This was a
hard decree, but the tenant had no alternative but to submit. A man
often found himself squared out of the best of his clearing, squared out
of his cabin and all accommodation for his cow or horse, and squared on
to a new place without any house on it at all.
I made particular enquiry if Lord Leitrim had ever made any allowance or
compensation to a man deprived of the house, which he or his fathers had
built, after this summary fashion. No compensation. Every fixture put
upon the land belonged to the landlord absolutely.
"Was there ever any help allowed to a man in building a new house?"
"In a very few instances a man got a door and a couple of window-sashes
as a charitable assistance, not by any means as a compensation."
After some time the wild mountains, where there was nothing but rocks
and heather, were fenced off. Before this the goats and sheep grazed up
there. A new office rule made the price for a sheep or goat picking a
living among the heather. It was one shilling and sixpence for a sheep
with a lamb at her foot, and other animals in proportion. Still the
wretched men of the hills struggled to live on in the only homes they
had, or had ever known. Then the rents were raised.
