No Lodging Place

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter XI (2) | Start of Chapter

There was a lodging-house near, and the unmarried sister offered to accompany me, adding, "The woman is quite odd, and may tell you she can't lodge you when she can." We went. A positive denial was the result. I begged her to give me a shelter from the pitiless storm, giving her my usual pass-word, "American stranger," telling her that the Irish were so hospitable, and if she would visit my country I would do her all the good I could. All this cringing and coaxing was unavailing. "I have told ye I would'nt lodge ye, and that's enough." There was an inviting bright fire upon the hearth. I begged her to let me lie down upon the chairs, and stop till the rain should cease, and I would go out at any hour. "I shall not keep you, and that's enough." I next went to an English family; they refused because they had just moved in.

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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