In Wicklow, West Kerry and Connemara

Each story keeps the passage it was read from. Open one to read the passage as the book has it, and, where the companion has written its own telling, that too.

1. Old Vagrant Jailed in Kilmainham for Beating His Wife

   Kilmainham · townland · Dublin

   After marrying an old woman of eighty-five, the elderly tramp beat her in a quarrel and was arrested and sentenced to a month in Kilmainham. He resented the plank-bed and diet less than the cutting of his long white hair, which he associated with his dignity.

   Read the passage

   «ex. In his early life he spent thirty years at sea, where he sailed with some one he spoke of afterwards as ' II mio capitane,' visiting India and Japan, and gaining odd words and intonations that gave colour to his language. When he was too old to wander in the world, he learned all the paths of Wicklow, and till the end of his life he could go the thirty miles from Dublin to the Seven Churches without, as he said, ' putting out his foot on a white road, or seeing any Christian but the hares and moon.' When he was over ninety he married an old woman •of eighty-five. Before many days, however, they quarrelled so fiercely that he beat her with his stick, and came out again on the roads. In a few hours he was arrested at her complaint, and sentenced to a month in Kilmainham. He cared nothing for the plank-bed and uncomfortable diet; but he always gathered himself together, and cursed with extraordinary rage, as he told how they had cut off the white hair which had grown down upon his shoulders. All his pride and his half-conscious feeling for the dignity of his age seemed to have set themselves on this long hair, which marked him out from the

   THE VAGRANTS

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2. Puck Fair at Killorglin and its ancient goat ritual

   Killorglin · town · Kerry

   The narrator describes Puck Fair, the great horse fair held at Killorglin every August, where a magnificent he-goat called Puck is raised on a high platform and chained by the horns for three days to preside over the fair, a custom the narrator likens to early Greek festivals.

   Read the passage

   fresh meat was sold for three pence a pound. At the further end of the green there were one or two rough shooting galleries, and a number of women — not very rigid, one could see — selling, or appearing to sell, all kinds of trifles: a set that come in, I am told, from towns not far away. At the end of the green I turned past the chapel, where a little crowd had just carried in a man who had been killed or badly wounded by a fall from a horse, and went down to the bridge of the river, and then back again into the main slope of the town. Here there were a number of people who had come in for amusement only, and were walking up and down, looking at each other — a crowd is as exciting as champagne to these lonely people, who live in long glens among the mountains — and meeting with cousins and friends. Then, in the three-cornered space in the middle of the town, I came on Puck himself, a magnificent he-goat (Irish puc), raised on a platform twenty feet high, and held by a chain from each horn, with his face down the road. He is kept in this position, with a few cabbages to feed on, for three days, so that he may preside over the pig-

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   As the companion tells it

   Up ahead is Killorglin in Kerry, where every August the town holds Puck Fair. The heart of it is a magnificent he-goat, the puc himself, raised on a platform 20 feet high and held by a chain from each horn, his face turned down the road. He stays up there for three days, feeding on a few cabbages, presiding over the fair below. The narrator found him in the three-cornered space in the middle of the town, after walking past the green where fresh meat sold for three pence a pound, past rough shooting galleries and women selling trifles, past the chapel where a little crowd had just carried in a man killed or badly wounded by a fall from a horse. The bridge of the river and the main slope of the town were full of people who had come for amusement only, walking up and down, looking at each other, meeting cousins and friends. As the narrator puts it, a crowd is as exciting as champagne to these lonely people, who live in long glens among the mountains.

3. Old man recalls burying Famine corpses near Kenmare

   Kenmare · townland · Kerry · 1845–1852

   Old Darby, the storyteller, recounts living near Kenmare during the Famine and seeing corpses buried in ditches by the road. He then emigrated to England for work, walking from Liverpool to Plymouth, as the country was ruined and destroyed.

   Read the passage

   'I do,' he said. 'I was living near Kenmare, and many's the day I saw them burying the corpses in the ditch by the road. It was after that I went to England, for this country was ruined and destroyed. I heard there was work at that time in Plymouth; so I went to Dublin and took a boat that was going to England; but it was at a place called Liverpool they put me on shore, and then I had to walk to Plymouth, asking my way on the road. In that place I saw the soldiers after coming back from the Crimea, and they all broken and maimed.'

   A little later, when he went out for a moment, the people told me he beats up and

   Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

   As the companion tells it

   Somewhere around here, an old man called Darby lived through the Famine years. He told how he saw the dead buried in ditches by the road, day after day. After that he left for England, because, as he said, 'this country was ruined and destroyed.' He heard there was work in Plymouth, so he went to Dublin and took a boat to England. They put him ashore at Liverpool, and he had to walk all the way to Plymouth, asking his way on the road. There he saw soldiers coming back from the Crimea, broken and maimed. Later, when Darby stepped out for a moment, the people said he beats up and was troublesome when he drank.

4. The Vagrant's Hundred-Year Life on Wicklow's Roads

   Seven Churches · minor feature · Galway · 1847–1848

   An elderly vagrant, said to have reached 102, first appeared in the district around the time of the Famine in 1847-48 and later learned every path from Dublin to the Seven Churches. He was imprisoned in Kilmainham after a domestic dispute and mourned bitterly the loss of his long white hair, cut off there.

   Read the passage

   «ex. In his early life he spent thirty years at sea, where he sailed with some one he spoke of afterwards as ' II mio capitane,' visiting India and Japan, and gaining odd words and intonations that gave colour to his language. When he was too old to wander in the world, he learned all the paths of Wicklow, and till the end of his life he could go the thirty miles from Dublin to the Seven Churches without, as he said, ' putting out his foot on a white road, or seeing any Christian but the hares and moon.' When he was over ninety he married an old woman •of eighty-five. Before many days, however, they quarrelled so fiercely that he beat her with his stick, and came out again on the roads. In a few hours he was arrested at her complaint, and sentenced to a month in Kilmainham. He cared nothing for the plank-bed and uncomfortable diet; but he always gathered himself together, and cursed with extraordinary rage, as he told how they had cut off the white hair which had grown down upon his shoulders. All his pride and his half-conscious feeling for the dignity of his age seemed to have set themselves on this long hair, which marked him out from the

   THE VAGRANTS

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5. A Dying Tramp's Gift near the Avonbeg

   near Avonbeg River · river · Wicklow

   Near the Avonbeg river, Synge encountered a young tramp suffering from a terrible disease who begged for money for a handmade rush table, insisting Synge keep the table even after being given a shilling out of pity.

   Read the passage

   One evening, on the high ground near the Avonbeg, I met a young tramp just as an extraordinary sunset had begun to fade, and a low white mist was rising from the bogs. He had a sort of table in his hands that he seemed to have made himself out of twisted rushes and a few branches of osier. His clothes were more than usually ragged, and I could see by his face that he was suffering from some terrible disease. When he was quite close, he held out the table.

   ' Would you give me a few pence for that thing ? ' he said. ' I'm after working at it all day by the river, and for the love of God give me something now, the way I can get a drink and lodging for the night.'

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6. The mermaid of Shee and the drowned descendants

   Ballinskelligs · townland · Kerry

   A tale is told of a man named Shee who stole a mermaid's covering on the strand for his master, who then married her; years later she found her covering hidden in a hamper and returned to the sea, and it is said that none of the Shees can go out in a boat on that bay without drowning.

   Read the passage

   and when he was moving into it, and clearing the things out, he brought down an old hamper out of the loft and put it in the yard. The woman was going about, and she looked into the hamper, and she saw her covering hidden away in the bottom of it. She took it out then and put it upon her and went back into the sea, and her children used to be on the shore crying after her. I'm told from that day there isn't one of the Shees can go out in a boat on that bay and not be drowned.'

   We were now near the sandhills, where a crowd was beginning to come together, and booths were being put up for the sale of apples and porter and cakes. A train had come in a little before at a station a mile or so away, and a number of the usual trickcharacters, with their stock-in-trade, were hurrying down to the sea. The roulette man passed us first, unfolding his table and calling out at the top of his voice :

   Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

7. Loss of Cattle and Wife Drives Ferryman to Poverty

   Dinish Island · townland · Galway

   The Dinish Island ferryman described how, after returning from working abroad, his wife died, his potatoes failed, and three cows were struck by a brain disease in the night, swam out to sea and drowned, leaving him destitute with young children and reliant on credit for meal and flour.

   Read the passage

   ' My two brothers went to America,' he said, ' and I had to come back because I was the eldest son, and I got married then, and I after holding out till I was forty. I have a young family now growing up, for I was snug for a while; and then bad times came, and I lost my wife, and the potatoes went bad, and three cows I had were taken in the night with some disease of the brain, and they swam out and were drowned in the sea. I got back their bodies in the morning, and took them down to a gentleman beyond who understands the diseases of animals, but he gave me nothing for them at all. So there I am now with no pigs, and no cows, and a young family running round with no mother to mind them;

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8. Old Man Washed Out to Sea and Wake Held in Dunquin

   near Dunquin · parish · Kerry

   Three men in a canoe were caught by rising seas; two young men jumped to rocks but an old man was washed back out and presumed drowned, so his wake was held in Dunquin, though he survived and turned up alive in Valentia days later.

   Read the passage

   ' A while since,' said the local man, ' there were three men out in a canoe, and the sea rose on them. They tried to come in under the clifF, but they couldn't come to land with the greatness of the waves that were breaking. There were two young men in the canoe, and another man was sixty, or near it. When the young men saw they couldn't bring in the canoe, they said they'd make a jump for the rocks and let her go without them, if she must go. Then they pulled in on the next wave, and when they were close in the two young men jumped on to a rock, but the old man was too stiff, and he was washed back again in the canoe. It came on dark after that, and all thought he was drowned, and they held his wake in Dunquin. At that time there used to be a steamer going in and out trading in Valentia and Dingle and Cahirciveen, and when she came into Dingle, two or three days after, there was my man on board her, as hearty as a salmon. When he was washed back he got one of the oars, and kept her head to the wind; then the tide took him one bit

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   As the companion tells it

   You are around Dunquin now, a parish on the far western edge of Kerry, and it was here a strange wake was once held for a man who was not dead. A local man told the story of three men out in a canoe when the sea rose on them. They tried to come in under the cliff but the waves were too great. Two young men jumped for the rocks and made it. The third man was sixty, or near it, and too stiff to jump. He was washed back out in the canoe, and when it came on dark, all thought he was drowned. They held his wake in Dunquin. But the steamer that traded between Valentia, Dingle and Cahirciveen came into Dingle two or three days later, and there he was on board, as the local man said, "as hearty as a salmon." When he was washed back he got hold of an oar and kept the canoe's head to the wind, and the tide took him along until he was picked up.

9. Fifty Tinkers Match-Making on the Rathdangan Road

   Rathdangan · townland · Wicklow

   The same Wicklow man described witnessing about fifty tinkers gathered on the road to Rathdangan, engaged in match-making and marrying themselves for the coming year before dispersing along different roads and fairs.

   Read the passage

   'They come from every part,' he said. * They're gallons lads for walking round through the world. One time I seen fifty of them above on the road to Rathdangan, and they all match-making and marrying themselves for the year that was to come. One man would take such a woman, and say he was going such roads and places, stopping at this fair and another fair, till he'd meet them again at such a place, when the spring was coming on. Another, maybe, would swap the woman he had with one from another man, with as much talk as if you'd

   THE VAGRANTS

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10. Relief Workers' Dejection on Gorumna Bog Road

    Gorumna · electoral division · Galway

    Men and women working on relief works near Gorumna for a shilling a day appeared dejected, working with a hang-dog demeanor that made them resemble convicts, while the best family worker was often pulled away from farming or fishing for this poor wage.

    Read the passage

    We drove many miles, with Costello and Carraroe behind us, along a bog-road of curious formation built up on a turf embankment, with broad grassy sods at either side — perhaps to make a possible way for the barefooted people — then two spaces of rough broken stones where the wheel-ruts are usually worn, and in the centre a track of gritty earth for the horses. Then, at a turn of the road, we came in sight of a dozen or more men and women working hurriedly and doggedly improving a further portion of this road, with a ganger swaggering among them and directing their work. Some of the people were cutting out sods from grassy patches near the road, others were carrying down bags of earth in a slow, inert procession, a few were breaking stones, and three or four women were scraping out a sort of sandpit at a little distance. As we drove quickly by we could see that every man and woman was working with a sort of hang-dog dejection that would be enough to make any casual passer mistake them for a band of convicts. The wages given on

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11. The Great Wind and Blight Remembered from 1839 and 1846

    Sligo · town · Sligo · 1839–1846

    An old man recalled three cruel plagues in Ireland during his lifetime: the Big Wind of 1839, the potato blight that began on 9 June 1846, and the subsequent cholera epidemic, describing the mist that rose from the sea and killed the potato stalks.

    Read the passage

    ' There have been three cruel plagues,' he said, ' out through the country since I was born in the West. First, there was the big wind in 1839, that tore away the grass and green things from the earth. Then there was the blight that came on the 9th of June in the year 1846. Up to then the potatoes were clean and good; but that morning a mist rose up out of the sea, and you could hear a voice talking near a mile ofF across the stillness of the earth. It was the same the next day, and the day after, and so on for three days or more; and then you could begin to see the tops of the stalks lying over as if the life was gone out of them. And that was the beginning of the great trouble and famine that destroyed Ireland. Then the people went on, I suppose, in their wickedness and their animosity of one against the other; and the Almighty God sent down the third plague, and that was the sickness called the choler. Then all the people left the town of Sligo — it's in Sligo I was reared — and

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    As the companion tells it

    Coming through Sligo now, a town an old man once said he was reared in. He remembered three cruel plagues that swept Ireland in his lifetime. First was the big wind of 1839, that tore away the grass and green things from the earth. Then the blight came on the 9th of June in 1846. Up to then the potatoes were clean and good, but that morning a mist rose up out of the sea, and you could hear a voice talking near a mile off across the stillness of the earth. It was the same the next day and the day after, and then the tops of the stalks began lying over as if the life was gone out of them. That was the beginning of the great trouble and famine that destroyed Ireland. Then the people went on in their wickedness and animosity of one against the other, and the Almighty God sent down the third plague, the sickness called the cholera. All the people left the town of Sligo then.

12. Police Violence Against a Flower-Woman on the Wicklow Border

    Wicklow · townland · Wicklow

    Synge witnessed police forcibly removing a drunken flower-seller from a village on the border of Wicklow, striking her and tearing her clothes as she resisted and defied them.

    Read the passage

    attack. One of them walked up to her and hit her a sharp blow on the jaw with the back of his hand. Then two more of them seized her by the shoulders and forced her along the road for a few yards, till her clothes began to tear off with the violence of the struggle, and they let her go once more.

    She sprang up at once when they did so.

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13. Harvest workers gather at Belmullet square before dawn sailing

    Belmullet · townland · Mayo

    People passed through the town square of Belmullet from two o'clock in the morning in small bands of boys and girls heading to the steamer, many walking barefoot with boots carried under their arms. This reflected the seasonal migration for harvest work common in the district.

    Read the passage

    This morning people were passing through the town square of Belmullet — where our windows look out — towards the steamer, from two o'clock, in small bands of boys and girls, many of them carrying their boots under their arms and walking in bare feet, a fashion to which they are more used. Last night also, on our way back from a village that is largely inhabited by harvest people, we saw many similar bands hurrying in towards the town, as the steamer was to sail soon after dawn. This part of the coast is cut into by a great number of shallow tidal estuaries which are dry at low tide, while at full tide one sees many small roads that seem to run down aimlessly into the sea, till one

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    As the companion tells it

    Somewhere around here is Belmullet square, where harvest workers used to gather before dawn sailing. People were passing through the square from 2 o'clock in the morning, in small bands of boys and girls, heading for the steamer. Many of them walked barefoot, carrying their boots under their arms, something they were more used to. The night before, similar bands had been hurrying in towards the town, because the steamer was to sail soon after dawn. This was the seasonal migration for harvest work that was common along this part of the coast, cut into by shallow tidal estuaries that run dry at low tide.

14. St. John's Eve bonfires at Belmullet, a relic of Druidical rites

    Belmullet · townland · Mayo

    On St. John's Eve, bonfires described as a relic of Druidical rites were lit across the country, the largest placed in the town square of Belmullet, where small boys shrieked, cheered, and threw up firebrands for hours.

    Read the passage

    This district of the Erris Union, which we have now been through, is the poorest in the whole of Ireland, and during the last few months six or seven hundred people have been engaged on the relief works. Still, putting aside exceptionally bad years, there is certainly a tendency towards improvement. The steamer from Sligo, which has only been running for a few years, has done much good by bringing in flour and meal much more cheaply than could be done formerly. Typhus is less frequent than it used to be, probably because the houses and holdings are improving gradually, and we have heard it said that the work done in Aghoos by the fund raised by the Manchester Guardian some years ago was the beginning of this better state of things. The relief system, as it is now carried on, is an utterly degrading one, and many things will have to be done before the district is in anything like a satisfactory state. Yet the impression one gets of the whole life is not a gloomy one. Last night was St. John's Eve, and bonfires — a relic of Druidical rites — were lighted all over the country, the largest of all being placed in the town square of Belmullet,

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    As the companion tells it

    Somewhere close to Belmullet, last night was St. John's Eve. Bonfires, a relic of Druidical rites, were lighted all over the country, the largest of all placed in the town square. This district of Erris is the poorest in the whole of Ireland. In the last few months, six or seven hundred people have been engaged on relief works. Still, putting aside exceptionally bad years, there is certainly a tendency towards improvement. The steamer from Sligo, running only for a few years, has done much good by bringing in flour and meal more cheaply than could be done formerly. Typhus is less frequent than it used to be, probably because the houses and holdings are improving gradually, and the work done in Aghoos by a fund raised by the Manchester Guardian some years ago is said to have been the beginning of this better state of things. The relief system, as it is now carried on, is an utterly degrading one, and many things will have to be done before the district is in anything like a satisfactory state. Yet the impression one gets of the whole life is not a gloomy one.

15. The Tir-na-nOg seen beneath the sea by two fishermen

    near Dingle Bay · bay · Kerry

    The old man tells of two men stuck out in a boat at night near the strand who fell asleep and on waking looked down into the sea and saw the Tir-na-nOg with people walking about and side-cars driving in the squares below the water.

    Read the passage

    ' The Tir-na-nOg itself,' he said, ' is below that sea, and a while since there were two men out in a boat in the night-time, and they got stuck outside some way or another. They went to sleep then, and when one of them wakened up he looked down into the .sea, and he saw the Tir-na-nOg and people

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16. Typhus and Consumption Deaths Around Carraroe

    Carrowroe · town · Galway

    An old man near Carraroe spoke of outbreaks of typhus fever in nearby districts, where a score or more people might be found stretched out waiting for death, alongside deaths from consumption, though he considered his own place healthy.

    Read the passage

    'Just here,' he said, ' there isn't much of it at all, but there are places round about where you'll sometimes hear of a score and more stretched out waiting for their death ; but I suppose it is the will of God. Then there is a sickness they call consumption that some will die of ; but I suppose there is no place where people aren't getting their death one way or other, and the most in this place are enjoying good health, glory be to God ! for it is a healthy place and there is a clean air blowing.'

    Then, with a few of the usual blessings, he got up and left us, and we walked on through more of similar or still poorer country. It is remarkable that from Spiddal onward — that is, in the whole of the most

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    As you pass through Carrowroe, this was a place an old man once called healthy, with clean air blowing. He told a visitor that round about, in nearby districts, you would hear of a score and more people stretched out waiting for their death from typhus fever. There was also a sickness called consumption that some died of. He accepted it as the will of God, and said that in every place people are getting their death one way or another. But his own place, he said, was enjoying good health. Then he gave a few blessings, got up, and left.

17. Achill steamer sends hundreds to Scottish harvest work

    near Achill Island · island or archipelago · Mayo

    A special steamer left Achill Island carrying five hundred labourers, mostly girls and young boys, to Glasgow for harvest work. From there they spread through the country in small bands under a ganger, picking potatoes or weeding turnips.

    Read the passage

    In the poorest districts of Connemara the people live, as I have already pointed out, by various industries, such as fishing, turfcutting, and kelp-making, which are independent of their farms, and are so precarious that many families are only kept from pauperism by the money that is sent home to them by daughters or sisters who are now servantgirls in New York. Here in the congested districts of Mayo the land is still utterly insufficient — held at least in small plots, as it is now — as a means of life, and the people get the more considerable part of their funds by their work on the English or Scotch harvest, to which I have alluded before. A few days ago a special steamer went from Achill Island to Glasgow with five hundred of these labourers, most of them girls and young boys. From Glasgow they spread through the country in small bands and work together under a ganger, picking potatoes or weeding turnips, and sleeping for the most part in barns and outhouses. Their wages

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18. Decline of Poteen-Making and Piping near Carraroe

    Carrowroe · town · Galway

    An old man near Carraroe recalled the former lucrative trade of illicit poteen-making, when police would even help make a drink for themselves before making token seizures, and remembered pipers who once travelled the district for weeks, contrasting this with the current absence of dancing, singing, or piping as young people emigrate to America.

    Read the passage

    little good in it, for it's only a poor kind they send out to the like of us. Then there was another thing they had in the old times/ he continued, 'and that was the making of poteen (illicit whisky), for it was a great trade at that time, and you'd see the police down on their knees blowing the fire with their own breath to make a drink for themselves, and then going off with the butt of an old barrel, and that was one seizure, and an old bag with a handful of malt, and that was another seizure, and would satisfy the law; but now they must have the worm and the still and a prisoner, and there is little of it made in the country. At that time a man would get ten shillings for a gallon, and it was a good trade for poor people.'

    As we were talking a woman passed driving two young pigs, and we began to speak of them.

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    As you pass through Carrowroe in Galway, this is the country an old man once described when he recalled the old trade of illicit poteen-making. He said it was a great trade at that time. The police would be down on their knees blowing the fire with their own breath to make a drink for themselves, and then go off with the butt of an old barrel, and that was one seizure, and an old bag with a handful of malt, and that was another seizure, and would satisfy the law. A man would get ten shillings for a gallon, and it was a good trade for poor people. But now, he said, they must have the worm and the still and a prisoner, and there is little of it made in the country.

19. Ferryman's Family History on Dinish Island

    Dinish Island · townland · Galway

    The old ferryman of Dinish Island recounted that his family had rented the sixth part of the island for nearly two hundred years, his sailor father having settled there after marrying a local woman and living to over one hundred, as did his maternal grandfather.

    Read the passage

    'I have not,' he said; 'but I've been in many places, though I and my fathers have rented the sixth of this island for near two hundred years. My own father was a sailorman who came in hereby chance and married a woman, and lived, a snug, decent man, with five cows or six, till he died at a hundred and three. And my mother's father, who

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20. Sons Struck Gold After Emigrating from Glenmalure

    near Glenmalur · valley · Wicklow

    An old man born in Glenmalure told how his many children emigrated to California with what little he could give them, struck gold while ploughing a field, and became wealthy but never sent him money.

    Read the passage

    who was born in Glenmalure, said to me once; * I had a power of children, and they all went to California, with what I could give them, and bought a bit of a field. Then, when they put in the plough, it stuck fast on them. They looked in beneath it, and there was fine gold stretched within the earth. They're rich now and their daughters arc riding on fine horses with new saddles on them, and elegant bits in their mouths, yet not a ha'porth did they ever send me, and may the devil ride with them to hell ! '

    Not long afterwards I met an old man wandering about a hill-side, where there was a fine view of Lough Dan, in extraordinary excitement and good spirits.

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21. Erris Union: poorest district in Ireland, relief works employ hundreds

    Erris · barony · Mayo

    The Erris Union was described as the poorest district in the whole of Ireland, with six or seven hundred people engaged on relief works during the preceding months. The relief system was called utterly degrading despite gradual improvement.

    Read the passage

    This district of the Erris Union, which we have now been through, is the poorest in the whole of Ireland, and during the last few months six or seven hundred people have been engaged on the relief works. Still, putting aside exceptionally bad years, there is certainly a tendency towards improvement. The steamer from Sligo, which has only been running for a few years, has done much good by bringing in flour and meal much more cheaply than could be done formerly. Typhus is less frequent than it used to be, probably because the houses and holdings are improving gradually, and we have heard it said that the work done in Aghoos by the fund raised by the Manchester Guardian some years ago was the beginning of this better state of things. The relief system, as it is now carried on, is an utterly degrading one, and many things will have to be done before the district is in anything like a satisfactory state. Yet the impression one gets of the whole life is not a gloomy one. Last night was St. John's Eve, and bonfires — a relic of Druidical rites — were lighted all over the country, the largest of all being placed in the town square of Belmullet,

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22. Closure of the School on Dinish Island

    Dinish Island · townland · Galway

    The ferryman of Dinish Island lamented the closure of the island's small school, which had once been served by a schoolmistress ferried over from Lettermullan with children, leaving twenty or thirty scholars now running wild.

    Read the passage

    ) 'Isn't it a poor thing/ he said, 'to see a

    school lying closed up the like of that, and twenty or thirty scholars, maybe, running wild along the sea? I am very lonesome since that school was closed, for there was a schoolmistress used to come for a long while from LettermuUan, and I used to ferry her over the water, and maybe ten little children along with her. And then there was a mistress living here for a long while, and I used to ferry the children only; but now she has found herself a better place, and this three months there's no school in it at all.'

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

23. Untouched hovels and poverty in Dooyork

    Dooyork · townland · Mayo

    The villages of Dooyork, reached via Geesala, were remote and isolated, with houses entirely untouched by improvements and some being broken-down hovels of the worst kind. Women were seen bringing in turf or seaweed on horses with panniers, sometimes carrying small children.

    Read the passage

    notices, perhaps half a mile away, a similar road running down on the opposite headland. On our way, as the tide was out, we passed one of these sandy fords where there were a number of girls gathering cockles, and drove into Geesala, where we left our car and walked on to the villages of Dooyork, which lie on a sort of headland cut off on the south by another long estuary. It is in places like this, where there is no thoroughfare in any direction to bring strangers to the country, that one meets with the most individual local life. There are two villages of Dooyork, an upper and lower, and as soon as we got into the first every doorway was filled with women and children looking after us with astonishment. All the houses were quite untouched by improvements, and a few of them were broken-down hovels of the worst kind. On the road there were several women bringing in turf or seaweed on horses with large panniers slung over a straw straddle, en which usually a baby of two or three years old was riding with delight. At the end cf the village we talked to a man who had been in America, and before that had often gone to England as a harvestman.

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24. Widow with Seven Children Near Starvation at Carraroe

    Carrowroe · town · Galway

    An old man near Carraroe described a widow with seven starving children, barely clothed, surviving on the milk of one cow and meal begged from neighbours, illustrating chronic want in the district.

    Read the passage

    or two other things, I asked him if many of the people who were living round in the scattered cottages we could see were often in real want of food. ' There are a few, maybe, have enough at all times,' he said, ' but the most are in want one time or another, when the potatoes are bad or few, and their whole store is eaten ; and there are some who are near starving all times, like a widow woman beyond who has seven children with hardly a shirt on their skins, and they with nothing to eat but the milk from one cow, and a handful of meal they will get from one neighbour or another.'

    ' You're getting an old man,' I said, ' and do you remember if the place was as bad as it is now when you were a young man growing up ? '

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    Around Carrowroe in Galway, an old man told the writer Synge about the people in the scattered cottages here. He said most were in want at one time or another, when potatoes failed and their store was eaten. Some were near starving at all times. He spoke of a widow woman nearby with seven children who had hardly a shirt on their skins. They had nothing to eat but milk from one cow and a handful of meal given by one neighbour or another. When Synge asked him if the place had been as bad in his youth, the old man did not give a simple answer, but the question itself shows the want was deep and long-standing in this district.

25. Emigration funded by selling tenant-right in Erris district

    Gweesalia · townland · Mayo

    In recent months a number of men in the district sold the tenant-right of their holdings, usually to local shopkeepers to whom they were in debt, and emigrated with their families to America. The author feared this was the worst kind of emigration, causing great suffering.

    Read the passage

    the edge of the sea. This district has, unexpectedly enough, a strong branch of the GaeHc League, and small Irish plays are acted frequently in the winter, while there is also an Agricultural Co-operative Bank, which has done excellent work. These banks, on the RaifFeisen system, have been promoted in Ireland for the last nine or ten years by the Irish Agricultural Society, with aid from the Congested Districts Board, and in a small way they have done much good, and shown — to those who wished to question it — the business intelligence of the smallest tenant-farmers. The interest made by these local associations tends to check emigration, but in this district the distress of last year has a bad effect. In the last few months a certain number of men have sold out the tenant-right of their holdings — usually to the local shopkeeper, to whom they are always in debt — and shipped themselves and their whole families to America with what remained of the money. This is probably the worst kind of emigration, and one fears the sufferings of these families, who are suddenly moved to such different surroundings, must be great.

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26. Famine-Built Relief Road Through Annaghvaan and Gorumna

    Gorumna · electoral division · Galway

    The road connecting Annaghvaan, Lettermore, Gorumna and Lettermullan via causeways and swing-bridges was built up over different famine years by local people working on Government relief works, now again in operation.

    Read the passage

    Beyond Carraroe, the last promontory on the north coast of Galway Bay, one reaches a group of islands which form the lower angle of Connemara. These islands are little more than a long peninsula broken through by a number of small straits, over which, some twelve years ago, causeways and swingbridges were constructed, so that one can now drive straight on through Annaghvaan, Lettermore, Gorumna, Lettermullan, and one or two smaller islands. When one approaches this district from the east a long detour is made to get round the inner point of Greatman's Bay, and then the road turns to the south-west till one reaches Annaghvaan, the first of the islands. This road is a remarkable one. Nearly every foot of it, as it now stands, has been built up in different years of famine by the people of the neighbourhood working on Government relief works, which are now once more in full swing ; making improvements in some places, turning primitive tracts into roadways

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27. Folklore of the Synge Family at Roundwood Park

    Roundwood · town · Wicklow

    An old man near Roundwood recounted folklore of a lady who used to ride through Roundwood 'on a curious beast' to visit her uncle at Roundwood Park, later marrying a Synge and bringing a dowry of eight stone of gold.

    Read the passage

    ' There are two branches of the Synges in the County Wicklow,' he said, and then he went on to tell me fragments of folk-lore connected with my forefathers. How a lady used to ride through Roundwood ' on a curious beast ' to visit an uncle of hers in Roundwood Park, and how she married one of the Synges and got her weight in gold — eight stone of gold — as her dowry: stories that referred to events which took place more than a hundred years ago.

    When he had finished I told him how much I wondered at his knowledge of the country.

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    As you pass through Roundwood in Wicklow, there is an old story about a lady who used to ride through here on a curious beast, visiting her uncle at Roundwood Park. She went on to marry one of the Synges and brought a dowry of eight stone of gold, her weight in gold. An old man told these fragments to a traveler, saying they were stories of events more than a hundred years ago, part of the folklore of two branches of the Synge family in the county.

28. Carraroe: Poorest Parish Yet Growing in Population

    Carrowroe · town · Galway

    The parish of Carraroe is described as reputedly the poorest in Ireland, lying on a promontory between Cashla Bay and Greatman's Bay, yet unusually increasing in population despite widespread poverty and reliance on turf-selling by hooker to Clare and Aran.

    Read the passage

    In rural Ireland very few parishes only are increasing in population, and those that are doing so are usually in districts of the greatest poverty. One of the most curious instances of this tendency is to be found in the parish of Carraroe, which is said to be, on the whole, the poorest parish in the country, although many worse cases of individual destitution can be found elsewhere. The most characteristic part of this district lies on a long promontory between Cashla Bay and Greatman's Bay. On both coast-lines one sees a good many small quays, with, perhaps, two hookers moored to them, and on the roads one passes an occasional flat space covered with small green fields of oats — with whole families on their knees weeding among them — or patches of potatoes; but for the rest one sees little but an endless series of low stony hills, with veins of grass. Here and there, however, one comes in sight of a fresh-water lake, with an island or two,

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    As the companion tells it

    Up ahead is Carrowroe, a town on a long promontory between Cashla Bay and Greatman's Bay. The parish of Carraroe was said to be the poorest in all of Ireland, yet oddly it was one of the few rural parishes still growing in population. Along both coastlines you could see small quays with hookers moored to them, and on the roads, flat spaces covered with little green fields of oats, whole families on their knees weeding among them, or patches of potatoes. For the rest, there was little but an endless series of low stony hills with veins of grass, and here and there a fresh-water lake with an island or two.

29. A Returned Emigrant's Praise for the Poor Near Lough Dan

    near Lough Dan · lake or lakes · Wicklow

    Near Lough Dan, Synge met an old man freshly returned from Liverpool and America, who praised his poor relatives' contentment in their mud-floored cabins over the dangers and vices he had witnessed abroad.

    Read the passage

    ' I landed in Liverpool two days ago,' he said, when I had wished him the time of day; 'then I came to the city of Dublin this morning, and took the train to Bray, where you have the blue salt water on your left, and the beautiful valleys, with trees in them, on your right. From that I drove to this place on a jaunting-car to see some brothers and cousins I have living below. They're poor people. Mister, honey, with bits of cabins, and mud floors under them,

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30. Beggar Woman's Irish Blessing near Spiddal

    Spiddle · town · Galway

    An old woman begging near Spiddal gave an elaborate traditional Irish blessing once the narrator addressed her in Irish, invoking blessings on road, ridgeway, sea, land, flood and mountain.

    Read the passage

    Irish to show her I knew her own language if she chose to use it. Immediately she turned back towards me and began her thanks again, this time with extraordinary profusion. ' That the blessing of God may be on you/ she said, 'on road and on ridgeway, on sea and on land, on flood and on mountain, in all the kingdoms of the world ' — and so on, till I was too far ofF to hear what she was saying.

    In a district like Spiddal one sees curious gradations of type, especially on Sundays and holidays, when everyone is dressed as their fancy leads them and as well as they can manage. As I watched the people coming from Mass the morning after we arrived this was curiously noticeable. The police and coastguards came first in their smartest uniforms; then the shopkeepers, dressed like the people of Dublin, but a little more grotesquely; then the more well-to-do country folk, dressed only in the local clothes I have spoken of, but the best and newest kind, while the wearers themselves looked well-fed and healthy, and a few of them, especially the girls, magnificently built; then, last of all, one saw the destitute in still

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    Up ahead the road takes you through Spiddal in Galway. An old woman was begging here once, and when the traveller spoke to her in Irish, she turned back and poured out her thanks with extraordinary profusion. "That the blessing of God may be on you," she said, "on road and on ridgeway, on sea and on land, on flood and on mountain, in all the kingdoms of the world" — and so on, until he was too far off to hear what she was saying. Spiddal showed curious gradations of type, especially on Sundays and holidays, when everyone dressed as their fancy led them and as well as they could manage. Watching people come from Mass, the order was plain. Police and coastguards came first in their smartest uniforms, then shopkeepers dressed like the people of Dublin but a little more grotesquely, then the well-to-do country folk in the best and newest local clothes, looking well-fed and healthy, a few of the girls magnificently built. Last of all came the destitute.

31. Former harvestman describes brutal hoeing wages and poor lodging

    Dooyork · townland · Mayo

    A man in Dooyork who had worked in America and England as a harvestman described the harsh hours and pay of turnip-hoeing work in England, admitting the lodging provided was very poor.

    Read the passage

    ' Ah,' he said, ' don't ask me to speak to you of that, for the lodging is poor, surely.'

    We went on then to the next village, a still more primitive and curious one. The houses were built close together, with passages between them, and low, square yards marked round with stones. At one corner we came on a group of dark brown asses with panniers, and women standing among them in red dresses, with white or coloured handkerchiefs over their heads; and the whole scene had a strangely foreign, almost Eastern, look, though in its own way it was peculiarly characteristic of Ireland. Afterwards we went back to Geesala, along

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

32. The Ballad-Singer and the Police at Enniskerry on Whit Monday

    Enniskerry · town · Wicklow

    During a livelier Whit Monday than the present day, a young ballad-singer in Enniskerry was challenged by a policeman about his idleness, and responded by singing a furious nonsense ballad until the assembled police gave him money.

    Read the passage

    Then he pulled off his hat, dashed in among the police, and did not leave them till they had all given him the share of money he felt he had earned for his bread.

    In all the circumstances of this tramp life there is a certain wildness that gives it

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

33. Bargaining and Customs Tolls at Aughrim Fair

    Aughrim · town · Wicklow

    At the fair in Aughrim, Synge observed vigorous, humorous bargaining over lambs and cattle, and a farmer described driving his lambs 'outside the customs'—the boundary where fair tolls were paid—after failed earlier attempts to sell in Rathdrum and Wicklow.

    Read the passage

    A little further on I found a farmer I knew standing before a public-house, looking radiant with delight. ' It's a fine fair. Mister,' he said, ' and I'm after selling the lambs I had here a month ago and no one would look at them. Then I took them to Rathdrum and Wicklow, getting up at three in the morning, and driving them in the creel, and it all for nothing. But I'm shut of them now, and it's not too bad a price I've got either. I'm after driving the lambs outside the customs

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34. Manchester Guardian relief fund improved conditions in Aghoos

    Aghoos · townland · Mayo

    The steamer from Sligo, running for only a few years, brought flour and meal more cheaply, and typhus became less frequent as houses improved. It was said that work funded by the Manchester Guardian in Aghoos was the beginning of this improvement.

    Read the passage

    This district of the Erris Union, which we have now been through, is the poorest in the whole of Ireland, and during the last few months six or seven hundred people have been engaged on the relief works. Still, putting aside exceptionally bad years, there is certainly a tendency towards improvement. The steamer from Sligo, which has only been running for a few years, has done much good by bringing in flour and meal much more cheaply than could be done formerly. Typhus is less frequent than it used to be, probably because the houses and holdings are improving gradually, and we have heard it said that the work done in Aghoos by the fund raised by the Manchester Guardian some years ago was the beginning of this better state of things. The relief system, as it is now carried on, is an utterly degrading one, and many things will have to be done before the district is in anything like a satisfactory state. Yet the impression one gets of the whole life is not a gloomy one. Last night was St. John's Eve, and bonfires — a relic of Druidical rites — were lighted all over the country, the largest of all being placed in the town square of Belmullet,

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    As the companion tells it

    Somewhere close to Aghoos, a relief fund raised by the Manchester Guardian some years ago was said to have begun the gradual improvement of this district of the Erris Union, called the poorest in all of Ireland, with 600 or 700 people on relief works in recent months. A steamer from Sligo, running only a few years, brought flour and meal far more cheaply than before, and typhus grew less frequent as houses and holdings slowly improved. That work was said to be the beginning of this better state, though the relief system was called utterly degrading and much remained to be done before the district was satisfactory. Yet the impression of the whole life was not a gloomy one. It was St. John's Eve, and bonfires, a relic of Druidical rites, were lighted all over the country, the largest in Belmullet's town square.

35. Turf-Smoke Lighting Custom at Spiddal Quay

    Spiddle · town · Galway

    At Spiddal quay, an old man passed a lit turf sod up to a young man to light his pipe, illustrating how poor people kept a turf spark alive day and night rather than spend money on matches.

    Read the passage

    turf-smoke, peered up through the manhole and watched us with vague curiosity. A few moments later a young man came down from a field of black earth, where he had been digging a drain, and asked the old man, in Gaelic, to throw him a spark for his pipe. The latter disappeared for a moment, then came up again with a smouldering end of a turf sod in his hand, and threw it up on the pier, where the young man caught it with a quick downward grab without burning himself, blew it into a blaze, lit his pipe with it, and went back to his work. These people are so poor that many of them do not spend any money on matches. The spark of lighting turf is kept alive day and night on the hearth, and when a man goes out fishing or to work in the fields he usually carries a lighted sod with him, and keeps it all day buried in ashes or any dry rubbish, so that he can use it when he needs it. On our way back to the village an old woman begged from us, speaking in English, as most of the people do to anyone who is not a native. We gave her a few halfpence, and as she was moving away with an ordinary * God save you ! ' I said a blessing to her in

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    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    As you pass through Spiddle in Galway, you're near the quay where J.M. Synge once watched a small ritual of poverty. An old man was down by the harbour when a young man came down from a field of black earth where he'd been digging a drain, and asked him in Gaelic for a spark for his pipe. The old man disappeared for a moment, then came back with a smouldering end of a turf sod and threw it up onto the pier. The young man caught it with a quick downward grab, blew it into a blaze, lit his pipe, and went back to his work. These people were so poor that many of them did not spend any money on matches. The spark of lighting turf was kept alive day and night on the hearth, and when a man went out fishing or to work in the fields he usually carried a lighted sod with him, buried in ashes or dry rubbish so he could use it when he needed it. On the way back to the village an old woman begged from them, speaking in English, as most people did to anyone who was not a native, and Synge said a blessing to her in return.

36. A Widow's Struggle on a Fenceless Farm Near Rathnew

    Rathnew · town · Wicklow

    At a public house near Rathnew, a widow told Synge of her hardship keeping a fenceless farm alone since her husband's death, and of her brother Michael's return after seven years in the Richmond Asylum.

    Read the passage

    * Ah, your honour,' she said, ' I hear you're going off in a short time to Dublin, or to France, and maybe we won't be in the place at all when you come back. There's no fences to the bit of farm I have, the way I'm destroyed running. The calves do be

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    As the companion tells it

    As you pass through Rathnew, this was where Synge met a widow at a public house. She told him her farm had no fences, leaving her 'destroyed running' after the calves, alone since her husband died. Her brother Michael had just come back after seven years in the Richmond Asylum.

37. Potato crop endangered by storm near Belmullet

    Belmullet · townland · Mayo

    Near Belmullet, during a day of storm, the author observed the potato crop for the next year in danger of utter ruin. Had the weather not changed in time, the demoralizing relief works would have had to be resumed within months, illustrating the precariousness of subsistence.

    Read the passage

    It is not easy to improve the state of the people in the congested districts by any particular remedy or set of remedies. As we have seen, these people are dependent for their livelihood on various industries, such as fishing, kelp-making, turf-cutting, or harvesting in England; and yet the failure of a few small plots of potatoes brings them literally to a state of famine. Near Belmullet, during a day of storm, we saw the crop for next year in danger of utter ruin, and if the weather had not changed, by good luck, before much harm was done, the whole demoralizing and wretched business of the relief works would have had to be taken up again in a few months. It is obvious that the earnings of the people should be large enough to make them more or less independent of one particular crop, and yet, in reality, it is not easy to bring about such a state of things; for the moment a man earns a few extra pounds in a year he finds many good and bad ways of spending them, so

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    As the companion tells it

    Somewhere around here, during a day of storm, a traveller once watched the potato crop for the coming year in danger of utter ruin. The people in these congested districts relied on fishing, kelp-making, turf-cutting, and harvesting in England, yet the failure of a few small plots of potatoes could bring them literally to famine. If the weather had not changed by good luck before much harm was done, the whole demoralizing and wretched business of the relief works would have had to be taken up again within a few months. The author noted it is not easy to improve the state of the people by any particular remedy, for the moment a man earns a few extra pounds in a year he finds many good and bad ways of spending them.

38. Wet Summer Hardship Two Years Before at Carraroe

    Carrowroe · town · Galway

    An old man recalled a wet summer two years earlier when people near Carraroe could not cut or dry turf to sell, leaving women without even a dry sod to put under the pot amid cold and hunger.

    Read the passage

    * We go by the sea,' he said, ' in one of the hookers you've likely seen at the little quays while walking down by the road. You can sail to Galway if the wind is fair in four hours or less maybe ; and the people here are all used to the sea, for no one can live in this place but by cutting turf in the mountains and sailing out to sell it in Clare or Aran, for you see yourselves there's no good in the land, that has little in it but bare rocks and stones. Two years ago there came a wet summer, and the people were worse off then than they are now maybe, with their bad potatoes and all; for they couldn't cut or dry a load of turf to sell across the bay, and there was many a woman hadn't a dry sod itself to put under her pot, and she shivering with cold and hunger.'

    A little later, when we had talked of one

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    Up ahead is Carrowroe, a town in Galway where people have long lived by cutting turf in the mountains and sailing it across the bay to sell in Clare or Aran, the land itself holding little but bare rocks and stones. An old man here once told of a wet summer two years before, when no one could cut or dry a load of turf. Many a woman hadn't a dry sod itself to put under her pot, and she shivering with cold and hunger. They were worse off then than they were even in the bad potato times he spoke from, with no fuel and no way to earn by the sea.

39. Emigrant traffic reflected in Mayo market town

    Mayo · parish · Mayo

    In a Mayo market town, large packing-cases pasted with advertisements for Atlantic shipping lines and pictures of vessels like the Oceanic were on display for sale, used by emigrants for their trunks. The scene reflected the ongoing drain of people emigrating from Ireland.

    Read the passage

    scythe-stones, and other things of the kind» In a smith's forge at the end of the town we found a smith fixing blades and hand-grips to scythe-handles for a crowd of men who stood round him with the blades and handles, which they had bought elsewhere, ready in their hands. In front of many shops also one could see old farmers bargaining eagerly for second-hand spraying machines, or buying supplies of the blue sulphate of copper that was displayed in open sacks all down the street. In other places large packing-cases were set up, with small trunks on top of them, and pasted over with advertisements of the various Atlantic lines that are used by emigrants, and large pictures of the Oceanic and other vessels. Inside many of the shops and in the windows one could see an extraordinary collection of objects — saddles, fiddles, rosaries, rat-traps, the Shorter Catechism, castor-oil, rings, razors, rhyme-books, fashion plates, nit-killer, and fine-tooth combs. Other houses had the more usual articles of farm and household use, but nearly all of them, even drapers* establishments, with stays and ribbons in the windows, had a licensed bar at the end,

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40. High cost of food transport between Ballina and Belmullet

    Belmullet · townland · Mayo

    Before a steamer service was introduced between Sligo and Belmullet, transporting a ton of meal or flour by road from Ballina to Belmullet cost one pound, making food extremely dear for the poor in that district. This situation left people at the mercy of local shopkeepers who could dictate prices.

    Read the passage

    given some force may have to be brought to bear on landlords who refuse to sell at fair terms. No amount of purchase in the poorer places will make the people prosperous — even if the holdings are considerably enlarged — yet there is no sort of doubt that in all the estates which the Board has arranged and sold to the tenants there has been a steady tendency towards improvement. A good deal may be done also by improved communications, either by railroad or by sea, to make life easier for the people. For instance, before the steamer was put on a few years ago between Sligo and Belmullet, the cost of bringing a ton of meal or flour by road from Ballina to Belmullet was one pound, and one can easily estimate the consequent dearness of food. That is perhaps an extreme case, yet there are still a good many places where things are almost as bad, and in these places the people suffer doubly, as they are usually in the hands of one or two small shopkeepers, who can dictate the price of eggs and other small articles which they bring in to sell. At present a steamer running between Westport and Belmullet, in addition to the SHgo boat, is badly needed, and would

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    As the companion tells it

    Somewhere around here, the cost of food used to be a heavy burden on the poor. Before a steamer service was put on between Sligo and Belmullet a few years ago, bringing a single ton of meal or flour by road from Ballina to Belmullet cost one pound. That meant food was extremely dear in this district. The writer noted that people in such places suffered doubly, as they were usually in the hands of one or two small shopkeepers who could dictate the price of eggs and other small articles the people brought in to sell. Better communications, by rail or by sea, could make life easier. At the time of writing, a steamer running between Westport and Belmullet, alongside the Sligo boat, was badly needed.

41. The Squalor of Wicklow Town After Nightfall

    Wicklow · townland · Wicklow

    Passing through the town of Wicklow late at night, Synge found it gloomy and squalid, with half-drunken men and women wrangling in the dim light from windows, revealing the wretchedness of the people there.

    Read the passage

    nights, and when one is riding quickly, the contrast, when one reaches the lights of Wicklow, is singularly abrupt. The town itself after nightfall is gloomy and squalid. Half-drunken men and women stand about, wrangling and disputing in the dull light from the windows, which is only strong enough to show the wretchedness of the figures which pass continually across them. I did my business quickly and turned back to the hills, passing for the first few miles the same noisy groups and couples on the roadway. After a while I stopped at a lonely public-house to get a drink and rest for a moment before I came to the hills. Six or seven men were talking drearily at one end of the room, and a woman I knew, who had been marketing in Wicklow, was resting nearer the door. When I had been given a glass of beer, I sat down on a barrel near her, and we began to talk.

    * Ah, your honour,' she said, ' I hear you're going off in a short time to Dublin, or to France, and maybe we won't be in the place at all when you come back. There's no fences to the bit of farm I have, the way I'm destroyed running. The calves do be

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

42. Failed forestry experiment by the Congested Districts Board in Carna

    Carna · townland · Galway

    The Congested Districts Board's attempt at forestry in Carna failed, along with bad results on certain example plots meant to demonstrate best farming methods. This was cited as evidence that the conservatism of local people about official advice may be a sign of prudence rather than ignorance.

    Read the passage

    given is often excellent, but there have been a sufficient number of failures in the work done by the Congested Districts Board, such as the attempt at forestry in Carna and the bad results got on certain of their example plots laid out to demonstrate the best methods of farming, to make the conservatism of the people a sign of, perhaps, valuable prudence. The Board and the Department of Agriculture and Technical Education have done much excellent work, and it is not to be expected that improvements of this kind, which must be largely experimental, can be carried on without failures; yet one does not always pardon a sort of contempt for the local views of the people which seems rooted in nearly all the official workers one meets with through the country.

    One of the chief problems that one has to deal with in Ireland is, of course, the emigration that I have mentioned so often. It is probably the most complicated of all Irish affairs, and in dealing with it it is important to remember that the whole moral and economic condition of Ireland has been brought into a diseased state by prolonged misgovernment and many misfor-

    Internet Archive inwicklowwestker00syngrich, Chapter 1

43. Fear of the Union and the Madhouse in Wicklow

    near Devil's Glen · valley · Wicklow

    The narrator notes that in Wicklow the workhouse union, though a refuge for tramps, is regarded with horror by the peasants, while the madhouse is less dreaded and more familiar to them, reflecting the emotional landscape of the glens.

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    In Wicklow, as in the rest of Ireland, the union, though it is a home of refuge for the tramps and tinkers, is looked on with supreme horror by the peasants. The madhouse, which they know better, is less dreaded.

    One night I had to go down late in the evening from a mountain village to the town of Wicklow, and come back again into the hills. As soon as I came near Rathnew I passed many bands of girls and men making rather ruffianly flirtation on the pathway, and women who surged up to stare at me, as I passed in the middle of the road. The thick line of trees that are near Rathnew makes the way intensely dark, even on clear

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