“She is telling us of all the hardships that she and her neighbours have to bear,” replied my friend. “She says they are all being ruined by the heavy taxes that the Government
VILLAGE OF COMBARRO, PONTEVEDRA
A NATIVE DOVE-COT
is imposing on all the produce of their industry, and the heavy rents demanded by the landlords.
“ ‘We live from hand to mouth,’ she cried; ‘and everything we earn with the sweat of our brow is swallowed up in discharging our liabilities, in paying our rates, our rent, and our taxes. We cannot even buy bread for our children because of the oppression of the rich—because we have no money. There is plenty of money in the land, and plenty of food, but it does not come our way; we are being ground down and killed by the heavy and unjust taxes, and there is nothing to encourage us to work, and no hope for the future. Oh, it is dreadful, dreadful!’ ”