XLIV.
THE ASHFORD DEMESNE - LORD ARDILAUN - LOUGH CORRIB.
The Ashford demesne affords walks or drives for miles. Everything that
woods and waters, nature and art can do to make Ashford delightful has
been done. I got a companion, a pretty girl, a permit from some official
who lived in a cottage at Cong, and set out by way of the Pigeon Hole to
see at least part of the place.
I may as well mention here how surprised we were to hear the Antrim
tongue from the recesses of the cave, and to find a group of strangers
exploring on their own account. They were working men who had come from
Belfast to work for Lord Ardilaun, and were making the most of a holiday
before they began. I was very much surprised to see men from Antrim,
where the wages are much higher than here, come down to work in the west
where labor is so cheap, and want of work the complaint.
To show how cheaply men work here, I may mention that being at a village
which lies outside of Lord Ardilaun's demesne, but on his estate, I was
standing on the road and a clergyman was talking in Irish to a man who
was employed at mason work in repairing the wall, a small quiet looking
man who did not stop work as he talked.
