Kerry Trick

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter XIX (6) | Start of Chapter

In half an hour all were snoring around me, and soon my troubles found a quietus, which lasted till five, when my Kerryite stood at the bed-side with a bog-wood torch. "And may be ye wouldn't like to go on so airly?" Saying "Yes,"—"An' in the name of God we'll go on,"—I hurried up, and lo! he was gone, and I have not seen him since! This I was told was genuine Kerry roguery, done for the sole purpose of enjoying to himself the gratification of my surprise and hustling to hurry on, and join his company.

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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The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

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