The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1907-10-05
In Parts of Mayo MECH Suffering is Endured
in the Struggle For an
Existence.
The Failure Of the Potato Crop in Many
Sections is the Main Cause For
Famine Fears

writing from Beln1ullet, Ireland, under
date Of Sept. 21st, draws. this picture
Of distress and suffering. He says:
While all the rest of Ireland is
plunged in tangle of agitation and
counter agitation, here on the Atlantic
seaboard one finds a vast If scattered
population that seems to be so sunken
in poverty and want and despair that
1t has not the heart even to come out
into the open and take part in political
doings. Elsewhere. throughout the
country the people find some interest
In life; here in the Irish Avernus they
seem to have nothing to do but battle
with the. spectre Of starvation, go. into
the workhouse or the lunatic asylum
II they are compelled to give up the
struggle, or at best die and be buried
and feel thankful in the process.
The wilds of Mayo are far from the
beaten track trodden by the average
% American tourist, but many Irish scat
tered over the United States can tell
Of the sufcerings of the people and
their struggle for bare existence. 1t
was with a party of Americans who
desired to see how the very poor among
the Irish peasants actually live that a
Sun correspondent Travelled over from
the comparatively prosperous east of
ireland to the west-the Connaught to
which the forbears Of the present pop
ulation were driven from their lush
lands by Cromwell. To get there is a
pain. One trains to Ballina, the ex-
treme west Of the railway system, then
mounts a car and drives forty Irish
miles over depressing bog, past mighty
mountains, through swamps and acres
and acres Of land barely solid enough
to bear the weight Of the frog or the
snipe. All the time misery increases
and the effects of the mournful land
scape and the condition of the people
become more and more depressing. At
the gates of Mayo should be posted the
legend, "All hope abandon We who en-
ter here"
Here is a picture Of a comfortable"
cabin in the district. It is built Of
mud and in the centre of the floor
glimmers. peat fire. The smoke finds
egress through a hole in the ceiling.
In two of the corners of the cabin
are straw beds covered with sacks.
which serve as blankets, and counter
panes. Around the turf fire, sitting on
a long log and on an upturned box,
are the aged father and mother and a
brood Of children. Judging by their
appearance one might take the young
sters to be the grandchildren of the
couple. They are not. The apparently
aged pair are really young as age goes,
but in the frightful battle they have
become bowed and broken and on their
faces rest traces of permanent and
great care.
The youngsters are as yet fresh COM
plextoned, but their time is coming.
When they enter the battle of the west
they will lose the bloom lent by the
fresh winds of the ocean and the bogs.
They will dream of the workhouse and
the more dreaded lunatic asylum and
will pray for death to come for them
before they have seriously to face
either, even as their parents pray now:
The family owns a boneen, or; young
pig, and it runs about the floor. and
below the rafters roost several hens
and a:cock. It is believed to be an
exploded notion that the western peas
ant grants asylum to his fowls in his
house, but it is not so. Here in Mayo
in many places the live stock still
Fshare the comforts or discomforts of
the cabin with the human dwellers.
But the stock in the dwellings are
much. better off than those on thu
mountains. How they exist is one of
the mysteries of ireland. Not being