Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-04-05
ssTHE PITY OF IT.

dramatic display of wretchedness and
want
ssTHE PITY OF IT"
Unawares searched every corner of
scores of houses for any means of sub
sistence, and came back at night with an
aching heart. I had seen what it would
do you all good to see. Even after
hearing it am sure you will increase
your gifts, generous as they have been,
until this great chasm of distress can be
bridged over. When | tell you that |
have seen men utterly break down when
slipped a paltry shilling into their
hands, and women clutch loaf of bread
as though they were afraid that some
one would suddenly appear to take it
from them, you can family imagine
what l have experienced in the last few
days. The friend who accompanied me
observed that l felt large lump in my
throat all of the time. l could find no
fitting language in which to express my
sorrow and my sympathy.
BY THE wAYsIDE.
The first case | remember was that of
an old woman who sat on the muddy
threshold of her hut as we went by,
lifting up her hands as if in supplication
and crying, "Nothing has passed my
lips for twenty-four hours" l never
knew the value of loaf of bread till
that moment. When we gave her half a
loaf she took it with the eagerness of a
famishing dog. She trembled with age
and weakness, for she was over seventy
years of age, and hunger had reduced
her to the likeness of skeleton. There
was glare in her eye that told of fam
inc. She stood in the road and thanked
God that Americans had not forgotten
Ireland. 1t was hours before l could
get away from that haunting, haggard
face.
Nor shall l soon forget the sight
which I saw in another hut. The moth
er of seven children was holding the
youngest. girl of few months, in
frantic embrace, moaning as she rocked
to and fro. She looked up with start
led gaze as we entered the door, which
we could only do by bending, and gave
low cry as though in very terror.
After few minutes she was reassured,
for she thought me an agent of the land
lord sent to evict her. Then she told
me she had nothing to eat for many
days except poor dole of Indian meal
which relief committee gave her, and
for which she was thankful enough.
She added that being half starved her
self it was impossible to supply milk
for her babe. She would be compelled
to see it die by inches in her arms. But
for the meal which the relief committee
supplied the family would have literally
had nothing to eat. But l cannot recite
all the individual instances.
ON THE EDGE OF THE BOG.
Let me give you sample of what
saw in many scores of huts, and in {
few which are thatched, of stone, anC
stand on the edge of bog which afford:
e them peat for fuel. They contain three
e small rooms. One is the room wher,
. the household lives. Through small
f hole in the roof the kitchen smoke i.
D generally forced to escape. There il
almost peat famine this year on ac
count of the wet weather. The only
f fuel consists of bunch of green twigs
: Another room is for the COW if they ar,
j happy enough to possess one, which i
: very rarely the case. The COW is par
. of the family and always goes in ant
: out through the front door. In tn
q third room, which is perhaps eight o
: nine feet square, the family sleeps.
e BEDS OF FsTRAw.
: They have one bed. with two thin
worn-out blankets, and here four of
household of nine must sleep, not length
& wise, but crosswise, covering themselve
as best they can. The rest pile up
9 small bundle of straw in the corner an,
8 sleep on it. Pressed by hunger, the,
il have eaten all their store of potatoes
It The only food in the whole house is
few pounds of Indian meal, which the
mix with water, and make into a stira
a bout This is all they will have til
Il antumn. What wonder, then. that the
n should be disheartened and discouraged
o have asked again and again what PAL
: of their wretchedness is due to intem
perence. am assured that it is cause
Is by the utter failure of their crops. An
y with all this poverty the majority of tn
e Irish are cheerful. The people are en-
J. during the great stress of suffering wit
= pluck and courage which are truly ad
mirable. It is my hope and praye
e that the American people will not fee
2 that enough has been already done.
Ie THE BLESSINGS OF IRELAND.
Pinched as the Irish are to-day thei
condition is one of happiness in compal
t. ison with that in which they will fin
J. themselves in the course of few weeks
d From the early part of April until th
L first crop is reaped-that will be th
,r season of their real trouble, of their act
b ual struggle for existence. Feed ther
ir until the middle of the summer and th