Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-05-08
A Vivid Picture OF the Distress In
Ireland.


land, reports rs follows:
You can Judge Of the work which has
been done by your committee, and Of
its urgent need, when ! 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 viii
be increased TO 1900 in the course of
three OF four days. Very many schools
had become almost empty, because the
children were SO constantly hungry and
so nearly naked that attendance WAS an
impossibiliiy. One entreating letter
says that many of the children attend
ing the Midtown 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 OF the roadside half
way TO school. In some cases, too nearly
worn out TO get there, they crawl back
10 their home, only to learn, when they
ask for something to eat, that there is
nothing in the house and that they must
still 90 hungry. On one occasion, with
in week, | entered poor Golfers hut,
and found it empty. The only bed
stead consisted of some boards laid on
two boxes. The bed was a pile of
straw. The bed-covefing was q single,
torn, WORKOUT blanket, which had
10 do service for a, family of
four. / looked into the dinner-pot
and saw nothing; into the meal-sack,.
70 \ lafI a gf
silver on the table and left. When the
mother returned and found the money
she broke into a flood of tears, and in
the midst of her sobs she Rugged her
children wildly, and cried out: "God
has sent it TO save as! God has sent it
to save usl" 1t is q 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 a house in his parish, and
found the children sitting in front of a
smoldering turf in the fireplace, who
had not tasted food for fifty hours.
He gave one of the boys a shilling to
get some meal, but the poor little fellow
refused 10 90 because SO nearly naked.
cases. No matter how prudently we
spend our funds, the famine will at
times strike At family and drive them
20 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 deplorable condition that very
many schools have an average attend
ance OF only half the usual number of
pupils, and the reason is they have
nothing to ca; and wear.
have letter before me which de-
clares that 10 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 ii is quite disheartening to see the
sad condition of these little ones. Those
who were once rosy and blithesome are
now pale. cold and hstless, q heir 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
he was relieved by the parish priest.
"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 have given
what had provided for myself, and
gone hungry in their stead" take
fhasa ax.--a.rs fvnpa Mia Of latfarS oil