Democratic banner., 1847-04-19

tons was there the slightest indication Of
food of any kind 10 be found, or fuel tc
cook food, or any thing resembling a bed.
unless it we're a thin layer of filthy straw
in one corner, upon which the sick persons
lay, partly covered with some ragged gar
ment.
There being no window, nor aperture to
admit the light in these wretched csa:ns.
except the door, wa found oursrlres< 6 n
in total darkness for the first moment of
our entrance. But a faint glimmcring of a
handful of burning straw in one end would
soon reveal to us the indistinct images of
wan-iaced children grouped together, with
their large, plaintive, still eyes, looking cut
at us, like the sick young Of wild beasts in
their dcns. Then the sroans, and the
choked, ircoilerrnt cntrcaties for help, of
som" man or woman wasting away with the
sickness, in some corner Of the cabin, would
Iapprlse us Of the number and condition of
the family. The wife, mother or child
wonld frequently light a wisp of straw, and
hold Over the face Of the sick person, dis
my ~ III t"iF SiJlN ltusNICS OI some
emlciated Great ire i'll the last stage Of the
fever In one of these places we found an
old woina stretched Ipon . pallet of straw,
with her head within 4 foot of a handful Of
fire, upon which something was stearning
in a small iron vessel. The Doctor rcmoy-
cd the cover, and we found it was filled
with a kind of Shiny seaweed, which | be-
lIevc is used for manure on the seaboard.
This was all the nouriSl.ment the dauch-
ter could serve TO her sick mother. But
the last cabin we visited in this painful walk
presented to our eyes a lower deep of mise
~. 1t was the residence OF two families,
both of which had been Trimmed down TO
half their original number by the sickness.
The first sight that met my eyes on enter
ing was the body Of a dead woman, extend
ed on one side Of the fireplace. On tho
other an old man was lying on some straw.
so far gone rs to be unable to articulatc
distinctly. He might be ninety or fifty.
years of age. 1t was dificultto determine,
for this wasting consumption of want brings
out the EXTREMIST induces of old age in the
of even the young.
But there vas another apparation which
sickencd al! the flesh and blood of my ma
turc. II has haunted me during the past
night, like BanGuo's ghost. have lain a
wake for hours, struggling for some graphic
and truthful Smiles or new elements of
description, by which: might convey to the
reader some tangible image of this
\ dropsical affection among the
young and old is very common to all the
sufferers by famine. had seen men at
on the public roads with their limbs
swollen almost to twice their usual size
But when the woman of this cabin lifted
from the straw, from behind the dying per-
son, a boy about twelve years of age, and
held him up before us upon his feet, the
most horritying spectacle met our eyes
The cold, watery-fnccd child was entirely
in front from his neck down to his
feet. His body was swollen 70 nearly three
times its usual size, and had burst tie rag
1ed garment that covered him, which now
1angled in sh-cds behind him.
The woman of the other family, who was
at her end of the %liovel, brought for
ward her little infant, a thin faced baby
Of two years, with clear, Sharp eyes, that
lid not wink, but stared stock still at va
cancy, as if n glimpse of another existence
lad e~clipsed its vision. Its cold, naked,
were not much larger than pipc-stems,
while its body was swollen to the size of a
grown person. Let the reader group
.hese apparilions of death and disease into
the spectacle Of ten feet square, and then
multiply it into three fourtlls of the hovclsI
this region of ireland, and he will az
rive at a fair estimate of the extent and de-
gree of it's misery. Were it not for giving
hem pain, | should have been glad il the
well-drcssed children in America could
entered these novels with us, and
looked upon the young creatures wasting
away unmurmuringly by slow, consuming
| am sure they would have
been touched to the ~livelicst compassion at
the spectacle, and have been ready to di-
vide their wardrobe with the sufferers.
SKI~BBEREEN, Feb. %. y y DR.. MADDEN
called to take me into Castlehaven parish,
which comes within his Circuit. This dis
trict borders upon the Sea, whose rocky,
indented shores are covered with cabins Of
description than those at Skibbereen.
On our way We passed several companies
Of men, women and children at work, all
and emaciated by Instruction.