With many thanks for his kindness we took our departure. Were glad to
hear from both friend and car driver that nothing of cruelty and
oppression could be laid to the charge of this man. As I stood beside
him at his own door, drawing all of the beauty I could into my soul
through my eyes to carry away with me, I thought if I were born into
that place with its associations, could I, would I mar any corner of it
to make a homestead for starving Thady, ragged Biddy, and the too
numerous children? Who knows what transformation might lie in the pride
and power of possession!
There was a single laborer working before the castle raking up the
gravel walk, I think. "I would he were fatter!" If he were only in as
good condition as the beautiful dogs of superior breed which we saw in
the castle yard; but the dogs are fed at the expense of the proprietor
of this fair domain, the thin laborer at his own. We returned by another
way. After we left the grounds we noticed with sad eyes the miserable
cabins and barren fields at his gates. People of the upper, middle and
comfortable classes are so used to horrible cabins, thin laborers, old
women, barefoot, toothless, ragged and wretched, begging by the wayside
to keep out of the dreaded workhouse, that the sight makes not the
slightest impression.
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