And England fanned and favored this exodus, for it was very
certain that there were too many mouths to feed in Ireland--half the
number would not so jeopardize the beer and skittles of the landlords.

Parnell's father was a landed proprietor living in Ireland, but whose
ancestors had originally come from England. The Parnell estate was not
large, comparatively, but it was managed so as to give a very
comfortable living for the landlord and his various tenants. The mother
of young Parnell was Delia Stewart, an American girl, daughter of
Admiral Stewart of the United States Navy.

In that dread year of Eighteen Hundred Forty-six, when the potato crop
failed, the Parnells took no rent from their tenants; and Mrs. Parnell
rode hundreds of miles in a jaunting-car, distributing food and clothing
among the needy. Doubtless there were a great many other landlords and
agents just as generous as the Parnells, filled with the same humane
spirit; but the absentee landlords were for the most part heedless,
ignorant, and indifferent to the true state of affairs.

Charles Parnell grew up a fine, studious, thoughtful boy. He prepared
for college and took a turn of two years at Cambridge. He then returned
to Ireland, because his help was needed in looking after the
estate--hence he never secured his degree. But he had the fine, eager,
receptive mind that gathers gear as it goes. His mother was an educated
woman, and educated mothers have educated children.

That is a very wise scheme of child-education, the education of the
mother, a plan which is indeed not yet fully accepted by civilization;
but which will be as soon as we become enlightened.

From his mother's lips Charles learned the story of America's fight for
independence, and the rights of man was a subject ingrained in his
character.

* * * * *

Ireland is a country that has a climate as nearly perfect as we can
imagine, and topographically, it is beautiful beyond compare. Yet here,
among physical conditions which are most entrancing, existed a form of
slavery not far removed from that which existed in the Southern States
in Eighteen Hundred Sixty. It was a system inaugurated by men long dead,
and which had become ossified upon both tenant and landlord (slave and
slave-owner) by years of precedent, so neither party had the power to
break the bonds.

In some ways it was worse than African slavery, for the material wants
of the blacks were