've as purty a grain
o' male here, as you'd wish to thicken wather wid, that I sthruv to get
together, in hopes to be able to buy a quarther o' tobaccy, along wid a
pair o' new bades an' scapular for myself. I'm suspicious that there's
about a stone ov it, altogether. You can have it anunder the market
price, for I'm frettin' at not havin' the scapular an me. Sure the Lord
will sind me an' the childhre a bit an' sup some way else--glory to his
name!--beside a lock of praties in the corner o' the bag here, that'll
do us for this day, any way."

The bargain is immediately struck, and the poor tenant is glad to
purchase, even from a beggar, his stone of meal, in consequence of
getting it a few pence under market price. Such scenes as this, which
are of frequent occurrence in the country parts of Ireland, need no
comment.

This, certainly, is not a state of things which should be permitted to
exist. Every man ought to be compelled to support the poor of his
native parish according to his means. It is an indelible disgrace to the
legislature so long to have neglected the paupers of Ireland. Is it to
bo thought of with common patience that a person rolling in wealth shall
feed upon his turtle, his venison, and his costly luxuries of
every description, for which he will not scruple to pay the highest
price--that this heartless and selfish man, whether he reside at home or
abroad, shall thus unconscionably pamper himself with viands purchased
by the toil of the people, and yet not contribute to assist them, when
poverty, sickness, or age, throws them upon the scanty support of casual
charity?

Shall this man be permitted to batten in luxury in a foreign land, or at
home; to whip our paupers from his carriage; or hunt them, like beasts
of prey, from his grounds, whilst the lower classes--the gradually
decaying poor--are compelled to groan under the burden of their support,
in addition to their other burdens? Surely it is not a question which
admits of argument. This subject has been darkened and made difficult by
fine-spun and unintelligible theories, when the only knowledge necessary
to understand it may be gained by spending a few weeks in some poor
village in the interior of the country. As for Parliamentary Committees
upon this or any other subject, they are, with reverence be it spoken,
thoroughly contemptible. They will summon and examine witnesses who, for
the most part, know little about the habits or distresses of th