horses stood of +hardships and misery no tongue could tell. The dragoons marched down +here, looking fine and bowld, their horses were sleek and fat and +shining, when they marched away they wor staggering with the wakeness +and the men wor purty wilted looking. He made them believe he needed +protection." This with a growl that had depths of meaning in it. + +"He's coming back here again. Out among nagurs or anywhere else he could +not find them to put up with him like ourselves." Of course I omit the +strong words that were used as garnishing. I must own that this was the +first time that any carman had used profane language before me--and it +wasn't himself was in it at all at all but the whiskey. "The soldiers, +whin they wor here," continued the old man, "cut down the trees of the +plantation for firing. That went to his heart, it did. How could they +help themselves, I'd like to know? Sure they would have perished with +the cowld and the wet among the pelting of the snow and the sleet. +Wherever they are this blessed day they don't admire the memory of +Captain Boycott. What I like is behaviour in aither man or baste, and +Captain Boycott had no behaviour. They killed a sheep to ate, or maybe +two, and sorra a blame to them. It was ate or die wid them; but ye see +the gallant Captain didn't like it." About this time a volley of +anathemas was poured out against the absent Captain. + +During all this we were sitting on the car viewing the field where the +bivouac had been. A policeman with a questioning look on a pleasant face +came along from the great house with a tin pail in his hand. "What have +you got in the can!" asks this inquisitive car driver. "Milk," responded +the policeman. "You would have got no milk at the big house in Captain +Boycott's time." + +"Oh; yes, I would," said the other, "when I paid for it." I did not like +to question this man, for he did swear so, but I ventured to ask if Mrs. +Boycott were equally as much disliked as her husband. "Never heard a +word against her in my life. The people had no reason but to like her. +Hard word or hard deed she left no memory of behind her." + +We drove past the residence where Captain Boycott lived, a fine spacious +house finished in plaster to imitate stone. The grounds near the house +were nicely laid out, but that is the universal rule in Ireland. Drove +through a gateway into the yard. In a stable loft in the yard some +policemen were lodged. The driver hallooed at them, and one came down +the stone steps to see what protective duty was asked of him. I asked +him to show me the ruins, and he complied in the kindest manner. Across +the barnyard and through a shed we made our way into the castle ruins. +There are many nooks and crannies, as is the case in these ancient ruins +generally, but the main body of the castle was divided into two large +apartments, with the roof on the floor of course. I noticed the track of +recent fire along the old walls. He said it was made by the officers who +were down there on protective service for Capt. Boycott. They had one +apartment and cooked there, and the police the other. These quarters +open to the sky, and having stones on the floor, did not look +comfortable. + +We went up the circular stairs to the ramparts at the top. There is a +walk round the top behind the battlements. Looking down at the remains +of a fireplace in what was a lofty second story, my guide told me there +was a name and a date there. The name Fitzgerald, I forget the date; so +this must have been one of the Geraldine castles. + +There is a fine view from the battlements. Lough Mask, which is very +shallow here, a little water and a great many stones overtopping it in +profusion, lies before us, and an extensive country, partly fertile, in +round hills and green valleys, partly crusted over with stones. + +A policeman, not my guide on this occasion, told me, illustrative of the +disposition of Captain Boycott, that the hut in which the police were +sheltered was very damp--water, in fact, was running on the floor under +their bed. They had a small coal stove, and on the coal becoming +exhausted before they got a further supply, one of the men being down +sick, they ventured to ask Captain Boycott for the loan of a lump or two +of coal to keep their stove going till their supplies were received, and +he refused them. They were obliged to protect his ass and water cart +down into the lake to draw water from out beyond the edge where the +water was deep, and, therefore, could be dipped up clean. He would not +allow them to get any of the water for their own use after it was drawn, +or lend them the ass to draw for themselves. They had either to wade out +in the lake or dip up as they could at the edge. I made a slight mistake +in saying that the castle was entirely roofless; there was part of an +arched roof where the fire had been. I asked the policeman if they had +any night patrol duty now. Oh, yes, he said, we patrol every night, +although we never see anything worse than ourselves. + +Left Lough Mask, its castled ruins and modern mansion behind us, and +drove through the gates again. I felt convinced that the people were not +filled with an unreasoning hate against Captain Boycott. They thought +they had reason, deep reason, and they scrupulously excepted Mrs. +Boycott from any censure bestowed on him. + +Along the road we drove, until from an eminence we could see Lough Mask +in its beauty, with its bays and islands spread out beneath us. This +view gave us a part of the Lough where the water covers the stones. This +particular evening the water was as calm as a mirror and as blue as the +sky above it, and the trees on the hills and bays around it in their +greenness and leafiness, round-headed and massive, were all bathed in +sunlight. We came to fields a little more barren-looking, where bare +stone fences took the place of the rich hedgerows, turned up a road that +lay between these stony ramparts, and drove along for a little time. + +I was wondering in my own mind about Captain Boycott. Did he, in his own +consciousness, think he was doing right in his system of fines? He knew +how small and miserable the wages were: he knew of the poor, comfortless +homes and the "smidrie o' wee duddy weans" that depended on the poor +pennies the father brought home; he knew that he came out well fed and +leisurely to find fault with a peasant who was working with a sense of +goneness about the stomach. Did he think that increasing the hunger pain +would make him more thoughtful, more orderly? Would he have done better +if he had been suddenly brought to change places with his serf? If he +could not help fining the people until he fined off the most of their +wages, were they to blame for refusing to work for him? Was the +Government right in taking his part when it had neither eye nor ear for +his people's complaint? I was questioning with myself in this helpless +fashion, when I heard my driver inquire in Irish of a bare-footed +country girl if we were near the spot where Lord Mountmorris was +murdered. + +This question, and the surprise with which I became aware that I +understood it, made me forget Captain Boycott for the time being and +wake up to the present time. We had stopped our car and were waiting on +the girl's answer, which she seemed in no hurry to give. At length +lifting a small stone she threw it on the road a car's length behind us, +answering in Irish that there was the spot where he was found. The +murderer was hidden in the field opposite. The road was bare of the +shelter of hedge or ditch, bush or tree. It was late; he was coming home +alone, his police escort for some reason were not with him that +particular night. Lord Mountmorris was murdered, and some one has a mark +on his hand that all the water of the Lough will not wash off. + +We drove along the road, a bleak and bare road, with a hill on one side +of it and a steep slope down on the other, until we came to a small +plantation, a lodge gate, and drove up an avenue with small plantations +of young trees here and there, some grass lands, a few beasts grazing +about, some signs of where flower beds and flower borders had been +better cared for once on a time than now, and came to a comfortable, +roomy square house finished in plaster. This was castle something, the +residence of the late Lord Mountmorris. With a blessing, content and +three hundred a year one could fancy that person sung of by Moore, "With +the heart that is humble," being able to make out life nicely here. When +a man has a title to his name with all the requirements which it implies +and demands, one could imagine a constant and wearing struggle going on. + +I have earnestly and constantly sought to find a reason that could +possibly irritate an ignorant and exasperated peasant to the point of +taking the life of this man, I have found none. He was unhappily +addicted to drink, it is said, but he must have had a large majority of +the inhabitants of Ireland of all creeds and classes on the same side +with him in this, to judge by the number of houses licensed to sell +liquor to be drunk on the premises which are required for the drouthy +part of the population. He is accused of having warped justice to favor +his friends in his capacity of magistrate. I have heard that accusation +brought against other magistrates again and again, who were not +molested. He is said to have boasted when _fou_ that he was a spy +for the castle authorities, and could have any of them he chose to point +at taken up. This was mere bluster, I suppose. There does seem no reason +why the poor man should be cut off in the midst of his days by a guilty +hand, for there is no record of any tangible injury which he had done to +any man. Here on the spot where he fell, among the common people, I did +not hear anything that seemed to give a reason for any hatred that would +lead to murder being entertained against the deceased nobleman. + +We turned away from the house and grounds, and I felt sad enough when we +passed the place where he lay in the dark night amid bare, barren +loneliness until the alarm was given. Heath in full blossom of purple +clung to the ditch back, foxglove in stately array nodded at us from +above, flowers that creep and flowers that wave were springing +everywhere, the rains of heaven had washed off the red stain, but I +could not shut my eyes to it. I saw the human body, dignified into +something awful by the presence of death, lying there waiting for the +hands that were to take it up reverently, and bear it away for +investigation and burial. I saw the dyed stones of the road that will +never lose the mark of guilt that colored them with the blood shed +there. + +Lord Mountmorris' residence was a nice, roomy house. All these houses +are called castles, and castles they are compared with the cabins. The +land around it did not seem very good. There was something pathetic in +the evident attempt to keep up lordly state on a poor income and off +poor soil. Happy America, whose people are not compelled by the +inexorable logic of circumstances to be lords, but can be plain farmers. +It is really a hard thing to be a lord sometimes, when a place is sunk +with mortgages, and burdened with legacies and annuities, and no means +of redemption but the rents and these stopped. + +We drove back the way we came. Ascending the hill we met a little beast, +so small, so black and shaggy, that I thought at first it was one of our +Canadian black bears. I asked what it was, and--laughing at my +ignorance--the man told me that it was a Highland Kyloe, one of the +famous black cattle that I have heard so much about, but had never seen +a specimen of the breed before. It would have been big for a bear, but +certainly was small for a cow, while a goat has the appearance of giving +as much milk. + + + + +XLIII. + +CONG + + +The land as we neared Cong, between Cong and Lough Mask, as seen from +the rather roundabout road we travelled, has a very peculiar appearance. +It is stony with a very different stoniness from any part of Ireland +which I had seen before. In some places the earth, as far as the eye +could reach, was literally crusted with stone. The stone was worn into +rounded tops and channelled hollows, as if it was once molten, like red +hot potash, and every bubbling swell had become suddenly petrified, or +as if it had once been an uptilted hillside over which a rapid river had +fallen, wearing little hollows, and sparing rounded heights as it dashed +over in boiling fury for ages, accomplishing which result it deserted +this channel; and through some internal movement the bed of the torrent +was levelled into a plain. Some agency or other has worn this solid rock +into a truffle pattern that is very wonderful to see. Over all this part +the stony formation recurs again and again. A person remarked to me that +it looked like the bottom of a former ocean. Judging by the marks worn +into the stone I should say it was not a pacific ocean. + +We came to a blacksmith's shop with the arch of the door formed into a +perfect horse-shoe; this, I was told, was the boundary line between Mayo +and Galway. In a few minutes we stopped before the "Carlisle Arms," in +the little village of Cong. Cong village is not very large, and has not +a wealthy appearance. There is a look generally spread over the people +who come in to trade as if their fortune was as stoney as their fields. + +I had not been long in the "Carlisle Arms" before my attention was +called to certain framed mementos that hung round the room. By some of +these mementos hung the tale as to how Cong hotel came to be named the +"Carlisle Arms." On a certain occasion, when the then Lord Lieutenant of +Ireland, the Earl of Carlisle, was making some sort of progress through +Ireland, he proposed stopping at the hotel at Maam, a hotel under the +thumb of the late Lord Leitrim, who had some pique at the Lord +Lieutenant, which determined him to order under pain of the usual +penalty that there be no admittance to the Viceroy of Ireland at this +hotel. His Lordship for once felt the power of a text of Scripture, and +sent orders that from the highways and hedges they should be compelled +to come in; that his house should be filled to the entire exclusion of +Her Majesty's representative. Lord Carlisle did not, like Mr. Goddard +the other day at Charleville, proffer money, or take any steps to try +the lawfulness or unlawfulness of this proceeding, but, having sent a +courier to precede him, hurried on to Cong, and conferred the +distinction of his presence on that hotel. That the proprietors did +their best to entertain him I have no doubt, speaking from experience. +That he appreciated their efforts he has left on record in a neat +acknowledgement, which hangs above the mantlepiece framed and glazed, as +Uncle Tom desired to do with his letter from Massa George. The Lord +Lieutenant's photo hangs there too, in a nice frame, as a memento of his +having been received at Cong when refused at Maam. Also he consented +that the hotel should be known as the "Carlisle Arms" henceforth. I +wonder very much that there was not at least as much public indignation +felt against Lord Leitrim or the innkeeper whom he influenced when he +refused shelter to Her Majesty's representative here, the head of the +executive, as is now expressed against this hotel-keeper, who refused to +receive Mr. Goddard. I suppose the cases are different someway. + +During the famine time a large sum of money was voted, partly by +Government, partly from the county taxes, for Relief Works. It was +determined to make a canal to connect Lough Corrib and Lough Mask. The +canal was made at the expense of much blasting, much building of strong +and costly stone work. If they could only have resurrected the famous +Irish architect _Gobhan Saer_, he would have advised making a well- +cemented bottom for the canal considering that a subterraneous river +runs from one lake to the other under it. They did not do this, however, +and when the grand canal was finished and the water let on the bottom +fell out in places and the waters fell through to their kindred waters. +The next famine they will require to dig and blast downward and still +downward till they find the underground river and the runaway water. +Coming past the costly and well-built bridge which spans the almost dry +stream that pours into the leaky canal somewhere, I saw some women round +a hollow in the stream that retained a little water. They were rinsing +out some woollen stuffs after dying them blue. They had warm petticoats +of madder red, and I was glad to see them look so comfortably clad and +thrifty. + +After returning to the hotel I was waited on by an elderly lady of the +peasant class, a woman over eighty years of age. She had for sale some +pillow lace edging of her own manufacture, which she offered at +threepence per yard. This was the way she made her living, paid her rent +and kept herself out of the workhouse. The lace was pretty and very +strong. She generally succeeds in disposing of it to lady tourists. + +There were some lady tourists as well as gentlemen staying at Cong. They +were on pleasure bent, and had been dreadfully annoyed and disgusted in +Galway at the heartbreaking scene attending the departure of some poor +Irish emigrants. They are unreasonable in their grief, and take parting +as if it were death; but it is as death to many of the aged relatives +who will see these faces whom they love no more. I could not help +thinking how differently people are constituted. When I saw the +streaming eyes, the faces swollen with weeping, and heard the agonized +exclamations, the calls upon God for help to bear the parting, for a +blessing on the departing, I had to weep with them. These people were +all indignation where they were not amused. The old women's cries were +ill-bred howlings to their ears, their grief a thing to laugh at. They +made fun of their dress--how they were got up--as if their dress was a +matter of choice; grew indignant in describing their disgust at the +scene. Ah, well, these poor mountain peasants were not their neighbors, +they were people to be looked at, laughed at, sneered at, and passed by +on the other side; but I--these people are my people and their sorrow +moveth me. + + + + +XLIV. + +THE ASHFORD DEMESNE--LORD ARDILAUN--LOUGH CORRIB. + + +The Ashford demesne affords walks or drives for miles. Everything that +woods and waters, nature and art can do to make Ashford delightful has +been done. I got a companion, a pretty girl, a permit from some official +who lived in a cottage at Cong, and set out by way of the Pigeon Hole to +see at least part of the place. + +I may as well mention here how surprised we were to hear the Antrim +tongue from the recesses of the cave, and to find a group of strangers +exploring on their own account. They were working men who had come from +Belfast to work for Lord Ardilaun, and were making the most of a holiday +before they began. I was very much surprised to see men from Antrim, +where the wages are much higher than here, come down to work in the west +where labor is so cheap, and want of work the complaint. + +To show how cheaply men work here, I may mention that being at a village +which lies outside of Lord Ardilaun's demesne, but on his estate, I was +standing on the road and a clergyman was talking in Irish to a man who +was employed at mason work in repairing the wall, a small quiet looking +man who did not stop work as he talked. Of course I could not understand +more than the scope of their discourse, but I understood distinctly one +question asked; "How much do you get for a day's work?" "One shilling +and two pence a day." "Without food of course?" "Of course." I had +heard in the North that casual laborers get two shillings a day there, +but they do not get two shillings when employed constantly. The laborers +on one well-managed estate which I have been over in Antrim are paid ten +shillings a week, and pay one shilling a week out of that for their +cottages, which are kept in good repair at the expense of their +employer. Of course these men must have been workmen skilled in some +particular work, or they would not have come from the wages of the North +to the West to work at the common rate of wage going here, which I am +told is at the highest seven shillings a week and rent to pay out of +that. Of course, when masons are paid one and twopence, laborers will be +paid much less. + +The avenue along which we travelled was a causeway made at great expense +along the brow of a steep hill or rather ridge, one side being supported +by a stone wall. This work, undertaken for the benefit of travellers to +Ashford, must have afforded constant employment for a good many men for +a long time. Arriving at a modern archway in the ancient style protected +by an iron gate, we sought admittance, showing our permit from the +office. The keeper's wife examined it and passed it over to the keeper, +who examined it also, asked some prudent, cautious questions, and we +were admitted to a part of the grounds. + +This gate keeper, a remarkably gentlemanly old man, in his respectable +blue broadcloth, his comely sagacious, weather-beaten face, his guarded +manner of speaking, and his name, Grant, made me quite sure that he was +a Highlandman, which he was not, but a Western Irishman. He informed us +as we went along that only part of the grounds could be seen on account +of the troubled state of the country. Whether there was any part of the +demesne that an elderly woman and a pretty girl were likely to run away +with became a subject of thought to me. Conscientiously this delightful +old man kept us off tabooed walks and shunted us into permissible +places. Where all was beautiful and new, and time having a limit, we +were quite willing when brought to order, to follow on the allowed path. + +I was admiring a tree of the regally magnificent kind, leaf-draped +branches like green robes sweeping down to the emerald sward, that +always remind me of the glorious trees which sunlight loves to gild in +the grounds at Castle Coole; I remarked on its exceeding beauty to our +guide, who said it would bear a nearer view, and we followed him on a +path through the grass till we stood beside it. Parting the foliage we +found ourselves at a natural grotto of light-colored stone, where a +stream of "the purest of crystal" came from under the rock at one end, +and glancing in the stray beams of sunlight that found their way in +through the arch of leaves, flashed down a tiny cascade in a shower of +diamonds, and with a little gurgling laugh hid under the rock again, +racing on to join the subterranean waters that laugh together over the +failure of the great canal. + +The new tower is built after the fashion of the ancient towers with the +spiral staircase, that was common to all castles and abbeys of the west. +The mason work was much coarser and more roughly done, but the imitation +of the ancient tower was very good other ways. I do not believe that +modern masons could produce so perfect a specimen of workmanship as the +tower of Moyne Abbey, with its spiral staircase of black marble. The +view from the top of the tower at Ashford repaid well the expenditure of +breath to climb up to it. + +The house is a castle and made after the pattern of ancient castles; it +is large and must contain any amount of lofty and spacious rooms, which +it is to be supposed are furnished as luxuriously and magnificently as +possible. It is certainly a very fine building, and looks as nice and +new as stone and mortar can make it, but the ivy green will soon cover +it all up with its green mantle. We were not able to walk over even the +allowed portion of the grounds, as they extended for miles. We parted +from our gentlemanly conductor at a certain gate. He was so nice that we +felt almost ashamed to offer the expected gratuity which was, however, +thankfully received. + +I pondered a little way over the man's remarks who had been our guide +through the demesne. He always kept repeating that we might have been +shown the gardens and the house, but for the disturbance in the country. +I wondered to hear hints of trouble on this estate, for no man, woman or +child, with whom I conversed, but spoke highly of the generosity, +magnanimity and kindliness of Lord Ardilaun, and his father before him. +I have seen in his lordship's own writing and over his signature the +statement that, during prosperous years, even, the rent has not been +raised, that he had for years spent on his property more than double the +rental in improvements and for labor. When I read this I thought of the +causeway raised along the brow of a hill over which I walked in the +demesne, I thought at the time what an amount of labor was expended to +place it there. There has also been made an addition to the castle, +which must have given a great deal of employment. Some, or rather a +great deal of the property was bought from the late Earl of Leitrim, who +had raised the rents, it is asserted, to the "highest top sparkle" +before selling, to enhance the value. + +I do not know anything of the value of land here; it is very stony land. +I was pointed out a field which was not very stony, comparatively +speaking, but still had more stones, or stony crust rather, than a good +farmer would desire. I was told it paid L2 per acre. I wonder how it is +possible to raise rent and taxes off these fields, never to mention +support for the farmers. The land requires very stimulating manure to +produce a crop. When bad years come, and render the tenant farmers +unable to purchase guano, the crops are worthless almost. The necessity +of buying artificial manure is a terrible necessity that American +farmers know nothing of. + +I dare say the tenants expect too much in many instances, for they are +accustomed to be treated as children in leading strings. The amount of +dependence on this one and that one in superior stations is very +wonderful, but their utter helplessness to take the first step toward +better times is also wonderful. I have heard of men, by the last bad +seasons unable to buy guano, having to strip the roofs off their houses +that the rain may wash off the soot into the land to fructify it. On +account of shelter for game, it is not permissible to cut heather for +bedding, for stock, or covering for houses. Breaking this prohibition +even on land for which they pay rent and taxes is, they complain, +punished with fines of from two and sixpence to seven and sixpence for +as much as could be carried on the back. + +For a farmer to get on here he must be able to buy manure. The crop on a +farm has to pay rent, which is high, and taxes, which are heavy, even if +no guard for somebody has to be paid for, or no malicious outrage is +levied for on the county in compensation, and manure, which, if got +before paying, is charged, I am told, twenty-five percent additional for +waiting; all this must be met before the support of the family can be +thought of beyond merely existing. The more one looks at the want of the +people, the more one becomes bewildered with the perplexities of the +situation, and the more hopeless about the setting of things right by +the Land Bill or anything else. + +It is pleasant to hear on all sides praises of Lord Ardilaun as a high- +spirited, generous man. The slight difference of opinion between him and +his people is blamed on the fact of his not being able to understand how +poor the tenants are, or how what is little in his eyes may be life or +death to them. There was some trouble, I believe, about the building of +a causeway across to some sacred island, which was built by the people +without leave asked, or in spite of prohibition given; but in the main I +think that Lord Ardilaun is very much loved. + +How it does rain in this green land. I think it rained every day of the +days I remained at Cong except the blink of sunshine that shone on the +castle and grounds the day that I went over part of the Ashford +_demesne_. + +At Cong, for the first time in my life, I heard the Irish lament or +caoine for the dead. Some one was brought in from the country to be +buried in the Abbey of Cong. It was a simple country funeral. The dead +was borne on one of the carts of the country, followed by the neighbors, +and accompanied by the parish priest of Cong. The day was very wet even +for Ireland. After the burial service was over the women, kneeling by +the new made grave, among the rank wet grass, and the dripping ivy, +raised the caoine. It was a most unearthly sound, sweet like singing, +sad like crying, rising up among the ruined towers, and clinging ivy and +floating up heavenwards. I believe the stories of banshees must have +arisen from the sound of the caoine. These mourning women were very +skilful, I was told, and were relations of the dead whom they mourned, +and whose good qualities mingled with their love and grief rose in +wailing cry and floated weirdly over the ruins and up to the clouds. + +I had at this time an invitation from Mr. Sydney Bellingham to come over +to Castle Bellingham to see life from another standpoint. I was standing +at the window debating with myself. I did not like to leave the West +before seeing a little more of it, and I do want, in the interests of +truth, to look at things from every available standpoint. If I go to +Castle Bellingham I must go now, I reasoned, for after this they go to +England. As I stood there thinking, a handsome car dashed past with a +gentleman and lady on it, followed by another with a guard of policemen. +I enquired who this guarded gentleman was, and was told it was that Mr. +Bourke who went into the Catholic church armed to the teeth. + +I have been nearly five months in Ireland, travelling about almost +constantly, and as yet have only seen three persons who were protected +by police, two men and one woman. I decided to leave Cong, and after +studying on the map the nearest way to Castle Bellingham, determined to +take that way. + +Left Cong in the early morning to sail down Lough Corrib to Galway. For +some reason the landing place has been altered, and is now some distance +from Cong, at which it used to be. This change is a drawback to Cong. +There are mills at Cong that used to grind indian corn, but they are not +used now for some reason or other, and are falling into ruin. The +shifting of the landing place was done by Lord Ardilaun, the stoppage of +the mills by him also. The landing place where the little steamer waited +for freight and passengers had a little crowd, who seemed to have more +to do than just to look on, and there was a little hum of traffic that +sounded cheerful. + +It was a very windy day; Lough Corrib's waves had white caps on. The sun +came out fitfully, and the clouds swept great shadows over the mountain +sides. There were patches of green oats bathed in sunshine, and +plantations of larch and fir standing close and locked in shadow. The +wind was so strong that the little steamer seemed to plough her way with +a bobbing motion like the coots on Lough Gill. We had a fine view from +the lake of Ashford _demesne_, and the castle looking still grander +and newer in the distance, all its towers and pinnacles bathed in the +cold sunshine. + +There are many islands in Lough Corrib besides the islands that the +priest and people of Clonbur built the causeway to. It is strange that +two lords take their titles from islands in this lake, Lord Inchiquin +and Lord Ardilaun. Some of the peasantry felt hurt because Lord Ardilaun +took his title from an island instead of from some part of the mainland. +I was pointed out in the distance from the lake, Moytura house, the home +of Sir William Wilde; it stands where was fought the battle of Moytura +in ancient times. + +From the steamer we saw the ruined fortress, Annabreen Castle, said to +be six hundred years old. The masonry is very curious, being all done +within and without, quoins, doorways, window frames, of undressed stone, +and yet most admirably done. + +I stood on the deck of the little steamer while the wind blew in the +teeth of the little boat and made her shiver and rock, and I endured +sharp neuralgiac pain, and lost my veil, which was blown off and went +sailing off into the lake because I would not miss seeing all Lough +Corrib had to show. I saw the ivy plaided walls of Caislean na +Cailliach, and on a little island the remains of an old uncemented stone +fort, so old that antiquity has forgotten it. The scenery was very +grand, the islands grassy and round, or waving with trees, the lake +covered with white horses riding with tossing manes to the shore; the +little boat with its broad breast holding its own against the swells, +the shores with green mountains checked off into fields, with higher +mountains blue in the distance rising behind them. All under + + "The skies of dear Erin, our mother + Where sunshine and shadow are chasing each other." + +The little steamer steamed up to the wharf and backed and stopped, in +most American fashion, at a lonely backwoods-looking wharf, but the +pillars for the snubbing rope were pillars of stone, and near were the +ruins of a tall square castle in good preservation. There are also the +walls of the bishop's residence here, with the bells of St. Brendan; +they told me this was the saint who discovered the happy land flowing +with milk and honey, the key to which lies hidden in Cuneen Miaul's tomb +and the ruins of an extensive abbey, a monastery and a nunnery and other +buildings. + +Truly the banks and islands of Lough Corrib are made classic by ruins. +They say the carved mouldings and stone work on these ruins are +considered the most beautiful and most perfect in Ireland. We passed, +farther on, the ruins of Armaghdown, the castle fort of the bog. After +this the land got low and flat, and we saw Menlough Castle, where a +baronet of the name of Blake resides, when he's at home. It is counted +the most beautiful of all the ancient castles which are still inhabited. +All I can say is, it looked well from the lake. Lough Corrib is +calculated to cover 44,000 acres, and is well supplied with fish. + + + + +XLV. + +THE EASTERN COAST--THE LAND QUESTION FROM A LANDLORD'S STANDPOINT. + + +Went through Galway to the station as fast as a jaunting car could take +me, and took the train for Dublin. + +Crossing Ireland thus from Galway to Dublin, I noticed that the land got +to be more uniformly fertile as we neared the eastern coast. From Dublin +the road ran down the coast, in sight of the sea for most part. Through +counties Dublin, Meath and Louth, the land looked like the garden of +Eden. It was all like one demesne heavy with trees, interspersed with +large fields having rich crops and great meadows waving with grass; the +cultivation, so weedless, so regular, every ridge and furrow as straight +as a rule could make it, every corner cultivated most scrupulously. It +was a great pleasure to look at the farms. Truly this is a rich and +fertile land. And yet in no place which I have seen so far have I +noticed any laborers' cottages, fit to live in, except on a few places +in Antrim. + +This east coast was beautiful exceedingly, and yet I saw on this good +land mud huts which were not fit to be kennels for dogs inhabited by +human beings. I heard a shilling a week spoken of as rent for these +abominable pigsties, collected every Saturday night. Twenty-five cents +looks small, but it is taken out of a small wage. The country railway +stations are very nice to look at. + +Arrived at Castle Bellingham, received a very kindly welcome indeed. +Felt inclined to snuggle down into enjoyment here, to the neglect of my +work. The country is so fertile, so beautiful, the large fields waving +with luxuriant crops. The roses are in bloom climbing over the fronts of +the houses, clinging round the second-story windows and on to the roof. +It is a feast to look at them, hanging their heads heavy with beauty in +clusters of three, creamy-white or red of every shade, from the faintest +pink to the velvet leaf of deepest crimson. I suppose that they flourish +best amid frequent rains, for this has been a remarkably rainy season, +and the wealth of roses is wonderful to see, the air is sweet with their +breath. + +South Gate House, Castle Bellingham, is one of the houses that tempts +one to the breach of the tenth commandment. I have stood in the front +garden and looked at it trying to learn it off by heart. It is draped +with a wonderful variety of roses climbing over it, wreathing round it, +heavy with bloom. Every inch of land in the front garden is utilized +with the taste that creates beauty. Inside the house is a constant +surprise; the comfort and cosiness, the space to be comfortable in, room +after room appearing as a new revelation, made it appear a very +desirable residence to me. + +At the end of the house, from the conservatory, can be seen the tree +under which His Majesty, of glorious, pious and immortal memory, eat his +luncheon on his way to fight for a kingdom at the Boyne. The Bellinghams +were an old family then. Some say proudly, "We came over with good King +William." Others can say, "He found us here when he came." + +The evening after my arrival was taken up looking at the house, looking +at the grounds, wondering over the ferns and flowers, and deciding that +it was rather nice to be an Irish country gentleman. The next morning +found me through the gardens wondering over the abundance of fruit and +the perfect management that made the most of every corner. + +Mr. Bellingham drove me over to Dunany Castle, where Sir Allan +Bellingham resides at present. The road lay through the usual beautiful +country that spreads along this east coast, plantations of fine trees, +large fields of grain, great meadows and bean fields that perfumed the +air. We passed a large mill; I took particular notice of it, because +mills do not often occur as a feature in the landscape on the western +coast. There were mills at Westport belonging to the Messrs. +Livingstone, but they were not as obtrusive as American mills are. One +became aware of them by the prosperity they created. In Cong, the corn +mill standing idle and falling to ruin, was the last mill which I had +observed. This was one reason of my noticing this mill, which was busily +working. + +When we came where the road lay along the shore, Mr. Bellingham stopped +the carriage that I might see the salmon fishers hauling in their nets. +This salmon fishery is very valuable. In 1845 the right to fish here was +paid for at the rate of L10 per annum; in 1881 the right to fish brings +L130. Still, I am told, the man who has the fishing makes a great deal. +The fish are exported. This salmon fishery belongs to Sir Allan +Bellingham. It was a strange sight to me to see so many men and boys +walking unconcernedly waist deep in the sea. I wondered over the number +of men and boys which were required to haul in one net. Truly, fishing +is a laborious business, but still, how pleasant to see the busy fisher +folk, and to know that work brings meat. I remembered the silent waters +on long stretches of the western shores. I remembered the rejoicing at +Dromore west, over the Canadian given boats. God bless, and prosper, and +multiply the fisher folk. In from the sea, through the pleasant land, we +drove a little farther into the solemn woods that surround Dunany +Castle. As we neared the castle the woods became broken into a lawn and +pleasure ground, and at a sudden turn we found ourselves before the +castle. I am not yet tired of looking at castles, whether in ruins, as +relics of the past, or inhabited as the "stately houses where the +wealthy people dwell." + +Dunany, with its court-yard, where wines, climbing roses and Virginia +creepers grew luxuriantly over the battlemented walls, reminded me of +descriptions I had read of Moorish houses in sunny Spain. Every house +has a history, and it is no wonder if these great houses tell a story of +other times and other scenes that has a powerful influence on the minds +of the descendants of those who founded these houses and carved out +these fortunes. There were little children playing before the castle, +happy and free, that ran to meet their uncle. + +We were received by Sir Thomas Butler, Sir Allan's son-in-law, whom I +had met with before on the evening of my arrival at Castle Bellingham. +My errand to Dunany Castle was, strictly speaking, to gather the +opinions of these gentlemen on the land question, but the quaint, +foreign look of the castle, and the historic names of Butler and +Bellingham, sent my mind off into the past, to the battle of the Boyne, +and into the dimness beyond, when the war cry of "A Butler" was a +rallying cry that had power in the green vales of Erin. + +In the cold Celtic times when men held by the strong hand, the numerical +fighting power of the clan was of the utmost importance, a chieftain +being valued by the number of men who would follow him to the field. As +a consequence, men were precious. In these more peaceful times, when the +lords of the soil are rated by their many acres, lands, and not likely +lads, are the symbol of greatness. + +Sir Allan Bellingham is such a fresh-looking active gentleman that I +could hardly bring myself to think that he had reached, by reason of +strength, the scriptural fourscore. I was almost too much taken up +admiring to think of the Land Question, but, after the fashionable five +o'clock tea, had some conversation with Sir Allan and Sir Thomas on the +subject. + +Sir Allan thought the Land League much to blame for the present +miserable state of affairs. Men well able to pay their rents, and +supposed to be willing to pay their rents, were prevented from paying +from a system of terrorism inaugurated by the Land League. Some +instances were given. One was of the man who had the mill which we +passed on the road, who being behind in his rent, was willing to pay but +dare not do it. Certainly by the busy appearance of the mill and by the +style of his dwelling-house it did not seem to be inability that kept +him from paying. Another instance was that of a man holding a large +farm, on which he had erected a fine house, which I saw in passing, a +very nice residence indeed, with plate glass windows, and carpeted +throughout with Brussels carpets, I am told. The large fields were +waving with a fine crop; there were some grand fields of wheat, the +stack yard had many stacks of last year's grain and hay. This man had +given his son lately L2500 to settle himself on a farm. It certainly +would not be poverty that prevented him paying his rent, for there was +every evidence of wealth around him. I heard of men, who, having paid +their rent, could not get their horses shod at the blacksmith's shop. +For breaking the rules of the Land League they were set apart from their +fellows. + +I can well imagine that serious embarrassments must arise to landlords +when their rents, their only income, are kept back from them. How I +would rejoice to know that landlord and tenant were reconciled once +more, that lordship and leadership were united in one person. + +Sir Thomas Butler informed me that, "when a landlord dies and his son +succeeds him the Government do not charge him succession duty on his +rental but on Griffith's (or the Poor Law) valuation of his estate, plus +30 per cent. If his estate is rented at only 10 per cent over the +valuation, he has to pay Government all the same, and is consequently +over charged 20 per cent because in the opinion of the Government +authorities, the fair letting value of land is from 25 to 30 per cent +over Griffiths valuation, and they charge accordingly." (I suppose it is +founded upon this law of succession duty that when a tenant dies the +widow has the rent raised upon her.) "Under the Bright clauses of the +Land Act of 1870 the Government is authorized to advance to the tenant +two-thirds of the purchase money for his holding. At first the Treasury +fixed 24 years' purchase of the valuation as the scale they would adopt, +and under that they lent 16 years' purchase to the tenant, who at once +remonstrated that their interest was a great deal more. After numerous +enquiries, &c., the treasury changed the 24 years into 30 years, and +consequently let the tenants 20 years value of their valuation, they +finding the other ten years, clearly showing that in the opinion of the +tenants themselves and the Government land was worth 30 years' purchase +of its valuation. What is the proposal now by the tenants and agitators? +That they should clearly only pay at the rate of Griffith's valuation, +which, a few years ago, they themselves asserted was fifty percent below +the selling value, and which valuation was taken when wheat, oats, +barley, butter, beef, mutton and pork were much below the present value. +Landlords have not raised their rents in proportion. My own estate in +1843 had 116 tenants, in 1880 it had 105 tenants on 5,760 statute acres. +The difference in the rent paid in 1880 over that paid in 1843 is L270, +barely six percent on the whole rental, which is almost 16 percent over +valuation. Over L2,000 was forgiven in the bad years after potato +famine, and over L1,000 has been lost by nonpaying tenants, and a +considerable sum has been expended in improvements without charging the +tenant interest; in some cases the cost has been divided between +landlord and tenant. It is a very common practice in Ireland to fix a +rent for a tenant and to reduce that rent on the tenant executing +certain improvements. No improving tenant, or one who pays his rent, is +ever disturbed in possession of his farm--it is only the insolvent one +that is put out, and by the time the landlord can obtain possession of +the farm it is always in a most delapidated condition. An ejectment for +non-payment of rent cannot be brought till a clear year's rent is due, +and usually the tenant owes more before it is brought, and he has always +from date of decree to redeem the farm by paying what is due on the +decree with costs. The landlord has, in case of redemption by the +tenant, to account for the profits he has made out of the land during +the six months. When dilapidation and waste have taken place no +compensation for the loss can be obtained by the landlord from the the +tenant. In cases of leases, the landlord finds it quite impossible to +enforce the covenants for good tillage and preservation of fences, +buildings, &c. Poor rates, sanitary, medical charities, election +expenses, cattle diseases and sundry other charges are paid by the poor +rate, which is levied on the valuation of house or farm property, +consequently the funded property-holder, banks, commercial +establishments pay far less in proportion to business done than the +landholder, who cannot make as much out of a L50 holding as a banker or +publican ought to do out of a house valued at L50. The present agitation +against rents is political, and the rent question has been brought +prominently forward by the leaders with the view of getting the farmers +on their side as the great voting power. It would have been quite +useless their endeavoring to enlist the farmers without promising them +something to their own advantage; but the interest in the land is only a +veil under which the advances for total separation from England can be +made, and will be thrown aside when no further use can be made of it." + +These are Sir Thomas Butler's sentiments and opinions. His opinions, +formed from his standpoint, are worthy of consideration. With a +lingering look at bonnie Dunany, we bade adieu to Lady Butler and the +two baronets, and were driven back to South Gate over another and more +inland road. + + + + +XLVI. + +THE EAST AND THE WEST--LANDLORDS AND LANDLORDS. + + +For good and sufficient reasons the railway carriage whisked through +the rich country, carrying me from Castle Bellingham to Rath Cottage by +the Moat of Dunfane. There is one beautiful difference between the North +and the West; the North is full of people, the hill sides are dotted +thickly with white dwellings--so much for the Ulster Custom. It pleases +the people to tell them that the superior prosperity of their northern +fields is due to their religious faith. Some parts of Lord Mount +Cashel's estate, when sold in the Encumbered Estates Court, did not pass +into hands governed by the same opinions as to the rights and duties +which property confers as are held by Mr. Young, of Galgorm Castle. +Their tenants complain of rack rents as bitterly as if they lived in the +west. They are looking eagerly to the new law for redress. In fact when +they find their tenant-right eaten up by a vast increase of rent they +consider their faith powerless in the face of their landlord's works. + +I do not think any one can pass through this country without noticing a +vast difference which is not a religious difference, between one +property as to management and another, between one part of the country +and another. In some parts the tenants build the houses, whatever sort +of houses they are able to build; they repair them as they are able, and +the landlords get the rent of them. If by any means they can improve +them, the landlord improves the rent to a higher figure. + +I was over one property in the County Antrim, the property of a man who +combines landholding as a middleman, with trade in linen fabrics and +manufacturing or bleaching, or both. I cannot say that this gentleman is +excessively popular, but he is exceedingly prosperous. His private +residence, as far as taste goes, a taste that can be gratified +regardless of expense, is as perfectly beautiful within its limits as +the property of any lord of the soil which I have come across. Indeed, +the arrangements made at such cost, kept up to such perfection, spoke of +one who owed his income to trade and not to his land alone. His hot- +houses, heavy with grapes, rich with peaches and nectarines, and +fragrant with rare flowers, were verily on a lordly scale. It was his +tenement houses that attracted my attention chiefly. They were well- +roofed, slated in almost every instance; not a roof was broken that he +owned. The cottages were rough cast and washed over with drab; they were +covered with roses that were in as rich bloom as if they were blooming +for gentry. Truly the tenants planted them, but a tenant who plants +roses is not living in a state of desperation as to the means of +existence. When he sent men to wash over the tenement houses, and the +good wives trembled for the roses. "The gardener shall come and arrange +them again and see that they are not harmed in the least," he said. + +They tell me that this gentleman, being a trader with a commercial mind, +takes for his tenements the utmost they will bring. If so, when he +builds the houses, and keeps them in thorough repair, it is surely doing +what he will with his own. Others who do not build, who never repair, +surely raise the rent on what is, strictly and honestly speaking, not +their own. + +There is a difference between this gentleman, whose tenants say, "He +will send his own gardener to fix up the roses again after the white, or +rather gray washing," and the lord in the West whose tenants say, "If he +saw a patch of flowers at the door, he would compel us to grub it up as +something beyond our station." + +The agent on the Galgorm estate told me that during twenty-five years, +when he was in Lord Mount Cashel's land office, there was but one +eviction, and that man got four hundred pounds for his tenant right +before he left the yard. This is one man's testimony of one landlord. + +Ulster, as a whole, has had more evictions, pending the Land Bill, than +any other of the provinces. It is true that she has more people to +evict. Her rent-roll during the last-eighty years has risen from +L124,481 to L1,440,072. One million, three hundred and fifteen thousand +five hundred and ninety one pounds of a rise. + + + + +XLVII. + +THE CENTRAL COUNTIES--SOME SLEEPY TOWNS. + + +Away from the North once more, this time direct southwards; paused on +the Sabbath-day in the neighborhood of Tandragee, and went to a field- +meeting at a place called Balnabeck--I wonder if I spell it right? This +gathering in a church-yard for preaching is held yearly as a +commemoration service because John Wesley preached in this same +graveyard when he made an evangelistic tour in Ireland. Although this is +only a yearly service, and a commemoration service of one whom the +people delight to honor, they made it pretty much a penitential service. +There were no seats but what the damp earth afforded, no stand for the +officiating minister but a grave; it was not, therefore, a very +attentive congregation which he addressed. The speaker, a Mr. Pepper, +had emigrated from thence when a lad to America. He now returned to the +people who had known him in earlier days. It was certainly listening +under difficulties, and we were obliged to leave, by limb-weariness, +before the service was over. + +I had an opportunity on the morrow of seeing the handsome weaving of +damask. The looms are very complicated and expensive affairs, and do not +belong to the weaver but to the manufacturer. The pattern is traced on +stiff paper in holes. Was very much interested in watching the process +of weaving; of course did not understand it, and therefore wondered over +it. The web was two and a half yards wide, was double damask of a fern +pattern. The weaver, a young and nice-looking man, with the assured +manner of a skilled worker, informed me proudly that he could earn three +shillings a day--75 cents. Out of this magnificent income he paid the +rent of his house--which was not a palace either--and supported his +wife and family. His wife, a pretty and rather refined looking young +woman, had a baby, teething sick, in the cradle. It must wail, and +mother could only look her love and coo to it in softest tones, for if +she took the little feverish sufferer up the pirns would be unwound and +the husband's three shillings would have a hole in it, so both wife and +baby had a share in the earning of that three shillings--baby's share +the hardest of all. + +Called in to see another weaver of damask to-day; he could earn fifteen +pence a day. He was a melancholy little man, of a pugnacious turn of +mind, I am afraid. He said that fifteen pence a day was but little out +of which to pay rent and support a wife and family. Thinking of the wife +and baby at the other house, we said that seeing the wife wound the +bobbins, cooked, kept house, nursed and washed for her family that she +earned her full share of the fifteen pence. Would not be surprised to +hear that there had been a controversy raging on this very subject +before we came in, the man's face became so glum and the woman's so +triumphant. It was an enthusiastic blessing she threw after us when we +left. + +Visited a great thread factory, where the yarn is made ready that is +woven into double damask, and thread for all purposes supplied to all +parts. In whatever part of Ireland the tall factory chimney rises up +into the air the people have not the look of starvation that is stamped +on the poor elsewhere. Still, if we consider a wage of seven to twelve +shillings a week--twelve in this factory was the general wages--and +subtract from that two shillings a week for the house and three +shillings a week for fuel the operators are not likely to lay up large +fortunes. As they have no gardens to the houses owned by the factory, +nor backyard accommodation of any kind, the cleanliness and tidy +appearance of houses and workpeople are a credit to them. But when times +grow hard, and the mills run half time, and not even a potato to fall +back upon, there must be great suffering behind these walls. + +There are large schools, national schools, in this village, and the +children over ten years of age, who work in the factory, go to school +half time. They are paid at the rate of two-pence halfpenny a day for +the work of the other half of the day--that is equivalent to five cents. +The teachers of the schools informed me that, when the little ones came +in the morning, as they did on alternate weeks, that they learned well, +but when they came in the afternoon they were sleepy and listless. On +that morning they had to rise at five o'clock. + +The schools which I have seen in Ireland, for so far, are conducted on +the old plan; children learn their lessons at home, repeat them to the +teachers in school, who never travel out of record, are trained in +obedience, respect to superiors, and in order, more or less, according +to the nature of the teacher. They still adhere to the broad sound of A, +which has been so universally abandoned on the other side of the water. + +The factories at Gilford are very remunerative; great fortunes, allowing +of the purchase of landed estates and the building of more than one +castlelike mansion have been made in them. From Tandragee to Portadown, +in Armagh, which we travelled in a special car, took us through the same +green country waving with crops, and in some places shaded heavily with +trees. In the environs of Gilford--as if that very clean manufacturing +town set an example that was universally followed--all the houses are +clean and white as to the outside, further away the dreadful-looking +homes abound. Portadown, all we saw of it, just passing through, is a +clean and thrifty little town. + +We would have liked to linger in Armagh a little while, but we must +hurry down to the South. Got a glimpse of Armagh Catholic cathedral--a +very fine building, not so grand, however, as the Cathedral at Sligo. +Took notice of a very fine memorial window, with the name of Archbishop +Crolly on it. I remember him very well, saw him frequently, got a pat on +the head from him occasionally. He seemed partial to the little folks, +when we played in the chapel yard--a nice place to play in was the +chapel yard in Donegal street. He was then Bishop Crolly, and I was a +very small heretic, who loved to play on forbidden ground. Walked about +a little in Armagh between the trains, saw that there were many fine +churches and other nice buildings from the outside view of them, and +passed on to Clones. The land as seen from the railway is good in some +places, poor in others, but in all parts plenty of houses not fit to be +human habitations are to be seen. + +Clones is a little town on a hill, with a history that stretches back +into the dim ages. It has a round tower that threatens to fall, and +will, too, some windy night; an abbey almost gone, but whose age and +weakness is propped up by modern repairs, as, they say, the tenure of +some land depends on the old gable of the abbey standing; a three-story +fort, that, as Clones is built on a hill and the fort is built on +Clones, affords a wide view of the surrounding country. Clones has a +population of over two thousand, has no manufactory, depends entirely on +the surrounding farming population, does not publish a newspaper, and is +quietly behind the age a century or two. The loyal people who monopolize +the loyalty are in their own way very loyal. It is delightfully sleepy, +swarming with little shops with some little things to sell; but where +are the buyers? If a real rush of business were to come to Clones I +would tremble for the consequences, for it is not used to it. + +I was quartered in the most loyal corner of all the loyal places in +Clones. Every wall on which my eyes rested proclaimed that fact. Here +was framed all the mysterious symbols of Orangeism, which are very like +the mysterious symbols of masonry to ignorant eyes. There was King +William in scarlet, holding out his arm to some one in crimson, who +informed the world that "a bullet from the Irish came that grazed King +William's arm." On the next wall is the battle of the Boyne, with some +pithy lines under. + + "And now the well-contested strand successive columns gain, + While backward James' yielding band is borne across the plain; + In vain the sword that Erin draws and life away doth fling, + O worthy of a better cause and of a nobler king! + But many a gallant spirit there retreats across the plain, + Who, change but kings, would gladly dare that battlefield again." + +I read that verse, like it, transcribe it, and turn to study the +handsome face of Johnston of Ballykillbeg, who is elevated into the +saint's place alongside of King William on many, many cottage walls, +when the hostess appears. Noting the direction of my glance, she informs +me of the martyrdom which Mr. Johnston has suffered from Government. She +has a confused idea that Mr. Johnston is at present returning good for +evil by holding our gracious Queen upon the throne in some indirect way. + +After carefully finding out what my religious opinions are, she informs +me of evangelistic services that are held in a tent at the foot of the +hill on which Clones sits. These services are not, she says, in +connection with the "Hallelujahs" or the "Salvations," but are +authorized by the Government, and are under the wing of the Episcopal +Church. Of course tent services under the wing of the Episcopal Church +are worth going to, so we attend. + +The service is quite as evangelical as if it were preached by +"Hallelujahs." There is a very large audience, and the people seem very +attentive. My hostess is much affected. She tells me that if she can +work hard and manage well and be content with her station, reverencing +her betters as she ought to do, she hopes to get to heaven at last. +Almost in the same breath she informs me that all the people of Mayo +will go to hell, if any one goes, for that is their _desarvings_. +Yes. The Mayo people are sure to be damned. "God forgive me for saying +so," adds my hostess, as a saving clause. I am afraid the evangelistic +services have failed as yet as far as my hostess is concerned; and Mayo, +beautiful and desolate Mayo, may be glad that the keys of that +inconveniently warm climate are not kept by a Clones woman whom I know. + +There are few who have not something to be proud of. My woman of Clones +is proud of the fact that she entertained and lodged for a night the +potato pilgrims--thirty-five of them--who went to Captain Boycott's +relief down to Lough Mask. After she had mentioned this circumstance a +few times, and did seem to take much spiritual comfort from the face, I +ventured to inquire if she were paid for it. Oh, yes, she was; but if +she had not been--she was all on the right side, she was that; and if +she had the power would sweep every Papist off the face of the earth. +She was wicked, she said, on this subject. + +I did not believe this woman; her talk was mere party blow. The whole +street about her was full of Papists, small and great. I do not think +she would sweep the smallest child off the face of the earth, except by +a figure of speech. There are those who really know what language means +who are responsible for this bloodthirsty kind of talk. It means little, +but it keeps up party spirit. + +I thought of speeches which I heard on the 12th of July by ministers of +the Gospel, with all the Scripture quotations from Judges, and Samuel, +telling an inflamable people--only they were too busy with their drums +and fifes to listen--that "God took the side of fighting men--Gideon +meant battle--an angel was at the head of the Lord's host--Scotland was +especially blest because it was composed of fighting men." Does the +Gospel mean brother to war against brother for the possession of his +field? How much need there is for our loving Lord to rebuke His +disciples by telling them again, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye +are of, for the leaders of my people cause them to err." + +Clones takes its name from a word that may signify the meadow of Eois, +or high meadow. It has a history that goes back to grope about Ararat +for the potsherds thrown out of the ark. It has a very old and famous +round tower, used at some time as a place of sepulchre, for a great +quantity of human bones have been found in it. In one stone of this +tower is the mark of two toes printed into the stone, or the mark of +some fossil remains dislodged by a geological hammer. + +As Clones sits upon a hill, and the fort sits on the highest part, it +commands an extensive view. There is also an ancient cross in the market +square, once elaborately carved in relief, but the figures are worn +indistinct. There are the remains of an old castle built in among the +modern walls and hidden out of sight. There are stories of an +underground passage between the abbey and the castle. In fact, they came +on this underground way when levelling the market space, but did not +explore it. There is such a romance about mystery that it is as well, I +suppose, not to let too much daylight shine in upon it. + +Clones, with its abbey, was burned by De Lacy in the thirteenth century, +which was, perhaps, its last burning. + +I was glad on the evening on which I climbed to the top of the fort to +find little gardens lying up the slope at the back of the poorer houses. +Clones is better off in this respect by being behind the age. In Antrim +and Down, in too many instances, the farmers have taken the cotter's +gardens into their fields. I wished to be sure if the gardens belonged +to the people who lived in the thatched cottages, and I spoke across the +hedge to a man who was digging potatoes in one of them, a man with a +leather apron, marking him out as a shoemaker, and a merry, contented +face. Yes, the gardens belonged to the cottages at the foot of the hill. +All the cottages had gardens in Clones. The people had all gardens in +Clones. They were not any of them in want. They had enough, thank God. +There was every prospect of a good harvest and a good harvest brought +plenty to every home. + +A few words often change the world to us. I climbed the three-storey +fort at Clones feeling sad and hopeless in the grey evening, everything +seemed chill and dreary like the damp wind, and this man's cheery words +of rejoicing over the prospect of good crops, over the yield of the +little gardens, touched me as if sunset splendor had fallen over the +world, and I came down comforted with the thought that our Father who +gives fruitful seasons will also find a way for Ireland to emerge from +the thick darkness of her present misery. + +I was referred to the Presbyterian minister of Clones for information on +the antiquities of Clones, and from his lecture, which he with great +kindness read to me, I gathered what historical hints I have inserted +here. At the minister's I met with a pleasant-faced, motherly looking +lady who talked to me of the Land question, the prevailing topic. From +remarks she made I gathered that she was an enthusiastic church member, +but on the Land question she had no ideas of either justice or mercy +that could possibly extend beyond the privileged classes. I referred to +the excessive rents, she gave a mild shake of her motherly chin and +spoke of the freedom of contract. I spoke of new landlords making new +and oppressive office rules and raising the rents above the power to pay +of the tenants he found there when coming into possession. She said they +might suffer justly if they had no written guarantee. She actually +considered that a gentleman was not bound by his word of promise, nor +did he inherit any _verbal_ agreement entered into by the man from +whom he inherited his property. I spoke of the hardship of a long life +of toil and penury ending in the workhouse. She said when they knew they +must go into the workhouse eventually why did they not go in at once +without giving so much trouble. I asked her if she, who seemed to know +what it was to be a mother, would not if it were her own case put off +going into the workhouse, which meant parting with her children, to the +very last. The idea of mentioning her name in the one breath with these +people precluded the possibility of answering. She threw down her +knitting and left the room. + +Was it not sad to think that this Christian lady had yet to learn the +embracing first two words of the Lord's prayer, Our Father. Looking at +the strength of this caste prejudice, as strong here as in India, I +often feel sad, but Our Father reigns. Protestant ministers belonging +_ex-officio_ to this upper caste, and being, so to speak, a few +flights of stairs above their people, cannot speak with the power of +knowledge which our Lord had by His companionship with the poor of His +people. + +I was more astonished than I can describe at the sentiments that met me +in this red hot corner of Monaghan. "The people were armed," they said, +"the people had revolvers and pikes, they would rise and murder them if +they were let up at all." They did not exactly know what this let up +meant, and I am sure I did not either. I heard a great deal about '98; +surely '98 ought to get away into the past and not remain as a present +date forever. I cannot for the life of me see what '98 has to do with +allowing a man to live by his labor in his own country. The land +question affects all and is outside of these old remembrances. + +I must acknowledge that I have heard no Roman Catholic mix the land +question with religion; they keep it by itself. I was informed that when +I passed Clones I was in Ireland, as if Clones was an outpost of some +other country. + +The Episcopal Church in Clones is built on an eminence and is reached by +a serious flight of steps; it looks down on the ancient cross which +stands in the market place. This church is being repaired and was +therefore open, so I climbed the long flight of steps and went in to see +it. It certainly is being greatly improved. A grand ceiling has replaced +the old one, a fine organ and stained glass windows add to the glory of +the house. I had an opportunity of speaking with the rector, and his +curate, I imagine. They pointed out the improvements in the church, +which I admired, of course, and they told me some news which was of more +interest to me than either organ tone or dim religious light streaming +through stained glass. + +They said that the temperance cause was flourishing in connection with +their congregation. Both these clergymen were strict teetotalers, they +said, and workers in the total abstinence field. The number of pledged +adherents to the temperance cause had increased some hundreds within a +given time. There was every encouragement to go on in the fight with all +boldness. Truly these gentlemen had good cheer for me in what they said +on this subject, for the drinking customs are a great curse to the +people of the land wherever I have been. + +From Clones to Belturbet Junction, where there were no cars, and there +was the alternative of waiting at the station from two to seven p.m., or +getting a special car. Waiting was not to be thought of for a moment, so +got a car and a remarkably easy-going driver. He informed me that the +rate of wages about that part of the country was one shilling a day with +food. He thought the people were not very poor. The crops were good, the +wages not bad, and he thought the people were very contented. Belturbet +is another quiet little town, larger than Clones I should say. Like +Clones it has no newspaper, no specific industry, but depends on the +farmers round. + +Procured a car and drove out to the village of Drumalee. The land is +middling good as far as the eye can judge. This neighborhood abounds +with small lakes. Here for the first time I saw lads going to fish with +the primitive fishing rods peculiar to country boys. The country round +here is full of people and there is no appearance of extreme poverty. +The houses are rather respectable looking, comparatively speaking. + +There is a fine Catholic chapel in Drumalee built of stone in place of +the mud wall of seventy odd years ago. Saw no old people about and found +that almost the recollection of Father Peter Smith, the blessed priest +who wrought miracles, had faded away from the place, also that of his +friend the loyal Orangeman who always got Orange as a prefix to his +name. + +The police in these midland counties are not so alert and vigilant, like +people in an enemy's country, as they are in the west. They do not seem +to have "reasonable suspects" on their minds. The asses of Belturbet, +although some of them appear dressed in straw harness, and with creels, +are well fed and sleek and do not bray in a melancholy, gasping manner +as if they were squealing with hunger as the Leitrim asses do. It rained +pretty steadily during the time I was in Belturbet, and the principal +trading to be seen from my window was the sale of heather besoms. A +woman and a young girl, barefooted and bareheaded, arrived at the corner +with an ass-load of this merchandise. They were sold at one half-penny +each. They were neatly made, and the heather of which they were composed +being in bloom they looked very pretty. How it did rain on these +dripping creatures! Being shut up by the weather I took an interest in +the besom merchants and their load, which was such a heavy one that a +good-natured bystander had to help to lift the load off the ass's back. +It was a long while before a customer appeared. At length a stout woman, +with the skirt of her dress over her head, ran across the street to buy +a broom. She bargained closely, getting the broom and a scrubber for one +half-penny, but as she was the first purchaser she spat upon the half- +penny for luck. Then came some more little girl buyers, who inspected +and turned over the brooms with an important commercial air, with intent +to get the worth of their half-penny and show to their mothers at home +that they were fit to be trusted to invest a half-penny wisely. They +bought and others came and bought until the stock began to diminish +sensibly. + +A little man who had arrived with his load of besoms somewhat later sold +none. I saw him glance from his load to the stock of mother and +daughter, fast selling off, and become aware that his stock as compared +with theirs was rather heathery, and he began to trim off roughnesses +with his knife. I hope he succeeded in selling. + +Drove out to Drumlane, where are the ruins of a large church and abbey +and round tower. The driver, a Catholic, talked a little, guardedly, of +the high rents. A broken-down looking man, who opened the iron gates for +us into the ruins, complained heavily of the rents. He was only a +laborer himself, the farmer he worked for was paying fifty-five +shillings an acre for part of his farm and L3 for the rest. The land on +which I looked was rented at L3. My only wonder is that the lands thus +rented pay the rent alone without supporting in any manner the tillers +of the soil. It was all pasture at this particular place. The ruins here +of the church are very extensive, of the abbey only the fragment of a +wall is standing. My guides informed me that there was an underground +passage in old days between the abbey and the church, so that the bishop +was not seen from the time he left the abbey until he appeared on the +high altar. + +They remarked that a story handed down from father to son as a true +record of a place should be believed before a written account. They made +no allowance for the coloring given to a story as it passed through the +imaginations of successive generations. I assured them that I accepted +all legends as historical facts to a certain extent. They were made +happy, and were in a fit state of mind to _insinse_ me into the +facts of the case about the round tower. It is of great thickness, the +area enclosed would make a good sized room. The stone work is remarkably +solid and good, and every stone smoothly fitted into the next with no +appearance of mortar. It is wonderful to see how the projection of one +stone is neatly fitted into a cavity made to correspond in its fellow. +On one stone a bird is cut in relief, another nearly the same in the +attitude of following is cut on another stone. There is also a +representation of a coffin. The beautiful stone work goes up a great +way, and suddenly stops, the remainder of the building being done in a +much rougher manner. + +Seeing that I was of a reasonable turn of mind, they informed me that +the lower portion of this round tower was built by a woman, but she +being jeered at and tormented by the men masons, jealous of her work, +disappeared in the night, leaving the masons to finish it, which they +did, but not nearly so well, as we could see. + +On the way from Drumlane to Ballyconnell the driver began to talk of the +bitter feeling that was kept up in the country on party subjects. He +said that religion forbid it, for if we noticed in the Lord's prayer it +was a prayer to forgive us as we forgave others. He thought Ireland +could not prosper or have God's blessing until the bitterness of party +spirit went down. + +Found Ballyconnell just such another sleepy little town as Clones and +Belturbet. Here I had the comfort of meeting a friend who had puzzled a +little over the land question in a misty sort of way, and was willing to +give the benefit of his observations and conclusions. + +From Clones to Belturbet and on to Ballyconnell, as I have mentioned +before, I believe, is pretty much the same sort of country, good fields, +middling and good pastures alternating with stretches of bog and many +small lakes dotted about here and there. Every appearance of thrifty, +contented poverty among the people as far as met the eye. They were +better clad, the little asses shod, and sleek and fat, so different from +other places. Still, the best of the common people all along here is not +very good to trans-Atlantic eyes, and the houses one sees as they pass +along are dreadfully bad. + +I spoke of this to my friend in Ballyconnell, who informed me that the +people were harassed with ever-increasing rent, that as soon as they +could not meet it they were dealt with without mercy. A man who had +toiled to create a clearing--put a life's labor into it--was often not +able to pay the increased rent and then he was put out, while another +man paid the increased rent on his neighbor's lost labor. + +This friend of mine held the opinion that landlords of the old stock +never did wrong, never were rapacious or cruel; it was the new +landlords, traders who bought out in the Encumbered Estates Court, who +had no mercy, and the agents. Here again was brought up the story denied +before that the agents had a percentage on the rents collected. + +One cannot agree with the fact of all landlords of the old stock being +considerate and kind and all new landlords rapacious; for Lord Leitrim +was of the old stock, and who would wish to succeed to the inheritance +of hatred he left behind him, and Lord Ardilaun, a new landlord, is well +spoken of by all his people. Every one with whom I spoke of him, +including the parish priest, acknowledged him to be a high-toned, +grandly benevolent man, who, if he differed from his tenants, differed +as one on a height of grandeur may misjudge the ability of the poor. + + + + +XLVIII. + +IN THE COUNTY CAVAN--THE ANNALS OF THE POOR--BURYING THE PAST. + + +As an instance of hardships of which the poor had to complain, my +informant mentioned the case of one very old man, whose children had +scattered away over the world, which meant that they had emigrated. He +held a small place on a property close beside another property managed +by my informant's brother. This old man had paid his rent for sixty-nine +years; he and his people before him had lived, toiled and paid rent on +this little place. He was behind in his rent, for the first time, and +had not within a certain amount the sum required. He besought the +intercession of my friend's brother, who, having Scotch caution in his +veins, did not, though pitying, feel called upon to interfere. The old +man tendered what money he had at the office and humbly asked that he +might have time given him to make up the rest. It was refused with +contempt. + +"Sir," faltered the old man, "I have paid my rent every year for sixty- +nine years. I have lived here under three landlords without reproach. I +am a very old man. I might get a little indulgence of time." + +"All that is nothing to me," said the agent. + +"Sir," said the old man, "if my landlord himself were here, or the +General his father, or my Lord Belmore who sold the land to him, I would +not be treated in this way after all." + +"Get out of this instantly," said the agent, stamping his foot, "How +dare you give such insolence to me." + +"You see," explained my friend, "he was very old, it was not likely that +any more could be got out of him even if he got time, for he was past +his labor. Besides there was a man beside him who held a large farm, and +he wanted this old man's little holding to square off his farm, so the +old man had to go to the wall, but I was sorry for him." + +There is a good deal of this unproductive sorrow scattered over Ireland +among the comfortable classes. There are a good many also who feel like +that motherly Christian lady in Clones who said to me, "When they have +to go into the poor-house at the last, and they know it will come to +that, why not go in at once?" + +I am convinced more and more every day of the widespread need there is +that some evangelistic effort should be made to bring a practical Gospel +to bear on the dominant classes in Ireland. + +My friend and I walked up to the church to search for some graves in the +churchyard that lies around it. He drew my attention to the socket where +a monument had been erected but which was gone, and mentioned the +circumstances under which it had disappeared. A gentleman of the +country, an Episcopalian, had fallen in love with and married a Catholic +lady. The usual bargain had been made, the daughters to follow the +mother's faith, the sons to go with the father. There was one son who +was a member of the Episcopalian church. It seemed that the son loved +and reverenced his Catholic mother, and that she was also loved and +reverenced by her Catholic coreligionists. When she died she was buried +in the family burying plot of ground in the Episcopalian churchyard. Her +son erected there a white marble cross to his mother's memory. At this +cross, on their way home from mass, sundry old women used to turn in, +and, kneeling down there, say a prayer. This proceeding, visible from +the church windows, used to annoy and exasperate the officiating +clergyman very much. At the time of the disestablishment of the Church a +committee was being formed to make some arrangements consequent upon +this event. The Episcopal son of this Catholic mother was named on the +Committee, and a great opposition was got up to his nomination on +account of his being only Protestant by half blood. There was no +objection to him personally, his faith or belief was thought sound, +except that part of it which was hereditary. My friend considered this +very wrong, and ranged himself on the side of the gentleman who was the +cause of the dispute. The dispute waxed so hot that the parties almost +came to blows in the vestry room. + +During the time this war raged some bright genius, on one of the days of +Orange procession, had a happy thought of putting an orange arch over +the churchyard gate, in such a manner that the praying women should have +to pass under it if they entered. I am not quite sure whether the arch +was destroyed or not; as far as my memory serves I think it was. +Something happened to it anyway. Something also happened to the +monumental cross, which was torn down, broken up and strewed round in +marble fragments. The gentleman prosecuted several Orangemen whom he +suspected of this outrage. There was not evidence to convict them. An +increased ill-feeling got up against the gentleman for a prosecution +that threw a slur on the Orange organization. The Orange society offered +a reward of L60 for the discovery and conviction of the offenders, but +nothing came of it. My friend thought it was done by parties unknown to +bring reproach on the Orange cause. The gentleman of the half-blood had +not been so much thought of by his fellow church members since this +transaction. + +I spoke to my friend upon the unchristian nature of this party spirit, +which he agreed with me in lamenting, but excused by telling me outrages +by the Catholic party which made me shudder. All these outrages were +confirmed by the ancient woman who kept the key of the church, and who +stood listening and helping with the story, emphasizing with the key. I +asked when these outrages had taken place, and was relieved considerably +to hear that they happened about 1798 and 1641. Asked my friend if the +other side had not any tales of suffered atrocities to tell? He supposed +they had, thought it altogether likely. Why then, I asked him, do you +not bury this past and live like Christians for the future. + +I am often asked this question about burying the past, said my friend. +My answer is, let them bury first and afterwards we will. Let them bury +their Ribbonism, their Land Leagueism, their Communism and their +Nihilism (making the motion of digging with his hands as he spoke) and +after that ask us to bury our Orangeism, our Black Chapter, our Free +Masonry, and we will do it then. + +As we came down the hill from the church, I said to my friend, "You +acknowledge that there are wrongs connected with land tenure that should +be set right. You say that you see things of doubtful justice and scant +mercy take place here, that you see oppression toward the poor of your +country; why, then, not join with them to have what is wrong redressed, +fight side by side on the Land Question and leave religious differences +aside for the time being?" "I would be willing to do this," said my +friend, "I do not believe in secret societies, although I belong to +three of them, but a man must go with his party if he means to live +here. There are many Orangemen who have become what we call 'rotten,' +about Fermanagh, over one hundred have been expelled for joining the +Land League." + +Party spirit is nourished, and called patriotism; it is fostered and +called religion, but it is slowly dying out, Ireland is being +regenerated and taught by suffering. In all suffering there is hope. +This thought comforted me when I shook hands with my friend and turned +my back to Ballyconnell and to Belturbet and took the car for Cavan, +passing through the same scenery of field and bog and miserable houses +that prevail all over. + +The only manufacture of any kind which I noticed from Clones to Cavan, a +large thriving town bustling with trade, was the making of brick, which +I saw in several places. These inland towns seem to depend almost +entirely on the agricultural population around them. + +From Cavan down through the County Cavan, is swarming with Land Leaguers +they say, although I met with none to know them as such. Poor land is in +many places, a great deal of bog, many small lakes and miserable mud +wall cabins abounding. In every part of Ireland, and almost at every +house, you see flocks of ducks and geese; raising them is profitable, +because they do not require to be fed, but forage for themselves, the +ducks in the water courses and ponds, while the geese graze, and they +only get a little extra feed when being prepared for market. Ducks can +be seen gravely following the spade of a laborer, with heads to one side +watching for worms. Neither ducks nor geese, nor both together, are as +numerous as the crows; they seem to be under protection, and they +increase while population decreases. + +As one journeys south the change in the countenance of the people is +quite remarkable. In Down, Antrim, Donegal, the faces are almost all +different varieties of the Scottish face--Lowland, Highland, Border or +Isle--but as you come southward an entirely different type prevails. I +noticed it first at Omagh. It is the prevailing face in Cavan; large, +loose features, strong jaws, heavy cheeks and florid complexion, +combined mostly with a bulky frame. You hear these people tracing back +their ancestors to English troopers that came over with Cromwell or +William the Third. They have a decided look of Hengist and Horsa about +them. + +The feeling against the Land League among the Conservative classes in +the north is comparatively languid to the deeper and more intense +feeling that prevails southward. The gulf between the two peoples that +inhabit the country widens. After leaving Cavan we crossed a small point +of Longford and thence into Westmeath, passing quite close to +Derryvaragh Lake, and then to Lake Owel after passing Mulingar, getting +a glimpse of yet another, Westmeath Lake. + +After passing Athlone and getting into Roscommon we got a view of that +widening of the Shannon called Lough Ree, sixteen miles long and in some +parts three miles wide. A woman on the train told me of that island on +this lough, Hare island, with Lord Castlemaine's beautiful plantation, +of the castle he has built there, decorated with all that taste can +devise, heart can desire or riches buy. A happy man must be my Lord +Castlemaine. Lough Ree is another silent water, like the waters of the +west unbroken by the keel of any boat, undarkened by the smoke of any +steamer, the breeze flying over it fills no sail. + +I have mentioned before how completely the County Mayo has gone to +grass. The same thing is apparent in a lesser degree elsewhere. There is +not a breadth of tillage sufficient to raise food for the people. Cattle +have been so high that hay and pasturage were more remunerative, and the +laborers depend for food on the imported Indian meal. The grassy +condition of every place strikes one while passing along; but Roscommon +seems to be given up to meadow and pasture land almost altogether. The +hay crop seems light in some places. The rain has been so constant that +saving it has been difficult in some places. I saw some hay looking +rather black, which is an unbecoming color for hay. Roscommon is a very +level country as far as I saw of it, and very thinly populated. + +The town of Roscommon has a quiet inland look, with a good deal of +trading done in a subdued manner. There is the extensive ruin of an old +castle in it; the old gaol is very castle-like also. I drove over to +Athleague as soon as I arrived, a small squalid village some four Irish +miles away. The land is so level that one can see far on every side as +we drive along, and the country is really empty. The people left in the +little hamlets have one universal complaint, the rent is too high to be +paid and leave the people anything to live on. It was raised to the +highest during prosperous years; when the bad years came it became +impossible. + +I enquired at this village of Athleague what had become of all the +people that used to live here in Roscommon. They were evicted for they +could not pay their rents. Where are they? Friends in America sent +passage tickets for many, some, out of the sale of all, made out what +took them away; some were in the poor house; some dead and gone. The +land is very empty of inhabitants. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +AN EMPTY COUNTRY--RAPACIOUS LANDLORDS. + + +From Roscommon I drove to Lanesborough where Longford and Roscommon +meet at a bridge across the Shannon, and where a large Catholic church +stands on each side of the river. The bridge at Lanesborough, a swing +bridge, substantial and elegant, the solid stone piers--all the stone +work on bridge and wharves is of hewn stone--speak of preparations for a +great traffic which is not there, like the warehouses of Westport. +Seeing all facilities for trade and all conveniences for trade prepared, +and the utter silence over all, makes one think of enchanted places +where there must come a touch of some kind to break the charm before the +bustle of life awakes and "leaps forward like a cataract." + +One man stood idle and solitary on the wharf at Lanesborough as if he +were waiting for the sudden termination of this spell-bound still life. + +My glimpse of Longford from the neighborhood of Lanesborough showed a +place of wooded hills and valleys covered with crops, and with this +glimpse we turned back over the plain of Roscommon. The road lay through +peat bog for a good part of the way, and the mud-wall cabins were a sad +sight indeed. + +Empty as the country is, eviction is still going on. Many have occurred +lately, and more are hanging over the people. From Roscommon to Boyle, +across more than one-half the length of this long county, from Roscommon +to French Park, the country is so completely emptied of inhabitants that +one can drive a distance of five miles at once without seeing a human +habitation except a herd's hut. The country is as empty as if William +the Conqueror had marched through it. + +Several persons called upon me to give me some information on the state +of things in general. I also received some casual information. One +gentleman of large experience from his position, a person of great +intelligence and cultivation, while utterly condemning the Land League, +admitted that some change in the Land Law was absolutely necessary. He +instanced one case where a gentleman acquired a property by marriage and +immediately set about raising the rent. Rent on one little holding was +raised from L2 to L10 at one jump. In no case was it less than doubled. +This landlord complains bitterly that the people under the influence of +the Land League have turned against him. They used to bow and smile, and +it was, "What you will, sir," and, "As you please." Now they are surly +and sullen and will not salute him. + +The farmer who holds a good-sized farm always wishes to extend its +borders and is ready and eager to add the poor man's fields to his own. +Concentration of lands into few hands, reducing small farmers into +laborers, is the idea that prevails largely. + +My Athleague friend, a very interesting old gentleman, after mentioning +the great depopulation of Roscommon, spoke of good landlords, such as +Lord Dufresne, Mr. Charles French, the O'Connor Don, Mr. Mapother; but +he paused before mentioning any oppressive ones. "Would his name +appear?" No. His name should not appear. "Well, for fear of getting into +any trouble I will mention no names, but we find that they who purchased +in the Encumbered Estates Court are the most rapacious landlords." + +One gentleman, who was representing to me the discouragement given to +improvement, mentioned a case where a person of means who held a little +place for comfort and beauty, but lived by another pursuit than farming, +sought the agent to know if he could obtain any compensation for +improvements which he had made, and which had made his place one of the +most beautiful in Roscommon. He wanted to be sure that he was not +throwing his money away. When he sought the agent on this subject he +found him on his car preparing to drive away somewhere. He listened to +his tenant's question as to compensation for outlay, and then whipped up +the horse and drove away without answering. + +I had a call from an elderly gentleman, before I left Roscommon, who +gave me his views on the question very clearly. He thought as God had +ordained some to be rich and others to be poor, any agitation to better +the condition of the poor was sheer flying in the face of the Almighty. +Under cover of helping the poor the Land League were plotting to +dismember the British Empire. There never had been peace in the country +since the confiscation, and there never would be until the Roman +Catholic population were removed by emigration and replaced by +Protestants. The blame of the present disturbed condition of the country +he laid upon four parties: First, the Government, who administered the +country in a fitful manner, now petting, now coercing, while they should +keep the country steadily under coercion, for alternately petting and +coercing sets parties against one another more than ever. Second, +landlords and agents, who rented land too high and raised the rent on +the tenant's own invested improvements. Third, the priests, who could +repress outrage and reveal crime if they chose to do so. Fourth, +Catholic tenants who took the law into their own hands instead of +patiently waiting for redress by law. + +According to this gentleman, the only innocent persons in Ireland were +the Protestant tenantry; so to root out the Catholics and replace them +by Protestants was the only possible way to have peace in the country. +Boycotting he referred to especially as a dangerous thing, which +paralyzed all industry and turned the country into a place governed by +the worst kind of mob law. + +Another gentleman of position and experience said that a strike against +paying rent led easily into a strike against paying anything at all; +that society had really become disorganized. Many held back their rents, +which they were well able to pay--had the money by them. The Land League +had done a great deal of harm. At the same time this gentleman confirmed +the Athleague gentleman's statement that rents were raised past the +possibility of the tenant's paying, that eviction was cruel and +persistent, the belief being that large grass farms were the only paying +form of letting land. In fact, he said, he himself had evicted the +tenants on his property on pain of being evicted himself. He held land, +but at such a rent that if living by farming alone he would not be able +to pay it. + +He gave some instances of boycotting. One was that travelling in the +neighboring county of Longford he had occasion to get a smith to look at +his horse's shoes, and was asked for his Land League ticket. On saying +he had none, the smith refused to attend to the horse's shoes. Roscommon +had boycotted a Longford man who had taken willow rods to sell because +he had not a Land League ticket, and a Longford smith in reprisal would +not set the shoe on the horse of a Roscommon man unless he had a Land +League ticket. When the gentleman explained that he had bought five +hundred of those same rods from that same man the smith attended to the +horse, and the boycotting was over. + +I heard of other cases of boycotting. It is not by any means a new +device, although it has come so prominently before the public lately. + +From Roscommon I crossed country past Clara and Tullamore, across King's +county into Portarlington on the borders of Queen's county. +Portarlington is the centre of a beautiful country full of cultivated +farms as well as shut-up and walled-in gentlemen's seats. + +Walking down the principal street, I noticed a large placard fastened to +a board hanging on a wall; thought it was a proclamation and stopped to +read it. It was an exposition of the errors of the Catholic Church in +such large type that he that runs may read it. I have some doubts +whether this is the best way of convincing people of an opposite belief +of their errors. I went into the shop thinking I might perhaps buy a +newspaper. I fear me the mistress of the establishment, a timid, elderly +woman, imagined me to be a belligerent member of the attacked church +come to call her to account, for she retreated at a fast run to the +kitchen from which she called an answer in the negative to my enquiry. + +Returning to my abiding place, I asked the hostess if the town contained +many Catholics. "Oh, dear no," she replied, "there are few Catholics. +The people are nearly all Protestants." In this neighborhood the +celebrated John George Adair, of Derryveigh celebrity, has a magnificent +residence called Belgrove Park. He has the name of being a very wealthy +man. He is not praised here, but has the reputation of being hard- +hearted, exacting and merciless. I doubted a little whether it was +really the same man, as they called him, irreverently enough, Jack +Adair, but to convince me they immediately began repeating the verses +with their burden of five hundred thousand curses on cruel John Adair, +which they could repeat readily with variations. + +The railway facilities are very slow and conservative in their motions. +I could not get on to Limerick the same day, but had to remain over +night in Portarlington. + +At Limerick Junction there was another wait of two hours, and at last we +steamed into Limerick. It is a large city of tall houses, large churches +and high monuments. The inhabitants say it was celebrated for its tall +houses five or six hundred years ago. + + + + +L. + +THE CITY ON THE SHANNON. + + +The Shannon is a mighty river running here between low green banks. The +tide comes up to Limerick and rises sometimes to the top of the sea +wall. A fine flourishing busy town is Limerick with its shipping. I have +discovered the post-office, found out the magnificent Redemptorist +Church. Noticing this church and the swarm of other grand churches with +the same emblems and the five convents as well as other buildings for +different fraternities, noticing also the queer by-places where +dissenting places of worship are hidden away, one concludes that they +are in a Catholic city, and so they are. On Sunday found out a little +Presbyterian Church hid away behind some houses and joined its handful +of worshippers. + +In the afternoon walked along the streets for some way and found myself +all at once in what is called the English part of the town, but which +looked more foreign than any place I have yet seen on my own green isle. +The houses were tall, and had been grand in King Donagh O'Brien's time, +I suppose. The streets were very narrow. The last week's wash, that +looked as if the Shannon was further away than it is, fluttered from the +broken windows of the fifth story. All the shops were open; there did +not seem to be any buyers, but if there were, they might get supplied. +The very old huckster women sat by their baskets of very small and very +wizened apples, and infinitesimal pears that had forgotten to grow. Two +women, one in a third-story window and one on the street, were +exchanging strong compliments. In fact, as our cousins would say, "there +was no Sunday in that English quarter worth a cent." I made my escape +with a sick longing for some one to carry a gospel of good tidings of +great joy in there. + +Next morning I found out the English Cathedral, which is at the very +border, so to speak, of that forgotten place. It stands in pretty +grounds. The elderly gentleman who has the care of it, and who shows it +off like a pet child, happened to be there, and took charge of me. He +was determined I should conscientiously see and hear all about that +church. This church was built in 1194 by Donagh O'Brien, King of +Munster. It was not new even then, for King Donagh made his new church +out of an old palace of his. + +I followed that old man while he pointed out the relics of the old and +the glories of the new, the magnificent painted windows, the velvet of +the costliest that covered the altar, the carvings of price, the +cushions and the carpets, and, a few steps away, the fluttering rags, +the horrible poverty, the hopeless lives of the English quarter. Truly +the fat and the wool are in one place, and the flock on the dark +mountains in another. Outside are various stone cupboards, called +vaults, where highbred dust moulders in state free from any beggarly +admixture. + +That old man wished to delude me up unknown steps to the battlements and +up to other battlements on the top of the church tower--it was raining +heavily, and the gray clouds lying on the house tops, you could hardly +have seen across two streets--to see the view forsooth; then he +volunteered to set the bells ringing in my honor, but I declined. He +then told me of the bells--it was new to me; it may not be new to +others. They were--well--taken without leave from Italy. The Italian +who cast them pilgrimed over the world in search of them. Sailing up the +Shannon he heard his long-lost bells, and it killed him, the joy did. + +The puritan soldiers destroyed the profusion of statues that decorated +this church. Noticed one simple monument to one Dan Hayes, an honest man +and a lover of his country. Near this cathedral is the house where +Ireton died, tall and smoky, battered and fallen into age, but very +high. Its broken windows showed several poverty-stricken faces looking +down on the cathedral grounds, which, of course, are kept locked. King +John's castle, very strong, very tall, very grim, seems mostly composed +of three great towers, but there are really seven. Inside the walls is a +barrack that could lodge 400 men. Limerick is full of old memorials of +present magnificence and of past and present need. The inhabitants +proudly tell you that it never was conquered, not considering +capitulation conquest. The city raised the first monument to O'Connell. +Of course I saw it, and thought it a good likeness. There is a square of +grass and trees near it, where is a monument of Spring Rice, he who, +when O'Connell was sick once, a political sickness, was said to be in +despair: + + "Poor Spring Rice, with his phiz all gloom, + Kept noiselessly creeping about the room; + His innocent nose in anguish blowing, + Murmuring forth, 'He's going, going.'" + +I did not hear the sweet bells that charmed the life out of the poor +wandering Italian, still I think I have perhaps told enough about the +ancient city of Limerick on the Shannon. + +From Limerick up through Clare, the railway passes along by the river +Fergus, a big tributary of the Shannon. A Clare man informed me that +Clare returned Dan O'Connell to Parliament. He sank his voice into an +emphatic whisper to inform us that Dan was the first Catholic who ever +got into Parliament. + +I have been taken for this one and that one since I came to Ireland, and +have been amused or annoyed, as the case may be, but I am totally at a +loss to know whom I resembled or was taken for in the County Clare. A +decent-looking countrywoman shook hands with me, telling me she had seen +me in some part of Clare a month ago, and I had never set foot into the +county until to-day. "You remember me, my lady, I saw you when you +stopped at ----" some whispered name with an O to it. The woman's face +was strangely familiar, but I was on entirely new ground. + +There is enchantment in this western country. I was completely +bewildered when a frieze-coated farmer told me, "That was a grand speech +you made at Tuam, and true every word of it." It was a little confusing, +seeing that I have never been in Tuam, or very near it at all. This old +gentleman enquired coaxingly if I were going to speak at Ennis, and +assured me of a grand welcome to be got up in a hurry. Then he and the +farmer's wife exchanged thoughts--that "I did not want anybody to know I +was in it"--in aggravating whispers as I looked steadily out of the +windows to assure myself that I was I. My friend in frieze then began to +draw my attention to certain landmarks, the ruins of this abbey and that +castle, and the other graveyard as points of interest with which I was +supposed to be familiar. + +Truly this part of Clare seemed to have any amount of square castles in +ruined grandeur scattered along the line of rail. We stopped at a +station and saw Ennis lying below us, and O'Connell's statue rising up +between us and the sky. My two friends parted from me here to my immense +relief. I felt as if I were obtaining admiration on false pretences. The +woman took my hand, and, with a long fond look, began to bless me in +English, but her feelings compelled her to slide off into fervent Irish. +The frieze-coated gentleman stood, hat in hand, and bowed and bowed, and +"his life was at my service, and if I wished to pass unnoticed sure he +could whisht, and good-by and God bless you." and away they went. For +whom did they take me? + +Clare is pretty stony. Again I saw fields from which stones had been +gathered to form fences like ramparts. Again I saw fields crusted with +stone like the fields of Cong, with the same waterworn appearance, but +not so extensive. The little, pretty station of Cusheen seemed an oasis +in a stony wilderness. + +Past many a little field hemmed in with stony barricades, past many an +ancient ruin, sitting in desolation, into Athenry, the ancient Ath-an- +righ, the fortress of kings. It was pouring rain, it often is pouring +rain. I took shelter in the hotel whose steps rise from the railway +station. There, in a quaint little corner room with a broad strip of +window, I settled myself to write with the light of a poor candle, and +the rain fell outside. Athenry bristles with ruins. + +King John has another castle here all in ruins. There is a part of a +wall here and there, and the arch of a gate which has been patched up +and has some fearful hovels leaning up against it. It has the ruins of +an abbey and of a priory. The names of Clanricarde and De Birmingham +linger among these ruins; the modern cabins, without window pane or any +chimney at all, but a hole in the roof, are mixed up with the ruins +also. + +The well-fed maid at the hotel informed me that they were very poor. +There is no work and no tillage, the land being in grass for sheep. "I +do not believe any of them know what a full meal means. No one knows how +they manage to live, the creatures," said the maid, comfortably. So the +night and the morning passed at Athenry, and we passed on to the village +of Oranmore. + + + + +LI. + +GALWAY AND THE MEN OF GALWAY. + + +From Athenry and its ruins went to Oranmore and its ruins. The poverty +of Athenry deepens into still greater poverty in Oranmore. The country +is under grass, hay is the staple crop, so there being little tillage, +little labor is required. They depend on chance employment to procure +the foreign meal on which they live. Some depend for help to a great +extent on the friends in America. + +There is a new pier being built here, for an arm of the sea runs up to +Oranmore. They told me that this pier was being built by the Canadian +money. It will be a harbor of refuge for fishing craft and better days +of work and food may yet dawn upon the West. + +Behind the pier are the ruins of a large castle which belonged to the +Blakes, one of the Galway tribes. It was inhabited by the last Blake who +held any of the broad acres of his ancestors within the memory of the +old people. I stood in the roofless upper room which had been the +dancing saloon, penetrated into galleries built for defence lit only by +loop holes, went down the little dark stair into the dungeon, tried to +peer into the underground passage that connected with the seashore, +ascended to the battlements and looked over the lonely land and explored +multitudes of small rooms reached by many different flights of stone +steps. + +These people are largely of the Norman blood. Oh, for the time when +peace and plenty, law and order shall reign here; when the peasant shall +not consider law as an oppressor to be defied or evaded, an engine of +oppression in the hands of the rich, but an impartial and inflexible +protector of the rights of rich and poor alike! + +A young priest told me here that the clergy about this place were +opposed to the teachings of the Land League--did not countenance it +among their people. A Catholic gentleman in Roscommon told me the same +concerning the bishop and clergy of his own locality. + +The tillage about Galway is careful and good, what there is of it. I saw +great fields of wheat that had been cleared of stones, by generations of +labor I should say. I had this fact brought to my mind by some peasants +in the neighborhood of Athenry, in this way: "A man works and his family +works on a bit of ground fencing it, improving it, gathering off the +stones; as he improves his rent is raised; he clings to the little home; +he gets evicted and disappears into the grave or the workhouse, and +another takes the land at the higher rent; improves from that point; has +the rent raised, till he too falls behind and is evicted; and so it goes +on till the lands are fit for meadowing and grass, and the holdings are +run together and the homes blotted out." Of course I do not give the +man's words exactly, but I give his thoughts exactly. + +Galway was something of a disappointment to me at first, it had not such +a foreign look as I expected. It is a very busy town, has every +appearance of being a thriving town, every one you meet walks with +purpose as of one who has business to attend to. It is refreshing to see +this after looking at the hopeless faces and lounging gait of the people +of many places in the west. Wherever the tall chimneys rise the people +have a quick step and an all-alive look. + +I wandered about Galway, and to my great delight had a guide to point +out what was most worth looking at. Of course I heard of the bravery of +the thirteen tribes of Galway, who snapped up Galway from the +O'Flaherties and assimilated themselves to the natives as more Irish +than themselves. After walking about a little I did notice the arched +gateways and the highly ornamented entrance doors which they concealed. + +The first place of interest pointed out to me was Lynch castle. From one +of the windows of this castle Warder Lynch, in 1493, hung his own son. +It is said from this act the name Lynch Law arose. The Lynch family, +originally Lintz, came from Lintz in Austria. + +This mayor or Warder Lynch was a wealthy merchant trading with Spain. He +trusted his son to go thither and purchase a cargo of wine. The young +man fell into dissipation, and spent the money, buying the cargo on +credit. The nephew of the Spanish merchant accompanied the ship to +obtain the money, and arrange for further business. The devil tempted +the young Lynch to hide his folly by committing crime. Near the Galway +coast the young Spaniard was thrown overboard. All the friends of the +family and his father received the young merchant after his successful +voyage with great joy. The father consented to his son's marriage with +his early love, the daughter of a neighbor, who gladly consented to +accept the successful young merchant for his son-in-law. All went merry +as a marriage bell. Just before the marriage a confessor was sent for to +a sick seaman, who revealed young Lynch's crime. The Warder of Galway +stood at the bed of this dying man, and heard of the villany of his +beloved son. Young Lynch was arrested, tried, found guilty, and +sentenced. The mother of young Lynch, having exhausted all efforts to +obtain mercy for her son, flew in distraction to the Blake tribe--she +was a Blake--and raised the whole clan for a rescue. When the hour of +execution dawned, the castle was surrounded by the armed clan of the +Blakes, demanding that the prisoner be spared for the honor of the +family. The Warder addressed the crowd, entreating them to submit to the +majesty of the law, but in vain. He led his son--who, when he had borne +the shame, and came to feel the guilt of his deeds, had no desire to +live--up the winding stair in the building to that very arched window +that overlooks the street, and there, to that iron staple that is fixed +in the wall, he hung him with his own hands, after embracing him, in +sight of all the people. The father expected to die by the hands of the +angry crowd below, but they, awed, went home at a dead march. The mother +died of the shock, and the sternly just old man lived on. I looked at +his house in Lombard street. Over the entrance is a skull and cross +bones in relief on black marble, with this motto, which I copied, + + "REMEMBER DEATH + Vanitie of vanities, and all is but vanitie." + +There is a fine museum in Queen's College, Galway, which I did not see. +Of course there are many things I did not see, although my eyes were on +hard duty while there. I did see specimens of that most beautiful marble +of Connemara. It is worked up into ornaments, in some cases mounted with +silver. As soon as any one enquires for it they are known to be from +America. A book shaped specimen that I coveted was priced at twelve and +sixpence. It is there yet for me. It is of every shade and tint of +green, and is really very lovely. I saw many specimens of it +manufactured into harps stringed and set in silver, with a silver +scroll, and the name of Davitt or Parnell on them in green enamel. There +were brooches and scarf pins of this kind. I did not notice the name of +the great Liberator among these ornaments. + +The Claddagh was a great disappointment to me. I heard that it was not +safe to venture into it alone. I got up early and had sunshine with me +when I strolled through the Claddagh. I saw no extreme poverty there. +Most of the houses were neatly whitewashed; all were superior to the +huts among the ruins at Athenry. The people were very busy, very +comfortably clothed, and, in a way, well-to-do looking. Some of the +houses were small and windowless, something the shape of a beehive, but +not at all forlornly squalid. They make celebrated fleecy flannel here +in Claddagh. They make and mend nets. They fish. I saw some swarthy men +of foreign look, in seamen's clothes, standing about. You will see +beauty here of the swarthy type, accompanied by flashing black eyes and +blue black hair, but I saw lasses with lint white locks also in the +Claddagh. The testimony of all here is that the Claddagh people are a +quiet, industrious, temperate and honest race of people. I am inclined +to believe that myself. It is a pretty large district and I wandered +through it without hearing one loud or one profane word. I was agreeably +disappointed in the Claddagh. Claddagh has a church and large school of +its own. + +They told me that the Galway coast has the same flowers as the coast of +Spain. I can testify that flowers abound in little front gardens, and +window panes, and in boxes on every window ledge. I did not go to see +the iodine works, where this substance is manufactured from sea weed. I +saw people burning kelp--and smelled them too--on the Larne and +Carnlough coast and in Mayo. They burn the dried sea weed in long narrow +places built of stone. They are not kilns, but are more like them than +anything else I know of. You see stacks and ropes of the sea weed put up +to dry. Kelp burning is not a fragrant occupation, and its manufacture +is not specially attractive. + +I think Galway is a very prosperous thriving town. I went to the bathing +place of Salt Hill, a long suburb of pretty cottages, mostly to be let +furnished to sea bathers. I should have gone on to Cushla Bay and to the +islands of Arran, but I did not. I looked round me and returned to +Galway. + +There is difference perceptible to me, but hardly describable between +the Galway men and the rest of the West. The expression of face among +the Donegal peasantry is a patience that waits. The Mayo men seem +dispirited as the Leitrim men also do, but are capable of flashing up +into desperation. The Galway men seem never to have been tamed. The +ferocious O'Flaherties, the fierce tribes of Galway, the dark Spanish +blood, have all left their marks on and bequeathed their spirit to the +men of Galway. I met one or two who, like some of the Puritans, believed +that killing was not murder, who urged that if the law would not deter +great men from wrong-doing it should not protect them. + +When trade revives and prosperity dawns upon the West the fierce blood, +like the Norman blood elsewhere, will go out in enterprise and spend +itself in improvements. + +Land was pointed out to me in Galway for which L4 an acre was paid by +village people to plant potatoes in. This is called conacre. In going +through Galway City, even in the suburbs, I did not see great appealing +poverty such as I saw elsewhere. There was the bustle of work and the +independence of work everywhere, but in the country, there seems poverty +mixed with the fierce impatience of seeing no better way to mend +matters. I heard of evictions having taken place here and there, but saw +none. + + + + +LII. + +THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY. + + +There is a good deal of disturbance about Limerick, according to the +papers. A traveller would never discover it. It does not appear on the +surface. I have been a little here and there in the environs of +Limerick, and have seen no sign of any mob or any disturbance. Police go +out unexpectedly to do eviction service and it is only known when the +report comes in the papers. + +I did not hear in Limerick town or county, in any place where I happened +to be, of any landlord who had got renown for any special hardness. +There was a person boycotted quite near to the city who was getting help +from neighboring landowners to gather in his crops. What his offence was +I did not learn. + +In Limerick I met with an old and very dear friend who gave me a few +facts about boycotting as seen in personal experience. An outlying farm +was taken by my friend from which a widow lady had been evicted before +the present agitation commenced. A premium of L100 was paid for +possession. My friends had congratulated themselves on this transaction +having occurred before the organization of the Land League; but one +night an armed and masked party took the widow lady and reinstated her +in her place. My friends were startled a little by a visit from this +party, who informed them that they were returning from reinstating the +lady in her place. Had they any objection? No, they had no objection. +Would they disturb her in possession? No, they would not disturb her in +possession. If they had only the L100 which they had invested they were +quite willing to surrender the farm. Three cheers were given for my +friends, three cheers for the widow lady, a gun was fired off, there was +a wild cheer for Rory of the Hills, and they disappeared. The widow lady +after some time quietly left the place of her own accord, and everything +was as it had been before. They, the armed party, found out that they +were not doing the lady a kindness by reinstating her, and so the matter +ended. + +Limerick, though an old city, is not a very large one. Going down the +principal street--George's street--you can look down any of the cross +streets beyond the masts on Shannon and see on the other side of the +river oats, waving yellow and in stocks, up the slope. Standing on the +Wellesley Bridge, where young Fitzgibbon in bronze stands on a granite +pedestal, perpetually endeavoring to draw his sword--which he succeeded +in drawing to some purpose at Alma and Inkerman, if we are to credit the +pedestal, which we do--you can look down the Shannon, over the boats and +among the steamboat chimneys and the ships' masts, and see the green +banks of the Shannon, broad and wide, with cattle standing ankle deep in +the rich pasture. You can see them as they extend far away, widening as +they go, till the horizon shuts out any farther view. The constant rain +of these two last months, I am afraid, will damage the ripening crop. It +is near the close of August and there is hay yet uncut, there is hay +lying out in every form of bleached windrow, or lap, or spread, under +the rain. Some of it looks quite spoiled. + +No one, I suppose, leaves Limerick without gazing at and perhaps wishing +for some of the beautiful specimens of Limerick lace that are displayed +in the shop-windows. + +From Limerick to Killarney in the rain through a country gradually +growing poorer. At the junction there was a detention which enabled me +to walk about a little. There was a detachment of police that filled a +couple of car passing on their way to eviction in one direction; a large +detachment returning from eviction got out of the cars here. Eviction in +this part of Ireland is feverishly active, and on every hand you hear of +Mr. Clifford Lloyd. A person with whom I had some conversation told me I +could have no idea of the state of the country without penetrating +through it away from the line of rail. Of course this is so. + +As we neared Killarney the waters were out over the low lying lands and +the hay looked pitiful. In a pelting rain we steamed into Killarney, +passed through the army of cabmen and their allies and were whirled away +to Lakeview House on the banks of the lower Killarney lake, a pretty +place standing in its own grounds. Killarney is a nice little town with +some astonishing buildings. I have heard it styled as a dirty town; it +struck me as both clean and rather stylish in its general appearance. It +seems to depend almost entirely on tourists. Unlike Limerick, unlike +Galway, but very like other western towns the number of people standing +idly at the corners, or leaning against a tree to shelter from the rain, +strikes a stranger painfully. The lounging gait and alert eyes mark +people who have no settled industry, but are watching their chance. + +We were allured to Lakeview Hotel by a printed card of terms and found +it delightfully situated. Did not intend to linger here any time, did +not seem to care much for the lakes now when I had got to see them. It +was a damp evening, the mountains, that loom up on every hand, were +wrapped in their gray cloaks, the lake whipped up by the squally winds +had risen in swells and everything looked dismal. I shall see some one +convenient sight and look round me and leave in the morning, I said. + +The only available sight to be seen that night was Torc Cascade--well, I +will be content with that. I must take a car; bargained for that, and +drove through the walled-up country. Every place here is walled up, +enclosed, fenced in. I noticed some cottages that were pictures of +rustic beauty, others that were dirty hovels. The pretty cottages were +occupied by laborers on the estates that border on the lake. Passed a +handsome, little Episcopalian church in a sheltered place; near it were +two monumental crosses of the ancient Irish pattern, erected by the +tenants to the memory of Mr. Herbert, who was their landlord and who is +spoken of by the people as one who deserved that they should devote some +of their scant earnings to raise a cross to his memory. + +In due time we arrived at a little door in the wall, where a man stood +in Mr. Herbert's interest, who gave a small ticket for sixpence, +unlocked the little arched door and admitted the stranger into this +temple of nature and art. A board hung on a tree was the first object, +warning visitors not to pluck ferns or flowers, the man at the gate +having notice to deprive marauding visitors of anything so gathered. +There is a winding gravel walk leading up the height almost alongside of +the brawling stream that leaps from rock to rock. I did not see any +flowers at all, but the common heather bell in two varieties and the +large coarse fern so common in our Canadian woods. There are many +cascades unnamed and unnoticed in our Canadian forests as handsome as +Torc Cascade. When you get up a good way you come to a black fence that +bars the way. You are above the tall firs, and the solemn Torc Mountain +rises far above you. I would have been lost in admiration had I never +seen the upper Ottawa or the River aux Lievres. Feeling no inclination +to commit petty larceny on the ferns, I descended slowly and returned. + +The ruined abbey of Muckross is another of the sights of Killarney. +Every visitor pays a shilling to Mr. Herbert for permission to enter +here. I did not go to see it, but some of the party at the hotel did. +They described the cloisters as being in a good state of preservation-- +cloisters are a kind of arched piazza running round a court yard, in +this case having in its centre a magnificent yew tree. These ruins are +taken great care of, therefore parts of the abbey are in a pretty good +state of preservation. They tell of a certain man named John Drake, who +took possession of the abbey kitchen about one hundred years ago, lived +there as a hermit for about eleven years in the odor of sanctity. + +There was quite a party going through the gap of Dunloe, which reduced +the price of the trip to very little, comparatively speaking, and I was +persuaded to join it. Every available spot about here has a lordly +tower, a lady's bower, an old ruin or a new castle. The Workhouse is +fine enough and extensive enough for a castle, and the Lunatic Asylum +might be a palace for a crowned head. There are the ruins of Aghadon +Castle on one ridge and the shrunk remains of a round tower. A brother +of the great O'Connell lives here in a white house bearing the same name +as the hotel, Lakeview House. We look with some interest at Dunloe +Castle. once the residence of O'Sullivan Mor, and listen to the car-man +who tells us of the glories of the three great families that owned +Kerry, O'Sullivan Mor, O'Sullivan Bear and great O'Donoghoe. + +Of course we hear legend after legend of the threadbare tales of the +Lakes. We heard much of the cave of Dunloe which has many records, in +the Ogham character, of Ireland in the days of the Druids. All this time +we were driving along a road with bare mountains, and tree-covered +mountains rising on every hand. It reminded me in some places of the +long glen in Leitrim, in others of Canadian scenes among the mountains. +We began to be beset by mounted men on scrubby ponies. They gathered +round us, riding along as our escort, behind and before and alongside +urging on us the necessity of a pony to cross the road through the gap. +Their pertinacity was something wonderful. + +The carman stopped at a miserable cabin said to have been the residence +of the Kate Kearney of Lady Morgan's song. That heroine's modern +representative expects everyone to take a dose of goat's milk in poteen +from her, and leave some gratuity in return. The whole population turned +out to beg under some pretext or another. One very handsome girl, +bareheaded and barefooted, and got up light and airy as to costume, +begged unblushingly without any excuse. She gathered up her light +drapery with one hand, and kept up with the horse, skelping along +through mud and mire as if she liked it. I noticed that she was set on +by her parents who were the occupiers of a little farm. + +Suddenly our car stopped at a house where all sorts of lake curiosities +were exposed for sale. From this point it was four miles, Irish miles, +through the gap to the lake to the point where we took the boat. This +was one circumstance of which we were not aware when we started; it was +therefore a surprize. I am sorry to say that this gap was a +disappointment to me. It was a difficult path among bare mountains, but +nothing startling or uncommon. + +What was uncommon was the relays of indefatigable women that lay in wait +for us at every turn. Goats' milk and poteen, photographs, knitted +socks, carved knick-nacks in bog oak; everything is offered for sale; +denial will not be taken. You pass one detachment to come upon another +lurking in ambush at a corner. There are men with small cannons who will +wake the echoes for a consideration; there are men with key bugles who +will wake the echoes more musically for a consideration; there is the +blind fiddler of the gap who fiddles away in hopes of intercepting some +stray pennies from the shower. One impudent woman followed us for quite +a way to sell us her photograph, as the photograph of Eily O'Connor, +murdered here by her lover many years ago--murdered not at the gap but +in the lake. There was a large party of us and these followers, horse, +foot and artillery, I may say were a persistent nuisance all the way. +The ponies, crowds of them, followed us to the entrance of the Gap, +where they disappeared, but the women and girls never faltered for the +five miles. The reiterated and re-reiterated offer of goat's milk and +poteen became exasperating; the bodyguard of these pertinacious women +that could not be shaken off was most annoying. The tourists are to the +inhabitants of Killarney what a wreck used to be to the coast people of +Cornwall, a God-send. + +One does feel inclined to lose all patience as they run the gauntlet +here, and then one looks around at the miserable cabins built of loose +stones, at the thatch held on by ropes weighted with stones, the same as +are to be seen in Achil Island, among the Donegal hills, or the long +glens of Leitrim, notices the patches of pale, sickly, stunted oats, the +little corners of pinched potatoes--a girl passed us with a tin dish of +potatoes for the dinner, they were little bigger than marbles--the +little rickles of turf that the constant rain is spoiling, and one sees +that as there is really no industry in the place, of loom or factory, +that want and encouragement have combined to make them come down like +the wolf on the fold to the attack of tourists. It spoiled the view, it +destroyed any pleasure the scenery might have afforded, and yet under +the circumstances it was natural enough on their part. "We depend on the +tourists, this is our harvest," the carmen explained to us. From the +hotel keeper to the beggar all depend on the tourist season. + +After all it was something to have passed through between the +Macgillicuddy's Reeks and the purple mountain; something to see water +like spun silver flinging itself from the mountain top in leaps to the +valley below, to struggle up and up to the highest point of the gap and +look back at the serpentine road winding in and out beside small still +lakes through the valley far below. Of course we look into the Black +Lough where St. Patrick imprisoned the last snake. Of course we had +pointed out to us the top of Mangerton, and were told of the devil's +punch bowl up there. Down through the Black Valley we came to the point +where the boats waited for us, leaving the black rocks, the bare +mountains, the poor little patches of tillage, the miserable huts and +the multitudinous vendors of goat's milk and poteen behind. To our +surprise the way to the boats was barred by a gate, and at the gate +stood a man of Mr. Herbert's to receive a shilling for each passenger +before they could pass to the boats. "He makes a good thing out of it," +remarked the boatmen. I do not know how many more fees are to be paid +for a look about the lakes of Killarney, but this gate, Torc Cascade and +Muckross Abbey cost each tourist two shillings and sixpence to look at +them. + +The upper lake is beautiful, fenced around by mountains of every size +and variety of appearance. Of course they are the same mountains you +have been seeing all day, but seen from a different standpoint. The +Eagle's Nest towers up like an attenuated pyramid, partly clothed with +trees, and is grand enough and high enough for the eagles to build on +its summit, which they do. Here were men stationed to wake the echoes +with the bugle. As our boat swept round, recognizing that we had not +employed them, they ceased the strain until we passed, but the echoes +followed us and insisted on being heard. + +There are many, many spots on the Upper Ottawa as fair and as romantic +as the Lakes of Killarney, and they are very lovely. The trees on the +islands have a variety that do not grow in our Canada, principally the +glossy-leaved arbutus. From the upper lake we slid down a baby rapid +under an old bridge--built by the Danes of course, the arch formed as +the arches of the castles in the west--into the middle lake. + +The day had been one of dim showers, but in the middle lake the sun +streamed out and touched the peak of the purple mountain and all the +mountain sides and woody islands with splendor, that streamed down in +golden shafts along the rain that was falling on some, and chased for a +moment the shadows that lay on others. We slid down a fainter rapid +under another bridge into the last and largest lake. On every lake there +are buildings of glory and beauty to be seen nestling on the banks among +the trees, or towering on the heights, owned by the wealthy and titled +people that own the land round the lakes. A cottage built for Her +Majesty was pointed out to us, and we heard of a royal deer hunt held +here. We heard rapturous accounts of stags hunted to the verge of death, +and saved alive to repeat the ennobling sport. And we censure without +measure the Spanish bull fight where the animals are killed once! How +many deaths do these timid deer suffer? I am afraid we are not as noble +and merciful a people as we think we are. + +There are sights to be seen and tales to be heard about these lakes of +loveliness that would occupy weeks, but a glimpse and away must suffice +for some, and our party all left Killarney on the next morning. I must +say that the wealth and the poverty, the unblushing begging, the want of +any remunerative industry, the idle listless people about the corners, +made Killarney a sad place to me. + + + + +LIII. + +CORK AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD. + + +After returning from the lakes the rain came down in such torrents as +made us feel very thankful to be indoors again. We heard it raining all +through the night as if the days of Noah were returned once more. Every +one became anxious about the harvest in consequence of this steady rain. +The bishop has recommended prayer in all the Catholic churches for +seasonable weather to save the harvest. Murmurs of the appearance of +rot in the potatoes reach me frequently. I have noticed disease in the +potatoes appearing on the dinner table, a kind of dry rot, only to be +noticed after cutting the potato. + +From Killarney to Cahirciveen is forty-five miles; beyond that is the +island of Valentia. There are many wild views to be seen on this island, +the property of the Knight of Kerry. The traveller here can notice how +the Atlantic is wearing away the Kerry coast. + +The first part of this drive of forty-five miles is through a poor, +poverty-stricken country, with such cabins of mud and misery as are an +amusement to the tourist and a pain and a shame to the Irish lover of +his country. There is nothing about these habitations to hint that any +idea of comfort had ever penetrated here. For the reason of pelting rain +and driving winds I was forced to give up my intention of going across +by car to Kenmare, and from thence to Skibbereen, and took the train for +Cork. The land seems to grow better the nearer we come to Cork. + +Arrived at Cork, the first object which attracted my attention was the +monument to Father Mathew. The temperance cause to which he dedicated +his life sadly needs another champion. Will another Father Mathew arise? + +As soon after my arrival in Cork as I was comfortably settled, I sallied +out to discover the river Lee with an insane notion that I would hear +"the bells of Shandon that sound so grand on" its pleasant waters. I +discovered the river with tree-shaded, secluded dwellings on one bank +and a wide green pasture on another. There was a bridge at the place +where I first came in sight of the river, and a great crowd, so eager as +to be silent, gazing up the stream. Thinking it was a boat race that +drew their attention, I crossed the bridge to gain the green pasture at +the other side. The pasture was reached by a little arched door through +a boundary wall, where a policeman kept guard. There was a great crowd +around this little door. There had been an accident, a boat had upset +and all in it had been lost; they were searching for the bodies. I asked +for admittance and the policeman unlocked the door and allowed me to +pass. Followed the path along the water side, and came to the crowd +round the four bodies laid upon the wet meadow grass. A father, so +quiet, partially gray, trim and respectable looking, a young lad in blue +boating costume, a young girl in black, farther on another in whom they +thought there were signs of life, and about her two doctors were +working, applying a galvanic battery. The mother had been restored and +was conveyed into one of the houses. + +I never saw any attempts to recover a drowned person before. I wondered +that they left the body lying on the damp earth in wet clothing. They +told me that it might be fatal to move her before they succeeded in +bringing her back to life. They tried a long time in vain, then they +laid the four bodies all in a row for the coroner. The damp grass, the +trampling and sympathetic crowd, the four bodies in their wet garments +laid on the bank, will always rise in my memory along with my first +sight of the river Lee. + +Cork seems a rich city, full of business, bustle on all the wharves, +buying and selling on all the streets. The buildings are very grand. +Alongside the river is a long ridge rising up to a tree-crowned summit. +On that hillside is tier upon tier of grand houses, grand churches, fine +convents and public buildings of one kind and another. You come upon +fine churches through the town in corners where you do not expect them. + +The church of churches in Cork is the Protestant Cathedral, of St. Finn +Barre--whoever he was. This church sits high up on a rocky foundation, +its pointed spires of exquisite stone-work pierce the sky. It is not +finished, scaffoldings are there, and skilled chisels and cunning +hammers have been knapping and polishing there for many a day, and are +likely to continue hammering and chiselling for many a day more. Inside, +it is marble of Cork, marble of Connemara, marble of Italy, polished to +the brightest. The gates which admit from one ecclesiastical division to +another are wrought in flowers that blaze in gold. Before the altar, +parables of our Lord are wrought in mosaic on the floor. On the wall the +different noble families who belong here, or have money invested here, +have their shields containing their coats of arms on the wall. Into this +grand church have been wrought the religious ideas of the church people +for years, at the cost of L100,000, and there is an immense golden angel +on the point of a gable calling with two trumpets for L25,000 more to +finish it. + +None but a rich city could afford the splendid buildings that are in +Cork. The evening on which I arrived in Cork was signalized not only by +the boat accident, but by a grand wedding, the wedding of a Sir George +Colthurst in the splendid cathedral church just mentioned, and there was +any amount of fashion, and high birth and young beauty gathered there. +The bride was beautiful, the bride was "tall," and not yet, they say, +out of her teens. She was dressed in white satin and silver cloth, Irish +lace and orange blossoms, and wore no jewels. None but invited eyes were +allowed to look at the grand ceremony which made the fair bride and the +lord of Blarney castle one. Some tenants of the bridegroom got up a +bonfire, had some barrels of beer given them to rejoice withal, and were +dancing to the music produced by six fiddlers, when they were surrounded +by a small army of disguised people, fired into, beaten and dispersed. +The first accounts put the number of wounded at twenty, to-day they are +reduced to five--perhaps that is the proportion of exaggeration in +newspaper accounts of outrage generally. The newly-made bride and +bridegroom went to see the wounded, leaving cordials and money at every +house. + +One thing is observable in Cork, the determination to make an effort to +restore native industry from its present languishing condition. Passing +along the streets I notice clerks in the windows affixing labels on +goods with the words, "Irish Manufactures," "Cork made goods," "Blarney +tweeds," "Irish blankets," "Cork made furniture." There have been +meetings held on the subject since I came here. No city in the world +could appear to be more quiet and law-abiding than Cork to all +appearance. + +As one instance of the exaggeration of reports concerning outrages, I +see the disturbance in Cork that took place at the rejoicings about Sir +George Colthurst's marriage advertised with the heading 20 men shot. The +local report says five injured, one shot, but not fatally. + +Went down the river Lee to Queenstown. It did not rain except a few +drops during the whole time. The sun shone, the clouds, some of them +were billowy and white, and massed themselves on a deep, blue sky. The +little steamer was crowded fore and aft with holiday passengers, and a +large quantity of small babies. The river Lee, from Cork to Queenstown, +wears a green color, as if it were akin to the ocean. Flocks of sea +gulls flying about, or perching on the ooze where the tide is out, make +one think of the sea, but the green banks of the river are there to +testify against it. + +We expected to find that the scenery from Cork to Queenstown was +beautiful, and so it is. There is no use in trying to praise it, for all +praise seems flat compared with the reality. There are glorious, steep +slopes leading up to fair, round hills, waving with golden grain, or +green with aftermath, checked off into fields by gay, green hedges or +files of stately trees. On the slope, half way up the slope, snuggling +down at the foot of the slope, are residences of every degree of beauty. +Houses, square and solid, with wide porticos; houses rising into many +gabled peaks; houses that have swollen into all sorts of bay windows +running up to the roof, or stopping with the first story. Houses that +fling themselves up into the sky in towers and turrets, and assert +themselves to be, indeed, castles. + +Queenstown comes at last, a town hung up on a steep hillside, and on the +very brow of the hill is an immense cathedral, unfinished like St. Finn +Barre's, of Cork. In these cathedrals two forms of religious belief are +slowly and expensively trying to express themselves in stone, chiselled +and cut into a thousand forms of beauty, in marbles, polished and +carved, in painted windows, in gildings and draperies of the costliest. +Looking at these costly fanes erected to be a local spot where Jehovah's +presence shall dwell, one can scarcely believe that He will dwell in the +heart of the poor who are willing to receive Him in the day of His +power. Is the soul of the beggar more dear to God as a dwelling place +than these lofty temples? Forever the world is saying "Lord, behold what +manner of stones and what buildings are here?" And the Lord cares more +for the toiling fisherman, the poor disheartened widow, and the laboring +and heavy laden peasant than the grandest buildings. The cost of these +churches would buy out Achil island and the appurtenances thereof, I +think. It would maybe purchase the wildest tract of the Donegal +mountains. I wonder if a hardy mountain people, who could live on their +own soil, and begin to feel the stirrings of enterprise and energy, +would be as acceptable to Him who came anointed to preach the gospel to +the poor as these poems in stone. Who knows? + +We sat on a bench under the trees and looked at the harbor--its waters +cut by many a flying keel, at Spike Island lying in the sun, all its +fortifications as silent and lonely looking as if no convict nor any +other living creature was there. Steamboats for "a' the airts the winds +can blaw," were passing out and away, leaving a train of smoke behind +them, and big sail vessels, three-masted and with sails packed up, are +waiting to go, and revenue cutters and small passenger boats are flying +about each on their way. + +A lady sits by me and is drawn to talk to the stranger of the greenness +of the grass here winter and summer, of the beauty spread out all +around. She tells of one who died away in another land brought home to +lie under the daisies here, just twenty years ago to-day. Other people, +she says, are proud of their country, are fond of their country, but +none have the same love for their country as the Irish have for green +Erin. Every inch of ground; every blade of grass in Ireland is holy, +says this lady with tears in her eyes. She is thinking of the dust that +Irish grass covers from her sight. It is on an anniversary we meet; she +cannot help speaking on this day of sacred things. The steamboat is +wading up to the wharf. We do not know one another's names, but we have +drawn near to each other--we clasp hands and part with a mutual God +bless you. The little boat swallows up all that are willing to come on +board, and like a black swan she sails up over the calm river, under the +bright sky, past the handsome houses and the lovely grounds, among the +clustering masts back to the rich city of Cork. + +All the people injured in the attack on the rejoicing at Sir George +Colthurst's marriage are pronounced recovered to-day, except the one who +was wounded by a shot; he is still in the infirmary. A dignitary of the +Catholic Church who preached at Millstreet, where the disturbance took +place, introduced into his sermon remarks on the state of society there, +when his hearers became affected with coughing to such a degree that the +rev. gentleman had to stop for a time and speak directly to his hearers. +After the sermon most of the congregation left the church before mass-- +few remaining. + +The sun has come out and the harvest will be greatly benefited by this +tardy warmth, I am sure. + +There has been some marching of soldiers--dragoons--fine looking men on +fine horses--through the streets to-day, to the blare of a military +band, accompanied and escorted by all the loose population of Cork. I +was much interested to see among the running crowd the good pace made by +a man with a wooden leg, who really could hop along with the best of +them. This is all the apology for a crowd which I have seen in Cork. I +have not heard the roar of one belated drunkard; such sounds have broken +slumber in other towns. Whatever excitement may be in the county, the +city of Cork seems as quiet, as orderly and as thriving as any city in +the kingdom. + +I have discovered that, though the lower part of the river Lee is +crowded with masts and alive with traffic, the upper part, flowing along +under the shadow of green trees and bordered by wide meadows, is as +quiet as if it were flowing through the country miles from any city. I +have discovered the magnificent promenade called the Mardyke, a wide, +gravelled road overarched with trees, running along by the river. When +the evening lamps are lit, the susceptibility of Cork wander here in +pairs and "in couples agree." There are plenty of comfortable seats in +which to rest, for the promenade is a very long one, and the shimmer of +the many lamps among the green foliage has a pretty effect. + + + + +LIV. + +CORK, TO BANDON, SKIBBEREEN AND SKULL. + + +From Cork by the new railway to Skibbereen there is one rather +noticeable feature by the way. All the way stations in small places are +wooden houses built American fashion, either clapboarded or upright +boards battened where they meet. The road is through a hilly country and +therefore lies mostly through deep cuttings that shut out the scenery. +There is one long tunnel not far from Cork that educates you into a +sense of what utter darkness means. It is pleasant to look over rich +pastures back to the city crowding its lofty hills, and to notice what a +grand steeple-crowned city it is. + +The train crawls along through deep cuts, past these little wooden +stations where everything is more primitive and backwoods looking than +anything I have seen before in Ireland. The porters are civil and +obliging, ready to answer the questions of the ignorant, even of those +who travel third-class. The vast majority of the passengers are small +traders, market-women and farmers' wives, who have been away making +purchases. + +By the time we reach Dunmanway we had our allowance of light served out +to us, a lamp being thrust through the ceiling of the car from the top, +and by its light we steamed into Skibbereen. I expected Skibbereen to be +a small assemblage of mud huts, but was surprised to find it a large +town of tall houses. As the bus rattled along through one gaslight +street after another, I kept asking myself, is this really Skibbereen. + +The little hotel where we stopped was very comfortable, very clean, and +possesses a good cook. The next day in exploring the by streets and +suburbs of the town I saw poverty enough, want enough. It was market day +and the streets were crowded with country women in blue cloaks. These +cloaks are all the same make, but some of them, owing to their material, +were very stylish and shrouded as pretty black eyed, black-haired, rosy- +cheeked women as I ever saw. Some of these cloaks are made of very fine +material, the pleating about the shoulders very artistic, and the wide +hoods lined with black satin when worn round the face make the wearers +look like fancy pictures. Some of the women gather them round them in +folds like drapery. I noticed at once that the artist who made the +statues of O'Connell and Father Mathew had studied the drapery from the +cloaks of some Claddagh or Skibbereen woman. + +Market day is used as a day for confession, and the clergy are on hard +duty on that day. Skibbereen boasts of a bishop and numerous resident +priests. The town is as quiet as if such a thing as a riot, an outrage +or a mob was never known. + +In a little corner, squeezed in between houses, is a neat Methodist +chapel and the parsonage beside it. Called on the minister, who received +me graciously and was courteous and communicative. Having been by virtue +of his office over a great part of Ireland he had seen a good deal of +the oppression of the tenant, partly from the thoughtlessness of +absentee landlords, partly from the want of any sympathy with the +tenants. Had the Land League confined themselves to moderate efforts, +and to the employment of constitutional means--means not tending to the +dismemberment of the empire, he would have joined them with heart and +soul, knowing the need there was of redress to the wrongs of the small +farmer. He advised me to take a car and go on to Skull through +Ballydehob if I wished to see poverty and misery. + +The road from Skibbereen to Ballydehob and Skull runs along the coast +mostly. All that grand rocks and great stretches of water dotted with +many islands can do to make this scenery grand, wild and romantic has +been done by Dame Nature. It is not satisfying to merely pass along. One +would like to tarry here and get acquainted with nature in these out-of- +the-way haunts of hers. The cottages are most miserable, most ruinous. +There is no limestone here. It resembles Achil Island in this respect. +The houses are built of stones and daubed with clay. The clay soon +filters away under the combined action of winter wind and winter frost, +and the houses look like piles of stones tottering to fall. + +I heard of a pier being built somewhere here, with part of the Canadian +money, which a priest assured me would be a great benefit to the poor +people. I was very sorry to leave this part without seeing more of the +country and the people. I left Skibbereen on a car for a journey by the +coast the other way to meet the train at Bandon to return to Cork. + +The only industry of any kind which I saw between Skibbereen and Bandon +was a slate quarry which they told me shipped a great quantity of slates +besides supplying local demands. As we advanced eastward we left the +heather-clad mountains behind us, the landscape softened down +considerably, and became almost empty of inhabitants. That reminds me +that about Skull was almost emptied of inhabitants also. About the time +of the great famine the people fled away. The remains of houses are +scattered all along on that road. Some cause has also emptied this part +of the country of people. There is much unreclaimed land here, which is +not to be wondered at, seeing that a fine for reclamation was exacted in +the shape of increased rent. + +Clonakilty is another little town thronged with small traders and places +"licensed to sell." As we passed east the long boundary walls that +enclose gentlemen's plantations begin to prevail. + +A little way, maybe two miles, out of Clonakilty is the property of Mr. +Bence Jones, who has created some stir in the world. One hears story +after story of his grasping and overbearing disposition. The chief +accusation is adding to a man's rent if his father dies. Case after case +of this was spoken of by the passengers on the car with me. Whether +these accusations against Mr. Bence Jones were true or false, here is +his place, and a very fine place it is. The lodge is at one side of the +road, the entrance to his residence at the other. The residence is very +nice, very commodious, and is at some distance from the road. The +property is extensive, but very poor land--mountain and bog. His walled- +in plantation ran along the road for quite a great distance. When they +spoke of him on the car the mere mention of his name caused the driver +to lose himself in profanity. + +From Clonakilty to Bandon was a long, dreary drive, and the night had +fallen for some time, sharp and chill, before we entered the second time +into merry Bandon town. It is quite a large place, and, entered by +another way than the railway, looks bright and pleasant. The houses are +lofty on the principal streets, and the whole town has a scattered +appearance. It was a welcome sight to us, weary of travelling by car, +and visions of a warm fire and a good supper--for I had travelled from +breakfast without waiting to eat--ran in my head; but it was Saturday +night, a train was almost due for Cork, and, contenting myself with an +after-night glimpse of merry Bandon town, I came to the ponderous +station, and started in due time for Cork. + +At one of the first way stations, where is the little clapboarded +waiting-room, two policemen entered our compartment with a prisoner. +Whether he was a suspect or was charged with a specific crime we did not +learn, but surely such a poor scare-crow never was arrested before. He +was black with dirt, as if he had been taken out of the bog, or from a +coal-pit. His clothes were thin and ragged, and he had such a fierce, +desperate look. The policemen fraternized with their fellow-passengers +and chatted merrily. The prisoner listened to their talk with a kind of +dumb fierceness, shaking his head from side to side as I have seen an +angry horse do. It was very chilly, and he was so miserably clad that he +shivered, though he tried not to do so. + +The way was long by train, and he might have marched for many a weary +mile before he got on the train. He lay down on the seat and tried to +sleep but could not, so he started up and resumed the wild glancing from +side to side and the fierce head shakes. I began to think he might be +very hungry, and if he was, he was not likely to get anything in gaol +till morning. I had some biscuits and cheese in my satchel, and they +began to struggle to get out, and at last I consented and handed the +little parcel silently to the prisoner. He did not thank me, except by +falling to and eating like a famished creature. + +Arrived at Cork, the police took him away on a car, and the last glimpse +I got of him he was eating as if he had not eaten before for a week. + +I was very thankful when Sabbath morning found me in Cork again and with +power to rest. There is not much appearance of Sabbath in the streets of +Cork; it looks like a vast crowd keeping holiday. A great many shops are +open; the stall women are in their places and seem to drive a good +trade. I even heard a woman crying her wares as on any other day. I do +not think that a little more Sabbath would hurt this fair town in the +very least. I rested this day. + +In the evening I had the pleasure of hearing "the bells of Shandon" +ringing the people in to worship in the old Shandon Church. I heard them +while walking by "the pleasant waters of the river Lee." I followed +their chime and enjoyed it, sweetly solemn and grand it was, and thought +of Father Prout who has made them so famous, and finally found myself at +Shandon church. + +When the chimes ceased I went up the high steps into the old church. It +is very old. It is high, long and narrow. The tower, in which are the +famous bells, seems of better workmanship than the church. It is built +in stories. The bells were chiming out, "Oh, that will be joyful!" as I +entered. It is a nice, homely, comfortable church; but so plain that the +tide of fashion has rolled past it into another quarter of the town. The +pulpit and reading-desk were supplied by a gray-haired clergyman, who +had power to read the service, so that it had a newness as if it had +never been heard before and to preach to the heart. With the echo of his +words and the echo of the bells of Shandon the Sabbath closed. + + + + +LV. + +THE SOUTH--THE FEELING OF THE PEOPLE--EVICTIONS AND THE LAND LAW. + + +In conversing with a very sensible gentleman in Cork, he mentioned the +competition among the farmers themselves as one reason of the high +rents. I have heard this brought forward again and again in every part +of Ireland. It is difficult to get so far into the confidence of the +southern people as to know what they really think or feel. Without an +introduction from one whom they trust they are very reticent and non- +committal. There is another party who will not be drawn into giving an +opinion for fear of their names appearing in print in company with these +opinions. + +Cork is such a brilliant city, such a sunshiny city, for the sun shone +while I was there as it did not shine anywhere else where I have been +for the last two months, such a brisk, busy city, that I felt some +regret at leaving it. Cork is a busy town, but there are many idle hands +and hungry mouths within its boundaries. + +The prevalence of drinking habits is deplored by many with whom I +conversed here. Speaking of the movement, now so rife, for encouraging +home manufacture, especially in the shoe trade, a lady remarked that if +there were a revival in trade without a revival in temperance many +shoemakers would only work three days a week as had been the case in +good times before. + +It was a sunny day when I looked my last on the busy city on the river +Lee, on the numerous basket women that squat in its streets, some +knitting or crocheting for dear life, some sitting with arms crossed, +fat and lazy, basking contentedly in the sun beside their baskets of +miserable stunted apples that would be thrown to the pigs in Canada. + +Between Cork and Mallow my travelling companion was an elderly +Scotchman, a cattle dealer, who deplored the disturbed state of the +country very feelingly. He admitted that there was undeniable need of a +revision of the land tenure but thought that the people went about +securing it in a very wrong way. I ventured to suggest that there was +likely to be an agitation in Scotland on the land question. "Aye, there +will and must be that, but they will manage it differently," said the +old gentleman. He censured my excitable country people pretty freely. I +enquired why he did not return to Scotland to live in that tranquil +country. "He had been long, out of Scotland, about forty years, and had +got into the ways of the Irish, and truly they were a kind-hearted +people and easily pleased." + +Another gentleman in this compartment pointed out to me Blarney Castle +in the distance, and Blarney woollen mills nearer hand, where the +celebrated Blarney tweed is manufactured, and whispered to me that +Father ----, I did not catch the name with the noise of the cars, had +appeared in a suit of Blarney tweed. There and then I wished that every +reverend Father in Ireland was dressed in native manufacture. + +A little fiddler was playing in the car for halfpence, and the Irish +gentleman paid him to play Scotch tunes in our honor, thinking we were +both Scotch, I and the old Scotch gentleman. I asked the child to play +"Harvey Duff," as I wanted to hear that most belligerent tune. The poor +child looked as frightened as if I had asked him to commit high treason +and shook his head. At Mallow the fine old Scotchman got off the train. +We had had a long talk on country and country's needs, and his fervent +"God bless you" at parting was a comfort and encouragement to me, indeed +it was. + +At a station we took up some police who had been drinking--one sergeant +was very drunk; then some soldiers who had been drinking, and some +civilians who were in the same state. One fine looking young farmer of +the better sort was fighting drunk. There were sober people and a good +many women also on the car. It was one of those cars whose compartments +are boxed up halfway. The sergeant spilled a box of wafers and felt that +he did not wish to pick them up; another policeman in an overcoat set +himself to gather them up. I heard the young farmer say to him, "You're +a peeler," and in a moment every man in the car was on his feet. We had +not yet left the station, and many women rushed out of the car. The +official came and locked the doors, and we steamed out of the station +with all the men on their feet in a crowd, gesticulating and shouting at +one another at the top of their voices. As they swayed about with the +motion of the carriage, every soldier and constable with his rifle in +his hand, I found myself wondering if they were loaded or could possibly +go off of themselves. + +As soon as I could distinguish words among the war of sounds I +understood that the young farmer accused the soberest sergeant of being +one of the party that shot young Hickey at Dr. Pomeroy's, and that he +was burning for revenge. The constable was a Northman, I knew by his +tongue, and he was at a northern white heat of anger. The young farmer +was almost mad with rage and drink. The drunken sergeant seemed to sober +in the congenial element of a probable row, and he and two sober +civilians exerted themselves to keep the peace, and to pacify the farmer +and get him to sit down. + +In one of the pauses in the storm the peace-making sergeant wanted a +match; an old man behind me who had matches was appealed to for one and +he declined, averring with much simplicity that he was afraid of being +shot. His wife in a vigorous whisper advised him to keep his matches in +his pocket. Everyone in that car, drunk or sober, peace-making or not, +sympathised with that young farmer and were against the police. + +We reached Fermoy quite late. The next morning early I took a car and +drove out to Mitchelstown, at the foot of the Galtees. Passed at a +distance, half hidden among embowering woods, the castle residence of +Lord Mount Cashel, who seems to be as much liked here as he was on the +Galgorm estate, but there were whispered reminiscences of by-gone wicked +agents. + +The country on the way to Mitchelstown is partly very rich-looking now +waving with the harvest. There is a long valley in sight stretching away +for many miles, yellow with ripened corn and dotted with farm houses, +each with a few sheltering trees. Upon what is called mountain land I +saw a fine little farm that had been reclaimed from the heather quite +recently. The farmer and his sons were binding after the cradle. He +holds this land at two shillings and sixpence an acre, and hopes under +the new Land Law that it shall not be raised on him. Mitchelstown is +quite a large place, and was as quiet as Indian summer. Had my worst +experience of hotel life in Fermoy, and gladly left it behind for +Cappoquin. The road lies alongside a lovely valley of the Blackwater, +and one has glimpses of the most enchanting scenery as they steam along. +Cappoquin is quite a nice town, and seems to have some trade by river as +well as by rail. + +Walked out through the fair country to Mount Mellary Monastery, a +property reclaimed out of the stony heathery mountain by the monks of La +Trappe. They have succeeded in creating smiling fields among the waste +of the mountain wilderness. They hold the land on a lease of 999 years. +No woman is allowed into the precincts of the monastery proper, but +there is a hospice attached where travellers are received and +entertained without charge, but any gratuity is accepted. There is also +a school among the buildings. + +The valley between Cappoquin and Mount Mellary is strikingly beautiful. +There is tradition of a great battle having been fought here once in the +dim past when a hundred fights was no uncommon allowance of battle to +one warrior. All is quiet and peaceful here now. The crops are being +gathered in in the sunshine, and everything is smiling and serene. I +received very much kindness in Cappoquin for which there will always be +sunshine over my memories of it. + + + + +LVI. + +TIPPERARY--OVER THE KNOCK-ME-LE-DOWM MOUNTAINS--"NATE CLOGHEEN"--CAHIR-- +WATERFORD--DUBLIN. + + +From Cappoquin I proposed to go to Cahir, across the pass, through the +Knock-me-le-Down Mountains. Took a car for this journey which was driven +by the only sullen and ill-tempered driver which I had seen on my +journey through Ireland. The road passed through Lismore, a little town +about four miles from Cappoquin, which is in a red hot state of +excitement just now; the bitterest feelings rage about the land +question. Evictions and boycottings are the order of the day. The +feeling of exasperation against the police is so determined that +supplies of any kind for their use could not be purchased for any money +in Lismore. The police feel just as exasperated against Miss Parnell, +who attends all evictions as a sympathizer with the tenants, and reports +all the proceedings. The police made an effigy of her and stoned it to +pieces to relieve their feelings. + +The road to Lismore lay along a fair valley; the town itself was a +pleasant surprise. It looked as peaceful and peaceable as possible when +I passed through it; there was neither sight nor sound to reveal the +present state of things among the people. From the grand castle of +Lismore the road wound along between low range walls, ivy-covered and +moss-grown, that fenced in extensive woods, clothing bold hills and deep +valleys with wild verdure. The wildness of these woods and their thick +growth of underbrush reminded me of far off Canadian forests. + +We overtook a decent-looking country woman, who was toiling along the +road with a big basket; the car man took her up; she seemed an old +acquaintance. On one side of the road below the range wall a shallow +little river ran brawling among the stones. I tried to find out its name +from the woman with the basket but she could only tell its name in +Irish, a very long name, and not to be got hold of hastily. "Her son was +in America--God bless it for a home for the homeless!--and he had that +day sent her L120, which she was carrying home in the bosom of her +dress." "She had good boys who neither meddled with tobacco or drink, +and not many mothers could say that for their sons." "Her boys were as +good boys to their father and mother as ever wore shoes, thoughtful and +quiet they were." "They had good learning and did not need to work as +laborers." I asked her why she did not go out to America. "Ould trees +don't take kindly to transplanting," she said, "I will see the hills I +have looked at all my life around me as long as I see anything. I want +the green grass that covers all my people to cover me at last." + +At a turn in the road the woman left us to climb a steep _boreen_ +that led to her home among the hills, with her heavy basket and her +son's love gift of L120 in her bosom, and I sat in the car dreamily +looking at the wooded hills and wondered how dear a hilly country is to +its inhabitants. + +The most beautiful thing which I saw in Killarney was the feeling of +proprietorship and kinship that all the people felt in and for the +mountains and lakes. It takes a lifetime to get thoroughly acquainted +with the eternal hills. They have ways of their own that they only +display upon long acquaintance. You can see shadowy hands draw on the +misty night cap or fold round massive shoulders the billowy gray drapery +or inky cloak when passing rain squall or mountain tempest is brewing. +They wrinkle their brows and draw near with austere familiarity; they +retreat and let the sunshine and shadows play hide-and-seek round them, +or lift their bald heads in still summer sunshine with calm joyfulness. +The dwellers among them learn to love them through all their varying +moods. + +As I dreamed dreams the car driver, the surliest of his class which I +have met, was urging a tired horse up a gradual ascent higher and higher +among the hills, until we left houses, holdings, roads--except the +gamekeeper's or bog rangers' track--far below us. These wild places, he +told me, had no deer, but unlimited grouse, hares and rabbits. I was +inclined to think very slightly of rabbits, especially when told of land +that had formerly supported inhabitants having been given over to small +game of this kind; but a gentleman landholder told me of a nobleman's +estate (I will not name him for fear I mistake the name) which averaged +1,000 rabbits weekly, which were worth one shilling and sixpence a +couple after all expenses were paid. I have respected rabbits as rivals +of human beings ever since. + +We got up among the bleak mountains at last, high and bare, except where +their rocky nakedness was covered with ragged heather. Silent and awful +their huge bulk rose behind one another skyward. After we had long +passed sight or sound of human habitation, we suddenly came to a +whitewashed cosy police station in the shelter of the mountains, with a +pretty garden in front, and a pleasant-faced constable came down for the +mail. It was such a lovely place for a man to wear a cheerful face in, +that I could not help saying, "You have a nice place here, sergeant." +"Yes," he smilingly answered, "but lonely enough at times." The car man +was very sullen, and seemed eager to pick a quarrel with the policeman, +which the other evaded with dexterous good nature, while another +policeman, pipe in mouth, hands in pockets, gloomed at the driver from +behind him. + +I should not wonder if my driver resented me speaking to the policeman, +for feeling runs high against them in these southern counties for a long +time now; he was still more sullen, at all events, after we passed the +station. I was told that from these Knock-me-le-Down Mountains, I could +see a glimpse of the Galtees, but the mountains began to array +themselves in, what the sullen driver called fog, cloaks of gray mists +that fell in curling folds down their brown sides. Up and up we climbed, +along a road that twisted itself among the solemn giants of the hills +sitting in veiled awfulness. We passed a boundary ridge that separated +the Duke of Devonshire's lands from the next landlord, and I thought we +were at the highest point of the pass, and here the storm came down, and +the mountain rain and mountain winds began to fight and struggle round +every peak and through every glen. I have never ventured among the +mountains yet without rousing the fury of the mountain spirits. The +jaded horse got himself into a staggering gallop, and so, chased by the +storm, we threaded our way about and around on the downward slope of the +mountains. It grew very dark, and we jaunted along a bit in one +direction, and then turned sharp and jaunted off in another, the driver +informing me that this was the V of the mountains, and miles +immeasurably spread seemed lengthening as we hurried on. + +We reached at length, at the foot of the hills, the "town of nate +Clogheen, where Sergeant Snap met Paddy Carey." As far as the darkness +permitted us to see, Clogheen is still neat Clogheen. A little further +west is the classic little town of Ballyporeen, which has danced to +music that was not wedding music more than once during late years. + +After we left Clogheen and struck through a wide plain for Cahir the +moon came out and touched the dark mountains with silver and they folded +away their gray robes until we should return. Those eight Irish miles +from Clogheen to Cahir were the longest miles I have ever met with, +exceeding in length the famous Rasharken miles. Here in a rambling, +forsaken like assemblage of stairs and passages, called a hotel, we +found a room and I rested for the remaining hours of the night. I never +bestowed whip money so grudgingly as I did on the sullen driver who +brought me through the Knock-me-le-down mountains. Under his care all my +bags and parcels came to grief in the most innocently unaccountable way +and were carried in in a wrecked condition. + +In the morning the melancholy waiter who set my little breakfast at one +end of a desert of a table in a dusty wilderness of a room, commenced +bemoaning over the poverty of the country. It was a market morning and +there were many asses, creels and carts with fish drawn up in the market +place. I ventured to suggest a fish for breakfast, which was an utter +impossibility. Cahir has a handsome old castle standing close to its +main street which is still inhabited. + +We dropped down by rail through Clonmel to Waterford, our companions by +the way being all returning tourists, English and Welsh people over for +a holiday to see the disturbances in Ireland, which they had always +missed seeing some way. We amused ourselves in drawing comparisons +between the lines of rail in Ireland and those in other countries to the +total disparagement of Irish railways. They spoke of the railways in +England and Wales, and I exalted Canadian railways. + +Waterford seemed a pretty, lively, bustling town. The river seemed alive +with boats; there was a good deal of building going on near the depot, +and the people had a step and an air as if they had something to do and +were hurrying to do it. It looked very unlike its ancient name, which +was, I am told, the Glen of Lamentation. Tales still linger here of the +sack of Waterford by Strongbow and his marriage to Princess Eva, and of +the landing here of Henry the Second when he came to take possession. + +From Waterford up through Kilkenny in the sunshine, wondering to see hay +still being cut in September. Heard no word of Kilkenny black coal or +Kilkenny marble and passed on to Bagenalstown in Carlow and up through +Kildare to Dublin. + +The days were passing so swiftly away that there was but a little time +to see Dublin sights; the question was, therefore, what to see and what +not to see. Owing to the kindness of Miss Leitch, an art student, I had +the privilege of half an hour in the Academy. Having so little time I +spent it all before Maclise's picture of the marriage of Strongbow and +Princess Eva and in a small way understood how a great painter can tell +a story. The museum of Irish antiquities was the next place. I wanted to +see the brooch of Tara and saw it, but I was not prepared to see so many +reliques of gold and silver telling their own tale of the grandeur of +the native rulers of the Ireland of long ago. The ingenuity shown in the +broad collars of beaten gold which made them be alike fitted for collar +or tiara was surprising. The shape of the brooches and cloak clasps are +so like the Glenelg heirlooms which I saw in Glengarry families that the +relationship between the clans of the Highlands and the Irish septs is +quite apparent. There was quite a large room entirely devoted to gold +and silver ornaments. One side was given up to gold collars, neck +ornaments, bracelets, armlets and cloak clasps, all of gold. There was +another cabinet of rings of various kinds. Some of the rings and +bracelets are quite like modern ones. Saint Patrick's bell was another +object of great interest to me. It was plain and common-looking, +evidently for use, shaped a good deal like a common cow bell. I liked to +think how often it had called the primitive people to hear God's message +of mercy to them from the lips of his laborious messenger. Beside it +stood the elaborate case which the piety of other ages manufactured for +the bell. It is such an easy matter to deck shrines and garnish the +sepulchres of the righteous when they are gone past the place where the +echoes of man's praise can reach. It is easier than hearing and obeying +the message which they carry. We were given a powerful magnifying glass +to inspect the workmanship of the shrine that held the bell, but my +thoughts would turn back to the plain common-looking bell itself. Still +I did admire the exquisite workmanship of the shrine, which could only +be fully appreciated when seen through the magnifying glass. It required +the magnifying glass also to fully bring out the richness of the +delicate tracery on the brooch of Tara. There were in another room quite +a number of short swords of cast bronze similar to the one presented to +me in Mayo. Some of them had been furbished up till they looked like +gold. There were some specimens of the bronze chain mail used by the +ancient Irish, and the foot covering, which they wore a good deal like +Indian moccassins, answering exactly to the description given by Scott +in the notes to the Lady of the Lake, of the kind of brogans of the dun +deer's hide which shod the fleet-footed Malise, messenger of the fiery +cross. There was also a woollen dress found in a bog, which was exactly +shaped like a modern princess dress. I was sorry I had only one poor +sixty minutes to carry off all my eyes could gather up in that time of +these reliques of ancient Ireland. I would recommend any one who cares +for the ancient history of Ireland to study these records of the past. +What we see affects us more than what we hear. + + + + +DUBLIN--HOME AGAIN. + + +To my friend, Councillor Leitch, one of the many successful men who have +migrated from the Moravian settlement of Grace Hill, I had expressed a +wish to see the face of Jonathan Pim, the landlord of whose goodness I +heard so much in the neighborhood of Clew Bay. Through Mr. Leitch's +kindness I obtained a seat in the gallery of the round room of the +Mansion House where the meeting was held to consider the advisability of +holding an exhibition of Irish manufactures. It was expected that I +should see Mr. Jonathan Pim at this meeting, but he was not there; he +was represented by his son. It was something for my backwoods eyes to be +privileged to see this grand room, built, I hear, for the reception of +His Gracious Majesty King George the Fourth when he made his visit to +Ireland, called the "Irish Avatar." At one side of the round room was a +sort of dais, on which was a chair of state that, I suppose, represented +a throne. Round the gallery were hung shields, containing the coats-of- +arms of the worshipful the Lords Mayor of Dublin. The chair was occupied +by the present Lord Mayor, a very fine-looking gentleman who became his +gold chain of office well. + +The day before I had been taken by Mrs. Leitch to an academy of arts and +industry. For some reason of alterations and repairs there was no +admission beyond the vestibule. In this entrance hall were specimen +slabs and pillars of all the Irish marbles, which were there in as great +variety as in Shushan the palace. There was the marble of Connemara in +every shade of green, black marble of Kilkenny, red marble of Cork, blue +credited to Killarney, I think, and many, many others. I think there was +hardly a county in Ireland unrepresented. I do think that among all this +wealth of marbles the Irish people might gratify their most fastidious +taste without sending to Italy. I saw a good many productions of Irish +industry, but they seem always confined to the localities which produce +them. You see things in shop windows ticketed Scotch and English, but, +until this new movement began, nothing marked Irish. Yet Limerick laces +might tempt any fine lady, as well as Antrim linens and Down damasks. +There is also Blarney tweed of great cheapness and excellence, Balina +blankets, and the excellent Claddagh flannel. + +If there were enterprise as well, and a desire to patronize home +industries, I think the chimneys of factories now silent and idle might +smoke again. I particularly noticed in every corner of Ireland where I +have been that where I saw the tall chimneys of factories in operation I +did not see barefoot women with barefoot asses selling ass loads of turf +for threepence. + +I left Dublin--really, I may say, an almost unseen Dublin--behind me and +turned my face Belfastwards. + +Drogheda is the last place of which I have taken any notes. I was a day +or two there. In fact I was more than a few days, but was confined to my +room by a severe neuralgia most of the time. There is a fine railway +bridge here, lofty enough for schooners to sail under. The land on both +sides of the river is like a garden, and is devoted to pleasure grounds +in the usual proportion. I was wishful to see the very spot on the banks +of the Boyne where James and William fought for a kingdom long ago. As I +looked at the fair country checked off into large fields by green +hedges, at the waving trees of enclosed pleasure-grounds, I recalled +King William's words about Ireland, "This land is worth fighting for," +and I thought he was right. + +The Boyne is but a small river, no wider than the Muskrat at Pembroke, +but deep enough to carry schooners a little way up. There is a canal +beside it, and it was full of barges carrying coal and other things. +Near to Drogheda town, in the suburbs, is a bridge over the Boyne. I +crossed it looking for the locality of the battle. Meeting a clerical- +looking gentleman, I enquired if he could point out to me where the +battle of the Boyne was fought. This gentleman, who was a Franciscan +friar, directed me to keep along the road by the river bank, when I +would come to another bridge and the monument beside it. "It stands +there a disgrace to Drogheda and a disgrace to all Ireland," he said. He +showed me the new Franciscan church, a very grand cut stone building. +There is also a Dominican church, and an Augustinian, besides two +others, and there was the foundation stone of still another to the +memory of that Oliver Plunket, Catholic archbishop and primate of +Ireland, put to death in the time of Titus Oates. I was informed that +the proportion of Catholics to Protestants in Drogheda is six to one. + +Walking through Drogheda on market day I did not see one barefoot woman +in the crowd; all were pretty well dressed and well shod. The asses were +sleek and fat, shod and attached to carts. How different from Ramelton, +Donegal, Manor Hamilton, Leitrim, Castlebar or Mayo, where straw +harness, lean asses and hungry, barefoot women abound. The land is good +round Drogheda, and there is manufacturing going on. This makes the +difference. + +I will never get up along the Boyne at this rate. I went along the south +side and, hearing the cheery clack of a loom, went into a cottage to see +the weaver, a woman. She was weaving canvas for stiffening for coats. +Could make threepence a yard, which was better pay a good deal than the +Antrim weavers of fine linen make. She was much exercised in her mind +against Mr. Vere Forster, who helps young western girls to emigrate to +America, confounding him with the infamous wretches who decoy girls to +France and Belgium. I tried to set her right, to explain matters to her, +but I am afraid that I did not succeed in convincing her. + +The land on both sides of the Boyne is dotted with houses and filled +with people, so the country looks more cheerful than in empty Mayo or +Roscommon. I spoke to a farmer who was looking hopefully at a large +field of oats, and asked him what rent he paid. Owing to his nearness to +Drogheda he paid L7 per acre. "How can you pay it?" I asked. "I can pay +it in good years well enough," he said. "What have you left for +yourself?" "I have the straw," he answered. I walked on and got weary +enough before I came to the iron bridge and the monument. The monument +has a very neglected, weather-stained appearance. Where Duke Schomberg +was said to have fallen there was a growth of red poppies. I plucked +some as a memorial of the place. I returned by the Meath side along a +lovely tree-shaded road. + +Some work-people explained to me that the late severe winters had +destroyed the song birds of Ireland. I did not hear one lark sing in all +the summer since I came. These working people were all anxious to +emigrate if they had some means, and listened eagerly to the advantages +of Canada as a place for settlement. + +I was one Sabbath day in Drogheda, and attended service in the +Presbyterian church there, which was opposite the spot where the great +massacre of women and children took place in Cromwell's time. This was +eagerly pointed out to me. The congregation was very small, not half +filling the church. + +Between Dublin and Belfast I had as travelling companion a Manchester +merchant, who had run over during his holidays to have a peep at the +turbulent Irish. He had been in Ireland for a few weeks, and had visited +some cabins and spoken to some laborers, and had settled the matter to +his own satisfaction. "The ills of Ireland arise from the inordinate +love of the soil in the Irish, and their lower civilization. For +instance, an English farmer in renting a farm would consider how much +would support his family first, and if the landlord would not accept as +rent what was left the bargain would not be struck. The Irish farmer +would think first how much he could give the landlord, and would +calculate to live somehow, not as any human beings should live, but +somehow on the balance." + +This was his theory. He denounced in no measured terms the union of +Church and State, blaming this for the prevalent unbelief. + +In many parts of Ireland I have been taken for some one else. I have had +secrets whispered to me under the mistake that I was somebody else, and +words of warning given that were of no use to me, but the funniest of +all was on my way from Dublin to Belfast. At a station in Down, I think, +a gentleman got into our compartment who was in the good-natured stage +of tipsyness. He seemed to labor under the impression that I had, in +company with my brother, canvassed eagerly for Colonel Knox at the +Tyrone election. He felt called upon to tell me some home truths, the +bitterness of which he qualified with nods and smiles. "We bate your +Colonel Knox, mem, in spite of you and your brother. Thank God for the +ballot, mem, we can vote according to our own consciences, mem, not as +we're told as it used to be, mem. You and your party think you have all +the sense and learning and religion in Ireland, mem. All your religion +is in your song, 'We'll kick the Pope before us.' All your learning, +mem, is to hold up King William a decent man and abuse King James at the +Orange meetings in Scrabba where your brother speaks. You and your kind +need to know nothing but what happened in '98 and only one side of that. +What happens in '81, mem, you hold your noses too high to notice." In +this manner my tipsy friend ran on until the train stopped at Lisburn, +when he left with a parting benediction. "God bless you, mem, you're +better natured than I thought you were. May you go to heaven and that's +where your brother won't go in a hurry." + +I had to go to Liverpool to catch the ship and so had to forego seeing +many things in Belfast which I had hoped to see. It was with some +gladness I saw the ship "Ontario" again. Having arrived before the other +cabin passengers I took the opportunity of going over the steerage with +Mr. Duffin, the excellent chief steward. The quarters for steerage +passengers were on the same deck as the saloon, as lofty and as well +ventilated. The berths were arranged in groups with an enclosed state +room to each. Single men by themselves, families by themselves, single +women by themselves and foreigners by themselves, every division having +their own conveniences for cleanliness and comfort. I am sure the +arrangements for steerage passengers on the "Ontario" would have +gladdened the heart of Miss Charlotte O'Brien. + +I speak for myself, and I know I speak the sentiments of all the cabin +passengers, when I say that nothing could exceed the provisions made for +our comfort, or the courtesy and kindness shown by the captain and +officers of the "Ontario" to us all, both in saloon and steerage. In +conversation on board these sentiments came up often, and with +enthusiasm, and captain and crew, and the stout ship met with no +measured praise. + +Before retiring behind the curtain to shake hands with sea-sickness +again, we had a long, fond look at the land we were leaving. Liverpool +had receded into a long, low line of twinkling lamps. My thoughts went +through the mist to the land of my own people now passing through the +throes of a great change. + + Erin, beloved and beautiful, once more + The time of parting comes to thee and me; + The sad delight of pilgrimage is o'er, + And voices call to me across the sea. + + In Canada the magic summer shines, + A purple haze upon the mountain broods, + The soft warm breeze is whispering through the pines. + And leaping waters thunder through the woods. + + September radiance tints the forest grand, + The maples are aflame upon the hills; + From bursting barns plenty smiles o'er the land, + Where the tall farmer owns the soil he tills. + + Erin, thy robe of green is dewed with tears, + Fields outrage-stained, thy west wind thick with sighs, + Thou that hast walked with woe down through the years, + Weighted with all the wrongs of centuries. + + Erin, beloved with love akin to pain, + Through woe and outrage, turbulence and strife, + Thou shalt arise and enter once again + Into a higher, freer, glorious life. + + + + +A LAST WORD--THE CAUSE OF IRELAND'S TROUBLES. + + +Because I have had the privilege of being Irish correspondent for the +Montreal _Witness_ for a time, I think it right to explain to you +the change which travelling through my native country has produced in my +sentiments and the convictions forced upon me. + +Brought up in the North of Ireland in a purely Hiberno-Scotch +neighborhood, I drank in with my native air all the ideas which reign in +that part of Ireland. The people with whom I came in contact were +Conservatives of the strongest type; from my youth up, therefore, I had +the cause of Ireland's poverty and misery as an article of belief. I +never dreamed that the tenure of land had anything to do with it. +Landlords were lords and leaders, benefactors and protectors to their +tenants in my imagination. + +I changed my opinion while in Ireland, and now I believe that the land +tenure is the main cause of Ireland's miseries. + +English history is pretty much a history of struggles against monopolies +of one kind and another. There is no monopoly, it seems to me, which +bears such evil fruit as the monopoly of all the land of a country in +the hands of a few. It is bad for the country, bad for the people, and +bad for the landlords, whether the monopolists are honorable companies, +a landed aristocracy, or an ecclesiastical corporation. God's-law, which +is the law of our faith, shows plainly how the Great Lawgiver regards +the monopoly of land by the care which He took to have a direct interest +in the land of Canaan by personal inheritance for every Jew. To guard +against the might of greed, to prevent the poor of the land, touched by +misfortune or snared by debt, from sinking into farm laborers or serfs +of the soil he instituted the year of jubilee when every man returned to +his inheritance. + +I first thought over these things in connection with the land question +in Ireland when travelling there and seeing the evils arising from the +existing tenure of land. I met with testimony everywhere of how often +and how fatally the will of a lord interfered to prevent prosperity. +There might have been a seam of coal opened in Antrim but for one +landlord. In the present depressed state of the linen trade what a boon +that would have been to the country. There might have been ship-building +on the Foyle, to the great benefit of Derry and her people, but for the +absentee landlords, the London companies. Donegal might have had a coal +mine opened, but the landlord would neither open it himself nor let +anyone else do it, and yet the great want of Donegal is employment for +her people. + +I did not think for a moment that the landlords of Ireland were, as a +rule, naturally worse than other men, but they have too much power, and +when "self the wavering balance shakes, it's rarely right adjusted." + +I blame the system, not the men. There were and are landlords in Ireland +too noble to abuse their power, of which class the Earl of Belmore is an +illustrious example; but these men are noble in spite of the system +which afforded every facility for the enormities of Lord Leitrim. + +The evil of the Land Tenure is intensified by the fact that one class +makes laws for another, and that the same class has all the executive of +these laws under their control. There was no power in the law to protect +the inhabitants of Milford when the earnings and savings of their whole +lives, and the private property of their minister were confiscated by +the strong hand, and some were reduced in consequence to beg their +bread. The law, planned expressly to be an expensive luxury, was only +for the rich, and was known to the poor, if they dared to contend with +their landlord, as an engine of oppression. The judge who gave the award +in Mrs. Auldjo's case knew better than anyone else the cost of Irish +law, and that the award he gave her under the Act of 1870 was a +defeating of the intentions of the law, as it was really less than the +law costs. His award added insult to injury to a woman who was a widow, +and wantonly ruined in fortune because she dared to contend with a lord. +The same spirit of partisanship invented the infamous Grand Jury system. + +After I left Antrim, while travelling through the wilds of Donegal, the +glens of Leitrim, and all through beautiful and desolate Mayo, I +wondered over the absolute power which was left in the hands of the +landholders and the great gulf which separated them from the land- +tilling class. Public opinion, which they control, seems to have +absolutely no sympathy with the common people when they were behind in +their rents, although they were emerging from a period of agricultural +distress, culminating in absolute famine. I watched the papers, I took +good heed to the conversation that went on around me, and saw or heard +no expression of sympathy when events took place which, I had thought, +impossible under British law. + +When Mrs. Whittington, of Malin, was put out in the wild March weather, +with a child three days old in her arms and a flock of six around her, I +looked for some one to raise a voice of protest, but there was not a +whisper. When a landlord's official forced his way past husband, doctor +and nurse, to the bedside of Mrs. Stewart, to order her to get out of +bed to go to the workhouse, bringing on fits that caused the death of +her babe and nearly cost her her life, I watched eagerly for some voice +to say this should not have been done, but there was none. I have heard +of retreating armies stopping and hazarding battle, rather than forsake +a childing woman in her extremity, in countries not boasting of so +enlightened a government as our own. I had so gloried in the British +Constitution, its justice, its mercy! I waited to see what the law would +do in this case. All the facts were admitted in court, yet this man, who +forgot that he, too, was born of a woman, was triumphantly acquitted and +not one word of disapproval appeared in any public print that I saw. + +I have often come home after seeing that on the side of the oppressor +was power--the power of bayonets--and that the poor had no helper, until +I could not sleep for pain and could only cry to our Father--theirs and +mine--How long, Lord, how long! + +A friend described to me quite gaily a scene at the Castlebar workhouse +during the last famine, when the starving creatures coming for relief +surged round the workhouse gate and pressed and hustled and trampled +down one another, how the police standing ankle deep in mud had to lay +about them with their batons, and the poor creatures were sent home +again, and yet again, until they would learn to keep order--keep order-- +and they were starving! + +A lady in Clones, who was talking to me on Sabbath School work and +missionary enterprise in a highly edifying manner, could only express +her surprise about the poor of her own people who were doomed to the +poor house, that they did not go in at once without struggle or fuss. +And yet she had been a mother, and must have known what parting with +children meant to a mother's heart. For my part I sympathized with that +mother of whom I read in the papers, who was taken before a magistrate +and sentenced for making a disturbance in the workhouse when she heard +the master beating her child. + +I wondered much at a noble and high-minded Irish gentleman who feels +strong sympathy with the Oka Indians, who, in speaking to me of a man +caught in company with another fishing by night, thereby transgressing +the law, and was deliberately shot down by the agent of the property, +expressed his regret that the other had not been also shot. Hardening +the heart I hold to be one of the very apparent effects of the land +system. + +Another evil is the encouragement of unutterable meanness; a meanness +that allows rich men to manage to extract under pressure gratuitous work +out of these poor people. No one needs to be told that the Irish peasant +is worse fed, worse clothed, worse housed than any peasant in Europe, +yet gentlemen will take from these gratuitous work, and see so little to +be ashamed of in the transaction as to write about it over their own +signature, as Ernest Cochrane did in the columns of the _Witness_. +I have heard of miles of separating fence being made, in this way, of +walls being built and even of monuments being erected "in memoriam" in +the same way. I was told of a noble lord having brought a gentle +pressure to bear on his Irish tenants to cause them to subscribe over +and above their rents for the benefit of those who were suffering from +an accident in his English collieries. + +I have wondered to hear gentlemen, and even clergymen, in Ireland +wishing that the people would rise in rebellion so that there might be +an opportunity of laying the cold steel to them and putting them down +effectually. I have also wondered at the refusal of the authorities to +have the riots in Limerick investigated; surely that does not look like +impartial justice. I have wondered again over the openly avowed purpose +of rooting the people out of the country. + +I have looked with great concern and astonishment at the lands already +wasted and almost without inhabitants. I have read with great pain the +Lord Lieutenant's speech at Belfast, aspersing the country as disloyal +and threatening them with greater tyranny. The people are disloyal, to a +system of oppression and absolutism which neither they nor their fathers +were able to bear; but I believe from my heart that they are more loyal +to Her Majesty than their oppressors are, for the system has made them +oppressors. Only notice, from Mr. Smith's evidence at the Land Court +recently, concerning the Enniskillen estate, for which he is agent, it +is proven that even in Protestant Ulster a landlord can abolish the +Ulster custom--the root of Ulster's exceptional prosperity--at the +motion of his own will. In the trials for turbary in the Kiltyclogher +cases a rule made by a landlord in his office overrides even a lease, +and is accepted as _de facto_ law in the court. + +These things have convinced me that the exterminating landlords are the +parties who are guilty of high treason against the commonwealth of +England. The loyalty of Irish Catholics to a country that had scant +justice to give them has been proven on every battle field from far +India to the Crimea. No history of England's wars in these later times +can be written truly without acknowledging the Irish blood given like +water for England's honor. + +Scotland has been more favored of late years, although the time is not +so far distant when her language, her dress and ancient customs were +also proscribed. Watching this, I have found myself wishing that some +Irish Walter Scott would arise whose pen would make Ireland's lakes and +glens, mountain passes and battlemented rocks, ruined castles and +mouldering abbeys, famous and fashionable as Scotland's brown heath and +shaggy wood, till the Queen would love to have a home there, and the +nobles of the land would follow in her shadow. + +I have changed my opinion on this also. The nobles come to covet the +homes of the people. The Highlands of Scotland seem destined to become a +hunting ground. The hardy mountaineers, guilty of no crime, must give up +their hamlets and shielings, the inheritance of their fathers, at the +order of any trader who has coined the sweat of his fellow men +successfully into guineas, or any idle lord who has money. If "a death +grapple of the nations" should ever come to England will she miss the +Connaught Rangers, the glorious 88th who won from stern Picton the +cheer, "Well done 88th," or the Enniskillen dragoons so famed in song +and story, or the North Cork that moved to battle as to a festival? Will +she miss "the torrent of tartan and steel" that charged at the Alma, or +the cry that "the hills of grey Caledon know the shout of McDonald, +McLean and McKay, when they dash at the breast of the foe?" Will she +miss the clansmen of Athol, Breadalbane and Mar? Will the exterminating +lords who must have hunting grounds at all hazards come to the front +with squadrons of deer or battalions of rabbits? Surely it is an aweful +thing to sweep the inhabitants of a country for gain. If Britain ever +has to call on these Varuses for her legions, or to repeat George II.'s +cry at Fontenoy, will the enemy be able to countervail the Queen's +damage? + +I would earnestly plead with the authorities, even yet, to try a little +conciliation instead of such strong doses of coercion. History tells how +cheaply the disturbed Highlands were pacified compared with the expense +of coercing them, which was a failure. The tithe of the expense for +bayonets would, I am convinced, make the West of Ireland contented and +make future prosperity possible. + +THE END. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters of "Norah" on her Tour +Through Ireland, by Margaret Dixon McDougall + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORAH ON HER TOUR THROUGH IRELAND *** + +This file should be named 6599.txt or 6599.zip + +Produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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