The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-04

gled with cries We're raised for those who
were. going perhaps forever.
The sunerings of the emigrants on those
little, i'll managed and unseaworthy boats.
| especially when the voyage was prolonged,
We're terrible. Ship fever destroyed its
thousands and tens Of thousands in thos
years. and starvation, too, did its share.
On an island IN the st. Lawrence stands
a big stone erected by some Irish work
men, inscribed:
Observation-Disclosures.
IN MEMORY OF
SIX THOUSAND EMIGRANTS
WHO DIED HERE FROM SHIP
FEVER IN 1915
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
And there are many and many another
six thousands whose bones are the links
IN any awful chain that under the ocean
binds Ireland to America. Yet ship fever
and starvation and coffin ships did not in
all those years deter the Irish from fee
ing in millions And no dangers, no per-
| lis could deter them, for no dangers, no
perlls were so terrible TO them as that aw-
ful famlne-feVer that struck down nearly
a million of our race in their houses. on
| the hills, and in the bitches by the way
side at home II would scarcely be be-
! lieved at this day, but it is none the less
a bitterly true fact, that there we've Eng
| fish philosophers then who gazed on all
this awful thinning Of our race with thank
!
of a kind Providence. The troubl esome
Celt was al length being got rid of. Crow
ing over the exodus going on in those
years, the London Times screa med, THEY
are going! going! and soon a Celt viii be
as rare in Ireland a red Indian on the
shores of Manhattan Thank God the
prophecy is unfulflled, and very likely 10
remain so. The Times and its ink did not
then foresee, what often nowadays they
are made to feel that not only does the
troublesome Celt still remain with them at
home, but he has likewise arisen to trouble
them still more sorely in Manhattan, and
in Illinois and in Pretoria.
The method of navigating the little
schooners of which l spoke was often re-
markedly primitive, and it was in no way
strange to find one of them nine or ten
weeks after its departure cast anchor
again In the bay whence it started TO al
low the passengers to replenish their stock
of provisions and to give all hands a rest
know three men who in those years as
young fellows made up their minds to go
push their fortunes in America, and who
coming back so into their own bay again.
after two or three months battling with
the elements, came on shore, resolved to
look for no change of fortune, and have
never left Ireland to this day.
know one unfortunate man who sailed
three times out of Donegal bay for Amer
lea, and came in again when his boat was
tired tossing about on the ocean and his
provision barrel empty. He vowed never
TO make fourth attempt, and he has kept
his vow. He is now an old man, and
though he was never in any country out
side Donegal, he holds the fireside circle
fascinated with tales of marvellous adven-
ture which could not be equaled by a 20
lar explorer, OF one of these boats, called
the Rose Mary, and its skipper, Charlie"
Boyle, better known to us as Charlie the
Sailor" some wonderful stories are told.
Charles nautical accomplishments en-
abled him 10 bring his ship clear of Don
egal bay and to sail due west till the top
of Sliabh Lag mountain disappeared into
the ocean. He lay about at this distance
from land till he sighted another schooner
bound for America: then he crowded all
sail in pursuit, and II. under cover of
the night or fog. or by superior sailing
powers, this boat slipped him, he logged
about till another came up and in bits
and snaps this way he always managed
to strike some part of the American coast.
IL was Indifferent to Charlie what part
of 1t he struck; he had only then to in
quire the way to New York and follow
the coast In the direction pointed out 1t
is told that on one occasion, Charlie be-
Ing ILL., the boat had to start without him.
When a week out an unworthy hand slept
at his post in the night time, and the ship
turned right around. On the day follow
ing they, as usual, kept pursuing every
sail going in the same direction as them
selves and ten days later, to the bewil-
derment of both passengers and crew, they
entered Donegal bay again. l do not
Vouch for the veracity of this tale.
Although to-day Ireland and America
have come very close together, the leav-
ing home still costs her boys and girls
and their fathers and mothers more than
a passing pang. | lived at the joining
of three roads whereat emlgrants took
their final leave of their kin and their
friends, and of the party who had con-
vOyed them so far on their way, and there
still rings in my ears-I shall never forget
the heartrending and heartbreaking
shrieks and the wild and despairing walls
that awoke me from my slumbers before
day dawn in the spring mornings. and
then the wild blend of parting cheer ana
cry More pathetic or appealing scenes
than these partings | have never witness
Ell and never shall witness If the emf
grants were girls the cries wrencled from
their hearts as they tore themselves away
We're so agoniz1ng, so wildly despairing
as always TO suggest to me the wall of
lost souls And, with all this, consider
that these boys and these girls were bid
ding goodby TO hardship and want and
coming TO a land where fortune and pros.
perity almost surely awaited them. and
you may infer the love of the Irish for
brown hills and the humble hearth. ! re-
member once on a dreary, miserab bic Feb
ruary daybreak, when awaiting the first
train at the railway terminus in the noun
tains Of my Donegal a big, rough, strong
young man arrived laden down with bum
dies, and three girls, his sisters, with
him. He came to put them on the train
for Derry, en- route TO the States
Then another man, a fine tall, 1.-the. open
countenanced, but sad-eyed fellow. arriv-
ed with his daughter. a handsome young
girl Of 20. He carried her portmanteau
The morning, with its soaking mizzline
rain, was moi moe fororn or dispiritins
than We're these two little parties While
they waited for the train to get in order
! observed the man pluck his daughter
by the sleeve and she followed him TO 4
corner of the platform. /, apparently
absorbed by other matters, stood close by
lie unbuttoned his vest and drew out a
spare purse, saying:
Rosy, / must give you something
more"
she put both hands on his. preventing
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