Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-18
A DELIGHTFUL TRIP.
Superintendent of Brookside Moran
 Tells of Visit to Ireland.

Thomas Moran, superintendent ot
 the Brookside home, who with Roger
 Connor, returned from trip to the
 old country last Saturday, says he
 would like to go there again when he
 will have more time to look around. In
 conversation with a Democrat reporter
 he said:
 We had very pleasant passage
 both ways. The country is even more
 beautiful that supposed and the peo-
 pie are all right, too. We saw prac-
 tically no distress, but on the contrary
 there was evidence of prosperity ill
 every direction, lots of employment for
 everybody and fair wages. Of course
 we saw the place at it's best. Every
 thing was in bloom, the whitethorns
 with their charming white blossoms that can be seen as far as the eye can carry, great variety of fruit trees of every description, pasture lands fair age lands gave indication of very fruitful harvest 1 made trip to the Pike -Rushall the place where I was born and after some effort located the spot where stood the house in which was born. It shared the fate of other residences years ago and were it not for some of the old neighbors I never would have found it. I dug into the earth and was rewarded by finding a piece of the corner stone which I brought home as relic of more juvenile day. It would take lot of time to tell half what I saw during my visit to Cattletown, Maryborough, Alb beyleix, Ballyron, Mountrath and other places in that part of the country. 1 stopped at Cuddagh bog, where num- Der of men were cutting turf and was very much amused at how such work is carried on. It is slavish but the men didn't seem to mind it. The men who wheel the wet turf down on- to the banks throw of their shoes and it is caution to see how they had to scoot along with a load of that stuff on barrow No, I met nobody around there whom I ever knew, but there were many who the old folks and can tell in teresting "reminiscences of the time the family left. In accordance with your request, I delivered your card to your friend Mir Meilum. He conducts large tailoring establishment The mo- ment mentioned your name both him and his wife promptly offered me the of the house. I had hard fight to get away without spending day with them, but was being ciaper- oned by an old acquaintance of my father, and was obliged to pass on. 1 promised to call again, but I was not able to keep my word By jove, if l remained as long as that man and others would have me I'd never see my family again.
 Changes there must be. since at every turn of the road you see evidence of the ruthless hand of. the landlord in demolished houses. Some districts which were what used to be termed nice sized towns have long since been the houses levelled and the inhabitants scattered all over the world. Still you might be surprised to know the number of people that make occasional trips to see these places. Every other day somebody from Amer ica or elsewhere drives along these country roads and has pointed out to him the spots where the family resi- 1ences stood. The old folks tell ter rible tales of the hardships they en- dured half century ago, or more, but they claim that things have eased off since the agitation of the Irish parliamentary party begun and that now and for some years past the condition of the tenant farmer and the rottier is about as good as in any other country where conditions are similar. Really. I was pleased to see the people so well off and to find read
 Ing matter. musical instruments and other evidences of culture in almost every house I visited.
 We did Killarney in fine shape. spent three days right in front of the akes as guests of a relative of Roger .onnor and if we had had time to stay we wouldn't have been through his year calling upon Rogers friends. I'm not going to try to tell you any
 hing about the beauties of Killarney put because they are too well known, put I cant help saying that anybody who goes to Ireland and comes back taking a peep at the Gap of Dunlee and visiting the Lakes of Xiii arney misses sights we'll worth a trip ,ver there. Once in a while we hear hat Ireland is passing out of the hands f the native stock. but it do"s not seem %. So far as I could see all the an .ient landmarks are still in possession if the Irish. Why Connors people ,wn nearly everything around Tralee, And. by the way. I want to mention m incident that occurred one after loon as I was walking down one of he main streets of Tralee. Some fel- ow shouted. Hello. Tom. what in thunder are you doing over here, any way On looking in the direction the voice proceeded 1 saw a nan rushing toward me from the other
 tide of the street who recognized as clerk named Walsh. who used to york at Currans. He was the only ,erson I met over there whom I could sy I ever knew in Waterbury. He is ust the same as he was when he sold lry goods at Currans. real gentle nan.
 We crossed the channel and toured .ondon. calling at Westminster. the Tower. the house of commons and otb r places of note. We also made rip to Preston. where our folks lived or a time after leaving Ireland. While ere we attended a cricket match aud
 tell you the boys could play But [ must stop. l. would take me foo long n tell all 1 think I'll write a book ]