IN WICKLOW

The Vagrants of Wicklow





Some features of County Wicklow, such as the position of the
principal workhouses and holiday places on either side of the coach
road from Arklow to Bray, have made this district a favourite with
the vagrants of Ireland. A few of these people have been on the
roads for generations; but fairly often they seem to have merely
drifted out from the ordinary people of the villages, and do not
differ greatly from the class they come from. Their abundance has
often been regretted; yet in one sense it is an interesting sign,
for wherever the labourer of a country has preserved his vitality,
and begets an occasional temperament of distinction, a certain
number of vagrants are to be looked for. In the middle classes the
gifted son of a family is always the poorest--usually a writer or
artist with no sense for speculation--and in a family of peasants,
where the average comfort is just over penury, the gifted son sinks
also, and is soon a tramp on the roadside.