Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger
Asenath Nicholson, Derek A. Rowlinson
eBook
(Books Ulster, Nov. 13, 2017)
"Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger" is the compelling account of an American widow's journey through Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine. Her object was to determine the condition of the poor and discover why so many were emigrating to America. Eschewing fancy hotels and fine carriages, she travelled a good deal on foot and rested at common lodging-houses and even peasant cabins. This provided a unique opportunity to study the lifestyle and character of the ordinary folk at close quarters, and what the pious Mrs. Nicholson observed has left posterity with an invaluable record of the customs and traditions of the Irish peasantry, from faction fights to funeral cries, and a graphic account of the hardships that Ireland's poor had to bear.This new edition has had notes added to aid the reader who is perhaps less familiar with Irish history and social history.