ounty
Westmeath, province of Leinster, the other in County Roscommon,
province of Connaught. The people are fairly well clad, but dirt and
squalor such as can hardly be conceived are plentiful enough. The
Shannon Saw Mills, which for twenty years have given employment to two
hundred men, will shortly be removed to Liverpool, and the Athloners
are sad at heart and refuse to be comforted. The concern belongs to
Wilson, of Todmorden, Lancashire; and the manager, Mr. Lewis Jones,
says that all the timber within reasonable distance is used up,
besides which the place is not well fixed for business purposes. The
workpeople are manageable enough, but somewhat uncertain in their
attendance. They require a half-hour extra at breakfast time every now
and then, perhaps twenty times a year or more, that they may attend
mass, on the saints' days and such like occasions.

This reminded me of my first entrance to Galway. All the bridges and
other lounging places were covered with men who looked as if they
ought to be at work. It was Ascension Day, and nobody struck a stroke.
My invasion of Athlone afforded a similar experience. There were
sixty-five able-bodied men lounging on the Shannon bridge at three in
the afternoon--all deeply anxious to know whence I came and whither I
was going, all with an intense desire to learn my particular business.
Other pauper factories were in full swing, and at the first blush it
seemed that the Athloners lived by looking at the river and discussing
the affairs of other people. It was Corpus Christi Day, and none but
heathen would work. The brutal Saxon with his ding-dong persistency
may be making money, but how about his future interests? When the last
trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised, where will be the
workers on saints' days? Among the goats. But the men who spend these
holy seasons in smoking thick twist, with the Shannon for a spittoon,
will reap the reward of their self-denial.

Mr. Lewis Jones has always taken a strong interest in politics, and
his present opinion is remarkable. "I came to Ireland a Gladstonian, a
Home Ruler, and, what is more, a bigoted Home Ruler. How the change to
my present opinion was brought about I hardly know. It was not
revolution, but rather evolution. No-one can remain a Home Ruler when
he understands the subject. The change in myself came about through
much travelling all over the country and mixing with the people. I do
not blame the English Home Ru