Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-08-19
: : T BACK FROM EUROPE
Mr and Mrs Edward NcGraIh Visited Rome of Childhood.

.
 through Ireland, speaks encouraging
 ly of the condition of things in that
 country and makes no bones of stat
 ing that the life effort of Charles Stewart Parnell and his associates is now bearing fruit and the whole
 country is reaping the benefit of 1t.
 The weather over there this summer
 was all that could have been desired
 and the harvest was the best in many
 years, So that wherever he went he
 found people who hitherto were
 struggling for existence in comfort , able circumstances and quite content
 ed with their lot...
 MT McGrath spent some time in the shadow of the ever popular Galtee mountains, the scenes of his boyhood
 days, where he met a few men and
 women whose voices chimed with his in school and who remained at the
 old stand through all the vicissitudes
 of the land league agitation and are
 now being rewarded for. their stay
 ing powers. The legislative enact ] ments which enabled tenants to buy
 their holdings on reasonable terms
 have been taken advantage of wher-
 ever possible and this has given the
 people lot of courage, for any i'm
 proyements they make now while
 adding to the value of their holdings
 does not increase the rent. Under
 the old law if man reclaimed a bog
 or morass, pointed his house and
 made 1t look more slightly it meant
 an increase in rent so that tenants
 at will got discouraged and did as little as they possibly could and eke out an existence. The new law does
 away with that feeling and puts ev- cry man on his metal, just the same
 as in this country. Of course people pay taxes and interest on borrowed money there the same as elsewhere, but while you meet these obligations you have nothing to, fear from the old traditional foe of the masses, the land agent.
 MT McGrath toured the principal places in Dublin and of course stop ped of long enough to pay his re- spects to, the memory of O'Connell, Parnell and the many others who liv-. ed and labored. and died for Ireland, whose ashes rest In Glasnevin. He was pleased to notice that the commencement has been made on a mammoth shaft in O'Connell square to the memory of Parnell. It will be the finest thing of the kind in the country and will be a tribute from the Irish people, all of whom now, if never before, realize what a great public benefactor this child of Avon dale was to his countrymen both at home and abroad
 After a couple of weeks spent in the Munster counties Mir McGrath made trip Into Leinster and kept right on until the train whirled him into, what was formerly the territory of the 0'Moores., He made a stop off few days at the old town of Abbey lex in Queens, county, making his Headquarters at Morrissey'sg hotel. He attended divine service in the beau tiful chapel In that town and says that with the exception of St Colman's cathedral. whose spire is about the last thing the fearful eye or the emigrant rests upon when leaving Ireland, no more beautiful house of worship came to his notice during his stay on the other side. l Close by the chapel stands the con vent with its teaching force of thir- ty-one sisters, whose fame las suc- cessful educators attraets7 pupils from all parts of the country and in the rear is located the churchyard or burytng ground, which had been enlarged considerably in recent years to make room for the demands made upon it, for while most people live to a ripe old age In Ireland, Father Time evens things up with all and In due season the strong and weak are laid away along side their fathers be- meath the green sward which their busy feet so frequently ripped over en route to say a silent prayer above the graves of those who had gone before.
 Talking about the laboring classes In Ireland, Mir McGrath said:
 There are no common laborers | there now. Almost every man you meet is a mechanic and commands | big pay. Four shillings and sixpence 3 day is not unusual and you cannot | get men at that price. The country Is full of machinery and requires men of considerable skill to handle them, and as labor is none too plenty people have to pay we'll forsit. It vas great pleasure to drive along Inc country roads and see the farm FITS and their sons caring for their own abundant crops. Their own. mind you, not the landlords. to whom pratically all the harvest be- onged prior to the passage of the and act which put the tenant in a 1osition to do something for himself md his family instead of everlasting y toiling for others.'
 The most exciting scene MT Me Srath witnessed while abroad. was a 'attle fair In the town of Marybor- 'ngh. when half dozen men started Q drive about fifty head of cattle through the center of a crowded Itreet- He thought many would be Iined before they reached the stock ard, but they got there without a iitch- He also attended a pig fair t Ballenakill. where he saw fine 'orkers and had to step around live ' to keep out of their way.