Mr. Corscadden
said to this man; "You are a bad farmer and you know it. You have about
L150 worth of stock; I will give you L40; leave my place and go to
America. He took the money," said the old gentleman pathetically, "and
did not go to America, but rented another farm. The woman at Glenade
whom you went to see I have kept - supported - for years. Her husband did
not pay his rent, and I gave him L10 to pay his passage to America. He
is a bad man. It is rumored that he has married another woman; his wife
never hears from him."
"It is wonderful, Mr. Corscadden," I remarked, "when you are so kind
that you have such a bad name as a landlord. Mr. Tottenham and you are
the most unpopular landlords in Leitrim."
"I do not know why; I act as I would wish others to do to me. I do not
forget that I have to give an account to the Holy One."
"You are accused of wasting away the tenants, because cattle and sheep
are more profitable than people."
"I transferred two to places down near the sea and gave them better land
than I took from them. I have been speaking about the others whom I paid
to remove."
"People complain that you took the mountain pasture from the tenants and
then raised the rent of the remainder to double of what they had paid
for all."
"Not double, nearly double.
