nd you would
think it was some visitation of Providence overtook him, and that
he deserved all our sympathy.

The agent that dares to threaten an eviction has to carry
revolvers and walk the country under the shadow of police
protection; but the father and husband who evicts his own
children and flings them into the slums of foreign cities, and
sends his broken-hearted wife to the grave, not only has his
crime condoned but, by the same people, he is daily smothered in
the rose-leaves of apology. "Poor fellow! Ah, it is a good man's
fault!" Not one hard word. Yet the world outside the shores of
this country are pouring scorn on the degraded name of drunken
Ireland.

[Side note: The Young Men's Pride]

Why not appeal to the patriotic pride of the young men by showing
the contempt and distrust that follow our race because of this
vice? It would touch them to the quick.

[Side note: The Hereditary Taint]

Another point to be insisted on is:--The crime of the drunkard
does not die with himself. Like lunacy or consumption it
transmits a sad heritage to his offspring. Ninety out of every
hundred are drunkards because they inherited tainted blood.

Parents shudder at the bare possibility of their child being born
an idiot, or with some repulsive birth-mark. Yet, before the
infant can lift its hand in protest, the parents poison its life
at the very source and send it on the world with a moral
deformity marking its nature.

[Side note: The Dawn]

These were the two sources of weakness in the past: a public
opinion that fostered, instead of smiting, the curse, and an
hereditary taint that grew stronger with every generation, while
the will to resist became more feeble. Thank God, the dawn of a
brighter day is with us: there is a healthy awakening of public
opinion. The Gaelic revival has for the first time in our history
linked sobriety with patriotism: the word has gone forth that
reconstructed Ireland must not rest on staggering pillars. The
young priest of the future has the rising tide with him, and
Ireland has seen her darkest day.

No matter how we may deplore emigration, we must deal with it as
a fact.

[Side note: Is the Emigrant Prepared]

[Side note: His Peril Abroad]

From what class are the emigrants drawn? From the young. It is
hard to part with them: but there is one consolation. They go to
build up the Church in other lands, but every precaution must be
taken to strengthen them for the trials aw