The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-29


him. He viii not quit America until he
can reckon a couple of thousand dollars
his own. When he goes home he casts
about to find a little farm for sale. He
purchases it, builds a house, marries a
neighbours daughter and the returned
Yankee" becomes an institution in his
town land.
This Yankee" is henceforth a mission
airy. During his sojourn in America ne
has gathered-as the Irish quickly do-a
notion of American life, go, progressive
ness and originality. And he takes this
notion back with him into the land Of
dreamers With the aid Of other yam
KEGS who have returned to the same dis
oicts ne impresses these characteristics
20 a greater or less extent upon those
around him. Having a little money and a
good deal of knowledge, he sets about
working his land in systematic fashion and
shows his neighbOrs that capital put into
The land is not always lost.
He drains and crops in a manner new to
them, and sWells his returns by raising
stock on imported food. His success slim
ulates others to follow his example, and
the countryside has practical demonstra-
tion Of the fact that the old ways are
not always the best. SO that the man who,
having gathered small sum of money
would natura ly have been inclined to put
it in the bank for safe keeping, now sees
the benefit Of putting in into
more productive bank his
little farm. Thereby he not only benefits
himself but also the struggling laborers
and cOtars who depend chiefly for their
living on the days given to them by this
farmer and by that. So, was to be ex-
pected. wages are now higher i'm ireland
than they were. and the laboring man is
able TO live at home, in greater comfort,
and therefore more willing to stay.
The spread of Enlightenment.
Because of reasons for which we are
not to blame-and our excuse is. written
large over the last few centuries of our
history-We We're not recently as a peo-
pie, so enlig htened as we might have been
but to-day enlightenment is gaining won
derfully among us.
After the public school system the re-
turned Yankee has been the principal edu-
Gator in all the remote districts BY the
winter fireside Al the wake and the we'd
ding, or the gatherings on the hillside or
the roadside in summer, he draws around
him a circle Of neighbors who hang upon
his words whilst he scatters the seeds of
knowledge and of broader views which he
has gained beyond the seas
An emigrant who came here from a re-
mote district in Ireland, thirty or forty
years ago. tells how when he emerged
from a railway depot in Chicago three or
four carriages swept by like a whirlwind,
drawn by great horses that struck fire
from the pavement at every leap the
whole keeping up a terrific ringing.
whistlng and din. They were fire engine
rushing to confiagration, of course, but
he did not know this. He says he stood
calmly by while they passed He had be-
come quite steeled against wonder and
looked quietly upon what he supposed to
be the native ChicagOan driving to his
business. Such mistake would not oc-
cur with the emigrant of to-day.
further good lesson that our people
have learned from the Yankees is that
of independence and democratic equality
Two decades ago it was a rare treat to
observe The returned one pass his land
lord on the road with chin in air, a look
of calm Indifference in his eye and his
hat seemingly glued to his head; now a
mere stay-at-home can act the part as
nonChalantly.
He has learned well the lesson that il
should be in Ireland as 1t has always been
in America, where "one man is as good
as another and a id sight better
Finally, the steady, heavy drain of emf
grafton, which went on INCREASINGLY 70,
forty years, relieved the congestion of tho
country and left more ease and elbow
room for those at home Where formerly
the parent had to divide his already toe
| small patch of farm land between three
or four sons he later needed to divide il
between two only; the others had gone tc
the States, and since their father had paid
their passage money and thrown them in
the teeth of fortune, they could not think
of holding claim on the land at home and
were far from gruding the farm to the
less lucky brothers who remained behind
The altered state of things in Ireland
was brought forcbly home to the casua
observer, when, a year or two ago, our
registrar generals returns showed for tbs
first time in fifty years a positive increase
in the population of the Emerald -
Later returns have likewise been CHEEKY
for whilst emigration has very material.
ly decreased, the refiux from America has
increased.
To the heart of every Irishman this in.
formation was glad tidings showing that
the turn of the tide which had been bear
ing heart and hope away from Ireland
had at length set in; that the era of pros
perity was well begun, and giving good
promise that at length the time had beer
reached when the Irishman could remain
| in Ireland for a better reason than thai
he had not the wherewithal to leave it.
Seumas MacManus.