The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-21

ically Observation-Disclosures Pictures
From Irish Highway and Cabin.
Copyright. 1881
London, May SIT may well be mag
ined that when from 100 to 200 souls leave
ireland for foreign shores every working
day in the year there are heart and hand
wringings innumerable, and dolorous
mists from the region of tears. Few fam
lilies are fortunate enough to get away all
together. If help has come from America
or the colonies; if the passage money has
been saved in secret through years of de-
privatiOn by a single person, if an Irish
family has, after every manner of sacri-
fee, provided for one who is to go to
blessed foreign lands that the remainder
may, one by one, eventually follow; how
ever the going of all these people may
have come about, in every instance there
is struggle in tearing away from the
things to which the heart is rooted Of
which we of better fortune and condition
literally know nothing
So many Of these scenes have witnessed
that have perhaps some little conception
of the real bravery of this act Of litter
ate, unframed men and women pushing
boldly across oceans into untried, I'M
known walks and ways. with love, hope
and determination for ones own at the
bottom of it all that have more real hero
ism in them than the average American
is ever called upon to exercise through
out his entire life.
However lowly, poor and desperately
gOod-for-naUght the prospective emigrant
may have all his life been regarded
/, 50. F.11 h.
Gus heart in those around him meltS into
surprising interest and tenderness when
he comes to leave his neighborhood, and
those whom he has been never so little a
part of through the bitter days that have
encompassed all. For every departure
reawakens the heart-aching memories of
other departures and in every Irish home
/ ever shared there is an empty chair
whose former occupant is somewhere be-
yond the sea.
If it be a family which is to go, or some
elderly man or woman, for days previous
TO the departure the whole countryside
swarm to the cabin, and every man,
woman, or child of the tOwnland at some
time or another has come to mourn at the
leaving and bid godspeed at the going
If it be youth or less, or young man or
woman, as it oftener is, for few but the
very old and the very young are left
then, on the evening previous to the de-
parture every companion friend or ac-
qualntance IS certain to appear, and the
whole night is passed in what is called
'raising the heart of the departing one
The custom springs from the same
kindly quality of extending cheer to those
who mourn, that originally established
the custom of the Irish wake" which
many good people choose to persistently
misunderstood and condemn. At this
gathering for raising the heart" of the
e1nigrant the Irish PEASANTS character is
In most tenderly interesting state for
study. Every one arrives in a hushed
embarrassed mood; and every one brings
some little token of affection and regard
The poverty of these folk alone prevents
outlandish generosity.
One stealthlly appears with yards of
seed cake; many with thimblesful of tea
some with gewgans and tribes of iewelry
the coat tail pockets of another will bulge
with heartSOme potatoes; housewives
arrive with great methers of milk others
with schowders, or oaten cakes, crisp and
toothsome, still others with schrahags of
silk, hearty mixture of potatoes, beans
ana butter. and some with apronSful of
peat; for the slender resources of the
family must never under these trying cir
cumstances be drained. And the lads and
Iasses who come with pressed Irish flow
erS and ferns, and Sprigs of hawthorn and
punches of dear shamrock; with gifts Of
ribbons and bits of this or that priced pos
session; are not to be counted at all
So, too, come those with looks of tri-
umph and secreted bottles of poteen. that
never got touch, - that is, are guiltless
OF the CHEESEMAN'S desecrating seal; for
grief IS ever drOOthy'' surely. Then the
night is passed in eating. feasting and
drinking. Loads of humble fare are there.
oceans of tea, and timely drops of the
''rale mountain dew" Tales are told,
songs are sung; sometimes they dance to
the music of an old tramp fiddler who has
been impressed into, service But the
chords OF mirth are minor enough the
night long; and smiles, laughter and
brave prophecies are all touched and
chastened by honest Irish tears.
When morning comes, and those whose
imperative duties call them to their
homes have said goodbye with almost
the same dread, reverence and pathetic
1orlornnesS as when lowering the dead
into the grave, the rustic ceremony of
conveying is begun. The. subject of
all this attention becomes for the once. if
Tor only this once in a lifetime the hero
or heroine of the hour. The chests. or
piethoric bags, or whatever constitutes
the luggage of the emigrant is sent on
ahead III some neighbours proffered cart,
friendly riots for the honor of the mourn
full privilege often occurring, or are slung
over the backs of shaggy donkeys,
score more than necessary always being
in readiness for this friendly mission.
If a whole family are to 90, the fare
wells to the wretched old hut which has
housed them is something pitiable beyond
description. If it be but single member
of the household, the gOod-byes to the
old, old folk too feeble for the Journey of
convoy are more pitiable still. These
separations are often too great a load for
such, and many a withered branch of the
impoverished family tree breaks and falls
into the earth from the keen. sharp sor-
row. But if girsha or bouchal, the pride
of the loved home, are departing. the
maelstrom of emotion as the Convoy. "
or accompanying procession, sets forth is
beyond the power of man 10 reveal
On many occasions during my wander
ings afoot in Ireland / have come upon
these excited crowds as they We're start
ing from the home; as they struggled
down mountain bOreen; as they Jagged
and walled along the great stone high
way; or as they nearcd some railway
station whence the emigrant must depart
to the seaport city; and making myself
one of the motley ''cOnyoyers, 4" having
titus tramped with them miles upon their
sorrowful way
sometimes these grcwSOme professions
VIII come from point a score of miles
away in the mountains, or remote valley
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