JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND. 207 



earth hunger — the primeval desire of the 

 peasant to possess his native land. The 

 peasant is now possessing the land, and taking 

 a larger share in its government. In the 

 place of the constable we see the agricultural 

 instructor at work. In the place of the 

 exacting gombeen-man who preyed upon the 

 poverty of the people we have a Government 

 acting as benevolent banker. In the place of 

 competitive strife we have agricultural co- 

 operation. In the place of the wretched old 

 mud cabin we see now clean five-roomed 

 cottages. In those silent places amid grassy 

 plains, where yesterday only bullocks were to 

 be seen, we now hear the laughter of children 

 at the doors of smiling homesteads. This is 

 what I saw in Ireland with a mind, I hope, 

 unbiassed by bitterness or sectarian prejudice." 

 Three-fourths of the gaols are now empty, 

 and one at Enniskillen has been converted into 

 a school. Yet there is a tragic note which 

 must be sounded in the midst of the birth of 

 a new life in Ireland. Even to-day, with all 

 this extra agricultural activity in the Emerald 

 Isle, thousands of poor Irish farmers in the 

 west migrate to England and Scotland every 

 year during the potato, the hay, and the corn 



