With many thanks for his kindness we took our departure. Were glad to
hear from both friend and car driver that nothing of cruelty and
oppression could be laid to the charge of this man. As I stood beside
him at his own door, drawing all of the beauty I could into my soul
through my eyes to carry away with me, I thought if I were born into
that place with its associations, could I, would I mar any corner of it
to make a homestead for starving Thady, ragged Biddy, and the too
numerous children? Who knows what transformation might lie in the pride
and power of possession!
There was a single laborer working before the castle raking up the
gravel walk, I think. "I would he were fatter!" If he were only in as
good condition as the beautiful dogs of superior breed which we saw in
the castle yard; but the dogs are fed at the expense of the proprietor
of this fair domain, the thin laborer at his own. We returned by another
way. After we left the grounds we noticed with sad eyes the miserable
cabins and barren fields at his gates. People of the upper, middle and
comfortable classes are so used to horrible cabins, thin laborers, old
women, barefoot, toothless, ragged and wretched, begging by the wayside
to keep out of the dreaded workhouse, that the sight makes not the
slightest impression. People tell me over and over again that they
deserve their poverty, for it is the result of extravagance and
drunkenness. This assertion makes one stare and then consider whose
faces show the greater evidence of the action of different liquors. It
would be an easy matter in a national gathering to pick out the class
and the strata of society that is the support of the liquor traffic in
Ireland.
XXXV.
WORKHOUSES - THE POOR LAW - A REASONABLE SUSPECT.
Returning from Rappa Castle we must pass the Ballina workhouse. My
friend had business there. As it was Board day, and I had about an hour
to spare, I thought I would look in and see what I thought of it in the
light of a possible refuge for many evicted ones. There were some
wretched looking people, applicants for out-door relief, waiting about
the entrance when we went in. I have been informed and have seen it
confirmed in newspaper reports of the proceedings of Boards of
Guardians, that it is a rule of universal application by every means
possible to discourage out-door relief in every form. "Let the poor come
into the union altogether," is the spirit that actuates the Boards of
Guardians, so it was pointed out to me that these applicants for out-
door relief had small chance of success.
It was a Board day, and the master of the house, a polite little man,
apologized profusely for not accompanying me over the building. He
deputed the schoolmaster of the establishment to show me through in his
place. I followed the Ballina Schoolmaster of the Union from the
entrance along the gravel walk bordered with flowers to the house
proper, and into the refectory or eating room. One does not want in
every workhouse to look at the same things, when they see they are the
same as in the last. I noticed the set of printed rules hung up on a
card and lifting it down sat down to read the rules contained on it.
They were very strict, and conceived in such a spirit that a naturally
tyrannical man could make a pauper's life a very miserable burden to
him.
After I read these rules I questioned the schoolmaster, a very nice
person, as to the administration of this workhouse. He casually
mentioned that able-bodied paupers only got two meals in the day. This
was such a surprising statement to me that I said, "Your workhouse then
is harder to the poor inmates than the workhouses elsewhere. I have made
enquiry in several places as to the diet given, and they invariably told
me of three meals, mentioning also that they had meat allowed them three
times per week." - They have given you "the infirmary diet," said the
schoolmaster, gravely. We conversed a little while on this subject, and
as I was to go by train to Castlebar, fearing my time was too short, I
did not penetrate into the workhouse any further.
Coming out we encountered the doctor, a very courteous person. Hoping to
get further information, confirmatory or contradictory of this most
astounding piece of news respecting the food allowance, I referred to it
before the doctor, who qualified the statement by informing me that if
actually engaged at work for the house they were allowed a third meal. I
was thoroughly surprised at this. The conviction forced itself upon me,
that the poor having taken refuge in the house from actual starvation,
the house considered itself justified in keeping them on short commons
ever after.
As I left the building feeling very sad over this information, I could
not help wishing that these creatures, guilty of the crime of poverty,
had the nourishing fare given to the criminals in our common gaol at
Pembroke on the Ottawa. Now the workhouses are by no means crowded; the
Ballina workhouse, for instance is empty enough to afford a wing as a
temporary barracks for some military. I have been told by what I
consider good authority, that for every shilling levied of the
distressingly great poor rate eightpence is needed to pay the
administrative officials. While thinking of these things, I take up the
Castlebar local paper and notice in the report of the proceedings of the
Board of Guardians, that a doctor not attending to his duty through
being "in a state of health not compatible with much exposure to rough
weather or country professional work," was to be allowed for a still
greater length of time a substitute at three guineas per week.
