Omaha daily bee., 1900-02-04
EMIGRATION FROM IRELAND
seumas Na9Manus Dwslls on the Lights
ard Shadows Of an Ocean Trip,
tMlsFA Ts)F HF1YYtARs AGO AND TODAY
Prolonged oSnEe in sailing ships
Characteristic Farewell ReNel-
Iics, Pathetic Leave TnkinRs
and joyful Returns.

and joyful Returns.
Copyright. 1900. by seumas MacManusJ
The ether day j went into the barge Of
fee at the foot OF New York to observe the
freshly landed emigrant and see him go
through the routine necessary on landing.
The contrast which. with his timi1 air and
open, genuine, unsophistica,ed looks. he
presented TO the New Yorker Of enc and
two and ten years standing whom ! had
seen outside the barge office struck me
forcibly and set me Eliminating.
/ come from the one county OF
ireland which perhaps more than
any ether has for generations been
sending into exile its sons and its
daughters-the County OF Donegal. Month
after month and week after week for many
years ] have been seeing the human stream
flow outward and over the ocean to the
great land Of our hopes and longings. i
remember well the feeling Of sadness that
oppressed me when. leaving ireland, ! stood
on the forecastle of the tender that steamed
away from Derry quay and looked down
upon the thousand boys and girls who with
their bundles and bags crowded the main
deck. Many Of them we're openly weepingi
almost all of them crying in their hearts as
through misty eyes they gazed yearningly
at the heath-clad hills which were sinking
away from their vision.
l said to the comrade who stood by me:
What a crying pity it is to see the flower OF
the youth Of our country, its blood and It's
Drawn, borne away week by week like this.
ut is" he said. Yet you go yourselt?'
And q could not reply to this.
For our Irish boys and girls to leave their
homes now is a trial, but fifty years ago 1t
was in its dire Importance perhaps only
second to death. In the Irish famine times
Of 1S46-47-4S, and for half a dozen years
after, my countrymen and women swarmed
across the Atlantic by hundreds of thou
sands. From countless bays on the west
coast in every week in every summer OF
those years hundreds Of little boats OF lOO,
200 and 300 tons were constantly putting
out, laden down with human cargoes, des-
tined to founder about for any space OF
time between seven and seventeen weeks
before they reached America, portions Of
their cargoes still alive and portions CT them
lying at the bottom of the ocean. No won
der that going to America was then a
great undertaking.
Pathetic FareNNclls.
Three weeks before the date of his pro
posed sailing the intending emigrant started
out over the countryside to say goodby
He must call at every house within a radiu!
OF many miles from home. Even if familieE
to whom he was not known lived within tina
radius he must shake the hand of every on
of them also and get their, God send yol
safe and prosper you where you're gong
If, when he came to sail, he had omitted on
child within a wide area he would leave will
a troubled conscience, and his friends woult
be ashamed for his neglect.
His more immediate neighbors ana MI
friends from far and near a week before nj
sailing began baking and hardening oat
bread for it took a full week to harden Il
the extent necessary, making their calcula
lions. as they did, for a probable fou
months VOYAGE. AS every one had to pro
vision himself, a barrel was provided with
hinged lid and a lock, and in it were packeI
everything eatable that he should need
oatbread, potatoes, bacon, hard-boiled egg
and butter. The provisions needed wer
all. or more than all, provided as tokens from
his nelghbors and friends. The very poores
and in those days the poorest were poo
! indeed-gave from their scanty store o
borrowed from a more fortunate nelghpo
, that they might give, for they could no
' bear that one day the departing Conal mlgn
! reflect: Every soul of my neighbor
20 TUlluSu me. ~ HLluA -"S' -
\ my native place the passenger schoone
= rode in the center CT a group of islands in tn
bay-Donegal bay-awaiting its consign
5 ment. A certain day was named Tor IN
passengers to be aboard, after which, a
soon as the weather would permit, all sa
2 would be set for America. We believe !
B, drowning grief by merriment, so for severe
5 nights and days before the emigrant crosse
. his fathers threshold for the last time nj
friends and the neighboring hddlers an
piners came in and held high revelry by ia
i pnd by night. This revelry did not Jar upo
the b~reaking-hearte mother nor the down
cast father, but, instead, prevented the
: brooding too much, as they otherWlse "ouI'
5 upon their coming sorrow.
On the morning on which he must boar
3 the boat the passenger, his father an
= mother and all his household, his relatives
p his friends. his neighbors-eveTy one {
whom was in duty bound to be there
= started for the shore. A piper and a hnule
S led the procession, half a dozen OF n
c friends carried jugs OF whisky and glasse
TO treat every one whom they met ana
treat the company as they Went and SON
n other friends brought up the rear caTryln
d between them his little luggage. All VII
: could not come TO the convoy appeared
= The wayside 10 say a last word to Conal an
d pray a last prayer on him, ana "heh u
IS convoy swept past they looked after 1t VIII
5 tear-dimmed eyes. When the shore VIZ
reached other conveys had already come an
d still more we're coming, and TO matter VIII:
the hurry OF the skipper might be-thoug
e generally he knew no nurry-hours WEI
b spent in merrymaking and carousing her
n Finally, after a deal OF swearing ana threa'
a ening and bulldozing by the skipper, II
auigrants attended nv boatloads OF the
friends. rowed OFF TO climb aboard II
schooner.
Delays in starting.
+ When all were aboard the skipper wal
i ing upon wind or weather, or often upo
something Of far less importance, delayed
II day, a week, three weeks or even actual
n a month before he lifted anchor, DuriI
this period OF delay the emigrant's frient
rowed off daily to see him and to caruu: