cannot or do not bring money must go into the workhouses."

"You will not get houses in county Cork sufficient to hold them,"
said Father Bernard. And so the debate went on, not altogether
without some sparks of wisdom, with many sparks also of eager
benevolence, and some few passing clouds of fuliginous
self-interest. And then lists were produced, with the names on them
of all who were supposed to be in want--which were about to become,
before long, lists of the whole population of the country. And at
last it was decided among them, that in their district nothing
should be absolutely given away, except to old women and
widows,--which kind-hearted clause was speedily neutralised by
women becoming widows while their husbands were still living; and it
was decided also, that as long as their money lasted, the
soup-kitchen at Berryhill should be kept open, and mill kept going,
and the little shop maintained, so that to some extent a check might
be maintained on the prices of the hucksters. And in this way they
got through their work, not perhaps with the sagacity of Solomon,
but as I have said, with an average amount of wisdom, as will always
be the case when men set about their tasks with true hearts and
honest minds.

And then, when they parted, the two clergy-men of the parish shook
hands with each other again, having perhaps less animosity against
each other than they had ever felt before. There had been a joke or
two over the table, at which both had laughed. The priest had wisely
shown some deference to the parson, and the parson had immediately
returned it, by referring some question to the priest. How often
does it not happen that when we come across those whom we have hated
and avoided all our lives, we find that they are not quite so bad as