. Ireland yesterday and today . some places they looked like lines of grass. In othersthey melted into the level ground. I asked what they were. The remains of walls and ditches of the old farms,answered Mr. Fitzgibbon. Youll find them all over theselands. When the tenants were evicted the walls were throwndown, and grass grew over the places. You will see hereand there a clump or row of trees. They mark where thefarmhouses used to stand. The houses were leveled and thewalls that border the road we are on were built of stonesthat once sheltered the evicted tenants. It was ghastly. I began to s
. Ireland yesterday and today . some places they looked like lines of grass. In othersthey melted into the level ground. I asked what they were. The remains of walls and ditches of the old farms,answered Mr. Fitzgibbon. Youll find them all over theselands. When the tenants were evicted the walls were throwndown, and grass grew over the places. You will see hereand there a clump or row of trees. They mark where thefarmhouses used to stand. The houses were leveled and thewalls that border the road we are on were built of stonesthat once sheltered the evicted tenants. It was ghastly. I began to see the marks of devasta-tion everywhere. The fields on every side were scarred withthe green ridges, as though the whip of oppression had leftgreat welts on the surface of the land. In two or threeplaces we came upon the crumbling ruins of houses, whichfor some reason had not been carried away. There was oneof which the four walls still stood, with the chimney, thoughthe roof had disappeared years ago. We could still trace the. THE HUMAN SIDE 59 outlines of the little garden and the remnants of a stable. Ahare scampered away as I peered through a gaping holewhere there had been a window. The family that lived there had fifty acres of goodland, said Mr. Fitzgibbon. They were evicted because thelandlord wanted the land to add to his grazing ranch. Allof them went to America. Twelve miles southeast of Castlerea we crossed the rail-road and entered an avenue of great trees. Half way up theavenue we met a party of men in knickerbockers and womenin furs. They were members of a shooting party occupyingDonamon Castle, which we saw further on, a fine, old, graybuilding, with a view of miles of green country. This is a fair example of absentee landlordism, saidMr. Fitzgibbon. This is the estate of Sir George Caul-field; 11,000 acres, rent-roll about $40,000 a year. Thegood land is let to big grazers; the poor land to smalltenants. The owners have not lived here for sixty castle
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