There is no Bad Land 33 



This field is rather famous. It has been visited 

 by bishops, peers, baronets, knights, statesmen, 

 politicians, royal commissioners, experts, travelled 

 foreigners and even farmers ; all attracted by the 

 Connaught short cut to reclamation without 

 tillage, and all as incredulous when they come as 

 they are convinced before leaving. I never knew 

 one of them either to believe before he saw or to 

 doubt after seeing ; and considering such incapa- 

 city for intelligent belief, in rather intelligent 

 people such as I describe, we must not wonder at 

 the suspicion of facts shown by the Irish peasant, 

 who cannot believe even in himself. I do not 

 think they could believe it even by seeing had it 

 not been for my foresight in preserving a plot of 

 pure heather across the fence among the private 

 lawns and gardens. I take them first into the 

 field, tell them what it was a few years ago, and 

 describe the method of the change. " Yes, it is 

 very wonderful," they reply, but I can see that 

 they do not believe a word of it. Then I take 

 them to the heather plot, the final refuge of my 

 receding credit, and I find it pleasant to 

 follow the effulgence of beautiful Faith as 

 it advances over their wondering faces. To 

 the Irishman who reads this, and has not seen, 

 I must, I suppose, be either the best farmer 

 or the best liar in a land of farmers more 

 gifted in falsehood than in farming. Either 

 way, it is a sort of distinction, but the picture 

 I have on view, worked out in the most con- 

 crete verity, is, in so far as I know, the only 



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