14 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



more land was surrendered, the better profit would 

 be made. 



The rent being strictly enforced, and yet never 

 raised during a tenant's life, there was one clear 

 way of success left open, and only one, viz. indus- 

 try and manuring the land. All saw that if they 

 did not take this way they would lose their farms, 

 from which a better profit would be made, whilst if 

 they did succeed, they were safe to reap the fruits 

 themselves for a reasonable time. In bad years 'the 

 utmost exertion and economy were no doubt neces- 

 sary in order to pay the rent, but then, when good 

 years came, nothing was hanging over them, and 

 all the profit was their own. Anything like habitual 

 neglect or extravagance thus very soon felt the 

 pinch. It made constant steady exertion and self- 

 reliance almost compulsory, and thus tended to cor- 

 rect a weakness of national character. It is a 

 remarkable fact, that from beginning to end there 

 has not been a single instance of a really industrious 

 tenant ever failing. However bad the times, every 

 honest hard-working man has got through. Some- 

 thing also was due to the tenants seeing a de- 

 termination that somehow the estate should be 

 thoroughly improved. Building, draining, fencing, 

 reclamation of waste, were all steadily carried on. 

 The opinion of the labourers, who found themselves 

 better off than their neighbours, with constant work 

 for themselves and their families, was also not 

 without influence. 



