The article which caught his attention was headed 'Angels in Connaught.' It contained an idealized account of the work of the Robeen nuns, from whose shoulders it seemed to the writer likely that wings would soon sprout.

There was a description of the once miserable cabins now transformed into homesteads so comfortable that English labourers would not disdain them.

The people shared in the elevation of their surroundings.

Men and women, lately half-naked savages, starved and ignorant, had risen in the scale of civilization and intelligence to a level which almost equalled that of a Hampshire villager.

The double stream of emigration to the United States and migration to the English harvest-fields was stopped.