English _gobemouche_ called around out came the old writs
until they were clean worn out. They were a splendid source of income
while they lasted."

This reminded me of a Bodyker, who said:--"A man named Lancashire came
here from Manchester or Birmingham--I think it was Birmingham--and
said he was going into the next Parliament, and that he was a great
friend of Mr. Gladstone. He was very kind, and seemed made of money,
and said he'd make England ring with our wrongs. My son had his name
on a card, but a lawyer in Limerick said the name hadn't got in. I
forget it now. D'ye know anybody, Sorr, of the name of Lancashire
that's a great friend o' Misther Gladstone, an' that lives in
Birmingham, an' that didn't get in?"

These Irish peasants ask more questions than anybody can answer. They
have a keen scent for cash, especially when the coin is in the keeping
of English Gladstonians. They believe with the Claimant that "Sum
folks has branes, and sum folks has money, and them what has money is
made for them what has branes." The Bodyke farmers and the peasantry
of Connemara believe that English Home Rulers have money. Impossible
to escape the natural inference.

Barna (Co. Galway), May 30th.

No. 29.--WHAT RACK-RENT MEANS.

I am disposed to call this quiet inland place a fishing village. The
people not only sell fish and eat fish, but they talk fish, read fish,
think fish, dream fish. The fishing industry keeps the place going.
Anglers swarm hither from every part of the three kingdoms. Last year
there were five fishing Colonels at the Greville Arms all at once.
Brown-faced people who live in the open air, and who are deeply versed
in the mysteries of tackle, cunning in the ways of trout, pike, perch,
and salmon, walk the streets clad in tweed suits, with strong shoes
and knickerbockers. The Mullingar folks despise the dictum of the
American economist who said that every town without a river should buy
one, as they are handy things to have. They boast of three magnificent
lakes, and they look down on the Athlone people, thirty miles away,
with their trumpery Shannon, of which they are so proud, but which the
Mullingar folks will tell you is not worth the paper it is written
on. Lough Owel, five miles long by two or three wide; Lough
Derravarra, six miles by three or four; and Lough Belvidere, eight
miles by three, all of which are in the immediate vicinity, may be
considered a tolerable allowance of fishing wat