128 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



it must be scouted as cruelty. In my part it is get- 

 ting common for emigrants to come back, sometimes 

 with money, meaning to stay permanently; others 

 only for the winter, or a time, or because they have 

 been ill. There is but one tale with all — of the good 

 wages and prosperity they found in America. Then 

 all our people have near relations there, many whom 

 we employed, or knew as children, before they left. 

 They are a frequent topic for talk — what and how 

 they are doing; whether they are married, and to 

 whom, etc. They usually marry some one from the 

 same neighbourhood at home, and we sometimes hear 

 of visits between the old people here, who before knew 

 nothing of each other, on account of the marriage in 

 America. Letters are often given us to read. Some- 

 times there are inquiries about every member of our 

 family by name, and messages of good- will. In these 

 ways the evidence is conclusive that emigration has 

 been a mere blessing and source of prosperity directly 

 and indirectly. 



Once more, every one, man and woman alike, who 

 gets into any " trouble " at home, whether it be by 

 breach of the criminal law or social or moral law, or 

 by misfortune, is sure quickly to emigrate, partly for 

 the sake of a new start, partly because their means of 

 living at home having been shaken, if not destroyed, 

 they can more easily make a living in a new country. 

 I believe this to be the whole explanation of the 

 favourable nature of Irish criminal statistics. The 



