JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND. 169 



methods has led, as I expected, to shirking 

 when the farmer's back is turned ; and the 

 attempt to work a farm with the labour of 

 old soldiers and sailors has proved futile. 



I would rather go to Ireland for lessons 

 for the English, excepting always for lessons 

 as to how land should pass from one race of 

 landlords to another. We do not w^ant a 

 repetition of Land Acts which have made 

 litigation rife in a country too prone to go 

 to law. 



Englishmen, who have obtahied a picture of 

 Irishmen from the comic characters in plays, 

 or from the sentimental songs of Thomas 

 Moore, are all adrift as to the qualities which 

 go towards the making of a typical Irishman. 

 To some. Irishmen are mystical dreamers, but 

 to Mr. Bernard Shaw they are the most 

 practical race on earth. Our Puritanical 

 training, however, makes us distrust the 

 aphorisms of wits. Yet, Sir Horace Plunkett, 

 who possesses to a large extent the Irish 

 genius for organisation, says that in Ireland 

 "a bull, a boat, or a hand-loom is more readily 

 appreciated than a professor, a leaflet, or an 

 idea." In political organisation, of course, the 

 Irishman gives the Englishman a long lead, 



