The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-07-25
IRISH PROGRESS

gratifying improvement in the home
conditions Of the laboring population of
Ireland. BY acts of parliament passed
at various times since 1888 cottages have
been built on half-acre or acre tracts Of
land, taken at nominal rental from
farms, and the laborer and his family
comfortably housed therein. This, in
connection with the recent legislation
providing for a fairly good system OF
home rule for Ireland, must, in due time,
work radical change, especially in the
hitherto unhappy circumstances of the
peasants and laborers of that country.
The English government seems to have
at last realized the economic wisdom OF
improving the condition Of the agricul-
tural laborers of Ireland in order to pre-
vent increase Of pauperism and crime
twin offsprings Of poverty-and check
wholesale emigration-the cost of which,
to the state, is in the long run. greater
than that of any rational scheme of per-
manent internal improvement. 1t is
said that since 1883 eleven thousand cot
tages have been built and occupied.
Taking into account all the difficulties
to be met with in the prosecution of so
large an enterprise, this Is fair show
ing even for fifteen years-the time that
has passed since the British parliament
inaugurated the good work. Mr.. George
Henry Bassell gives us in the North
American Review (July) pleasant pic
ture Of the transfer Of the Irish laborer's
family from the traditional howell to the
new cottage home. He says:
One would have to be present and wit
ness the transfer of family from a
stone or mud howell to a three-roomed
trim cottage to be able to fully appre-
ciate the elation 1t produced. Coming
into possession of such a house was to
the numerous children like the fulfill
ment of a fairy's promise. At night
fail they crept In and out OF the two
rooms adjoining, mounted softly by the
ladder to the cozy room In the gable,
and went to sleep unwillingly, fearing
lest the new grandeur should vanish.
A rent Of twenty-four cents week was
to be paid for the cottage, and, of course,
the surrounding "bit of land" where, at
spare moments, Industrious hands are
busy in its cultivation. Trailing vines
and flower borders lent new attraction
to the cottage, and it is not at all supris-
ing to learn that the moral and refining
effect Of the change in their environ
ment is perceptible, even thus early, upon
the occupants. No race more speedily
adapts itself to its surroundings than the
Irish. We know that here, in the United
States, the Irish people as rule cast off
their acquired habits Of thought and &C
ton and assume our national ways, our
American moods and lenses, with sur
prising facility. English common sense
ought to have utilized this racial trait
long ago. But 1t must be said that Eng
land was not all to blame in this behalf
The intense spirit of opposition to every
thing concerning "the Saxon" which, un-
til recent years, was all but patriotic
sentiment throughout its fair valleys
and hills, is responsible for much Of the
misery so long the inheritance of the
"Green isle of Erin"
OF course that in no way condones the
political misrule of which Ireland has
been the victim for so many centuries
But it is historically apparent that nei-
Their Saxton nor Celt was benefited by the
teaching of the gospel of hate" and, lei
US hope, that in the general good-fellow.
ship, so satisfactorily progressing be-
tween Great Britain and the United
States genial Pat and bluff Johr
Bull will also shake fraternal hands ant
henceforth try what virtue there is II
Christian kindness and brotherly love.