Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-11
Irish In America Remember
Poor Kin on Emerald Isle. A
GIFTS OFTEN NECESSITY
Stories Of Hardships Arc Covered Up
When Remittances Ars 4
Small. 7

Spec1al Oo91espondenco q Tn Star.
LONDON. December 30. 1e12
Christmas in Ireland means to thoul
sands Of poor families an influx OF Amer1-
can dollars from the sons and daughters
who have left the Emerald Isle for Gods
country" and passing rich on wages the
like OF which they never before heard Of
send some OF their new found wealth to
the old ones At home. Indeed. wtthout
the Christmas remittance many Irish
families would be at q loss 70 get through
the winter.
Christmas Is the family festival par ex.
cellence, and the ties OF blood are strong
with the Irish at home or In exile The
long year may pass In ceaseless strug-
Cling to make ends meet. knock the wan
derer out OF the fight for existence yet ~
any cost Christmas will not be allowed to
pass without monetary notice unless the
exiled son or daughter. as the case may
be. in the sober truth is down and out"
Money Flows Steadily.
From November to New Year day, and
again to a lesser extent during the few
weeks preceding st. Patrick's day. the
stream OF American dollars flows steadily
into Munster and Connaught villages in
sums varying from 81 or So to $50, the
bulk Of the remittances. however. being
under SIS each In value. In every case
there is an expression of regret that IL Is
not more, yet who can tell the sacrifices
which even the smallest of these sums
represent. sacrifices bravely hidden or
slurred over? Work was slack during
part Of the year. and savings had to be
drawn out to live, or illness TOOK the few
poor dollars that had been laid by. but
just now all is couleur de rose. The exile
never tells of his or her present trials or
sufferings. 1t is only retrospective troubles
which are confessed when they have been
surmounted.
Case of Young Girl.
Here, for instance, is a girl who went
out in the spring. She had never been
ten miles from her mountain home until
she set out on the great adventure. Tn.
life of the little town of a couple OF
thousand inhabitants to which she oc-
| casionally went on fair days with her
mother to sell bale OF homespun or a
creel of cabbage was amazingly gay and
complex in her innocent eyes The shop.
with their paraffin lamps and heterogene-
Gus contents, We're miracles of beauty
and grandeur Her preparation for the
voyage to America consisted in the buy
ing of a pound of royal blue wool to cro-
Chef for herself a shawl to travel in.
She had treasured a purple cashmere
dress. laid by for years. and I'm that mis-
erably Inadequate costume she had start
ed off on a biting March day. She was
about nineteen, but for all practical pur-
poses a child of six would be well
fitted to make her way in the world.
Works in Rag Factory.
How under Providence she and others
like her manage to get on / don't know.
Anyhow, she is now at work in rag
factory in Pittsburgh. She sorts the filthy
rags as they come in and she gets 81 a
| week for ten hours a day. She has sent
home SIS already. Her Christmas remit
lance is only $50. for she has been out
of work for a month with a sore arm
blood poisoning probably, considering the
nature of her employment. but of this
there is no mention-and is only able To
get half-time work now. but. please God.
for Patrick's day she'll have more to
send.
She is also sending the makings of
blue and white cotton apron for her
mother 1t is rolled up in a newspaper
posted at the same time and which safe
ly has run the gauntlet of Uncle Sans
and his Brittanic majestys mails Her
mother cries over her poor Mary's letter
when it is read to her. and her pride in
her little girl who has sent $3.50 in less
than a year is touching.
Another Pathetic Case.
There is household in the next town
land into which five separate American
letters used to come. Two boys and three
girls went from 1T to the stress and tur-
moil of city life, but one of the girls
came home last year to die. and this year
there will be only four money letters to
acknowledge. The two boys are employed
in the Chicago stockyards. The girls are
in md ~ &c .faIs
in the incipient stages of the disease from
which her sister died. She had been her
nurse all through the closing months. and
the neighbors, whose children see her
off and on speas of her racking cough
and coorless cheeks, but her own folk
still know nothing. and her Christmas
letter, with the twenty-five-dollar money
order inclosed. will no doubt reach them
safely at least this year.
There Is one young woman whose
money orders a constant source or
trouble to her mother. They are fairly
substantial In amount too, for she Is a
waitress i'm a hotel where the tips are
good and to give her her due she is
generous. but her Irish name is obviously
a torment to her. and her mother an
never be sure how she means TO subscribe
herself next. When she Went out first
she remained plain Bright Gala CHER for
twelve months or so. Then the Bright
was altered to Bedelia. but that too blat-
antly betrayed its origin. and Belinda was
the next metaplasm. Now she discards
even the initial and writes herself down
Agnes Goliher,' and soon she will be rid
of the detested Irish patronymic in even
it's altered form, for she is shortly ~
marry a German Jew.
Interested in Home Affairs.
The interest in home affairs displayed
after years of absence shows how the
heart of the exile clings to kith and kin.
There are usually minute inquiries IN
every letter as to the welfare of friends
and relatives, questions as To the doinSS
of the parish social and communicative
is dead, who has been married, who has
been elected to the board of guardians.
what crops are planted in such Held.
The money which is sent is often accom-
panied by instructions as to it, use. The
,.aaf h. naylN flatchel a eale