Improvements here--a road there. A quarry cut to give men work and a
breakwater built to keep the sea from washing away the poor
fishermen's homes. And when famine came not a penny rent asked--and
their women-kind feedin' and nursin' the starvin' and the sick. An'
all the time raisin' money to do it. A mortgage on this and a note
of hand for that--until the whole place was plastered with debt.
Then out they were turned."

The agent moved away and looked out across the well-trimmed lawn to
conceal his emotion.

"Ill-timed charity and business principles scarcely go together, my
good Burke," said Kingsnorth, with ill-concealed impatience. He did
not like this man's tone. It suggested a glorification of the former
BANKRUPT landlord and a lack of appreciation of the present SOLVENT
one.

"So the English think," Burke answered.

Kingsnorth went on: "If we knew the whole truth we would probably
find the very methods these people used were the cause of the sorry
condition this village is in now. No landlord has the right to
pauperise his tenantry by giving them money and their homes rent-
free. It is a man's duty and privilege to WORK. INDEPENDENCE--that
is what a man should aim at. The Irish are always CRYING for it.
They never seem to PRACTISE it."

"Ye can't draw the water out of a kettle and expect it to boil, sir,
and by the same token independence is a fine thing to tache to men
who are dependent on all."