Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-05-14
A Vivid Picture of the Distress In
Ireland.

A VIVID Picture OF the Distress In
ireland.
Mr.. GEORGE II .HEPwoRTH, Chairman
of the committee for the distribution OF
the New York Herald relief fund in Ire
land, reports as follows:
You can Judge of the work which has
been done by your committee, and OF
its urgent need, when 1 tell you that
1000 little ones who were fed at the be-
ginning of last week had grown into
more than 5000 by Saturday, and will
be increased to $4,000 in the course OF
three or four days. Very many schools
had become almost empty, because the
children were so constantly hungry and
so nearly naked that attendance was an
impossibility. One entreating letter
says that many of the children attend
ing the Milltown schools in Galway are
in a most pitiable state, being almost
without clothing to cover their naked
ness, while their faces and shivering
bodies tell story of suffering from cold
and exposure. The stoutest heart would
be moved to pity at the sight of boys
and girls sitting on the roadside hall
way to school. In some cases, too nearly
worn out to get there, they crawl back
to their home, only to learn, when they
ask for something to eat, that there is
nothing in the house and that they must
still go hungry. On one occasion, with.
in week, entered poor collier's hut.
and found it empty. The only bed.
stead consisted of some boards laid on
two boxes. The bed was pile Of
straw. The bed-covering was SINGLE,
torn, worn-out blanket, which had
to do service for a family OF
four. 1 looked into the dinner-pot
and saw nothing; into the meal-sAck,
and found it empty. laid piece OF
silver on the table and left. When the
mother returned and found the money
she broke into flood of tears, and in
the midst of her sobs she hugged her
children wildly, and cried out "God
has sent it to save us! God has sent il
to save us!" 1t is comfort to feel
God really did send it through the
medium of some sympathetic American
heart.
The other day priest wrote me that
he entered house in his parish, and
found the children sitting in front of
smoldering turf in the fireplace, who
had not tasted food for fifty hours.
He gave one of the boys shilling to
get some meal, but the poor little fellow
refused to go because so nearly naked.
Unfortunately these are not exceptional
cases. No matter how prudently we
spend our funds, the famine will at
times strike at a family and drive them
to the very verge of the grave before we
can relieve their wants. God be thanked
you are giving your sympathy and
money for these helpless children.
Their parents have for two years spent
all their pittance of income to buy the
coarsest food. To purchase new gar
ments means simply impossibility. The
people in the distressed districts are in
such a deplorable condition that very
many schools have an average attend
ance of only half the usual number oi
pupils, and the reason is they have
nothing to eat and wear.
have letter before me which de-
clares that to the personal knowledge OF
the writer the decrease in the attend
ance at his school is caused by the ut
ter inability of the parents to procure
breakfast for their children, He adds
that it is quite disheartening to see the
sad condition of these little ones. Those
who were oate rosy and blithesome are
now pale, cold and listless, their gar
ments so thin and worn that they hardly
hang even in tatters on their backs. A
poor man who lived within pistol-shot
of the school, was, with his wife and
eight children, obliged to 90 to bed sup
PEERLESS last Saturday night. He had no
breakfast on the following morning until
| h. lNrJf ha
"When take my lunch at the school
house," he continues, '' little ones
throng around me like famished dogs,
watching for morsel. Many time
have been so moved by their wan,
hungry-looking faces that l have given
what l had provided for myself, and
gone hungry in their stead" l take
these extracts from pile of letters, all
of which are in the same tenor. We
have this week received other letters
which tell US how gratefully penny's
worth of bread and sup of milk
are received by the children, and
assuring us that their faces are already
beginning to brighten, and that the ring
of the old laughter is coming back.
Your committee have reason to hope
that, in the course of two weeks, their
machinery for distribution will be work
| ing so effectively that no child in Ire
land shall cry in vain for bread. They
do not propose to cease their efforts un-
til the whole 10000 absentees return to
the school-room. 1t is comparatively
easy to feed them, but to clothe them is to
give the boys pair of pantaloons and a
woolen shirt, and the girls dress OF
the coarsest material, with chemise.
This is problem more difficult to solve.
They ask only for garments which are
absolutely necessary to fill the require
ments of decency, and for these we must
depend largely on your further gener-
osity. There are so many hungry
mouths to fill that we dare not use any
large amount of funds for clothing.
The first dire necessity is something
to eat, but almost equal to that is the
second necessity of something to wear.
l speak of all this because know my
countrymen well enough to feel sure
that they will come to the relief of the
Ecommittee at once. We can dispose OF
thousands of suits of clothes, and yet
not give single suit to the boys who
already have decent covering for their
| bodies.
You will excuse the earnestness OF
my plea, and will acknowledge its force
when you remember that the cases /
have mentioned are not exceptional; ;
that physicians have written to us that
in some parts of the country fever has
broken out solely through want of food,
and through exposure and insufficient
clothing Stretch out your generous
hands once more toward this deeply
afflicted people.
HERBERT SPENCER has publicly
stated himself to be strongly opposed to
compulsory vaccination.
ONE Of the things which is bothering
| the cuTiOns In railroad CIRCLES is whether