brooks, sometimes tapering off to narrow ditches over which you can
easily step at highest tide. The land is fertile, mostly grazing, and
the cattle are of large and superior breed. The country is well
wooded, and the hedgerows are tall and well-kept. The ancient abbey,
like Mr. Gladstone's reputation, is in ruins. There is a ruined castle
on the river bank, and on the other side, exactly opposite, a
Methodist church, bearing the legend, ALL ARE WELCOME. The principal
"square" is triangular, and has some good shops, which do most of
their business on market-days. An enormous anchor, half embedded in
the mud of the harbour, was left there by the French fleet during "the
throubles of the ruction." It is rather in the way, but three
generations of Irishmen have not found time to remove it. "Like
ourselves and our counthry it will stick in the mud until the end of
time," said a native. There is much lounging at corners by men who are
probably waiting for the Home Rule Bill, but the people compare
favourably with those of the South and West. They have more grit, more
industry, more perseverance. They are simple, civil, and obliging.
They are also cleaner and more tidy than the Southerners, though
decidedly poorer. "They get no price for their produce, no reasonable
wages for their industry. Their patience and contentment are
surprising, considering their circumstances. You can get work done for
twopence a day. The Southerners get thrice the money for their farm
produce. We have no ready means of getting things on the market. I
have thirty tons of hay to sell, and nobody in the district would give
me a pound for it." Thus spake one of the leading citizens, a Roman
Catholic, dead against Home Rule. "The resident gentry are all we have
to depend upon. Once plant a Parliament in Dublin, and there will be a
general exodus of the moneyed classes. Then the poor folks will have
nobody to look to, and they must follow them to England--which will
certainly be overrun with destitute Irish. Things have grown worse and
worse during the last ten years. Under a steady Government the country
would gradually improve until the comfort of the people would give the
agitators nothing to work upon. But with change upon change, with one
final settlement upon another final settlement, we don't know where we
are, nor what is going to happen next. How can we settle down to work?
How can we launch out into industrial enterprises? Every man who has
any