AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 185 



into fine lads, as smart as smart can be, with a 

 little cap on one corner of their heads and a narrow 

 band of leather between their mouths and chins, 

 the best of England's soldiers ? 



To condemn the Irish cabins wholesale is a 

 great mistake, for I have sat inside many where 

 I could have eaten my food from the spotlessly 

 white table, and where the plates and dishes on 

 the dresser shelves were clean enough for Royal 

 visitors. The Queen herself would have felt at 

 home with the inmates and have been pleased with 

 their unaffected courtesy and the simple way in 

 which they offered the best they had. 



We English have only to look at home to see, 

 even amongst those whose labour has full scope, 

 improvidence, and other things that unfavourably 

 compare with ducks, fowls and pigs, although they 

 have no house or sty. 



Materials with which to build, excepting stone, 

 are costly and far to fetch. Wood there's none, 

 excepting peat-blackened stumps where miles of 

 forest-trees once stood. 



It is easy to say a man is, or that a people 

 are, lacking in enterprise, or that he or they are 

 indolently inclined, or that his or their ambition 

 is confined to a short pipe and a long look at 

 the growing pig, but, wherever profit, that great 

 sweetener of labour, is to be had, there is no 

 lack of willing Irish workers. 



Are the Irish the only people to cry out when 



