Renewed Hospitality at the Sound

I had thought of hearing Mr. Nangle preach the next day, but at that moment the kind Mrs. Savage and her daughter rode up, and invited me to take a seat on her car, and accompany her home. This was a treat. Her well ordered house, her unaffected politeness, proceeding from genuine benevolence of heart, made me lose the feelings of a stranger by her comfortable fire-side and table. With feelings of deep gratitude do I record the kindness of Mr. Barrett, his wife, and children. They had not taken their principles or practices of theology in the colony. They had, I trust, learned them in the school of Christ, before they attached themselves to Achill. On the car was a Christian gentleman from Castlebar, a man of intelligence and kind feeling, who was spending a few days at the house of Mr. Savage. He was acquainted with the colony, and bade me feel no regret at the treatment I had received.

Sabbath morning, a company of children assembled from the mountains, at Mr. Savage's house, where a piece of bread was given them, and then a young daughter of the family took them into a shop, and instructed them in reading and saying lessons in the Bible. It was a pretty sight to see so many children from the bogs and mountains, listening to the voice of instruction from one that was but a child herself. My stay on this wild beach was a pleasant one; not an item was wanting to make the guest feel like a member of the family.

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.