IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 33 



which such things were possible. " Yet," added my 

 friend, " a week or two ago old B. caught a boy in his 

 garden, probably after his gooseberries, and gave him 

 two or three cuts with his switch, and the next day, 

 when the boy threatened to summon him for the 

 assault, paid a pound rather than be taken before the 

 magistrate." 



In truth, the change to the present time is very 

 great. Land, houses, everything, have another face, 

 however much is still wanting. Compare any small 

 town with what it was. I remember, a few years 

 ago, a middle-aged man at a public dinner saying, 

 in reference to this improvement, "When I was a 

 boy, for a bet I undertook to throw a heavy sledge 

 hammer over the highest house in the town. Now, 

 no man could throw it half the height of many houses. 

 We had bogs then close to the town on all sides where 

 now are fine pastures." 



In appearance and dress neither men nor women 

 are the same people they were before the famine. 

 Wages are double and steadily rising. If a bad time 

 comes, fair exertion can grapple with and substantially 

 relieve it. The very complaint that the tenant class 

 have millions in the banks they would like to invest 

 in improvements (though only very partially true) is 

 proof how the farmers have thriven. The cattle and 

 sheep compared with their forefathers, would form 

 very fit illustrations for a new edition of Mr. Darwin's 

 book. Good roads everywhere. On the main lines 



D 



