The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-12-30
CONNEMARA.

A Graphic Description OF the Wretched Homes
OF COnnemara, In Ireland.
So much has been written in regard to the
condition of the few Connemara emigrants
in Minnesota, that the following description,
by correspondent of the London Pail Mall
Gazette, Of the misery Of the section from
whence they came, will be read with inter-
est. 1t was written from Barnd, small
village about four miles distant from Gal
eway.
81 am not squeamish or easily scared by
repulsive smells or sights; but what ! saw
yesterday and the day before brought me as
near losing my self possession as ever hap
pened in my life. Not only words, but
painters brush would be inadequate to rem
r. the horror Of those dens of foulness in
~ IN, ii many of our fellow subjects toward
yns close Of the nineteenth century still live.
twisted some score or more each day; and
there are degrees of squalor and abOmina-
ton even at this zero of human existence.
For instance some of the cabins had CHM
ney, and the smoke of the turf fire positive
ly went up it instead of finding its way out
by the door. But this was the exception.
do not remember one window. What
light entered came in by the door. But
that was not much for the air was general
ly SO charged with smoke that step or two
inside placed you in comparative darkness.
Sit down, or you will be smothered', said
my guide in one of the worst of the cabins.
did not at once realize the propriety, even
to avoid sutfocation, of sitting down on the
mud floor which ! shall presently describe;
but soon saw dimly through the smoke
that friendly little hands were offering mo
a low stool, on which lin Irish they invited
10 p.t th.a. al
see with comparative clearness, as the
smoke did not reach quite to the ground.
How any human eye and lung can endure
such an atmosphere is problem am un.
able to solve; but all the cabins were not
full Of smoke. In some the fire was low or
out, and in them was able to notice con-
dition of things which utterly despair of
conveying to the reader.
"The air inside is that of drain, mingled
with the compound oders of menagerie
and dissecting room, The walls are Just
the undressed stones of the neighboring
dikes, put together without mortar or &C.
ment. The floor is compound Of muda and
manure, which is easily explained by the
presence OF pigs, poultry, and occasionally
donkey, rs members of the household.
Rills of water trlversed the tenement or
stagnated in pools according to the slope
of the ground. OF furniture there was
little to be seen-at the utmost chair and
a dresser, with few plates. Bedstead and
bedding only existed in the form of sacks,
either on the ground, or on rude boards but
little above it. In one cabin the tenant
for thelast two nights. in conse
quence of rain, has been unable to occupy
his sleeping lair, compared to which a Lon
don coal cellar is palace. saw the spot
and you might as well have tried to sleep in
the bed of brook. A little way further
up was informed that people could be
found quite recently sleeping in bog mold,
but now they have obtained potato sacks
The murky, brown, reeking, fetid gloom
and horror Of these interiors are not in the
least suggested by these details. The tout
ensemble is beyond description, as it al
most battles memory, so incredible and aw-
full does it appear the moment you a.e out Of
it,"