Arrived At The Station In The Dewy Morning, And
Found The Lads Whom I Had Seen Carrying Their Dinners At The Redoubt
Drawn Up On The Platform Under Arms.
How, boyish, slight and under-sized
they did look, but clean, smart and bright looking, of course.
Applied
at the wicket for my ticket, as the 'bus man was eager to get paid and
see me safely off. The ticket man told me curtly I was in no hurry, and
shut the wicket in my face. The idea prevails here, except in the cases
of the local gentry who are privileged, and to whom the obsequiousness
is remarkable, that the general public, besides paying for their
accommodation, ought to accept their tickets as a favor done them by the
Company. This stately official at last consented to issue tickets; as I
had not change enough to pay I gave him a sovereign, and, not having
time to count the change, I stuffed it into my portmonnaie and made a
rush for the cars as they snorted on the start.
In spite of my determination, made amid the smoke and filth of the
third-class cars between Omagh and Strabane, I took a third-class car,
and to my agreeable surprise it was clean, and I had it to myself. We
steamed out of Enniskillen, all the workers in the fields and the people
in the houses dropping their work to stare at the cars, crowded with
soldiers, that were passing. I had a letter of introduction to an
inhabitant of Manor Hamilton, as a precaution. We passed one of the
entrances to Florence Court, the residence of the once-loved Earl of
Enniskillen. When I understood that this nobleman was up in years, his
magnificent figure beginning to show the burden of age, and that he was
blind, I felt a respectful sympathy for him, and wished that the shadow
of Mr. Smith and his three thousand of increase of rent had never fallen
across his path. After passing the road to Florence Court, when the
train was not plunging through a deep cut, I noticed that the land did
not, all over, look so green or so fertile as in the farther down North.
There was much land tufted with rushes, much that had the peculiar shade
of greenish brown familiar to Canadian eyes. There were many roofless
cottages standing here and there in the wide clearings. There were bleak
bogs of the light colored kind that produce a very worthless turf, that
makes poor fuel.
At one of the way stations, a decent-looking woman came into the
compartment where I sat. Divining at once that I had crossed the water,
she spoke pretty freely. Their farm was on a mountain side. It had to be
dug with a spade; horses could not plough it. The seasons had been
against the crops for some years. Yes, their rent had been raised,
raised at different times until it was now three times was it was ten
years ago. She was going to the office to try to get some favor about
the rent. They could not pay it and live at all, and that was God's
truth. Had no hope of succeeding. Did not believe a better state of
things would come without the shedding of blood. "Oh, yes, it is true
for you, they have no arms and no drill, but they look to America to do
for them what they cannot do for themselves. Oh, of course it should be
the last thing tried, but generations of waiting was in it already, and
every hope was disappointed some way." The laws got harder and the crops
shorter, that was the way of it.
Arrived at Manor Hamilton, every male creature about congregated with
looks of wonder to watch the military arrive. They were a totally
unexpected arrival, and caused the more sensation in consequence. There
were none to answer a question until these boyish soldiers had been
paraded, counted, put through some manoeuvres of drill, and then "'bout
face and march" off. They seemed so alive, so eager for fun, so
different from the stolid-faced veteran soldier that I hoped inwardly
that to-day's exploits would not deepen into anything worse than fun.
When they tramped off, carrying their young faces and conscious smiles
away from the station, I found a porter to inform me that Manor Hamilton
was a good bit away. As there was no car I must walk, and a passing
peasant undertook to pilot me to the town. Passed a large Roman Catholic
church in process of erection. It will be a fine and extensive building
when finished. They were laying courses of fine light gray hewn stone
rounded, marking where the basement ended and the building proper began.
Such a building, at such a time, is one of the contradictions one sees
in this country.
Stopped at a hotel and was waited on by the person to whom my letter of
introduction was directed, who introduced me to some other persons,
including some priests. It was ostensibly an introduction, really an
inspection. Only for this introduction I should not have got admittance
into the hotel. People were arriving from every quarter. I stood at an
upper window watching the people arrive in town. The first band,
preceded by a solemn and solitary horseman, consisted of a big drum
beaten by no unwilling hand, and some fifes. They played, "Tramp, Tramp,
the Boys are Marching," with great vim. The next detachment had a banner
carried by two men, the corners steadied by cords held by two more. It
was got up fancy, in green and gold, a picture of Mr. Parnell on one
side, and some mottoes on the other. "Live and let live," was one. The
band of this company, some half-dozen fifers, were dressed in jackets of
green damask rimmed with yellow braid, and had caps made of green and
yellow, or green and white, of the same shape as those worn by the
police.
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