The Irish standard., 1905-04-29

homesteads. Well, but are these
people fit again to re-enter upon the
possession of their holdings? How
have they been getting on during the
past dozen or fifteen years? Have
they lived on charity? Have they
been in receipt of outdoor relief? Not
a bit of it. Neither in Woodford, nor,
believe, in Portumna, is there q
single evicted tenant who ever re-
ceived one farthing from the rates.
They were all-the exceptions were
few-men of substantial means before
the days of their evictions. They
were large farmers, and they owed
practically nothing. They went into
the combination on principle and they
were victimized. and were consequent.
ly thrown upon the roadside. They
have been preserved almost miracu-
lously since. Steady, sober, Industrious
the men gladly took the first work
offered. Ordinary laboring work they
gladly entered upon. One. two, or
three of the grown-up members Of the
family started for America. Some
times it was the father and son and
daughter that emigrated, and with
what result? There is not an evicted
family on the Clanricarde estate to.
day that does not regularly receive
its American letter monthly, some
times oftener, with money inclosure.
l met woman-a widow-the mother
of a numerous family. She was living
with a daughter In one of the huts
built for her after eviction upon the
Roche property. She had not as much
land as would sod lark. Yet her
son was in Maynooth going in for the
priesthood. How was it done? The
mother works at home in sight of the
old homestead, the other members of
the family went off to America: They
are separated by thousands of miles
OF ocean, but family ties and passion
ate love of home and the old land
bind them closer together than when
sheltered by one comfortable roof.
In spite of eviction, and in defiance
of landlord prosecution after eviction,
that affectionate mother lives on in
the hope of seeing her son one of
these days ordained minister of
God. Further. she lives in the hope
of yet seeing him bless the old home
from which, when he was but child,
they were turned adrift.
There is quite a number of the
dispossessed people living in the town
land of Clonmoylan. After their
evictions timber huts were built for
them on different parts of the Clan
ricardo property, but the landlord, by
injunction and other processes which
the law opened up to him, compelled
their removal. The result was that
the huts had to be removed to a spot
upon small property purchased from
the former owner, Mr.. Freer. Here,
with the consent and goodwill of the
occupying tenants, the evicted people
were enabled to settle down free at
all events from further molestation.
They were further allowed to SOW
enough potatoes as supplied their do
mestic wants, and to cut sufficient turf
to keep them in fire. Prior to that their
former landlord hunted them about
from post to pillar. 1 visited several
of these huts. and saw with my own
eyes the thrift and industry that
characterize the occupants. In i'm
mediate proximity are the farms and
the ruins of the once happy homes,
where but yesterday, as 1t seems, the
inhabitants of the huts lived in COM
parative comfort. Every rood of
ground Is hallowed with memories
dear to the hearts Of the former
tenants. Lands reclaimed and culti-
waited by them and their ancestors
stretch out before their view. They
have lived through the terrors of
eviction, through the hardship and
privitations following upon 1t. They
have come through the awful night
mare of the ten years of disunion and
dissension of the Parnell split. They
have lived to see Land Act upon the
Statute Book that was to heal the
wound caused by eviction and by
clearances, but their day has not come
yet, though it cannot be far off now.
They have displayed exemplary pa
tience and heroic fortitude. Common
justice and humanity demand that
they shall soon obtain the reward.
l had conversation with Mrs.
Burke, who lives with several of her
children in one of these huts. With
in half mile of the door of her little
habitation is Cloonthagoff Castle, on
the shores of Lough Derg, the resi-
dence which her husband held as ten
ant OF Lord Clanricarde. They farmed
in all about $50 acres. They owed
practically nothing, but were evicted
for having joined with the rest of the
tenants in the Plan of Campaign. Mr..
Burke went to America. "He writes"
! Mrs. Burke told me, "once, sometimes
twice a month, and never since he left
home has he sent home an empty
letter. He has taken out two of the
elder children to America, and they
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