Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1886-10-14

| Lord of Blarney, who has inherited a great
estate surrounding it. He has had much
! trouble with his tenants and some of the lands
are lying idle One of his tenants not long
since refused to pay the rent demanded of
him and he was evicted. The young lords
agent tried to get another tenant, but when O
tenant is turned out on such grounds it
would not be safe for another man to take
the property. The lands of this tenant were
left idle for year or two, and short time
ago he was reinstated upon his own terms.
AS we drove from Cork to Blarney other
empty houses were pointed out to us, and one
driver told us that these We're idle Oh account
of such evictions.
The country drives through Ireland are
very beautiful, and about Cork they are like
driving through continuous gardens The
roads are piked and they are as smooth as
floor. The green fields are separated from
them by walls of stone and hedge and great
trees the trunks of which are covered with
ivy, hang over them. Now and then you
pass the entrance TO the mansion of some
great lord, who has his porter's lodge beside
it, and who owns his acres often by the tens
of thousands
Along these roads about Cork, and here and
there scattered over the landscape, are
numerous one-story cabins, of stone or of
stucco, washed with a coat Of glaring white
wash They are usually of one low story and
an attic, and their roofs are of thatched
straws. This thatch, in many instances, is
old and broken. The grass grows in it, and
the moss springs up all over it, The edge Of
the roof is often no higher than a mans head,
and many of these huts have but one room.
Few have more than two They belong to
small tenants, men who have from one to
thirty or forty acres of land, at a rent of
from s. to $40 per acre for it. Think of pay
ing $4O0 a year rent for forty acres of land,
with a cabin hardly fit for hog pen on it,
and you have the condition of these people.
Nearly the whole of Ireland is rented out
by landlords who live in England, and who
spend their money there. Many of them
never come to Ireland at all. Others have
never seen their estates, and there are many
who get from $50, 900 to $500, 900 year in
rents. These rents are collected by agents,
and land in Ireland rents from So to $50
per acre. A good average would perhaps be
S. or Sc per acre. Some rent as high as S45
per acre.
Speaking of large estates, three men own
estates in Ireland of more than 100000 acres
each, and fourteen own estates of from So
600 to 100, 600 acres each. The whole of Ire
land is not as large as Ohio, and it is owned
by very few men. The workers of the
country in the fewest instances own the land
they till The products of the country are
shipped out of it, and the money earned by it
is spent abroad. A member of parliament,
whom I met at Belfast during the riots, tells
me that from $50, 900, 900 to $50 OOO 900 is sent
to England in payment of Irish rents yearly.
have heard it estimated elsewhere at $S5,-
OOO, 900 year. But the S50, ,0O0, 900 is striking
enough What state in the Union could stand
such draw year after year? 1t is no wonder
that the laboring classes Of Ireland are the
poorest in Europe and that their condition of
living is the worst.
The country of Ireland resembles in its
natural character many of the United
States. 1t is made up of gently rolling hills
in the south and those along the coast rise into
low rocky mountains About Cork it is q
garden, and as far Is you can see rich crops
agent rents them out to tenants In other
cases the tenant rents the land on a long
lease and builds stores and houses upon them.
These in turn ne re-rents, and by paying
a ground rent of from S. upwards for a little
block of ground, builds property upon it
vestment.
These little towns scattered over southern
Ireland are much like the Cork suburbs.
They have no gardens, have no architectural
beauties, and the poorer parts Of them are
not fit for such hermits as Dickens Tom It'd
dler, much less for families Of ten and twelve
children, added to the father and mother.
The roads of Ireland are fine everywhere,
%hai ,ar,f, fhn bid
are of the most substantial character In
this days ride through the mountains we were
on pike all the way, and in some cases the
road was cut through solid rock. We drove
through great part of Cork and Kerry
counties, the latter of which has over
1000, 900 acres, and Cork, the largest county
in Ireland, more than SOC, 600 acres.
BEGGING PENNIES.
Beggars followed us everywhere, and they
were of all classes and ages At every turn
Of the road and from every rock, bare
headed, barelegged, ragged girls and boys
from years old to IL sprang forth and made
for our stage, holding out their hands as they
ran, and saying, "Penny if you plaze, sur.
Penny if you Place" This refrain they would
keep up for miles, running all the time as
fast as the horses and keeping even with the
stage. If penny was thrown to them, they
would scramble and fight among themselves
for it and then dart on to beg for more. Some
Of the little girls were almost naked, and
none Of them had hats, shoes or good clothes.
One remember, strapping, good looking
girl Of Is, had upon her rags which left her in
state of semi-nudity, and which looked as
though the breaking of a thread would leave
her clad la Madam Eve before the fall. She
got about five pennies in a three mile run and
was profuse in her God bless yous.
One of the best beggars Of the whole lot
was little rcd headed boy of about 10 years