d in the face, having an ambition to owe no rent to any
man. I woke him and asked why the flags were flying on Kilmore
steeple.

"To the pious, glorious, and immortal memory of William of Orange, who
gave us an open Bible, and delivered us from Popery brass money, and
wooden shoes. We put them up on the first of July and fly them till
the twelfth, when we walk in procession through Monaghan."

"An Orangeman, and a black Protestant, I fear?"

He laughed merrily, and said he was proud and thankful to be both. "If
we didn't hold together, and associate in some way, we might quit the
country at once. By banding together we hold our ground, and we will
do so until Home Rule comes on us. Then we'll have to give in, about
here. We're in a minority."

"Don't you think the Papists would be tolerant?"

"Aye, aye! Toleration indeed. As tolerant as a cat to a mouse. As
tolerant as I am to this thistle, bad scran to it," said my friend,
fetching up the obnoxious weed with a vigorous stroke, and chopping it
to pieces with the spade, after which he shovelled it to the bottom of
the trench. "Why, sir, the Papists are beginning to assume mastership
already. Before this Government had been a fortnight in office the
dirty scum began to give themselves airs. I mean, of course, the
lowest of them. They were not so civil as before. Tolerant, ye say!
Sure anybody that heard ye say the like of that would know ye were a
stranger in the counthry."

The farm house was a model of cleanliness and neatness, James Hanna a
model of a hard-working, debt-paying, honourable farmer. The living
rooms had every accommodation required for the decent bringing-up of a
family; and the parlour, with its carpets, knick-knacks, and
highly-polished solid furniture, showed both taste and luxury. Mrs.
Hanna, a buxom lady of middle age, was hard at work, but for all that,
the picture of comeliness and neatness. The children were just coming
in from school, well clad and good-looking, the boys ruddy and strong,
the girls modest and lady-like. Mr. Hanna was hard at it in some
contiguous field, but he came round and told me that he held twenty
acres of land, that the rent was L24 10s., that his father had the
farm for more than fifty years, that he was a Protestant, a Unionist,
and a strong opponent of Home Rule. I have visited two other farms of
the same size in Mayo and Achil, both held by Catholic Home Rulers.
The rent of the Achil farm described by its holder,