nobody on the spot either to go to church or drink the beer. At
Claremorris a similar effect is produced on the visitor's mind. The
main street is full of shops, corn-dealers, drapers, butchers, bakers,
and general dealers in everything, from a horse to a hayseed; but out
of the main track there are no houses--only hovels as wretched as any
in Connaught. It is quite evident that the poor people who inhabit
them cannot buy much of anything. Men, women, and children, dogs,
ducks, and a donkey, are frequently crowded together in these
miserable cabins, the like of which on any English estate would bring
down a torrent of indignation on the landlord. They are all of one
pattern, wretchedly thatched, but with stout stone walls, and are,
when a big peat fire is burning, hot almost to suffocation. When it is
possible to distinguish the pattern of the bed-curtains through the
dirt, they are seen to be of the familiar blue and white checked
pattern made familiar to London playgoers by Susan's cottage as
displayed at the St. James's Theatre. The chest of drawers is nearly
always covered with tea-things and other crockery, generally of the
cheapest and commonest kind, but in great plenty. House accommodation
in Claremorris is of the humblest character. At the best inn, called
ambitiously Hughes's Hotel, I found that I was considered fortunate in
getting any sort of bedroom to myself. The apartment was very small,
with a lean-to roof, but then I reigned over it in solitary grandeur,
while a dozen commercial travellers were packed into the three or four
other bedrooms in the house. As these gentlemen arrived at odd hours
of the night and were put into the rooms and beds occupied by their
friends, sleep at Claremorris was not a function easily performed, and
it was some foreknowledge of what actually occurred that induced me to
sit up as late as possible in the eating, dining, reading, and
commercial room, the only apartment of any size in the house, but full
of occupants, most of whom were very communicative concerning their
business. Here were the eagles indeed, but where was the carcass? To
my amazement I found that Mike this and Tim that, whose shops are very
small, had been giving large orders, and that the credit of
Claremorris was in a very healthy condition. Equally curious was it to
find that the gathering of "commercials" was not an unusual
occurrence, but that the queer townlet was a genuine centre of
business activity. We