Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-04-10

asleep, with none to look upon them, none to
care for them. If they have parents, they
have become vicious, and have abandoned
them. Poor creatures! they are left without
help, to find their way through a frowning
world-a world that seems 10 regard them as
intruders, and to be punished as such. God
help the poor! An infdel mightask, in view
of these facts, with confusing elTect-Where
is your religion that takes care of the poor
of the widow AMI fltherless-where are
its votdries- what are they doing The an
swer to this would be, if properly given,
wasting their energies in useless debate on
hollow creeds and points OF doctrine, which,
when settled, neither make one hair white
nor black. In conversation with some who
were such rigid adherents to their faith that
they would scarce be seen in company with
those who differed from them in any point OF
their creed, | have heard them quote the text
in palllation of their neglect, 'The poor shall
not cease out of the land During my stay
in Dublin, l took occasion to visit the huts
Of the poor in the vicinity-and Of all places
to witness human misery, Ignorance, degra-
dation, filth and wretchedness, an Irish hut
is pre-eminent. 1t seems TO be constructed
to promote the very reverse OF every thing
like domestic comfort. Ii were 10 describe
one, 1t would appear about as fellows: -Four
mud walls about six feet high, occupying a
space of ground about Zen feet square, cover
ed or matched with straw-a mud chimney
at one end, reaching about a foot over the
roof-without ans apartments or divisions of
any kind-without floor, without windows,
and sometimes without a chimney-a piece
of pine board laid on the top Of a box or an
old chest-a pile of straw covered with dirty
narnpnto which IL NrnulJ n,yyl, ms opa 70
tell the original part Of any one of them-a
picture representing the cruciiixion of Christ,
pasted on the most conspicuous place on the
wall-a few broken dishes stuck up in a cor
ner-an iron pot, or the half Of an iron pot, in
one corner of the chimney-a little peat in
the Fireplace, aggravdting one occasionally
with a glimpse OF fire, but sending out very
little heat-a man and his wife and five chill
dren and a pig. In front of the doorway, and
within a step of it, is a hole three or four feet
deep, and ten or twelve feet in circumference
into this hole all the filth and dirt of the hut
are put, for careful preservation. This is fire.
quently covered with a green scum, which at
times stands in bubbles, as decomposition
goes on. Here you have an Irish hut or cab
in, such as millions of the people of Ireland
live in. And some live in worse than these.
Men and women, married and single, old and
young, lie down together in much the same
degradation as the American slaves. | see
much here to remind me of nv former con-
dition, and | confess | should be ashamed to
lift up my voice against American slavery,
but that | know the cause of humanity is one
the world over. He who really and truly
feels for the American slave, cannot steel his
heartto the woes Of others; and he who thinks
himself an abolitlonist, yet cannot enter into
the wrongs OF others, has yet to find a true
foundation Tor his anti-slavery faith. But, to
the subject
The immediate, and it may be the main
cause OF the extreme poverty and beggary in
Ireland, is intemperance. This may be seen
in the fact that most beggars drink whiskey.
The third day alter landing in Dublin, | met
a man In one OF the most public streets, with
a white cloth on the upper part of his face.
He was feeling his way with a cane in one
hand, and the other hand was extended, So
Letting aid. His feeLle step and singular
appearance led me 10 inquire into his history.
| was informed that he had been a very in
temperate man, and that on one occasion he
was drunk, and lying in the streets. While
In this state of insensibility, a hog with its
fangs tore of his nose, and a part Of his face!
| looked under the cloth, and saw the horri-
Bile spectacle Of a living man with the face
of a skeleton. Drunkenness is still rife in
Ireland. The temperance cause has done
much-is doing much-but there is much
more to do, and, as yet, comparatively few to
doit. A great part of the Roman Catholic Ger
gy do nothing about it, while the Protestants
may be said 10 hate the cause. | have been
frequently advised to have nothing to do with
1t, as it would injure the anti-slavery cause.
1t was most consoling to me to find that those
persons who were most interested in the an
tl-slavery cause in the United States, were
the same that distinguished themselves as the
truest and warmest advocates of temperance
and every other righteous reform at home
1t was a pleasure 10 walk through the crowd
with gentlemen such as the Webbs, Aliens,
and Haughtons, and find them recognized by
the multitude as the friends Of the poor
My sheet is full.
Always yours,
FREDERICK DOUGLASS.