rd was not spoken, for she was a Protestant. Her brother had
discharged a cotter, I do not know whether justly or unjustly, but
although Mrs. Taylor had nothing whatever to do with the affair--and
it was not asserted that she had--she was severely boycotted. The
brother, who was the guilty party, if anybody was guilty, was rather
out of the way, and being a substantial farmer, quite able to hold his
own, could not be got at. But Mrs. Taylor was a widow, and lived by
running a corn mill. Nobody went near it, nobody would have anything
to do with the widow, who, however, struggled on, until the mill was
burnt to the ground. She was compensated by the County, and rebuilt
the mill. This spring it was again burnt down, and she is ruined. Her
property is now in the Receiver's hands, and she is going through the
Bankruptcy Court.
"The Home Rule Bill has produced, with much that is tragic, some
comical effects. Since the passing of the Second Reading our servant
has become unmanageable. She is evidently affected in the same way as
many of the most ignorant Papists, believing that the time will soon
come when, by the operation of the new Act, she will so far rise in
the social scale as to be quite independent of her situation. This
kind of thing is visible all around. There is work for everyone about
here, but the farmers cannot get labourers. In many parts of Ireland
the cry is 'There is no employment,' but here it is not so. There is
plenty of work at good wages, waiting to be done, but men cannot be
got to do it. The Sion Mills, which employ twelve hundred people,
eight hundred Catholics and four hundred Protestants, would employ
many more if they could be had. The labourers of this district are
Catholic, and they prefer to stand loafing about to the performance of
regular work. They believe that a perpetual holiday is coming, and
that they may as well have a foretaste of the ease which is to come.
Up to the times of the Home Rule Bill they were industrious enough.
The Catholics of Tyrone and Donegal are not like those of the South
and West. They are very superior, both in cleanliness and industry.
Having for so long mingled with the Saxon settlers of the North, they
have imbibed some of their industrial spirit, and until lately there
was no reasonable ground of complaint. Their morale is unhappily now
sadly shaken, and whether the bill passes or not it will be long, very
long, before they resume their industrial pursuits wi
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