My Own Story and Lights and Shades of Ireland

Mo Sgeal Fein (My Own Story), Peadar OLaoghaire

When he was asked as a child what he wanted to be when he grew up, Peadar said a priest. Everyone thought it was as out of reach for him as if a kid said he wanted to play in the NBA. Apparently you needed money to become a priest, for the required schooling.
"it was the big, strong farmers that were first to fall!" The poor farmers were more used to their condition.
image stuck in his mind from age 8 -- seeing a woman with swolen feet -- "as big and as fat as a gallon-can"
also the image of a boy strucken with the terror of hunger -- when given bread, he turned and ate it voraciously
"she was scouring and scraping the inside of the griddle-oven with the gravel" ?
people taken from the poorhouse to a mass grave
The family was separated at the poorhouse. Little Jeremiah died, then Sheila, then their parents learned. They left the poorhouse. They walked slowly to the mass grave. After weeping, they walked to their old house instead of the poorhouse. No one would shelter them for fear of the disease from the poorhouse. The wife, Kit, was unable to walk, so the husband, Patrick, carried her. Their dead bodies were discovered in their cabin the next day.
Another family, Black Michael and his wife Cathleen had a house full of children. When the household grew weak and one member dead, the eldest son Tadhg took an axe and knife and killed one of their neighbors cows. He took the hind quarters back with him. They ate that night and buried their dead family member. The next morning, they got a search warrant and arrested Tadhg when they discovered evidence at their cabin. The rest of the family fled the cabin. Days later, a dog was found with a human hand in its mouth -- it was the dead family member who was not buried deep enough.
That was the way things were then, ugly and hateful and loathsome, round about the area in which I was reared. I understand that the story was exactly the same all about the whole of Ireland. And, to make matters altogether worse, it was not really by the will of God that things were so. It was that way because of the will of people. There was sent out from Ireland that year as much--no! twice as much-- corn as would have nourished every person living in the country. The harbours of Ireland were full of ships and ships full of Irish corn: they were leaving the harbours while people were dying with the hunger throughout the land.
The English did this to crush Ireland. An old English proverb: "To give the tenant his rights is an injustice to the landlord."

Lights and Shades of Ireland, Asenath Nicholson

"The Indian Meal"
they did not know how to properly prepare the indian meal
Mrs. Nicholson hears a story of famine from a policeman:
a man had died from hunger, then his wife went and picked potatoes from their landlords field
the landlord witnessed this, so a magistrate went to her cabin and found the woman and three starving children, and a pot
the magistrate demanded to see inside the pot, but the woman would not show what was inside
when the magistrate looked inside, he found a dog and potatoes
the magistrate took the pot from the fire and had the woman follow him to court
the magistrate showed the judge the evidence, and the judge kindly took her story
she explained after two days without eating, she killed the half-famished dog and took the potatoes, which she did not feel was stealing
the judge gave the woman three pounds from his own pocket
the story, however, was Mrs. Nicholson's prelude to the daily, no hourly, appalling conditions she would witness
the rich thought they were just lazy
"so little plundering was never known in any famine as this, scarcely ever was a bread shop disturbed, though the poor creatures have been found dead under its window
the proverb "hunger will break through a stone wall" was not accurate here
the first starving person she witnessed after hearing the story of the woman and her dog:
three stages of starvation: the first, sort of loud, the second, passive stupidity, and the third, walks like a zombie
this person was trying to work to support his family of seven when he was in the 3rd stage
Mrs. Nicholson would feed 25-30 people daily at this house
some would walk 3 miles there each day
if the gate was locked, they would know she had run out of food for the day
when they were turned away, they still blessed her
she struggles with watching these people die that she cannot help
a man arrives from New York with money
the next morning, she is able to serve twice as many, and she feels uplifted
"Donegal"
Lord George Hill is an Irishman, but Marquis of Downshire is a true Irishman
the English who go to Ireland because they enjoy the country are beloved
wait... are the dogs eating the dead people?...
This was enough: if anything were wanting to make the horrors of a famine complete, this supplied the deficiency. Reader, I leave you to your thoughts, and only add that the sleek dogs of Arranmore were my horror, if not my hatred, and have stamped on my mind images which can never be effaced.
more evidence of animals eating dead men:
'Let darkness and the shadow of death stain that day when first the potatoe was planted in the green isle of the sea, to oppress the poor labourer, and at last bring hin to death--deep, dark, intricate--where slimy serpents, poison lizardsm and gnawing vultures creep and wind about his wasted limbs, and gnaw into the deepest recesses of his vitals.
even though they were dying, they still greated strangers without asking for charity
Mrs. Nicholson says the "hirelings" were like slave-overseers
she is offered a bowl of milk, which she declines so as not to steal from the starving, but she is told she should have accepted to not hurt the feelings
she describes the famine burying grounds: next to the sea, no walls, buried without coffins, buried on top of other bodies, can see the top bodies through the dirt, dogs can tear through the loose dirt
Mrs. Nicholson can't eat after returning from the horrors of Arranmore
"Mayo"
"Christian Charity"