194 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



to get possession of the 1000 acres I farm myself. 

 I must have pulled down the gables on purpose. No 

 doubt 16 or 17 tenants held the land I now farm. 

 Though their rents were very low, and less than half 

 the net amount I now make out of the same land, 

 and they had never been raised, all lived in great 

 poverty, and many gave up their land freely. There 

 are now 22 good labourers' cottages on the same 

 land, besides three or four of the old tenants' houses, 

 which, repaired, do duty at present for labourers. 



Some one told me the other day my labourers 

 are " claner, nater dressed, and fatter looking," than 

 any body of men in the country ; they, their wives 

 and children, came to the house last summer (as 

 they do every year) for some small festivity. A 

 more hearty, healthy lot could not be found in the 

 three kingdoms. This is not wonderful, as I pay 

 fully £25 per week in wages. I can prove they 

 have now as many blankets to their beds as they 

 want. Forty years ago I am assured there was 

 not one blanket in the whole land. At our Cloth- 

 ing Club, which has now existed for so many years 

 that there is no doubt in the minds of most but that 

 the Queen sends the money for it in some way, our 

 own people have for some years begun to take sheets 

 instead of blankets — a pitch of luxury which is con- 

 sidered to be rather a scandal. 



One tenant who had an old lease of thirty acres, 

 was a widow without children; she brought in a 



