The daily gazette., 1880-03-12
rreIard's Horrors.

LAND PERSONALLY AND MAKES A
REPORT BY CABLE.
Rev. George Hepworth, one of tie
HeraldS COMMITTEES 70 distribute the
fund of $2S,', ,682, 1t raised for Irish sui.
lsIers has just visited Ireland personally
and repcrts BY cable to-day that scenes
of abject misery and sickening squaior
were met at many places. He says there
is s.palsy of hunger. Thank God, Amer
lea has not forgotten Ireland. Feed them
until summer" He says further;l Il Ia
easy to understand The causes Of the
poverty. The people have had three bad
crops in succession; things have besu
growing worse and worse until The
almost utter failure Of the crops last yeal
brought them to the verge Of stavation,
The first case remelnber was that OF
an old woman who sat on the muddy
threshold Of her hut as We went BY, lifi-
ing up her hands as II In supplication
and crying, Nothing has passed my lips
tor twenty -four hours" I never knew
the value of loaf of bread till that mo
ment. When we gave her half loaf she
took it with the eagerness of fAmished
dog. She trembled with age and weak
ness, for she was over seventy years Of
age, and hunger had reduced her 10 tie
likeuess OF q skeleton. There was glare
III her eye that told Of famine. She stood
in the middle OF the road and thanked
God that Americans had not forgotten
ireland. 1t was hours before cou d get
away from that haunting, haegard face.
MOTHER AND RABE. =
Nor shall soon forget the sight which
saw In another hut. The mother of
seven children was holding the youngest
a gill of few months,in frantic embrace
moaning as she rocked to and fro. She
looked up with st iftied gaze ms we en-
tered the door, which we could only do
by bending, and gave q low cry ss though
in very terror. After few minutes she
Was resssured, for she thought me an
agent of tie landlord sent to evict her.
Then she told me she had nothing 10 cat
Tor, many days expect poor dole Of
Indian meal which q relief committe
gave he., and for which she Was thank
Iul enough. She added that being half
5 arred berself il was impossible to sup
ply milk for heI babe. She would be
compelled to see 1t die by ipches in her
arms, But for the meal which the relief
committee supplied the family would
have literally had nothing TO eat.
ON THk EDGE OF THE BOG.
Let me give you a sample of what I
saw in many scores Of huts and in few
which are matched and of stone and
sand oil the edge OF bog which affords
them peat for fuel. They contain three
small rooms. Une is the room where the
household lives. Through q small hole
in its roUf the kitchen smoke is generally
force d to escape. There is almost peat
famine this year on account Of the wet
weather. The only fuel consists of q
bunch of green twlgs. Another room is
TOR the COW if they are happy enough TO
possess one, which Is very rarely the
case. The COW is part ofthe family and
always goes in and out through the front
door. In the third room, which Is per-
haps eight or nine feet square the family
sleeps. t
BEDS OF STRAW.
They have one bed, with two thin,
worn out blankets, and here four OF a
household Of nine must sleep, not
lepgthwise but crosswise. covering
themselves as best they can. The rest
pile up a small bundle of straw in the
corner and sleep on it. Pressed by
hunger, they have eaten all their stor,
Of potatoes. The only food in the
whole house is few pounds of In
dian meal, which they mix with
water, and make into a stirabout
This is all they have and all they will
have until the autumn. What wonder
then, that they should be dishearteneC
and discourage d? have asked agar
and again what part of their wretch
edness is due to intemperance. an
assured that 1t is caused solely by the
utter failure of the. crops. And with
all this proverty the majority of the
Irish are cheerful. The people are en-.
during the great stress of suffering
with pluck and courage which are
truly admirable. 1t is my hope and
pray that the American people will no
ieel that enough has been already
DONE.
ThE BLESSINGS OF IRELAND.
Prnched as the Irish are to-day
their condition is one of happiness il
comparison which that in which the,
r will lind themselves in the course O
a few weeks. From the early part o
April until the first crop is reape,
, that will be the season of their res
, trouble, of their actual struggle fo
/ existene. Feed them until the middl
, of the summer and the blessings of til
whole of Ireland with rest on YOU
generous hearts. The committee nav
!, money, but it is not enough to las
until the end of the famine. HUI
N breads, thousands, tens of thousand
are keeping suol and body togeathe
by your bounty and generosity. II,
e the sake OF charity make one NOR
a effort. Give your mmittee til
means of warding off the otherwise i
evitable horror of starvation.
: l shall visit Mayo and Donegal ne1
Y week, and will make another repor