The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-12-29
The Suffering in Ir~Innd.
RICHMOND, December 81,


Editors of the Dispatch: In view Of the
fact that many OF the leading gentlemen Of
the city are about TO hold q meeting at Mo-
zart Hall for the purpose Of devising ways
and means TO relieve the suffering in Ireland
/ beg space to state few facts which may
bring the matter more vividly before the
minds OF the public.
address myself more particularly to the
ladies' OF Richmond, that they may use their
influence towards forwarding this great
charity. During the last great famine
in Ireland, in the years 1S48, 1S47, and
1S4S, the distress was caused by the
failure OF the potato crop. which now.
as then, is the chief food OF the peasantry.
My father, who was physician, practiciDS
in town in the west OF Ireland twhere the
distress was greatest), frequently Ieiated to
me the following scenes which he witness
ed, and which are to-dsy being renewed !:
He saw men and women withering away
with hunger until the bones protTuded
through the flesh. When the fatal typbus
took possession OF them, wild with the fe-
yer, they ate the flesh from their own shout
ders and arms, and it was no uncommon
thing to find their dead and almost
naked bodies on the roadside. Du-
! ring the summer they ate the leaves OF
the trees and the grass until, after death,
their bodies assumed their greenish hue.
During the winter swarms OF little chill
dren, almost naked and quite barefoot,
walked or stood on the snow and ice, leav
!! ing bloody footprints, and crying in the
most heart-rendng manner for something
to cat. for Gods sake. 1t was no uncom-
mon thing for my father 10 go to fever
stricken house and find several OF the men,
| bers OF the family lying on the bare earthen
| floor, with no food, no covering, uncon-
scious, and the next visit often found
them dead! All this in the nine
teenth century; and not among savages
or barbarians, but among an intelligent.
sensitive, and warm-healted people, and
on account OF no fault OF theirs. In
famed and excited by the view OF these
sufferings, the people OF Ireland in 1S4S
did what the people OF America did over
q century ago-they rose against the British
Government, but, unlike the latter, failing
of success. they were dashed back by it's
all powerful hand to struggle again with
poverty and misery. They are now being
| melted to do the same. led on by wild
spirits, and the clergy, solictous only to
feed the lambs and feed the sheep" lin a
material as we'll as in spiritual sense), nc.
|
ter. are doing all they can to prevent the
disastrous consequences OF rebellion.
Could we, in this nation Of plenty, but
realize the condition Of Ireland during {
famine, how gladly would we not dispense
with some of our luXuries to help this ter
riblc suffering. But in Ireland, If far OIL
and it Is difficult to picture to our mind:
hunger and cold three thousand mile:
away-stlll it exists, and the telegraph re
ports that it is on the verge OF being
as great as in '4S. On certain building
on Leigh street, in this city. is marble
slab which records that poor Irish boy
who came to Richmond and was kindl!
treated founded the Male Orphan Asylum
with the fortune which he afterwards &C
quired. This proves that the Irish are a
least not ungrateful, and appeal to th'
mothers, wives, and daughters OF the braY
and kind-hearted southerners to use thel
unbounded influence with their sons, hus
bands and fathers to assist in relieving tb
wants OF the Irish mothers whose DaDes ar
starving at their breasts.
Mrs. JoHN A. PIZZISI.