Lodging-house at Cahirciveen

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter XIX (10) | Start of Chapter

"Can you show me to a neat lodging in Cahirciveen, where they do not sell whiskey?" The girl with the turf said, "show her to Mickey M'Gloukin." "I have been thinking of that, and she has rooms, and can give her a clane bed, an' is a nice approachable woman." This all looked inviting; but, following the girl to the door, I was met by the same dark and dirty room, the same crowd of starers, with pipes and attendant appurtenances. Flinging myself upon the first stool, and asking for lodging, she answered, "An' I wish I could give ye room, but the house is all in disawrdher, tairin' it up." "But can you give me a clean bed?" "That I can." "And a room where I can be alone, away from gapers who are ready to swallow me up wherever I go?" "I can give ye a room to yourself, ma'am."

So fatigued and faint was I, that the two goats and ram could have had no terrors, had a comfortable room and chair been before me, rather than striving to walk further.

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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