As the police
halted before some houses we heard the muttered exclamations of the few
women near, "Eagh! eagh! oh, Lord, and them in need of charity!"
Well, we never came up with the army of women. The processes were not
all served, for some of the houses were empty, and there was no one on
whom to serve them; we turned our steps, or our horses rather, homeward
to Ballina, the boys calling out in compliment to America, "Three cheers
for the noble lady," as we drove off.
The threatened rain came on and came down heavily and we got our share
of it before we got under shelter. An elderly gentleman was introduced
to me at Ballina who had had a very great opportunity of noticing the
working of the law and the struggles of the people. He admitted to me
that some might possibly have paid some rent before the agitation began,
but kept it back hoping for a permanent reduction, and then when they
had it by them had used it for living, and now had nothing to meet the
rent with. He said, however, that the most part had not recovered from
the effects of the scarcity sufficiently to be able to pay up arrears -
or, indeed, to pay anything on arrears.
We conversed a little about peasant proprietorship. He instanced the
case of two persons who had become owners of church land, one of eight
acres, another of sixteen. He spoke of the prosperity that had crowned
their labors ever since hope came to them and they had something to
struggle for. He said they came now decently clad to church and market.
He had been in their houses and noticed as much as two flitches of bacon
hanging in the chimney. One of them owned a team of horses. A man with a
team of horses on his farm is in a different position from a man with
only an ass and creels. Absolutely, said he, the man has devoted a
portion of his land to apple trees.
It was a touching thing to see the earnestness with which this man spoke
of these great evidences of prosperity - horses to work the farm, two
flitches of bacon and planting apple trees. In Mayo, in two instances, I
have seen a corner left untilled in a field. As there was an ass in one,
and a goat browsing in the other, I do not know but what it was the best
thing they could do to leave them untilled.
I may as well mention that the wretched people on whom the processes
were served lived in Sligo, and the landlords who were pursuing them, as
it were between the hay and the grass, were Sligo landlords, of those
whom I heard praised so highly in Sligo town. Round Ballina, as round
Sligo, there are few tenants on the land near the town; it has gone to
grass and has cows instead of tenants. Sir Charles Gore's demesne and
residence is very fine, and, as he seems to have a blessing with it,
long may he enjoy his good things.
XXXIV.
THE LAND OF FLAMES - A RELIC WITH A HISTORY - CATTLE VS. MEN - THE MEETING
OF EXTREMES - "PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE."
Was invited by a friend to visit Rappa Castle to see a celebrated
vessel which once belonged to Saint Tighernain, the saint who belongs
more especially to the west and the clock which was removed from Moyne
Abbey when it was dismantled. This vessel, belonging to the saint called
Mias Tighernain - which I would freely translate as meaning Tighernain's
own - has been used until of late years, when the clergy interposed and
forbid it, for the discovery of stolen goods. Any one swearing falsely
on the Mias Tighernain was sure to come to grief. People swearing
falsely on the Bible have been known to escape visible consequences. Our
car driver, a not very old man at all, told us he was present himself
when a numerous household were brought together to be sworn on the Mias
Tighernain for the discovery of a large sum of money which had been
stolen. The thief was discovered but money was not.
It is very pleasant to drive along through the fair but tenantless lands
that surround Ballina. The county of Mayo is beautifully diversified by
mountain and valley, wood and water, glen and stream. The tall hedges of
white thorn in their bridal white perfume the air. Myriads of primroses
smile at the passer-by from sunny banks. Small golden blossoms, like
whin blossoms, cluster thickly here and there, and the starry-eyed
daisies, white and sweet with blushes edged, lift their modest faces to
the sky. Even the bog waste is nodding all over with a cotton flower,
white as a snowflake; they call it _ceanabhan_ in Irish, and the
peasantry use it as a comparison when praising the white arms and bosoms
of the Mayo maidens. Surely one might say this bright May morning with
Tim, "Glory be to God, but it is a purty world!"
When we crossed the boundaries, passed the lodge gates into the demesne
lying around Rappa Castle, the residence of Captain Knox, there was a
change to still greater beauty. Money will build a grand and stately
home in the fair proportions of a castle, but money has to run in the
blood for centuries to produce a scene like this. Broad lands swelling
and sinking like an emerald sea, trees that stand out singly wrap
themselves in aristocratic leafiness, spreading their magnificent arms
toward you, saying, "Look at me! I am not of yesterday; the dews of
heaven, the fatness of the earth, the leisure of centuries, fanned by
breezes, tended by culture, have made me what I am, a 'thing of beauty'
to gladden your eyes." They stand in groups upon the slopes and whisper
this to one another; they open their ranks to give you delicious
glimpses into further away "spots of delight:" they are drawn up in
ranks shading mysterious walks that lead away into the grand dim woods.
They distract you and bother you with their loveliness till you wish
that the English language had a bushel more adjectives.
