A Pig's Honesty

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter IX (16) | Start of Chapter

One woman had purchased a pig, and fearing, as she expressed it, the pig was not honest, she was unwilling to pay her money till she had kept it a week, to prove its soundness. The man wanted his money, and the woman would not give it, unless some one would come forward, and testify to the honesty of the pig. She appealed to the man of the house; he was incorrigible. She insisted, she urged, that he should be bail. "That I won't do, ma'am, I'll not be bail for the honesty of the pig."

"Well, then, the man should let me have it upon trial, and I'm as honest a woman as there is in all Galway, and that I can show any day." The clamor grew louder; the man was forced to beg pardon for some rude words he had used, and the woman, after telling him his pardon was granted, left seven shillings till the honesty of the pig should be proved, and took her pig, and departed. It was said that this was all intrigue on her part, to have the use of her money as long as she could.

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:

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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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