ndlords flying out of the
country they have ravaged, and the Orangemen white with the fear of
slaughter. Then these movements are an education. The children are
trained to a knowledge of the position, to hatred of the English power,
and their generation takes up the fight where the preceding left it."

"Hate is a terrible thing," said the young man. "Is England so hateful
then?"

Honora urged him by looks to change the subject, for her father knew no
bounds in speaking of his country's enemy, but he would not lift his
eyes to her face. He wished to hear Owen Ledwith express his feelings
with full vent on the dearest question to his heart. The man warmed up
as he spoke, fire in his eyes, his cheeks, his words, and gestures.

"She is a fiend from hell," he replied, hissing the words quietly. Deep
emotion brought exterior calm to Ledwith. "But that is only a feeling of
mine. Let us deal with the facts. Like the fabled vampire England hangs
upon the throat of Ireland, battening on her blood. Populous England,
vanishing Ireland! What is the meaning of it? One people remains at home
by the millions, the other flies to other lands by the millions. Because
the hell-witch is good to her own. For them the trade of the world, the
opening of mines, the building of factories, the use of every natural
power, the coddling of every artificial power. They go abroad only to
conquer and tax the foreigner for the benefit of those at home. Their
harbors are filled with ships, and their treasury with the gold of the
world. For our people, there is only permission to work the soil, for
the benefit of absentee landlords, or encouragement to depart to
America. No mines, no factories, no commerce, no harbors, no ships, in a
word no future. So the Irish do not stay at home. The laws of England
accomplished this destruction of trade, of art, of education, oh, say it
at once, of life. Damnable laws, fashioned by the horrid greed of a rich
people, that could not bear to see a poor people grow comfortable. They
called over to their departments of trade, of war, of art, to court,
camp, and studio, our geniuses, gave them fame, and dubbed them
Englishmen; the castaways, the Irish in America and elsewhere are known
as 'the mere Irish.'"

"It is very bitter," said Arthur, seeing the unshed tears in Honora's
eyes.

"I wonder how we bear it," Ledwith continued. "We have not the American
spirit, you may be sure. I can fancy the colonists of a hundred y