Page:My Irish Year.djvu/285

Rh American elections and the subterranean politics of New York. The younger man rises, and as a stranger joins in the dance. The other sits in the corner, playing with his watch-chain and drinking his whisky. He is the son of the woman of the house, of that very active little woman who sits by the fire carding wool.

Peter Hanlon owns a saloon in New York, and this is his first visit home in ten years. He looks like a man who has dealt with the toughest elements. There is a streak of power in him which might turn to violence and oppression. He is an uneducated man and is often baffled on the plane of intellect, These defeats make him sullen at first, and afterwards cause him to exercise his satirical powers. Like most of the "Yanks" he is ostentatious of his wealth. It is known that he is on the look-out for a wife from amongst the country girls. He does not want any woman who has been in America. He remains aloof from the entertainment, but occasionally he is taken by the verse of a song or a name in an anecdote. It is a curious fact that he has more of the folk-songs than the young men who have remained at home. He has intimacy with the old life, for the reason that in America he lives amongst the people of his village; he remembers songs, anecdotes, and characters because he has had no new mental or emotional experiences.

A stranger in the house, a girl who is an instructress in lacemaking, ventures on the remark that people should strive to stay in Ireland. Peter Hanlon turns on her. "Why would anyone stay here? There isn't potatoes and salt for the people. There is nothing here but starvation." He rises and throws