Natured, giving them a few jokes of a pleasant kind as they passed; the
soldiers looking straight ahead in the most soldierly manner they could
assume, but smiling all the same, poor boys, for surely compliments are
better than hisses and hoots.
I never heard a sound so dreadful as the universal groan or hoot of this
great crowd. There was some speaking, a good deal of speaking, from the
window of the hotel, praising the crowd for their self-control, and
advising them to go home quietly for the honor of the country and the
good cause.
After the sale, the three bands and the great crowd, paraded the
streets. The cattle were brought round in the procession, their heads
snooded up for the occasion with green ribbon. I do not think the cattle
liked it a bit; they had had a full share of excitement in the first
part of the day.
The most active partisan of the Land League was an elderly girl. She was
the inventor and issuer of the most aggravating epithets that were put
into circulation during the whole proceedings. Her hair was dark and
gray (dhu glas), every hair curling by itself in the most defiant
manner. The heat of her patriotism had worn off some of the hair, for
she was getting a little bald through her curls - such an assertive
upturned little nose, such a firm mouth, such a determined protruding
chin. This patriot had a short jacket of blue cloth, and could step as
light and give a jump as if she had feathered heels. She reminded me of
certain citizenesses in Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities." May God of His
great mercy give wisdom and firmness to the rulers of this land.
XXV.
THE LABORING CLASSES IN MANOR HAMILTON - THEIR HOMES - LOOKING FOR HER
SHARE - CHARGES AGAINST AN UNPOPULAR LANDLORD.
I called upon a clergyman in Manor Hamilton in pursuit of information
as to the condition of the laboring class. Manor Hamilton is a small
inland town, depending solely on agriculture. Want of work is the
complaint. Out of work is the chronic state of things among the laboring
population. A few laborers are employed on the Catholic church in
process of erection. The railway is newly finished between Enniskillen
and Manor Hamilton. While it was being made it supplied work to a great
many. Rail communication with the rest of the country must be a benefit
to the town and the surrounding country.
The hopes nourished by the Land League prevent the people from sinking
into despair or rousing to desperation. "Have the laboring class any
garden ground to their homes?" I asked. "No. You would not like to see
their homes. They are not fit for anyone to go into," was the answer. It
is good sometimes to look at what others are obliged to endure.
Having provided myself with infinitesimal parcels of tea and sugar for
the very aged or the helplessly sick, I set out with the clergyman and
went up unexpected lanes and twisted round unlikely corners, dived into
low tenements and climbed up unreliable stairs into high ones. One home,
without a window, no floor but the ground, not a chair or table, dark
with smoke, and so small that we, standing on the floor, took up all the
available room, paid a rent of $16 per year, paid weekly. The husband
was out of work, the wife kept a stall on market days, and sold sweets
and cakes on commission.
Another hovel, divided into two apartments like stalls in a horse
stable, a ladder leading up to a loft where an old gate and some
indescribably filthy boards separated it into another two apartments,
accommodated four families. The rent of the whole was $52 per year, paid
weekly. One of the inmates of this tenement, an old, old man, whose
clothing was shreds and patches, excused himself from going into the
workhouse by declaring that there were bad car-ack-ters in there, while
he and his father before him were ever particular about their company.
Children, like the field daisy, abound everywhere. In one hovel a brand
new baby lay in a box, and another scarcely able to walk toddled about,
and a lot more, like a flock of chickens, were scattered here and there.
In one of these homes a small child was making a vigorous attempt to
sweep the floor. On asking for her mother, the little mite said, "She is
away looking for her share." This is the popular way of putting a name
on begging.
One inhabitant made heather brooms, or besoms, as they are called here.
He goes to the mountain, cuts heather, draws it home on his back, makes
the besoms, and sells them for a halfpenny apiece.
In one hovel a little boy lay dying of consumption - another name for
cold and hunger - his bed a few rags, a bit of sacking and a tattered
coat the only bed-clothes. "I am very bad entirely, father," was the
little fellow's complaint. I stood back while the father talked to him,
and it was easy to see that he had well practised how to be a son of
consolation. It was a cold windy day, and the wind blew in freely
through the broken door. Surely, I thought, the workhouse would be
comparative comfort to this child; but it seems that the whole family
must go in if he went. The saddest consideration of all is the want of
work - excitement like what is in the country now must be bad for idle
and hungry men.
Mr. Corscadden and Mr. Tottenham, the contractor for the railway, are
the two landlords who are most unpopular. Mr. White, one of those who
had the cattle seized for rent, is also unpopular, very.
