The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-20

, verted and lying sha pea. like monstrous,
light hiding trees, and In their branches
, the parrots Of the nations chatter innun-
Herlble foolish things There "a more
than one other country which will ac-
knowledge ths business Of the author =
picturesque phrase "a applied To itself
Selfish r--pACiability j. the danger which
a, the present mpm-n' more than any
other threatens the d.lIghtfuln"S- and
human richness of Irish country life. An
. Irish farmer may b. anything from "A
private gentleman on small seal" 10 \
laborlng man ON large one, and 1t - the
better od farmers who are most in danger
of losing the color ONT Of their lives. Like
the farmers in MIR. Bernard Shaw's play
. John Bulls Other Island they want
things to be left as they are. without
change or disturbance having reached
| the Utopia toward which their fathers
/ strov- The contented HAYES" want no
trouble from the boyCutting and cattle
driving practices III the have nots.
! TIL" Irish farmer has been denoraliZ.,d
| by thre. great forces the education
given ia the national schools. landlOrdsrn.
and agrarian politics. The schools de-
. lrIshed him. and 80 robbed him OF a sort
, II culture which made the air about HIM
eShilara'ing and the land "A land Of mem
I orie- and enriChng thoughts. Agrarian
politics. taking the place OF national
politics. has rain.d him To IL self
seeker - materialist. looking outside his
own coiTtry tn "a foreign ParlIapent for
thu beginnings If justice and II not for
: the beginnings OF justice. for doles Land
lordism. again. by timing him for every
effort he made after better things. 10y
lppropriating all the fruits Of his labor
a. TAR as was IN its power. trained hun
to cultivate an idie. shIftl.ss. untidy air
and Ia avoid the very appearance Of
PROSPERITY Hence tn. unsidine-s OF
the countryside IL not born Of "A deep
seated Irish characteristic. inherent IN
the Irish blood. hat Of Irish conditions
But there has been slow though sure
tendency To Improvement IN that direc-
ton ever since the land act Of 1881 ena bleed
the farmer Ia stand up To the rem; raising
landlord with some prospect Of success.
As for dirt. tn. author is convinced that
there is more dirt IN London or in Man
chester than IN all Connaught To had
food. ani badly cooked food. he attributes
more weakness and disease than to the
manure heaps near the cottage doors.
Country people rarely change their clothes
after ~e;fing sometimes having not the
wh.fewithai. Irish poverty is the result
Of the people having been driven out Of
the good lands. In short. Ireland. il a
country where all the land that il not
worth cultvatng IL not cultivated. and
all the Land thai il worth cultivating il
left ont Of cultivation. In other words
the rich lands at Meath and the Golden
Vale are devoted to cattle raising: and
the result Of this. a. Mr.. Iynd puts it. i,
that sometimes the pursels-S people
gathering from some vague part of their
souls the conviction that so wlsteful "A
system If land using proceeds from the,
will not Of God hut of the devil. TAX. It
into their heads 70 protest effectively
against sin. and cattle drive "nslie~
lie wishes IL 4" he understood however
that tins does not mean cutie manning
OF any other kind IL brutality u. de-
ciares hi- conviction that there j. moro
cruelty to animals practi~cd in a single
week ny the Irish railway comnanir-.
with their Thurman met ho.is Of trans
porting animals, than all Ia" cutie drivers
Of the country wouId ~ guilty Of through
an entire year.
This conviction agrees with that ex-
pressed 10y All Bnglishman 10 the present
writer. on the authority Of "A great landed
proprietor Of the region in question whom
ha had been visiting The Irish landlord
promised his friends =" aanh thorn a |
unique invitation ITO show them how
things were done. which should read as
follows: Mr.. Y requests the pleas ire Of .
your company 90 dinner. on Idatol. at
SO p VI. Cattle driving at 30 \ VI.
Jam, t,sOn and 81 garS ad lib This same
Englishman asserted that IN. English
and the French or any other Continental
nation. for that matter. had NOR. in com
mon than the English and the Irish; and
we cherrfuily contribute this item to
"ncourIg" Mr. LynI 10 his depression
over the weakn"'- II Irish nationality.
arising. as he repeatedly complains later
on, from the overeNaggerltion Of th,.
English langua e.. and tn" undcrcxa ggera-
ton ~ tn. Irish languag. ia IN" scheme Of
education. Altogether il must be- sad B
that the authors exposition IT aGr!cul-
tural conditions ls IN. clearrst and most
satisfactory which II ha- ls.'n Our fortune
10 encounter in much rrlding Oh the sub
leCt. II. justly Trpel~ the accusation
that Tn" Irish are lazy. a. too commonly
asserted. ami gives the statistics of tho
tremendous exodus to EnglInl ami Srpt-
land during the. harvest -..1spns winding
up with the remark that the tragedy Of
Ireland ~ not So much TN" tragedy of want
II character though II - partly that
~ The tragedy Of waste II character. for
owing To the conditions above described
the Irish farmer ~ most Economically
energetic ~her" being cner getic ~ the least
worth while. and wastes his energy either
ignorance OF want OF capital as
we'll He has. moreover. to contend with
a system Of land distribution by the COM
munity which 10 the twin brother Of the
fatal Russian system. with the added dis
that it is apparently repeated
at much closer intervals than i. tho prac-
tice in Russia.
M. L
According TO an Irish provc-b II is