A Dying Saint

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter II (5) | Start of Chapter

Monday, July.—In company with a young lady, visited the cabin of a poor dying saint. She stood on that narrow neck of land between the two worlds, which to the poor sinner is a fearful position, but to her it was like the last step to land from a tempestuous voyage, where she would meet her best kindred. Her earthly friends had forsaken her, because she had left the Romish church, and though griping poverty was pinching her five little ones, and she must leave them to a selfish world, yet she said, "I have not one anxious thought about them. Jesus," she emphatically added, "does all things well; and last night he gave me such a cluster of light, that the whole room was enlightened by his presence; and soon, yes, soon I shall see him as he is." How has Christ honored poverty, and how he delights to dwell with the poor and contrite!

Ireland’s Welome to the Stranger is one of the best accounts of Irish social conditions, customs, quirks and habits that you could wish for. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, was an American widow who travelled extensively in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine and meticulously observed the Irish peasantry at work and play, as well as noting their living conditions and diet. The book is also available from Kindle.

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An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

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