The Second Cabin of a Canal-Boat

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter V

The Second Cabin of a Canal-Boat—Much ado about Sixpence—A Blind Fiddler—A Jaunting Car Jaunt—Arrival at Kilkenny—Cordial Hospitality—Kilkenny Beggars—Journey to Urlingford—A Rural Physician—Ride in a Turf Kish—The Poor Widow's Welcome—A Country Dance—Departure of an Emigrant—Lamentations thereupon—Kind Reception in an intelligent Roman Catholic Family—An Irish Wake—A Faction—Fair at Urlingford—Costume of the Peasantry—Visit to a National School

On the following Thursday I took the fly-boat on my way to Kilkenny. When I went to Tullamore, I took my seat in the first cabin, but being then closely packed with a stiff company, I now preferred to get a comfortable seat, to pay less, and learn more of Irish character by going in the second cabin. The two last objects were realized, and what was lost in honor was made up in amusement, for Irish wit had here full play.

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 Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

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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