of cocks and hens which
scratched for a precarious living on the King's highway. The people
turned out _en masse_ to look at me, and to discuss my country, race,
business, appearance, and probable income. The Connaught folks have so
little change, are so wedded to one dull round, that when I observe
the interest my passage evokes I feel like a public benefactor. A bell
rings at the Catholic church. Three strokes and a pause. Then three
more and another pause. A lounger on the bridge reverently raises his
hat, and seeing himself observed starts like a guilty wretch upon a
fearful summons. I ask him what the ringing means, and with a
deprecatory wag of his head he says:--

"Deed an' deed thin, I couldn't tell ye."

The Town Crier unconsciously launched me into business, and soon I was
floating on a high tide of political declamation. What the crier cried
I could not at all make out, for the accent of the Ballina folks is
exceedingly full-flavoured. When he stopped I turned to a well-dressed
young man near me and said, "He does not finish, as in England, with
God save the Queen."

"No," said my friend with a laugh, "he has too much regard for his
skin."

"What would happen if he expressed his loyalty?"

"He would be instantly rolled in the gutter. The people would be on
him in a moment. He'd be like a daisy in a bull's mouth. He might say
"God save Ireland," just to round the thing off, but "God save the
Queen"!

My friend was a Home Ruler, and yet unlike the rest. He said: "I am a
Home Ruler because I think Home Rule inevitable now the English people
have given way so far. Give Paddy an inch and you may trust him to
take an ell. We must have something like Home Rule to put an end to
the agitation which is destroying the country. It is now our only
chance, and in my opinion a very poor chance, but we are reduced so
low that we think the bottom is touched. The various political
agencies which have frightened away capital and entirely abolished
enterprise will continue their work until some measure of Home Rule is
given to the country, and then things will come to a head at once. It
is barely possible that good might ultimately result, but young men
would be gray-headed before things would work smoothly. The posture of
the poorer classes is simply absurd. They will have a dreadful
awakening, and that will also do good. They are doing nothing now
except waiting for the wonderful things they have been told will take