Omaha daily bee., 1888-02-27
The Tale of Sickness and Cruel
Eviction.
LORD LANsDowNe's ESTATE.
A woman's Pitiful Tale of n Wretched
Lire--An Americans Experience
with a aNObleman's UnfOrtu-
nate Tenants.

arrived last night after drive OF many
hours in the rain from Bantry where the
railroad comes to an end miles beyond
the mountains. After had put on dry
attire and eaten heroically. l wan
dered out un der the portico Of the inn
It was dusk. Not u human being was
in sight. The gale swept along, lashing
the waters Of the bay and the sea over
the rocks with sound like the cOntin-
ual hiss OF escaping steam, dignitied at
times by the sullen roar of the larger
waves. Rain clouds scudded down the
mountains that lowered aloft on nearly
every side, ,drenched the inn with spray,
and were swept away again by counter
blasts that left the road in front of the
door comparatively clear. 1t was cold.
Mud was everywhere.
A hostler with blanket hooded head
drifted by about s o'clock-the first man
I had seen in two hours. He came to
the door when / hailed him, and re-
marked, cheerfully:
''It's bad night, sur"
"WOrse than usual?"
''Oh. sure can't say that all nights is
stormy here at this time year."
'Have you n stable here?"
I'VE have, sur"
How many horses?"
"T'ree, yer honor; vans an ass, tn
other died twelve months come
Febr'y, an there's Kaytie, ,th' little gray
mare"
81 want you to drive me over to Lord
Lansdowne's estate Tonight"
"To-night?"
"And leave me at the door of one of
his cabins"
"Whist, g'long. Faith, yer larkin'
wild me. Y'd have the crossin the top
tn mountain beyant there-d'ye see
it? above tn clouds-a matter OF sivin
mile at laste. The wind d be blowin'
yer honor off the cliff"
''People live there, / suppose?"
''They do, God help thin; they do
whin Lord Lansdowne will lave thim."
We started short time after this, to
the unqualified amazement of the land
lady, the driver, and the little gray
mare.
Foran hour and half we slowly as
cended the mountain until we got above
the clouds and out of the rain. Here
there was a long tunnel. We drove
slowly in and out into the open air
again. The wind was racing along at
such rate that our blankets were
almost whisked out of our hands. The
held her head down. A moment later
the rain came on the crest of another
wild blast. 1t sounded like the shriek-
ing of IL thousand demons as it tore along
through the jagged rocks of the noun
tain side and we were drenched in an in
slant. The uproar of the gale died away
into long means like the distant turf as
it swept into the valley below. Then 1T
suddenly sprang up again and kept us
-, L0 II, .f 1....
that projected from the cliff. Our
left was the towering mass of rock;
along it the narrow road with it's sheer
and awful fall down into the wind-swept
valley. The driver put his arm around
my neck and beloved into my ear:
Have " amy idear ut all n tall
phat yer goin' t. do now"
''Is there cabin anywhere in this
wild?"
"There is, sur. Nanny wan, an
whin tn poor devils in them can t meet
th' rint his lordship thrusts thin out
womin, children. an ALT live in such
weather as this, and whin tn children
die of exposure an cold there's some
thin rises higher than tn hurricane on
the mountains, an that's th' chorus of
curses on tn head of the lord. I'll take
" now t tn cabin of me cousin beyant
here. His names Mccormick, an he's
been hardworkin' man all his
life. AT the age of fifty he's turned out
in midwinter wild five little children.
wan bein' deathly sick"
We descended for mile or two till we
came to barren bit of bog land that eX.
tended along Lord Lansdowne' domain
At half-mile intervals his lordship had
rented small holdings to the farmers
BY tilling five or six acres patiently all
the year long and dragging loads of peat
to market in all Kinds OF weather, the
tenants managed to pay their rent
amounting to about $1S an acre. They
had no money for clothes or food. The
rents were raised. The lll-fated and
luckless workers could do no more. They
ferings in the desOlatiOn of that bleak
and wretched country are. almost beyond
credence.
The car stopped at the foot of a small
hill. The driver led me over turf
wall, and together we struggled to the
summit. The night was peculiar to the
climate of Ireland, for the Aeecy
clouds that occasionally appeared
after the titful showers showed
the country for few yards
around. could see no house nor sign
of one. We blundered ard stumbled
on through mire that came up far above
the tops Of our shoes. At times
thought the abominable suction of mut
would cause me to continue barefoote(
on my way. l had arrived at such ,
state Of complete and dire discomfort
that all wanted was little shelter
from the piercing wind. 1t was ,
ghastly night to be abroad. asked
again-or rather yelled, for the singing
wind made ordinary speech inaudible-
where the cabin was.
'Across bit of swamp, y honor
TIL land near tn road was too valuable
so they Civ them this piece beyant
III be interjoocin' yer homer rs lab'rin
man, else th' poor FOXES 'ud be embar
rassed like"
Presently we climbed another wall o
earth, and l discovered the shadow,
outline Of u little thatch-roofed hut
scarce six feet high. as many broad, ani
perhaps dozen feet high, us man,
broad, and perhaps dozen feet il
length. 1t was far too cheap and rud,
a structure for cow house in America
The driver bent double, and, drag
ging me after him, pushed in through
the door.
tsGnJ ,o,.o al ha.a ~ ha yonad .sIt'