The bailiff, a gentleman who, if ever he is accused of crime, will not
find his face plead for him much, broke open the door and began to throw
out the furniture on the heap before the door.
Here are the items: One
iron pot, one rusty tin pail, two delf bowls, - I noticed them
particularly, for they rolled down the dungheap on the side where I
stood, - one rheumatic chest, one rickety table, one armful of
disreputable straw, and one ragged coverlet. This was supposed to be the
bed, for I saw no bedstead; there was no chair, no stool, or seat of any
kind. The sub-sheriff with the bailiff's assistance fastened the door
with a padlock. He handed the agent a tuft of grass as giving him
possession, and the eviction was over.
The agent - a large-featured man - seemed undecided as to whether he would
view the transaction in a humorous light or as a scene where he was
chief sufferer. He came forward and offered some rambling remarks
addressed to nobody in particular. He drew our attention to the
condition of the roof which needed renewing, to the fields that were
uncropped. This was certainly shiftless, but when he mentioned that the
man had gone to England "in the scarcity" to look for work, and was
lying sick in an English hospital, we did not see how he could help it.
He told us how bad the man was; how he pitied his wife, who was, he
said, worse than himself. She was not present, being from home when her
poor furniture was pitched out. He lamented over the fact that this man
had sent him nothing of his wages, while another man had sent him as
much as thirty pounds. He then went into details of these evicted
tenant's married life; how his wife and he lived, and how they agreed;
and rambled off into general philosophic remarks rather disagreeable and
nasty.
No one seemed to pay any attention, although he looked from one to
another for an answering smile of appreciation to his funny attempts to
justify himself and amuse his hearers. Some one asked him how much rent
was due; he said ten or eleven years. Two years were due, as we found by
the law papers on returning to Ballina. He then made an attack on the
poor men standing there, asking why they were not at home working, and
telling them what they should be doing. While he lectured these men in a
joking voice, he turned his eye from one to another of those present as
if he were seeking for applause.
These men, not heeding the agent, were presenting a petition to the sub-
sheriff. I drew near to learn what it was. They were thin, listless
looking witted men. One could not help wondering when they had last
eaten a square meal. Half-starved in look, wretched in clothing, stood
like criminals awaiting sentence, with dreadfully eager eyes and parched
lips that would not draw together over their teeth, before the plump
rosy sub-sheriff.
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