And Ireland is particularly interesting just now because of the mighty forces that are engaged in the redemption of the people from the poverty and the wretchedness in which a large proportion of them have been submerged for generations. No government ever did so much for the material welfare of its subjects as Great Britain is now doing for Ireland, and the improvement in the condition of affairs during the last few years has been extraordinary. In order to observe and describe this economic evolution, the author spent the summer of 1908 visiting various parts of the island and has endeavored to narrate truthfully what he saw and heard. This volume contains the greater part of a series of letters written for _The Chicago Record-Herald_ and also published in _The Evening Star_ of Washington, _The Times_ of St. Louis, and other American papers. By permission of Mr. Frank B. Noyes, editor and publisher of _The Chicago Record-Herald_, and to gratify many readers who have asked for them, they are herewith presented in permanent form. About three hundred passengers landed with us at Queenstown. Most of them were young men and young women of Irish birth, returning after a few years' experience in the United States. Several had come home to be married, but most of them were on a visit to their parents and other relatives. Among those who disembarked were several older men and women who were born in Ireland, but had been taken to America in infancy or in childhood and were now looking upon the fair face of Erin for the first time.