, 1890-11-27
THE CR0FTERAT HOME
By Strictest Economy Barely
Able to Exist.
A HOPELESS, HApLESS LIFE
Diversity of Occupation Necessary
in Order to Gain a Poor
Subsistence.


LERwIcK, Shetland, Oct. q
Whatever may be the average
tourists Impressions from passing
gllmpses of crofters' communities,
croitcrs homes and the crofters
Themselves, 1 believe one who passes
some time among them can not
turn from them to his own world or
brightness and progress without a
genuine sense of sadness for their
permanent, hopeless condition. II
IL unques,ionably true that the
"crofters' act' of 1885 was II just and
beneficent measure. "Fair rents
have been almost universally fixed
arrears impossible of liquidation
have been either wholly Cancelled or
largely reduced; and personal Free
dom as n man, subject and voter
has been established. The crofters'
commission has already righted
countless wrongs to which the crofter
had been subjected for nearly cen
tury and a half, and ii may he truth
fully said that all has been done for
this Highland grounding that ever
can be done under the present land
system of Great Britain. Individual
owners are so few, such vast tracts,
especially In the north and west OF
Scotland, have been permanently
transformed into game preserves,
such Insignificant and inadequate
holdings are in the crofters' posses
sion under the new order of things,
and communities of these people are
30 few, and those so meager in num-
bers, that betterment TO these High
landers as u class seems impossible.
As stated in IA previous article, the
process of thinning hem out Of, OF
their actual extirpation from,
tremendous areas had been so thor.
ough by the owners of Highland
estates, that few crofters were left
to receive benefits. The tenacity
with which, despite all sacrifice and
terror, these few clung to theil
mountain homes Is a wonderful
tribute to
LOVE OF HOME-IIAND,
which, in n hardy race like the
Highland crofters, could have been
turned to infinitely better account
by Scotland, and even Scottish
landlords, than could the rentals
from sportsmen tenants. This sen.
tiinent Is SO strong and deepa one
to-day among Scottish people o
all sections that there Is II notice
able growing and stubborn demand
for "land DIVISION" 'land REFORM
and even in some quarters for ina
tionalization of the land" Many
Intelligent crofters seem contiden
that some form of legislation viii
sometime give them adequatel, !,
lurge holdings.
An idea is certainly gaining
ground that at least sportsmen will
20 out, and sheep-raising return
Sentiment is not wholly responsible,
for this. The first experiment by
the great Highland landholders
after the barbarous clearances of tn,
Highlander was in sheep-raising
This was successful, and in conse
quence the clearances were largely
condoned by a most important class
in Scotland; men who assist In
making and unmaking parliaments
These were the Lowland farmers
Countless thousands of Highland
sheep reared in the north were an
nually driven through the Gram
plan passes, and, before reaching
the shambles, wintered by Lowlant
farmers, who thus secured profitable
disposal of immense quantities o
produce. Since the British sports
men got possession of the northern
and western glens, Highland sheer
have become practically extinct
Therefore, what the Highlant
estate owners have gained
by game, the Lowlant
farmers have immeasurably NOR,
than lost, The latter have no pit,
for the crofter on his own account
but they know in n direct, hard
headed way that he and his COLI,
dog are the best shepherds in tn,
world. So these and some othe
pressing economic forces are grad
ually blending the "crofter cues
tion" and the 'land question: il
Scotland, and providing
AN ECONOMIC QUESTION
which may at last reach that form
of legislation which will breal
down the now invisible, yet infiex
ible, walls of these great Highland
estates, and cause the repeoplin,
OF their grand mountainsides ant
glens. But that can hardly com,
to the grave, sad eyes of the croftei
who now lives. And IL is this mar
whose condition, environment and
home-life, l have set out to de
scribe.
Whether he lives in the same
cabin where his forefathers lived
before him, or Is one who has beer
removed" from the old home tc
some new and worthless patch ol
ground for the larger liberty of deer
he is never the possessor, AS tenant,
of more than thirty acres of land.
while nine-tentbs of the entire class
do not occupy more than five. In
some instances he has an "outrun''
or common grazing with others,
where from twenty to thirty sheen
and two or three cows may be
grazed, and when this is SO he Is
? considered very well OIL. To find
HIM in this condition IL the rarest
exception; and ordinarily his miser-
able patch of soil, of from say two
to six acres, scarcely affords him
the barest means of livelihood. For