The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-02-19
Appeal for the Distressed in Ireland.

Appeal for the Distressed In Ireland.
There Il no longer any room for
doubt as to the wide extent and APP
palling severity of the distress in Ire
land from impending starvation. Fam
inc is already dcvouring its victims,
and fevers, the consequence of INSULT
Gent food, are fastening its terrible
work. What is already witnessed is
but the beginning Of calamity which
will rapidly extend with the exhaus-
ton of the limited means of sustenance
afforded by the last harvest.
The proofs of extreme distress have
been multiplying and thickening dur
ing the last six weeks like constantly
blackening cloud which hangs as pail
over the Emerald Isle. But compare
lively little was known in detail, and
the people of this country had no ade-
quate conception of the magnitude of
the impending calamity or Of the i'm
mense scale of the contributions which
are needed for immediate and prcspec-
tive relief. The Herald has undertaken
to supply this deficiency of exact and
detailed knowledge. 1t has kept its
agents actively employed in ireland
since the famine threatened to be seri-
GUS with view to measure its extent
and enable the benevolent in all coun-
tries, and especially in the United
States, to act intelligently in proper
tioning their aid and efforts to the ext
gency.
We lay before our readers this morn
ing, in a condensed and convenient
form, the results of our inquiries. /
There are more than three hundred
thousand people in Ireland who are in
imminent danger of perishing with hum
ger. This is not random estimate
hastily inferred from flying rumors, but
the result of diligent and faithful in
quiries in every part of the afflicted dis
tricts. We give the data ON which our
body may examine them and see that
we are dealing sincerely with those
whose aid we solicit. We have gone
over Ireland county by county, and
town by town or parish by parish in
each county, stating the number of the
suffering in each place, with occasional
side remarks quoted from our inform
ants which touch local peculiarities in
the situation. These remarks are q
mere repetition of words spoken to our
correspondents, but they are deeply
affecting. as betokening the despond-
ency which is overtaking so many
hearts. ''Many of my people will be
dead and buried before help will
arrive" is the piercing note of anguish
from Aughrim. 1.-Two of my people
died last week from starvation" is the
moan from another locality. "How
we can tide oyer the next six months
God only knows" is the despairing ut
terance from Drumaleague, in Cork.
"No language can describe the Distress"
is the testimony from Shankrum Drom-
ina, in Cork. "For Gods sake, give
us money or food,' is the thrilling cry
of fear and agony from Foxforll, in
Mayo. In parts of Limerick County
"many people have been living on tur-
'nips for weeks" From one town in
Galway County we learn that "in three
weeks there will be three hundred MOI G
families starving A gentleman in
Mayo County declares: II am plis-
oner in my own house, because cannot
bear to hear the stories of the hundreds
who surround it, and l am powcrlcss TO
i've
These thrilling cries of distress,
which are justified By our careful and
exhaustive statistics, must not fall on
needless ears. A crisis has come which
appeals to the common heart of man.
kind. 1t would be blot on the civil
cation of the world, disgrace to its
Christianity, stigma upon human ma
ture, if those poor, wretched sufferers
were permitted to starve when granar-
les are teeming with food, when ships
are lying idle in many harbors, when
untold sums of money are daily ex-
pended for luxuries and superfiuities.
Let the rich give out of their abundance,
the comfortable out of their economy,
the frugal poor from the promptings OF
willing hearts which have at some time
felt want or the fear of it, and whose
modest contributions, like the widow
mite, will be the most blessed of all in
returns of happiness to the giver.
The Herald in making this appeal to
the benevolent, deems it fitting to set
an example which will be taken as q
proof of its sincerity. The Herald there
fore opens to-day. a subscription for
Irish relief, heading it with the sum OF
one hundred thousand dollars. 1t
solicits other people to give in proper
ton to their willingness and their
means. 1t will receive subscriptions
for any amount down to twenty-five
cents, carefully publishing the name
and residence Of every subscriber, and,
when desired, the place of his former
residence in ireland, that the people
relieved may know to whom they
are indebted. We shall feel a par
ticular pleasure in recording small
subscriptions from those who car
afford to give but little. Every
twenty thousand five-dollar subscrip
tons, every hundred thousand one
dollar subscriptions, and every foul
hundred thousand twenty-five cent sub.
scrlptions will equal our own, and will
be more soothing to the sufferers as ex.
pressing larger amount of active sym.
pathy, the interest and kindness of the
givers enhancing the value of. the gift,
and those giving out of their poverty
affording the truest evidence that their
hearts are touched. 1t will give us
peculiar satisfaction to find small sub
scriptions pouring forward in steady
and abundant stream. How 'smal
are the means of any individual in com
parison with the collective means Of
people in moderate circumstances This
was verified by the great success o.
popular loans in France many years ago
We place our main reliance for efficient
aid to the Irish sufferers on small con
tributions from a wide area sent by
multitudes .who can do but little, bu'
freely give what they can spare. Grea1
rivers are formed from the small fount
aims which feebly ooze out of the soil
and the small rills and rivulets of q wid'
expanse of territory. There is needed
larger stream for them to run into
and this we hope to see supplied b,
L.