62 IRISH AGRICULTURISTS UNCONSCIOUS 



work from Weld's Survey of Hoscommon. 

 " Another peculiarity of Irish digging imple- 

 ments is, that for ordinary use they are in- 

 variably provided with longer handles than are 

 customary in England, whereby the labourer is 

 enabled to maintain a more erect position than 

 can be preserved in using the short-handled 

 English spade ; and hence in no part of Ireland 

 is it usual to meet men bent down by their 

 labour, as commonly seen amongst old men in 

 other countries." In alluding again to the 

 workmen working in bands or companies at 

 spade-work, he says : " These congregations of 

 workmen give vivacity to the labour, and are 

 ordinarily scenes of much cheerfulness." 



We found the misfortune of Irishmen to be 

 that they were too little bent down by hard 

 labour, and too much addicted to grouping 

 themselves together for the express purpose of 

 killing time by gossiping at work. The servant 

 was scarcely more to blame perhaps in this 

 respect than his master, if so much. Brought 

 up to such a system of things, both evidently 

 were unconscious of the evils which it entailed 

 upon them. The maxim of the master is to 

 keep in a state of buoyancy the flagging spirits 



