The National tribune., 1892-11-24

OWTH
| out to me the hall porters in which pay from
ego to s775 per year for their places, and thus
| are the envied of their class.
| Ireland is to look at, as beautiful as o poets
dream, bnt it is no place for a poor man to
ever expect to be nything else but poor, ex-
| cept by streak of luck that is as rare as July
| icicles. The rich there arc very rich and the
| poor, such as we would call our middle-class
| people here, are good deal worse Of than they
would be if they worked as hard and were half
as frugal in this country. Then, there is .
class there. who, if they have hope it must be
| a blessing to them, for it is all they have got.
How would the American cart, grocery
wagon or livery driver, who howis if he don't
| have his pound of meat at every meal and tea
or coffee, with pie three or four vegetables and
| all the rest of it three times day il he wants
| it, like to keep and clothe himself and vito and
four children on Is shillings (about S4 week?
| That is what he would have to do in ireland.
and consider himself well Off
| What would the gorgeous and autocratic
American express train conductor say if he YVES
| asked to work a 100 milo run at 81 per week
| and pay for his outside meals? That is just
what he would &c: on average all over the
United Kingdom, and he would be very glad
| TO get all the tips that came his way.
will not, as some writer's have done, stigma
| tie the Irish as nation Of beggars. They
are nothing of the kind. In ali the country i
Travelled over between Queenstown and Dublin
/ was never asked for charity but twice, once
by woman too old and weak to work, and
| once by man SO full ! don't believe he knew
what he was doing. ] have also heard it said
that the Irish are invariably polite to Amer-
| cans because they expect something. do not
| believe IT. Plenty of IrislImen in ireland were
polite TO me, and did me little favors when !
know they expected nothing. / would not
insult the Irish intelligence by snpposing that
one of Erin's sons could make the mistake of
looking into my face and expecting anything,
unless it was disappointment.
Tie Irish man upon his native sod is nat
urally polite, and the Irish woman is more SO.
II you ask an freshman for light from his pipe
he gives it to you and says, Thank you."
You ask your hotel manageress for change for
sovereign; she places it neatly in your hand
and says. Thank you, Sir" The first timo
you &c: caught that way you feel like kicking
yourself for not unloading your thank you"
first.
The traveller in Ireland, after he gets edu-
Gated up to the railroad and hotel systems. can
get around at less cost than in the States, If
no account is taken of the tips.
The third-class railroad fare ia one penny per
| mile and almost everybody rides third-class.
Ii you want to put Oh style you can have your
hotel bills just as steep You want them; but
you can stop in excellent hotels aud live for
| from eight TO 10 shiliings day or less a hotel
furnishes you just what you call for if it is on
hand, but nothing else. The beef is from Chi
cage, An extra two weeks from the hoof, the
| ham and fish good, and the mutton is the
best found anywhere. The potatoes did not
find what I was led to except, and was told
that the old crop had proved watery, and very
few of the new crop had come in. The straw
berries are sfuall but finely favored, and ID of
them with the stems On, IN saucer, costs six
pence. fraction less than a cent apiece. In
-, L. ~ -
American is struck all in heap when he finds
he has TO cut his own bread all over the United
Kingdom. You are set down 10 loaf OF bread
as big as watermelon and with shell ON it
like a tortoise. j undertook to carve that loaf
just once. After that told the waitress had
compound rheumatism in my right arm. and
though she knew i was lying. she invariably
carved my bread for me. They don't have pies
in Ireland any more than they do on the
British ocean linars-at least never found any.
The nearest l came to getting one WAS when
waitress In Killarney told me they would get
pic from the confectioner' so that could have
it the next day. The tea and coffee are good.
The tea used here comes from Ceylon, aud is
twice as strong as China tea You can get
good lunch anywhere in Ireland for two shil-
1ings, aud three or four of them per day will
keep you well filled. What more does rea.
sonabe man wautf
The men don't swear, use slang, or any
brogue in Ireiand-at least in the parts that
visited. This want of the brogue in the native
lrishman struck me as all the more singular in
view Of the fact that 1 have at home an Irish
| friend-the right kind of friend, one of the
| sort that would, the darkest hour Of the night,
| turn over in bed and think abont turning out
| to do you . favor He has brogue like
| barrel rolling down stairs good luck to him.
| Now, on the train / met three Irishmen right
! from that mans very town, and talk cd with
them for over an hour, and they talked rs good
| and ss smooth English as did; which may not
| be saying much for the Irishmen, either, come
| to think of it.
| Slang they do not know anything about.
| was standing in front of Dublin College talking
to new Irish acquaintance, and saw Very
nice. neat. short. fat bursar, proctor, registrar
| or other kind of official. He wore Knicker-
bockers mortar board. and q purple-linod
gown. He was SO altogether georgsously funny
that could not resist saying to my new &C.
| Guainfancc:
Get onto the waddle of his jag steps,
| Beg pardon?" was tho response.
4 Get onto"-but / bethought myself and
spologized, saying, it was "oniy bit Of slang,
OF which AM heartily ashamed now"
| All, IL IL American slang. 1t sounds very
funny; will you tell me what it u.s. please?"
For ton minutes ! instructed him in the
subtle bumor of tho expression, and then had
the satisfaction of hearing him laugh, as he
4
"'Gct onto-Get onto tho jag-the jag of his
| waddle steps' I've got it. Bless me, that is
funny. Pm going to jolly somebody with that
! the first chance have" And / have no doubt
| he did.
One morning at Moran's Hotel. in Dublin,
| my appetite got tired waiting for its breakfast,
and said to the maBageress:
"Miss French, will you kindly hustle for the
gentle gazelle that wrestles the hash in this
| carayanSary aud tell her to get gait on z"
beg pardon" responded Miss French, with
q startled air, but will you please tell mo
that in English?"
] told her in English but all the time ate
my breakfast j could hear she and the
"gazelle" out in the Office trying to get that
delicately intellectual morsel by heart. and the
style in which they twisted it up made it fun
nicr than orossroad circus They both know
more about high-art American slang than they
could have learned in six months at Dublin
College,
The second morning was in Dublin Iawoke
lonely, lachrymose and hungry. Tho evening