est against this libel on me. _I am doing
nothing to stop boycotting._"

A neighbour of my friend spoke of many changes he had witnessed in the
political opinions of people who had become resident in Ireland,
having previously been Gladstonians in England. He said:--"When the
Achil Sound viaduct was opened, chiefly by the efforts of a Northern
Protestant who gave L1,500 towards the cost, a Scotchman named Cowan
was chief engineer. He came over a rabid Home Ruler, and such a
worshipper of Mr. Gladstone as cannot be found out of Scotland. In six
months he was Unionist to the backbone, and not only Unionist but
Conservative. The Achil folks, when once the bridge was built and
given to them, decided to call it Michael Davitt Bridge. It had not
cost them a penny, nor had they any part in it. At the priest's orders
they rushed forward to christen it; it was all they were good for.
They put up a big board with the name. Cowan went down alone, he could
not get a soul with pluck to go with him, and chopped the thing down,
the Achil Nationalists looking on. In the night they put up another
board, a big affair on the trunk of a tree, all well secured. Cowan
went down and felled it as before, watching it drift away with tide.
Then they gave it up. They wouldn't go Three! Carnegie, the Customs
man, came here a strong Home Ruler. Looking back, he says he cannot
conceive how he could be such an ass. A very cute Scotchman, too. Some
of the Gladstonians mean well. I don't condemn them wholesale, like
father does. You should hear him drop on English Home Rulers. He
understands the Irish agitator, but the English Separatist beats him.
I have been in England, and several times in Birmingham, and I have
heard them talk. Father is very peppery, but I moderate his
transports. Speaking of the English Home Rulers he'll say--

"'Pack o' rogues.'

"'No, no,' says I, 'only fools.'

"'Infernal idiots,' says he.

"'No, no,' says I, 'only ignorant.'

"As I said, I have been in England, and have heard them talk, so I
know."

He asked me if I had noticed the external difference between Irish
communities which support Home Rule and those which support the Union.
I said that a contrast so striking must impress the most casual
observer, for that, on the one hand, Unionism is always coupled with
cleanliness and decency, while on the other the intimate relationship
apparently existing between Home Rule and dunghills is most suggestive
and surprisi