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 IRISH HOMES AND IRISH HEARTS. 
 
 FANNY TAYLOR, v - 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "EASTERN HOSPITALS," " TTBORXE," "RELIGIOUS ORDERS," 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 " They wish thee strong, they wish thee great, 
 Thy royalty is in thy heart." 
 
 BOSTO 
 
 PATRICK DONAHOE. 
 1867. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
-*9 -n 
 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THOSE WHO 
 
 UNDER STRANGE SKIES AND AMID THE STILL STRANGER 
 
 SCENES OF 
 
 "EASTERN HOSPITALS" 
 
 FIRST TAUGHT ME THE WORTH OF IRISH CHARACTER, 
 
 THE WARMTH OF IRISH HEARTS, AND THE DEPTH OF IRISH 
 
 FAITH, 
 
 This Little Book Is Dedicated* 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 New aspect of Irish. Life.— Religious Institutions.— A glance 
 into the past.— Penal Laws ; their effect in Ireland.— The 
 ancient places.— St. Patrick's Day, 1745.— Beginning of 
 better days.— The Charter Schools; State of Education.— 
 Hanoria Nagle ; her Childhood.— Life in Paris.— Court of 
 Louis XV.— The Ball.— The First Mass.— State of Irish 
 Poor.— Doubt and Indecision. — A Vocation.— The first 
 School at Cork. — The three R's.— The Ursuline Nuns.— 
 Irish Novices.— St Denis and Madame Louise.— An Easter 
 Song. — Disappointment. — The " Presentation Order." — 
 Christmas, 1777.— Miss Nagle's Letters.— Her character; 
 her great suffering; her peaceful death.— Progress of the 
 Order, 1791.— Convent at George's Hill, Dublin. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Irish Sisters of Charity not Soeurs de Charite.— Dr. 
 Murray.— Mary Aitkenhead ; her great beauty. — Rule of 
 these Sisters.— St. Vincent's Hospital; its home-like look. 
 — The Chapel.— Leaving Hospital.— Sufferings of the Pa- 
 tients.— The Sanatorium.— Blackrock Station .-^-Pleasant 
 Walk.— A Castle.— Comfort of the House.— View from the 
 Tower.— A sort of Paradise.— Stanhope Street Convent.— 
 Irish Servants.— Cousins in America.— Schools in Gardiner 
 Street.— The Epistles.— Beauty of the Children.— St. Cath- 
 erine's Home.— Want of Work.— Ddnnyhrook Green. — 
 Magdalene Asylum.— Peculiar Management.— The Two 
 Systems.— Struggles and Victories.— Beauty of the Chapel. 
 —The Cemetery.— Grave of the Foundress ; her picture ; 
 her character.— Feast of St. Mary Magdalene.— Harold's 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 Cross.— St. Augustine's Day.— Profession of a Nun.— Ex- 
 quisite Chapel.— The Procession.— The Vows.— Dress of 
 the Sisters.— Home for the Blind.— Happiness of the Chil- 
 dren.— Admirable Management.— God's Cloister. — Misery 
 of a blind Child.— The Listening Look.— Intelligence of 
 the Blind. — Care they require. — Labor for the Blind. — The 
 dying Child.— Faith.— Education of the Blind.— Play acted 
 by them. — "Come to Old Ireland."— House at Merrion. — 
 Beauty of the Spot.— Laying a first stone. — Promise for 
 the future. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Katherine McAuley. — Her cell as a novice. — Sisters of Mer- 
 cy.— Their rapid spread.— Dr. Forbe's " Memorandums." — 
 Form of Government.— Convent in Baggot Street.— The 
 three works of the Order.— House of Mercy. — Branch 
 Houses. — Jervis Street Infirmary ; its Charter.— Arrival of 
 the Sisters. — A Wedding in Hospital. — The Mater Miseri- 
 cordiae Hospital. — Its Size and Importance. — Cost of Erec- 
 tion.— Dr. Bristowe's Report.— The Cholera of 1866.— Great 
 good wrought in this Hospital.— No Distinction of Creed. 
 — Pleasing Contrast.— The new wing. — The Mediaeval Sys- 
 tem. — Report of the Council. — Speech of Judge O'Hagan. 
 —The Cardinal Archbishop.— A Palace for the Poor.— 
 Golden Bridge Refuge.— Reformation of a Prisoner.—" Ko 
 C7t«7-ac£e/\"— Mountjoy Prison. — The Sisters' Influence 
 over the Prisoners. — Matron of Mountjoy .— Prison School. 
 —Chapels of the Prison.— The Infant School.— Touching 
 Sight.— The Refuge.— Ingenious Arrangements.— Mother 
 Mary Magdalene.— Success of her Work.— Deep Penitence 
 of the Convicts.— A Deserted Childhood.— A Love Story — 
 Its ending.— The Mother's Remorse.— Romantic Histories. 
 — Future of the Convicts. — A Bargain. — An Escape.— 
 Mother Magdalene's influence.— The Return Ticket.— "A 
 good look at you."— Manufacture of Lindsey.— Looms 
 and Weaving.— Finances of the Refuge.— Justice of the 
 Government. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Blind Asylum for Boys.— The Shop.— Discomfort and Dirt.— 
 Want of care.— Teachers for the Blind not easily found.— 
 Reform needed.— Deaf-mutes.— School Time.— Trades for 
 the Boys.— Difficulty of their Education.— Their " Study." 
 —Their idea of Heaven.— The race of Deaf-mutes.— M. 
 Sicard. — Census of 1863. — Two Classes of Boys. — The 
 • Christian Brothers.— Orphanage of St. Vincent de Paul.— 
 Deaf and Dumb Girls.— Silence.— The Ave Maria.— Burn- 
 ing Sins.— A deaf and dumb Nun.— Glasnevin Cemetery.— 
 O'Connell's Grave. 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Foreign Orders.— Time for them.— Sisters of St. Vincent de 
 Paul.— White Bonnets.— North William Street.— The New 
 Orphanage .—The young Men in Dublin.— Artificial Flow- 
 ers.— Sunday School.— Richmond.— The Lunatic Asylum. 
 —St. Vincent's Care for the Insane.— Sad Spectacle.— State 
 of the Patients.— An Attack.— The Convent next door.— 
 Noisy Neighbors. — A Sacrifice. — The first Benediction. — 
 The Nuns' Cemetery. — Strange Sounds. — Terrible Sight. — 
 Success of the Asylum.— Petty Spite ; the Cup of Coffee. 
 — Strange Penomenon. — Lucid Intervals ; use to be made 
 of them.— Versatility of the Order of St. Vincent.— The 
 lingerie of Vol de Grace.— The most forsaken.— Self Abnega- 
 tion.— Nursing Sisters; their usefulness.— Their House 
 and Chapel. — Suburbs of Dublin. — High Park Convent. — 
 Reformatory Children. — Miniature Prisoners. — Contrast 
 with Penitents. — Sad Stories. — Encouragements. — Want of 
 Employment.— The Canny Scot.— Vespers.— Order of the 
 Good Shepherd. — All Hallows College. — Nuns of the 
 Sacred Heart.— The Queen and Mr. Dargan.— The Phoenix 
 Park.— Mount Sackville.— The Strawberry Beds.— St. Dom- 
 inic's Convent.— The Birds' Nest.— Kipgstown Orphanage. 
 —Baking Bread.— Happy looking Children. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sisters of the Faith.— St. Brigid's Orphanage.— Painful Sub- 
 ject.— Souperism.— The Irish Famine.— Patience of the 
 People.— Generosity of England.— The Irish Church Mis- 
 sions.— English Gold.— Truth and Honor.— "Good-bye ."— 
 " Jumping."— Sale of Children.— St. Brigid's Society; its 
 Object; mode of Management.— Irish Peasants.— Giving 
 Prizes.— Miss Aylward and her Imprisonment.— Schools. 
 — Glasnevin the Home of Saints. — Foster-parents in Ire- 
 land. — A Home. — Vexed Questions of Orphanage. — Neces- 
 sity of two Systems. — Economy of St. Brigid's. — Routine 
 Life and its Effects. — Answers to Objections. — Girls and 
 Boys. — Want of good Servants. — Mistakes on this head.— 
 The French Plan.— A Christmas Box.— The Idiot Child and 
 his Foster-mother.— The Night Refuge ; its great good.— 
 Classes of Applicants.— The Mass on Christmas Night.— A 
 scanty Supper.— The Refugees.— The Founder of the Ref- 
 uge.— His Labors for it. — Weekly Report of Numbers 
 admitted.— Bridget Burke and her good Works.— The first 
 Penny.— Result of Faith.— The Old Maids' Home.— Need of 
 Improvement.— An aged Matron.— A Fairy wand.— Guilds 
 in Dublin ; their Spirit.— Church of St. Francis Xavier. — 
 Saturday Evening and Sunday Morning. — Ceremonial.— 
 Faith of the Irish. . 
 
V1U CONTEXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Droghe da. —The River Boyne.— A twofold Character.— A 
 Gothic Poor House. — Cromwell's Batteries. — Church of 
 Mount Carmel. — Horrors of the Siege.— St. Peter's Church. 
 — " None spared."— Monks of Drogheda.— The white Cor- 
 nette. — A Banker's Clerk.— Home for Factory Girls. — 
 Cheap Living. — Bill of Fare. — Life at a Factory.— Night 
 School.— Merriment.— A sad Prospect.— The travelling 
 Pedlar.— The three Orphans.— Gate of St. Lawrence.— 
 Sienna Convent. — Oliver Plunkett. — " Little Catherine." 
 — A mud Cahin. — The new Convent. — Woman's Wit. — 
 Traditions. — The Kule of St. Dominic. — Chanting in the 
 Choir.— The " Salve."— Relic of Archbishop Plunkett.— 
 His Grave in St. Giles'.— His Head sent to Rome.— The 
 Shrine for the Relic— Memories of the Past,— The last 
 Martyr under the Penal Laws.— The " Cord."— The " Nun's 
 Walk." — A singular Costume.— Magdalene Tower. — Mon- 
 asterboice.— A short Visit to England. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 View of Newry.— Confusion of Stations. — Misfortunes. — " No 
 one at the o*ther end." — An " Orange" Hotel. — A strange 
 Question and Answer. — Cathedral at Newry. — 1830. — The 
 Poor Clares.— Assault from the Orangemen.— Shooting at 
 a Nun. — Fenians and Orangemen. — Grounds of St. Clare's. 
 —Story of a Nun.— The Cemetery.— Changes wrought by 
 Time.— Breaking the Enclosure.— Poor Schools.— Convent 
 Chapel. — Relics.— Sisters of Mercy. — Sounds of Woe. — 
 Foundation at Lurgan.— Rostrevor.— Beauty of the Spot. 
 —The Church and Convent.— The Cow House.— Soupers 
 again. — A strange Query and a merry Laugh.— Carlow, 
 the Garden ot Erin.— Dr. Doyle.— St. Patrick's College.— 
 Sisters of Mercy.— Middle Schools a want of the present 
 day. — Castes. — Boys' School. — A Welcome. — Limerick 
 Races.— The Shannon.— The old Monk and the Bells.— The 
 Cathedrals, new and old. — A new Convent springing from 
 an ancient one.— Schools. — St. Vincent's Orphanage. — 
 The Workhouse Infirmary. — New mode of management 
 and its success. — Comfort of the Patients. — Christians, 
 not Dogs. — Class of Infirmary Patients.— Work of the 
 Sisters.— A Great Victory.— Hope for the Future.— The 
 " Protestant Wards."— Justice to a Minority.— Contrast to 
 England.— Expenditure of the Infirmary.— A Poor Man's 
 Right. — The large spirit of the Limerick Guardians, their 
 Infirmary a model one. — Convent of the Good Shepherd. 
 —An Heroic Soul.— Asylum and Reformatory. 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Beauty of Cork. — The River Lee and the Cove. — Blarney 
 Castle. — Father Mathew's Statue; the Cemetery which he 
 laid out; his grave; his sanctity.— Church of SS. Peter 
 and Paul; its magnificence. — A contrast. — Ireland then 
 and now. — Confraternity of Girls ; its usefulness. — A sad 
 Answer and a sad Fate*— A "Romance in Real Lite.'"— 
 £20,000 soon lost.— A sick Bed aud a Desolate Mother.— 
 A Ruth-like life.— Letters Home.— Strange NewB.— A Long 
 Journey.— A Proposal.— Refusal.— The Dying Officer.— The 
 Christian Brothers and their progress. — Our Lady's Mount 
 and its Schools.— Mode ot Education. — A " Special Corre- 
 spondent." — Rather a Surprise.— By a French Artist.— The 
 British Public. — The Chapel Lamp. — Instances of Grati- 
 tude. — Gerald Griffin.— Visit to his Grave.— His Letters 
 from Cork. — His Life in London.— Fame. — The "Colleen 
 Bawn." — Presentiment fulfilled. — The Magdalene Asylum 
 and a peculiar feature of it.— St. Marie's of the Isle.— The 
 Hospital.— Sunday's Well.— The Mary Street Home.— 
 Workhouse Girls, their deplorable "fate. — Experiment 
 tried. — Its Difficulties and its Success.— stoppage of the 
 good Work.— Expenses of the Home.— The value of £400. 
 —The Slave Trade.— Cood Sense.— Mode of Training.— 
 Kinsale and its History.— Beauty of the Place. — The Con- 
 vent and Schools.— Rapid increase of the Community. — 
 A great Sacrifice generously made.— Sisters in the East. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Killarney and the Rain.— Disappointment.— The Cathedral. 
 —A Dark Night.— Picturesque Scene.— Lodgings.— The 
 Jackdaws and the Smoke.— An Irish Trait.— Honest v.— 
 Drive to Kenmare.— The Autumn tints.— In the Mountains. 
 — Abbey of Holy Cross.— The Church and Convent.— The 
 " Sanctus Bell." — Church Music. — Olden Times . — Poverty 
 of the People. — Want of Employment.— Emigration.— 
 The Tourist Season. — Distress among the Children.— 
 Literature. — Works of a Religious of this Convent.— His- 
 tory of Ireland. — Sunday at Kenmare. — A Remarkable 
 Sermon. — The "Parish Church." — Soupers again.— Bad 
 Weather.— Charleville.— Contrast with Kilmallock.— Earls 
 of Desmond.— A Journey Thirty Years Ago.— Sisters of 
 Mercy in the Provinces. — Instances of Generosity. — The 
 " Holy Ship."— A long Good-bye. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Oranmore.— Effects of Emigration.— Line from Dublin.— 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Glimpse of Maynooth.— Athlone and its History .—Irish 
 Manners. — A Crop of Stones.— No Work to do.— Our Lady's 
 Priory. — A A'illagc Convent. — Sister of .Gerald Griffin. — 
 Boys' School. — Galway and its Memories. — View of the 
 Bay.— Nuns' Island. — History of the House, a Romance. — 
 Poor Clares from Gravelines.— The Lady Deputy.— Perse- 
 cution of the Nuns. — Exile from Dublin.— A Shadowy Bog. 
 — Lough Ree. — The Duchess of Buckingham. — Cromwell's 
 Soldiers drive out the Nuns. — The Exile's Death.— Founda- 
 tion in Galway. — Petition to the Corporation .—The Island. 
 — Galway Surrenders.— The House in Market Street.— May 
 the 1st.— Ghosts in Choir*— Fresh Troubles. — Journey to 
 London. — Queen Caroline of Anspach.— Restoration of 
 the Island.— The New Convent.— A Long Interregnum.— 
 The " Dear Island."— Past and Present.— Workhouse In- 
 firmary.— Serving of the Dinners.— Workhouse Children. 
 — Disgraceful Fact. — District Schools. — Acts of Parlia- 
 ment.— Churches in Galway. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Loughrea Convent of Mount Carmel.— The Friars.— Sister 
 Teresa. — The Milliner's Shop. — St. Joseph and the Piece 
 of Gold.— Faith in Prayer. — A Search for Nuns.— The Beg- 
 gar Woman. — The " Upper Chamber." — A Wish fulfilled. — 
 Brighter Times.— The Rule relaxed.— Mother Magdalene's 
 Prayer.—" Painting the Death"— A Call from God. — The 
 Rule of St. Teresa restored.— A second Avila. — Feelings 
 raised by a visit to Mount Carmel.— The Crown of Ire- 
 land's work. — Catholic countries.— Work ami contempla- 
 tion exist together.— Calm of a Convent for Prayer. — 
 What England has Done. — Need of Contemplation at the 
 present day. — Sisters of Mercy at Loughrea. — Journey to 
 Gort. — The Rain. — Coming home from Market. — An Irish 
 Welcome. — A quiet Town. — Situation of the Convent. — 
 The Oak trees.— The Matin office.— The Churchyard Cross. 
 Scene in the Chapel.— Costume of the People.— An Irish 
 Sermon. — An attentive Audience. — Kilmacduagh. — The 
 Kils in Ireland. — Alarming Stoiy. — Seven Churches. — 
 Ruins of a Convent.— A Leaning Tower. — Lough Cooter.— 
 The Priest and his People.— TheCastle Grounds. — Depart- 
 ure of Emigrants.— Sad Partings.— A new Bonnet.— Wages 
 in America.— Clare Abbey.— Irish Railways. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Institutions in Dublin not visited.— Christian Brothers.— 
 Monaghan and Glencree.— The Sisters of Loretto.— Mrs. 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 Ball.— Rath farnham Abbey.— "Beautiful suburbs of Dublin. 
 —Easy access.— Dalkey Island.— The Convent.— Bray and 
 its Head.— Lovely prospect. — Loretto Abbey and Schools. 
 — Drumcondra. — The " Red Nuns." — St. Alphonsus Lig- 
 uori.— Benediction. — Carmelites in Dublin.— Mitigation 
 of the rule.— Carmelites in France.— Rule of St. Teresa.— 
 Pere de Ravignan.— Sandymount and Lakelands Orphan- 
 age.— Anxiety of the Nuns.— Restoration of the rule.— 
 Ranelagh. — Poor Clares at Harold's Cross.— Work of the 
 Nuns. — Their future.— The ancient rule of St. Clare. — 
 Benada Abbey. — A D3~ing Wish.— Its perfect fulfilmeut.- 
 Feast of St. Austin's.— An Augury of Better Days. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Impressions of Ireland.— The Fenians.— Loyalty of tho 
 Irish.— Looking back to the past.— Irish History little 
 Known in England.— "A Nation's Woe." — Revelations. — 
 The Cromwellian Settlement.— October 1652.— Transplan- 
 tation.— A Friar in Disguise.— Connaught.— Ancient names 
 of the Exiles. — Touching Appeals for Mercy.— The work 
 accomplished.— Desolation of the Country.— Battle of tho 
 Boyne.— The Penal Laws, their Effect on the People. — 
 Catholic Emancipation.— Recovery after Oppression.— 
 Justice to Ireland. — The badge of Conquest.— County 
 Clare. — An Orthodox Clerk.— Souperism.— Ministers to 
 Irish Discontent.— An " Aconite."— The Bishop of Oxford. 
 —Irish Church Missions and Dr. Forbes.— Fifty miles 
 of "Converts."— Doubtful Statements.— The "Stirabout 
 Creed."— Religion of the Yellow Stick.— Souperism and, 
 the Established Church.— The High Church Schools.— An 
 aged Priest. — Souper Placards and Fenianism. — Nation- 
 ality of the Irish.— The way in which they are ruled.— 
 Faults of the People.— Irish Homes and Irish Hearts.— 
 Success and Failure.— Hope for the future. 
 
IRISH HOMES AND IRISH HEARTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 There is certainly no lack of books about Ireland. 
 "Tours" and "Visits" to, and "Sketches" and 
 " Scenes "in, the Emerald Isle abound on all 6ides ; and 
 at the present time the subject of Ireland is in everybody's 
 mouth, and her wants and their remedies, her short- 
 comings and her difficulties, are discussed on all sides. 
 I do not desire to follow in this beaten track, or to enter 
 into a disquisition on these vexed questions ; my object 
 is only to show an aspect of Irish life as it happened to 
 come under my notice — an aspect which I believe is little 
 known in England, but which gives a stranger a very 
 fair idea of Irish hearts and Irish homes. I would speak 
 of that marvellous net of religious institutions spread 
 over the land, and of those deeds of charity, which in 
 reality form a powerful element in Irish life. 
 
 It would greatly tend, I believe, to a right understand- 
 ing of the state of the country, the character of the peo- 
 ple, and her prospects for the future, if we would take 
 due account of the religious and charitable institutions 
 which have risen on Irish soil, and which have been for 
 the most part originated and brought to maturity by the 
 Irish nation themselves. Of late years the attention ot 
 English people has often been drawn to the admirable 
 religious and charitable institutions of France and Bel- 
 
2 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 gium, and they have interested us, not only on account 
 of their excellence and their number, but also because 
 of the wonderful celerity with which they sprung up af- 
 ter a long convulsion of anarchy and irreligion. Still 
 more worthy, then, are the religious institutions of Ire- 
 land of notice, for they have risen up and flourished in 
 spite of greater difficulties than have ever been contended 
 against in any country in Europe. 
 
 To understand them thoroughly it is absolutely neces- 
 sary to take a glance into the past history of Ireland. 
 It is often made a matter of reproach to the Irish, that 
 they dwell so exclusively in the history of the past as to 
 unfit themselves for the duties of the present. I believe 
 this evil would be greatly obviated if English people 
 would remember what Irish people would perhaps do 
 well to forget. For if it be unwise for the descendants 
 of the injured to brood over the injuries which cannot 
 now be effaced, it surely is well and fitting for the de- 
 scendants of those who were the aggressors to regret the 
 folly and injustice of their ancestors, and thus, if possible, 
 by a generous sympathy, to heal the rankling sore hand- 
 ed down from father to son. 
 
 Few things strike the English visitor to Ireland more 
 than the different effect which religious persecution and 
 penal laws,existing for two centuries, have wrought in that 
 country, as compared with their influence in England. 
 In the latter, slowly but surely they accomplished their 
 end, gradually destroying the priesthood, and so blotting 
 out the faith from the hearts of the people. The middle 
 classes and the poor were rent from the ancient faith, and 
 Catholicity lingered only among a remnant of the nobili- 
 ty and gentry, and found its refuge within the walls of a 
 few mansions whose owners bore an ancient and a stately 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 6 
 
 name. Religious houses were swept from the land, and 
 men and women who wished to consecrate themselves to 
 God were compelled to seek a refuge on foreign shores. 
 But in Ireland the case was different. In vain were 
 bishops and priests hunted like wild beasts, their heads 
 being sought for in common with those of wolves ;* in 
 vain was it enacted that to harbor them should be pun- 
 ished with death, f their faithful people would not betray 
 them; they were hidden "in deserts, in mountains, in 
 dens, and in caves of the earth," loved and honored by 
 their scattered and suffering flocks as the priesthood of 
 no other country had ever been. As in England, the 
 devastator's hand threw down the monasteries and the 
 abbeys which had overspread the land, but the hearts of 
 the people clung to them still. The "ancient places" 
 of Ireland have never been deserted ; still to this day the 
 people carry their dead to rest beneath the shade of 
 some old priory, or by the ruins of the Churches which 
 were once 
 
 Set like stars around some saintly hermitage.! 
 
 Though long ages have passed since the Church's of- 
 fices have ceased, and the wind whistles through the 
 broken arches, and the birds build their nests on the 
 ivy-covered walls, the voice of prayer is rarely silent : 
 pilgrim after pilgrim has told the " round of the beads " 
 by each ruined altar ; and when sorrow and anguish are 
 
 * *' The second beast is a priest, on -whose head we lay ten pounds— if 
 he be eminent more."— Burton's Parliamentary Diary, 1657. 
 
 t " And for the Jesuits, priests, fryers, munks, and nunnes, 2011 will be 
 given to any that can bring certain intelligence where any of them are. 
 And whosoever doth harbor or conceal any one of them is to forfeit life 
 estate."— Several Proceedings in Parliament, from 2,1st to 2&th of Novem- 
 ber, 1650, p. 912. 
 
 X 
 
4 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 more than usually heavy on the soul, the mourner will 
 take long journeys barefoot along the roughest roads to 
 offer up petitions where the bones of .the saints are rest- 
 ing. As in England, the parish churches of the land 
 were confiscated to the state religion, but their ministers 
 had to content themselves with bare walls and empty 
 benches ; the people fled from them to mud cabins or 
 mountain caves, or, if these failed, the blue sky was their 
 canopy, and a heap of stones their altar. In one point 
 only did these cruel enactments succeed : they almost 
 entirely destroyed the religious orders, especially those 
 for women ; nuns in their habit were dragged before ma- 
 gistrates, and driven as criminals from the cities. Here 
 and there they lingered still, putting on secular attire, and 
 often begging their bread ; but the great mass of religious 
 women, and a large proportion of men,were either banished 
 from their native shores or died unable to leave others 
 to fill their places. But by those who were left the bat- 
 tle was bravely and resolutely fought through the lapse 
 of two long centuries, and in 1745, when England had 
 become thoroughly Protestant, Ireland remained Catho- 
 lic to its core. In the reign of James the First, Lord- 
 Deputy Chichester had been forced to exclaim, " I know 
 not how the attachment to the Catholic Church is so deeply 
 rooted in the hearts of the Irish, unless it be that the very 
 soil is infected with popery." His successor, in the 
 reign of George the Second, could have endorsed his re- 
 mark, and yet it is a fact that up to St. Patrick's Day, 
 1745, not one single place of Catholic worship, of that 
 faith professed by a whole nation, was allowed by the 
 law to be open. On that morning a crowd of people as- 
 sembled in an old warehouse in Dublin to hear Mass ; 
 the pressure was too great, the floor gave way, and nine 
 
IRISH HEARTS. D 
 
 persons, including the officiating priest, were crushed to 
 death. The calamity attracted the notice of government 
 and permission to -open Catholic Churches, carefully 
 called " chapels," was accorded. And now that light 
 was beginning to dawn, and the worst heat of the battle 
 was over, the generals of the army had time to count up 
 the ravages that the war had wrought, and to prepare 
 for the future. For the conflict was not yet over. Very 
 slowly and very grudgingly justice was meted out. — 
 " The government discountenanced, and the laws abso- 
 lutely prohibited, any education by Catholics. The peo- 
 ple were sunk in the lowest state of political degrada- 
 tion. They were silent — and history makes no mention 
 of their sufferings — but it was the silence of despair." 
 Nor was the danger only a negative one. Finding that 
 all efforts had failed to bring over the adult Irish to the 
 new religion, and having totally deprived them of the 
 means of educating their children in their own way, the 
 advocates of Protestantism endeavored to sap the faith of 
 Ireland by drawing its children into their own schools. 
 In 1743 there were forty-seven charter schools, into 
 which every effort was made to draw Catholic children. 
 "On entering them," writes an Irish priest, "their 
 names are changed so that they may have no communi- 
 cation with their parents, and after a little time they 
 are transferred to another parish that the isolation may 
 be more complete. Premiums are given to those who 
 show most proficiency in the catechism, which is com- 
 posed purposely for these schools, and is nothing but a 
 continuous invective against the Catholic Church. . . 
 They get portions on condition that they marry Protest- 
 ants with the consent of the directors of the schools. " 
 To these schools no less than one million was voted by 
 
6 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Parliament. There were various others of the same 
 kind, and it was then law that all children of Catholics 
 who asked for relief should be brought up as Pro- 
 testants. 
 
 At such an unpropitious time as this, and in the face 
 of these tremendous difficulties, the first new order in 
 Ireland sprung into being. Its foundress was a Miss 
 Hanoria Nagle, who was born at Cork in 1728, and whose 
 family was closely connected with that of the celebrated 
 Father Mathew. Miss Nagle was not one of those chil- 
 dren who give very early indications of being marked 
 out to do an extraordinary work. It is recorded of her 
 that she was particularly wayward, and gave her mother 
 much uneasiness ; but that her father would sometimes 
 take her part and declare she " would be a saint yet." 
 Perhaps there was a strength of character and an inten- 
 sity of will in the giddy child which made him foresee 
 that if she once turned with earnestness to serve God, it 
 would not be done by halves. Unable, as all families of 
 the upper classes in Ireland then were, to procure the 
 necessary education for their children at home, Miss 
 Nagle was sent to Paris. Her education finished, she 
 was plunged into a round of gaiety and dissipation very 
 easily to be found in the brilliant court of Louis XV. 
 But the gay, frivolous girl had a noble destiny before 
 her ; and in the midst of her enjoyment a Divine voice 
 made itself heard in her heart. There had been a grand 
 ball in Paris, and the morning dawned ere the most 
 eager of the pleasure-seekers — and among them Miss 
 Nagle — were willing to quit the scene. At last her car- 
 riage rolled through the empty silent streets, and she, 
 wearied and jaded at last, felt that sad void in the heart 
 which so often succeeds worldly pleasures. Suddenly her 
 
IPwISH HEARTS . < 
 
 attention was arrested by a group of people standing at 
 a Church door. 
 
 They were poor— those whom hard labor scarcely per- 
 mits to snatch the necessary hours for sleep ; yet they 
 were willing to forego some of this brief repose, that they 
 might spend a short time with God. In order to be in 
 time for the first mass, they were at the Church doors 
 before they were open. The silent lesson went with pow- 
 erful force to Miss Nagle's heart. When she and they, 
 she mused, should stand before the judgment-seat to give 
 an account of their time, how different would their an- 
 swer be ! Tears flowed from her eyes, and she resolved 
 from that moment God should be to her all in all— a 
 resolution she faithfully kept. She determined to leave 
 the gay world of Paris and return to Ireland. 
 
 She at once began to occupy herself in such works of 
 charity as were within her reach ; and the lamentable 
 state of her poor country people thus forced itself on her 
 notice, and the very magnitude of the evil appalled her. 
 What could she, single-handed, do amidst such a wilder- 
 'ness? She had no private fortune; and none of hoi- 
 friends were likely to second her efforts and enter into 
 her views. Catholics of all classes had hardly done moro 
 than begin to breathe in safety ; and the richer and edu- 
 cated naturally desired to lead a quiet life, and not to 
 stir up fresh animosity. 
 
 One course only, tb ere fore, seemed open to Miss Na- 
 gle ; it was to return to France and there enter a religious 
 order, devoting herself in prayer and penance as a 
 victim for the sorrows and woes of her beloved country. 
 So she bade farewell to all she loved, and sailed for 
 France. But she was not at rest. A voice was whisper- 
 ing in her heart that the path she had chosen was not 
 
8 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 the one destined for her. She reasoned and debated 
 with herself : one day thinking herself under a delusion ; 
 the next, unable by that solution to stifle her doubt. 
 Morning and night the thought of Ireland haunted her ; 
 and little children seemed to stretch out their hands 
 to her for aid. Again and again she argued with her- 
 self, what could she do ? Had she not proved it to be 
 useless and hopeless ? But no argument could quiet her 
 mind. At last she resolved on seeking counsel from the 
 Fathers of the Society of Jesus in Paris, in whose dis- 
 cernment and wisdom she had great confidence. To 
 them she laid open " the agitation of her mind, her set- 
 tled disgust for the world, her ardent desire for the re- 
 ligious state, her feeling for the poor of her own country, 
 her strong propensity to contribute to their relief ; that, 
 from the first moment she discovered their ignorance, 
 she could never divest herself of the thought ; but that 
 she attributed all to her heated imagination. As mat- 
 ters stood, it was morally impossible for her to be of ser- 
 vice to them. The penal laws were an insuperablo bar, 
 and she had no pecuniary resources. Her constitution 
 was delicate ; yet though the prospect before her if she 
 returned was wretched and hazardous, and almost hope- 
 less, she felt inwardly impelled to follow it, she knew not 
 why." 
 
 She poured out her heart, and then she hoped her de- 
 lusions would" vanish, and her path to the convent be 
 smooth and easy. A very different decision was given. — 
 " She was called," said her guides, " not to religious life 
 at that moment, but to instruct ignorant children in Ire- 
 land." The want of money and freedom to act, and the 
 existence of penal laws, were no matter; she must " do 
 what she could." 
 
IRISH HEARTS. V 
 
 So astonished was MissNagle at such counsel, that she 
 ventured to argue the point and to remonstrate ; but all 
 in vain ; the decision remained the same. Then she en- 
 tirely submitted herself to the Divine will, thus made 
 known to her, and prepared herself for a life of toil, anx- 
 iety, and hardship. 
 
 Miss Nagle's parents were then dead, and the only 
 home she had to return to was that of a married brother, 
 who resided at Cork. Thither she went, and soon learned 
 that a rich uncle had determined to make her his heiress, 
 provided her conduct was such as should please him. — 
 Nothing could be more likely to displease both him and 
 her brothei* than to carry out her intention of founding a 
 school for poor children. But her purpose was fixed, and 
 she commenced her work. Determining to act with all 
 possible prudence, she began in secret. 
 
 The first Catholic school in Cork was opened, and 
 thirty children were gathered into it; and the young 
 lady, not long before a Parisian belle, found her greatest 
 pleasure in its care and management. Of course, as she 
 expected, in time the secret came to her family's ears, 
 and a storm burst on her devoted head. But, angry as 
 her relations were, they could not help admiring her pa- 
 tience and self-denial, and their opposition changed into 
 warm support. 
 
 Her uncle died, and left her his whole fortune entirely 
 at her own disposal. In nine months the thirty children 
 had grown into two hundred, and she was compelled by 
 eager demands to open schools for boys as well as for 
 girls ; so that she soon had five schools for girls and two 
 for boys under her care. 
 
 It is true their education was not up to the mark of 
 the ''Revised Code." In secular knowledge they were 
 
10 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 confined to the three R.'s ; but they learned the catechism, 
 were taught to say their beads, were brought to mass and 
 to monthly confession. 
 
 " Twice a year," said Miss Nagle, " I prepare a set 
 for first communion ; and I may truly say it is the only 
 thing that gives me any trouble. In the first place, I 
 think myself very incapable ; and in the beginning, being 
 obliged to speak for upwards of four hours, and my 
 chest not being as^strong as it had been, I spat blood, 
 which I took care to conceal, for fear of being prevented 
 
 from instructing the poor If every one thought 
 
 as little as I do of labor, they would have very little mer- 
 it. I often think my schools will never bring me to 
 heaven, as I only take delight and pleasure in them. . . 
 I can assure you my schools are beginning to be of ser- 
 vice to a great many parts of the world. This is a place 
 of great trade. They are heard of, and my views are not 
 for one object alone. If 1 could be of any service in sav- 
 ing souls in any part of the globe, I would do all in my 
 power." 
 
 And doubtless her work did not end there. The chil- 
 dren poured out from her schools, and were lost to sight; 
 they bore with them the seeds she had sown ; and who 
 can tell what fruit they brought forth — what treasure 
 was lying stored up for her in eternity when, her long 
 life ended, she went to her reward ? 
 
 One sorrow only troubled her; she felt that her work 
 was temporary, and that at her death the fabric she had 
 raised might probably fall to the ground. Neither had 
 the desire for religious life ever left her heart. She 
 therefore formed the idea of inviting a religious commu- 
 nity to come over from France and undertake the work ; 
 and her project was approved of by Father Doran, S.J., 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 11 
 
 and his nephew the Abbe Moylan, afterwards Bishop of 
 Cork. 
 
 In 1769 an application was made to the Ursuline house 
 in Paris, which had been founded sixty years before by the 
 saintly Madame Acarie. But the thought of an Irish foun- 
 dation terrified the French nuns. Xo one could conceal 
 from them that it entailed certainly severe hardships, 
 and not improbably risk and danger. The penal laws 
 were still unrepealed , and any outburst of popular fury 
 might put them again in force. The Ursulines would 
 not come ; but they consented to receive and train Irish 
 ladies, who should hereafter form a community of their 
 own. Accordingly four young ladies entered the noviti- 
 ate in 1769. 
 
 In 1771 they set out on their return to Ireland, and 
 halted for the night at the Carmelite Convent of St. Den- 
 is, the prioress of which was then the saintly Louise of 
 France. When she learnt their errand, the princess was 
 filled with a holy envy, and told them that, had she been 
 permitted, she would willingly have gone with them; 
 for she thought so highly of their labors that she would 
 " be glad to be at the feet of an Ursuline in heaven." 
 
 The Irish nuns stayed two days at St. Denis, storing 
 up in their minds the holy counsels of the prioress. Sis- 
 ter Angela Fitzsimons was remarkable for the beauty of 
 her voice, so the nuns asked her to sing to them ; and full 
 and sweet, in the quiet chapel of St. Denis, rose that 
 Eastertide the strains of'' Regina cceli," while the nuns 
 listened in delight. 
 
 Strange vicissitudes of human life ! Some of those 
 Carmelite nuns, who then lived in such calm security 
 with a princess at their head, were to see the day when 
 they would be driven to death or exile, and their convent 
 
12 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 razed to the ground ; while they who were going forth 
 in faith on a perilous and uncertain exile were to see 
 their work prosper and enlarge, their proscribed religion 
 once more come forth in strength and vigor, and were to 
 raise on Irish soil a magnificent building, forming a 
 striking object to the traveller who enters Ireland by her 
 great southern port, and traverses 
 
 The pleasant waters of the river Lee. 
 
 And now it might have seemed as if Miss Nagle's task 
 were almost done ; and as if with little further trouble 
 her ardent desire for religious life might be satisfied, and 
 her work placed on a permanent footing. But it was not 
 to be. As is very often the case in these negotiations, 
 matters had been misunderstood. The Ursuline rule 
 forbade its members to devote themselves exclusively to 
 the poor ; and indeed, though poor schools are attached 
 to each of their convents, the education of the upper 
 classes is their primary object. On the other hand, Miss 
 Nagle had become assured by experience that the wants 
 of the Irish poor could only be adequately met by an or- 
 der devoted exclusively to their service. The long hoped- 
 for and expected arrival, therefore, was only to be a heavy 
 disappointment ; and, moreover, the very friends who 
 had gathered round Miss Nagle to be her helpers and 
 companions were now Ursuline nuns, and unable to as- 
 sist in her cherished undertaking. But God blessed even 
 the disappointments of His faithful servant ; and before 
 she died she must have learned to see how much better it 
 had been for her to have her first designs crossed. 
 
 The wants of the poor were perhaps the greatest in 
 Ireland ; but the wants of the upper classes for the edu- 
 cation of their children were also very pressing. A vast 
 number of young ladies were trained to become good 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 13 
 
 Christians by the Ursuline nuns ; and by their means 
 the faith was preserved and revived in many and many a 
 home, while many another pupil owed her vocation to 
 the religious life to the holy lessons she learned in her 
 convent-school ; and up and down among the various 
 convents which now overspread the face of Ireland are 
 to be found numbers of pupils from Ursuline Convents. 
 
 There were others who had intended to enter the Ursu- 
 line community when it should arrive in Cork, and who 
 shared Miss Nagle's disappointment. Instead of enter- 
 ing the convent they gathered round her, and gradually 
 a new religious institute grew into being. Its history 
 reminds us of that of the Visitation Order. Like the 
 first nuns of St. Francis de Sales, the Sisters of the " Pre- 
 sentation" sought out children from their own homes, 
 brought them to school, and educated them. They visited 
 the sick, and relieved the poor. 
 
 It was said of Miss Nagle that she did not leave a gar- 
 ret in Cork un visited. 
 
 Of course, like all new institutes in the Church, the 
 progress of the " Presentation " was slow. It consisted 
 at first of a simple congregation of pious women, bound 
 by annual vows. Indeed it would seem as if Miss 
 Nagle's designs for her community did not extend beyond 
 this ; and during her lifetime she did not contemplate 
 enclosure. The institute may have been said to have 
 been founded on Christmas-day, 1777; and on that day 
 fifty-four poor persons were entertained by the foundress, 
 and she served them with her own hands. This custom 
 she kept up all her life, and it is still observed in the 
 convents of the order. Her compassion extended to all 
 classes of her fellow-creatures. She founded an alms- 
 house for the aged poor, and took a warm interest in all 
 
14 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 that concerned the reformation of penitents. Some idea 
 of her good works may be gathered from fragments of 
 her letters, which her biographer* has given to the 
 world. " I am sending boys to the West Indies. Some 
 charitable gentlemen put themselves to great expense for 
 no other motive. These boys being well instructed, and 
 the true religion decaying very much there, by reason of 
 those who leave this country knowing nothing of their 
 religion, made them lay this scheme, which I hope may 
 have the desired efect. All my children are brought up 
 to be fond of instructing, as I think it lies in the power 
 of the poor to be of more service that way than the rich. 
 These children promise me they will take great pains 
 with the little blacks, to instruct them. Next year 1 will 
 have pictures ibr them to give the negroes that learn the 
 catechism." 
 
 Sentences here and there, scattered about her letters on 
 business, serve to give an insight into her character, and 
 show us plainly, even if her works did not already bear 
 witness to the same, how noble and generous was her 
 soul. Speaking of another person : " She is one of those 
 modern religious persons who think every inconveniency 
 such a cross that there is no bearing it." 
 
 " Whoever we live with, we must expect to have 
 something to suffer, as the world is not to be our para- 
 dise." 
 
 " I should imagine you were laughing at me, to think 
 I fatigue myself in the least. I can assure you 1 never 
 thought there was the least trouble in acting in regard of 
 the schools." 
 
 Miss Nagle possessed many eminent virtues, but they 
 were all fostered and sustained in her by her spirit of 
 * Memoirs of Miss Nagle. By the Rev. Dominick Murphy. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 15 
 
 prayer. Never did she make her active, laborious life an 
 excuse for lessening spiritual duties; on the contrary, she 
 gave to them a larger share than is sometimes allotted by 
 those who lead a far more retired life than she did. 
 Four hours every morning were consecrated to this holy 
 exercise. She never failed to make an annual retreat of 
 eight days ; and it was her custom to spend the whole 
 night of Maundy Thursday watching before the sepul- 
 chre. When at prayer, she was always accustomed to 
 kneel, and would rarely choose any other attitude. Yet 
 after death it was discovered that her knees were excori- 
 ated, and partly ulcerated, and must have been in that 
 state for years ; so that every moment of the long hours 
 spent on her knees must have been one of acute agony. 
 Yet no one had ever known or guessed the secret. No 
 word of complaint had passed her lips, nor had her suf- 
 ferings disturbed the serenity of her aspect. It had been 
 her custom, as we have already said, to traverse Cork 
 from one end to the other (no slight distance), to visit 
 the poor. For the last three years of her life she added 
 the still more painful and laborious task ' of begging for 
 alms from the houses of the rich. And after her death 
 only it was discovered that she had large tumours on the 
 soles of her feet, which would have made most people 
 give up walking altogether. She did not have much of 
 her reward in this world. In the very streets of the 
 city for which she did so much, she was frequently in- 
 sulted, and accused of frightful crimes. 
 
 So her life passed away; and at last, at fifty-six years 
 of age, she was called to her rest and reward. She en- 
 dured her last illness with perfect resignation; received 
 all the consolations of the Church; and then called her 
 community round her to receive her last advice ; it wa3 
 
16 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 to be the motto of their future lives. " Love one another 
 as you have hitherto done," she said ;-and soon after her 
 spirit passed into eternity. She was interred within the 
 convent inclosure, in the centre of the cemetery set apart 
 for the religious. There she rests to this day, while the 
 seed she sowed have grown up, and blossomed, and borne 
 fruit around her grave. No less than nine hundred poor 
 children attend those schools, openly and without fear of 
 molestation, which she opened with a handful in secret 
 and in terror. The convent forms a fine pile of build- 
 ings. A new church and choir of great beauty have re- 
 cently been added to it. The almshouse for poor aged 
 women which Miss Nagle began still exists ; and the 
 building in which forty-two of them reside is attached to 
 the convent. 
 
 We have said that the history of the Presentation 
 order resembled that of the Visitation. Like it, in course 
 of time, its first design has somewhat changed. It was 
 desired that it should be raised from a congregation into 
 an order ; that its members should take perpetual vows, 
 and keep enclosure ; also that they should devote them- 
 selves exclusively to one branch of charitable labor, i. e., 
 the education of poor children within the convent walls. 
 Thus as the wise providence of God had overruled the 
 designs of a saint on earth, so did He think fit to deal 
 with the intentions and projects of another faithful ser- 
 vant after her death. Doubtless the rapid multiplica- 
 tion of religious orders was greatly needed in Ireland ; 
 and it was perhaps chiefly owing to this alteration in the 
 original work of the Presentation nuns that the orders 
 of Charity and Mercy sprang into being. The rules and 
 constitutions were remodelled, and were approved of by 
 Pius VII., in 1805. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 17 
 
 The first Apostolic brief was granted to the Presenta- 
 tion order by Pius VI., September 3, 1791. Thus at the 
 very time when the religious houses in France were swept 
 from the country, and those of all Europe were endan- 
 gered, Ireland, after her long sufferings, and in the midst 
 of her poverty and privation, put forth the first evidence 
 of her new life and strength. 
 
 One of the first convents 1 visited in Dublin was that 
 of the Presentation, for it possesses the enviable distinc- 
 tion of being the oldest. It was built on George's Hill, 
 far away from the fashionable and well-known parts of 
 Dublin, in the midst of a poor population, and its first 
 stone was laid in 1788. There is nothing remarkable in 
 its appearance. It is a large plain building, with schools 
 attached. The first superioress of this convent was a 
 Miss Mullaly, who, like Miss Nagle, had been teaching 
 poor children, and inducing others to join her ; they 
 formed themselves into a community, and adopted the 
 Presentation rule. 1 was kindly received by the nuns, 
 who showed me over their large poor schools and orphan- 
 age. Many hundred children are taught in their 
 schools, and since its establishment many thousands must 
 have passed through them. Their orphanage is designed 
 for the children of respectable parents, fallen in circum- 
 stances and unable to provide fittingly for their children. 
 These girls receive a solid and excellent education, and 
 there is no difficulty in finding them suitable situations. 
 Many of them become religious chiefly in foreign con- 
 vents, where Irish and English subjects are much in re- 
 quest. 
 
 The Presentation order made rapid progress in Ireland, 
 where it has about fifty houses. It has also thirteen 
 2 
 
18 IEISH HOMES AND 
 
 houses in Newfoundland, and is established in England, 
 Madras, and Australia. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Irish Sisters of Charity are hut little known out 
 of their own country, and are an entirely distinct order 
 from the well-known " Soeurs de Charite" of foreign 
 lands. When it was settled that the Presentation order 
 should be exclusively devoted to the care of poor schools 
 and should keep enclosure, the necessity for an active 
 order able to undertake all works of charity that might 
 present themselves pressed heavily on the mind of Dr. 
 Murray, then Archbishop of Dublin. Providence soon 
 threw in his way a person well adapted to be the founda- 
 tion stone of the new institute. Mary Aitkenhead was 
 born at Cork in 1787, and she was but twenty-five years 
 of age when Dr. Murray fixed on her as the foundress of 
 a new order in Ireland. In 1812 such a task must have 
 seemed a formidable and dreary one ; and the world was 
 smiling before her, for she was a richly-endowed being. 
 She possessed rare personal loveliness, great and varied 
 talents, and a peculiar gift of winning the affection and 
 confidence of others. But she responded to the call, and 
 was ready to devote all she had to God. With the pru- 
 dence which always characterised her, Miss Aitkenhead 
 determined to prepare herself well for the future before 
 her. If she were to rule others she would first learn to 
 obey, and with one companion she entered the novitiate 
 of the Convent of Our Lady at York — an order which 
 was one of the first established in England after the per- 
 secutions, and whose members devoted themselves to the 
 education of both rich and poor. This novitiate lasted, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 19 
 
 at Miss Aitkenhead's own request, for three years in- 
 stead of two, as in ordinary cases ; and she and her com- 
 panion returned to Dublin in 1815, when they made 
 their profession, and the institute of the "Religious 
 Sisters of Charity" was founded. Members soon came 
 to join them, and in 1833 the order was approved by the 
 Holy See. 
 
 This order differs greatly from the French Sisters of 
 Charity. The Irish Sisters adopted the rule of St. Igna- 
 tius ; they have a novitiate of two years and a half, after 
 which they take perpetual vows, and unite the exercises 
 of religious life to their active duties ; but, like the 
 French Si3ters, they are free to undertake any work of 
 charity, and the institutions under their care in Ireland 
 evidence that almost every form of human misery has 
 found a helping hand from them. It is not easy to de- 
 scribe adequately the admirable way in which these 
 institutions are managed, and no one can visit the con- 
 vents of this order without being struck by the number 
 of superior, refined, and intelligent ladies who fill its 
 ranks. 
 
 One of their principal houses is St. Vincent's Hospital, 
 standing in the large open square known as Stephen's 
 Green. It was the first Catholic hospital in Dublin, and 
 was opened in 1834. The house chosen had formerly be- 
 longed to the Earl of Meath, and was given for the pur- 
 pose of being used as an hospital by a generous benefac- 
 tress. The Sisters took possession of it, and ten patients 
 were at first received. The number of beds is now one 
 hundred and twenty, and various additions and improve- 
 ments have been made in the hospital from time to time. 
 From the very first St. Vincent's was fortunately under 
 the medical charge of Dr. O'Farrell, by whose energy 
 
20 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 and skill it has long since attained a high medical rank. 
 Wherever it is practicable it would, we suppose, be bet- 
 ter to build an hospital than to adapt any large house for 
 the purpose ; nevertheless there is a home-like air about 
 St. Vincent's Hospital which is very delightful. The 
 wards are lofty and well ventilated, the most spotless 
 cleanliness and perfect order prevail, and, watching the 
 patients in their comfortable beds, with their snowy cur- 
 tains, and the gentle faces of the Sisters bending over 
 them and doing everything they could to alleviate their 
 sufferings, we felt this was indeed a home for the sick 
 poor. St. Vincent's Hospital receives both men and 
 women, and when we visited it one poor fellow was rap- 
 idly passing to another world. Very tenderly were the 
 Sisters watching beside him to soothe and strengthen the 
 parting soul, and Ins death-bed was neither lonely nor 
 forsaken. There is an exquisite little chapel in the hos- 
 pital. No pains have been spared on its decorations, and 
 there such of the patients as are able to get about may 
 constantly be seen kneeling in silent prayer, and there 
 also daily mass is said. 
 
 But, passing through an hospital like St. Vincent's, 
 one sad thought strikes upon the mind : What becomes 
 of those who are discharged from hospital cured or with 
 their sufferings much alleviated? What a question! — 
 Is not everybody glad to get out of hospital ? who would 
 stay an hour longer in a sick room than he can help ? — 
 Alas ! there are many who would gladly stay in an hos- 
 pital like St. Vincent's. They are so far well that it 
 would not be fair to let them fill the beds and enjoy the 
 care required by greater sufferers, but they are generally 
 very far from being fit to return to their wretched home 
 or to their employment. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 21 
 
 The artisan, the mother of a family, how can they, 
 with their aching heads, their trembling limbs, return 
 to the crowded rooms, the hard work of their ordinary 
 life, and how " get up their strength" on the scanty and 
 hard fare that awaits them ? And what of those who 
 have no home to go to, servants who fell ill at place, 
 young men without friends, and who must now at once 
 seek fresh employment ? They surely need an intermedi- 
 ate refuge between hospital and work, in short, a " con- 
 valescent home." It has long been the wish of the 
 Sisters of Charity to establish one. " We have often 
 shed tears," said one of them, " when we parted with 
 some of our patients, knowing how unfit they were to 
 return to their wretched homes, and seeing them come 
 creeping slowly down stairs, and so unwilling to go." 
 They accomplished their wish in the summer of 1866, and 
 were able to open a sanatorium or convalescent home 
 near Blackrock and Stillorgan, and thither I proceeded 
 for a visit in the autumn of the same year. I alighted at 
 the Blacrock station on the Kingstown liDe, and after a 
 pleasant twenty minutes' walk through country lanes, 
 and beneath avenues of trees golden with the autumn 
 tint, I found myself at the gate of St. Vincent's Conva- 
 lescent Home. The house, which rejoices in the name of 
 castle, was formerly a gentleman's country residence, and 
 is fitted up with every comfort. There is a pretty garden 
 both before and behind the house, which when I saw it 
 was gay with autumn flowers. In the little parlor to 
 which I was shown a tall white lily of rare species was 
 perfuming the room, and presently came a bright looking 
 Sister of Charity to show me round the house. It would 
 turn the brain of a workhouse guardian to see this estab- 
 lishment, and to find out that the Sisters think nothing 
 
22 IEISH HOMES AXD 
 
 too good for their beloved poor. The men's ward was on 
 the ground floor, the two wards for women above. The 
 comfortable beds, spotlessly clean and neat, filled the 
 room, without overcrowding. There were easy chairs, 
 tables on which stood lamps ready for lighting ; books, 
 games, dominoes to while away the tedious hours ; the 
 whole range of the garden and several fields beyond were 
 free for the patients to walk in. On one side of the 
 house rises a tower of several stories. The small rooms 
 on these floors are occupied by the Sisters, but at the 
 top of the tower are flat leads, on which the patients can 
 walk or sit. Here before their gaze lies outspread that 
 lovely view which those who have seen can never forget. 
 Dublin Bay, Howth, and Kingstown, and the fresh sea 
 breezes blow on them, bringing health and vigor in their 
 train. Is it any wonder that the patients look on this 
 home as a sort of paradise, and count the hours of their 
 stay as they fly. "We shall never have such a time 
 again," they say, and they enjoy it to the utmost, and go 
 away strong and able for a fresh battle with the ills and 
 cares of this weary world. 
 
 One of the first houses founded by Miss, or rather 
 Mrs., Aitkenhead (for so it is customary to call her) was 
 in Stanhope street, Dublin. It was opened in 1819 as a 
 home for training girls for domestic service. It exists in 
 a flourishing condition to this day, and when I visited it, 
 contained a hundred girls. They are taught to be ser- 
 vants, and will, when trained, be provided with situations. 
 They are instructed in house, kitchen, laundry, and 
 needle work, besides the habits of order, cleanliness, and 
 diligence. The greatest praise that can be given to this 
 institution is to say that the servants sent out from it are 
 much sought after, and ladies who have had one will 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 23 
 
 come again for another. The utility of the institution 
 is great. There is a singular inaptness in Irish girls for 
 domestic service, and they -will choose many a rough and 
 hard employment in preference to it. Yet when an Irish 
 girl is really trained, no servant can be compared to her ; 
 she may not indeed ever acquire the studied neatness, the 
 gift of order that is natural to her English sister ; but 
 her fidelity and affection, her diligence and carefulness 
 more than counterbalance these imperfections. We in 
 England have little experience of good Irish servants, the 
 simple reason being that the good ones can always get 
 employment at home, or else yield to the glittering pros- 
 pects of enormous wage3 held out to them by their 
 " cousins in America" with which every Irishwoman is 
 provided. 
 
 The Sisters of the Stanhope Street Convent teach 
 the poor schools of the parish, containing 600 children. 
 They also visit the sick and poor, and a number of 
 prisoners. 
 
 In Upper Gardiner street is another large convent and 
 schools belonging to the Sisters of Charity. They are 
 the schools par excellence, of the order. I visited them 
 repeatedly, being never weary of observing the admirable 
 management and the excellent mode of instruction pur- 
 sued in them. They are not under Government inspec- 
 tion, but are most fully up to the mark which could 
 possibly be required by any ' ' Committee of Council. ' ' I 
 have visited many schools of all kinds in England, Ire- 
 land, and foreign countries ; but I never saw any one 
 which excelled, and but few that equalled, the perfect 
 order, and the simple but thorough teaching of the 
 Gardiner StrSet schools. More than once Protestant 
 clergymen have visited these schools, and tested the 
 
24 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 children in biblical knowledge. They found, however, 
 the scholars fully equal to the occasion, not baffled by 
 the query, " How many chapters are there in each 
 of the epistles?" and the gentlemen went away, we 
 hope, convinced that the Holy Scriptures are fully 
 familiar to the intelligent Irish poor. In Gardiner 
 Street, as in all other Irish schools, I was struck by 
 the beauty of some of the children, and the variety 
 of its types. Here the brunette complexion and full 
 dark eyes, there the golden curls and large blue orbs ; 
 and here, now and then, one of those witching Irish 
 faces, with eyes neither black, nor brown, nor blue, 
 but each in turn, with a smile breaking like sun- 
 beams over the face, and with a head and bust such 
 as would send an artist wild with delight. And there 
 the owner stood in her place, gentle and modest, and 
 perfectly unconscious of her own loveliness. On the 
 opposite side of the street on which the convent stands 
 the Sisters have taken a house and call it St. Catherine's 
 Industrial School. It is a home for young seamstresses, 
 and is managed by a matron, under the superintendence 
 of the Sisters. They found many stray cases among 
 those whom they had to visit and help, of girls wanting 
 protection, and yet ineligible for the existing institutions. 
 They were too eld for orphanages, and not suited for 
 servants. Sometimes they could get work, but had no 
 home, sometimes they were without both. The Sisters 
 accordingly opened this house, took in as many as it 
 would hold, devoted the ground floor to work rooms, and 
 employ as many girls as they can find work for ; and that 
 finding work is the difficult matter. It is very hard that 
 when people are ready and willing to work, the employ- 
 ment is often not within their reach. St. Catherine's 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 25 
 
 Home is as yet in its infancy, and will, we hope, rapidly 
 
 increase in size, and therefore in its means of usefulness. 
 
 No charity seems to us a greater one than an industrial 
 
 school, if some means could be found of supplying it 
 
 with regular occupation. It is hard to see the poor 
 
 willing to help themselves, and be unable to assist them 
 
 in doing so, and thus see them driven into beggary, often 
 
 into sin, and surely any effort, however small, made to 
 
 stem the tide of this formidable evil is worthy of deep 
 
 sympathy and co-operation. 
 
 A little way out of Dublin, on the Stillorgan road, is 
 
 Donnybrook Green, so celebrated for its annual fair, where 
 
 Irish fun ran riot, when 
 
 An Irishman in all his glory was there, 
 
 With his sprig of shillelagh and shamrock so green; 
 
 and the riot had so disastrous an ending, that, happily, 
 after a long struggle with custom, the fair was abolished. 
 On the green now stands a new and handsome church, 
 dedicated to the Sacred Heart, and at a little distance is 
 a convent and Magdalene asylum of the Sisters of Char- 
 ity. This house can receive seventy inmates, and its 
 mode of management differs somewhat from that of the 
 penitentiaries generally known in England. The wish 
 and intention of the Sisters is that their inmates should 
 remain with them for life. Of course no coercion is 
 used ; every one is free to go when she likes, and a certain 
 number always do leave, but the Sisters believe that very 
 few of those who have lost their good name, and, gen- 
 erally speaking, have contracted habits of intemperance, 
 idleness, and other vices, will be able to resist tempta- 
 tion if exposed to the rough contact of the world again. 
 There is much to be said on both sides of the question. 
 If such a plan be adopted, the difficulty of rescuing these 
 
26 IEISH HOMES AND 
 
 poor creatures would be increased, for the number of 
 refuges for them must be multiplied. On the other hand, 
 no means to attain a perfect reformation should be 
 thought too costly. It is certain, however, that both 
 systems should be in operation ; for many characters 
 among this class of unhappy women could neither brook 
 a life-long restraint, nor even the idea of it, and would 
 do far better in an asylum where they knew a certain 
 time of probation only was required. At all events, the 
 progress of the Donnybrook Refuge has been eminently 
 satisfactory. As we passed through the rooms, 1 was 
 much struck by the superior appearance of many of the 
 women, as compared with those of other asylums, and 
 when I remarked on it to the Sisters, they told me such 
 and such an one had been so many years in the asylum. 
 There had been time for the fierce passions to be sub- 
 dued, and the wild history of the past to fade out of the 
 mind. 
 
 Terrible are the inward conflicts these poor creatures 
 have to endure at times, especially soon after their 
 entrance. " I want to leave, ma'am," said a poor woman 
 one day respectfully to the superioress. "Why so? 
 are you unhappy? Do we not do all we can for you?" 
 " Yes, ma'am, and I am most grateful, but I must go. 
 I will tell you the truth. I must have gin ; I cannot 
 live any longer without it." This poor creature had 
 struggled on for four months. The Sisters did their 
 utmost to help and encourage her, persuading her to 
 stay on day after day, till at last the temptation was 
 conquered, and the poor woman found she could live 
 without her bane and her enemy. The penitents are 
 employed in laundry and needlework, and thus do all 
 they can to earn their own support. Those who have 
 
ESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 IRISH HEARTS. 27 
 
 been a long time in the house are of great assistance 
 to the Sisters in watching over and encouraging the 
 new comers. Many of the former are really true peni- 
 tents, and they take infinite pains with their weaker 
 companions, showing them how they in their turn may 
 overcome temptation, and regain peace and content. 
 The chapel at Donnybrook is rich in carving and decora- 
 tion ; it is one of the most beautiful and devotional of 
 convent chapels. A portion is set apart for the penitents, 
 and here they with the Sisters have daily Mass, and all 
 the other services of the church. The convent is sur- 
 rounded by large grounds, and there is an excellent fruit 
 and kitchen garden. Passmg through these we were 
 led to a spot full of interest to me, and very dear to the 
 Sisters of Charity. 
 
 It is the cemetery not only for the inmates of this 
 asylum, but for the whole community of Sisters of 
 Charity. It is a quiet sheltered spot shut in by trees, 
 and meet for recollection of those "gone before" and 
 prayers lor their repose in Christ. A simple wooden 
 cross marks the grave of each Sister ; but in the centre 
 of the ground rises a beautiful cross of grey limestone, 
 beneath which repose the mortal remains of Mary Ait- 
 kenhead, foundress of the order. From 1815 to 1858, a 
 space of forty-three years, she labored unceasingly for 
 the good of others ; she forgot one thing only— herself. 
 A large picture in the parlor of St. Vincent's Hospital, 
 gives us now some idea of the grace and loveliness of her 
 personal appearance. Even to her old age traces of 
 her great beauty lingered, and when she was no longer 
 able to leave her room her children found her still the 
 same, the sunshine of their lives, their comforter in 
 trouble, their support in perplexity. Before her death 
 
28 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 she had founded ten houses of her order, and gathered 
 
 round her many hundreds of Sisters likeminded with 
 
 herself. The Magdalene Asylum was one of her dearest 
 
 works ; her compassionate heart yearned over the most 
 
 unfortunate of God's creatures, those who had defiled 
 
 His image in their souls, and cut themselves off from 
 
 a bright eternity. She labored long and bravely to bring 
 
 back such souls to her Lord, and singularly enough it 
 
 was on the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the patroness of 
 
 the asylum, and the pattern she had so often striven to 
 
 put before the poor inmates, that she was called to 
 
 her rest or reward. 
 
 Well may we hope their peaceful rest, 
 Whose labors thus their life attest. 
 
 Another pleasant little village in the neighborhood 
 of Dublin is that called Harold's Cross. There stands 
 the mother house and novitiate of the Sisters of Charity, 
 and thither, on St. Augustine's Day, I bent my steps at 
 an early hour in the morning to witness the profession 
 of a nun. The chapel of this convent is a perfect gem ; 
 but of an entirely different style from that of Donny- 
 brook, and much larger ; it is built in the form of a 
 cross, and the lightness and beauty of its coloring, its 
 stained windows, and its decorations, are most admirable. 
 The nave is lined with stalls for the Sisters, and at the 
 end is a small portion reserved for seculars. The cere- 
 mony of profession was very simple, but also very im- 
 pressive . The Sisters came in procession , carrying lighted 
 tapers; the postulants first, then the novices, the pro- 
 fessed sisters, and lastly, the novice to be professed with 
 the superioress. Certain prayers were said, and then 
 the Sister, kneeling at the foot of the altar, answered the 
 solemn questions put to her, whether she had well con- 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 29 
 
 sidered the step she was about to take; whether she 
 were ready, of her own free choice, to adopt for her 
 future days a life of devotion to God and the poor ? To 
 all she assented clearly and firmly, and in the course of 
 the Mass which followed she made her vows, and pledged 
 herself for ever to be the spouse of Christ. The cere- 
 mony concluded with the exchange of the white veil for 
 the black, and the reception of the crucifix to be worn 
 on the breast, and the ring for the left hand. The dress 
 of the Sisters of Charity is black, with a white coif 
 underneath their veil, and it is very simple in its whole 
 arrangement. The spectators of the ceremony were 
 hospitably entertained by the Sisters at breakfast, after 
 which we were allowed a thorough inspection of the 
 chapel, and also to visit the schools, which are built 
 half-way down the avenue leading to the convent from 
 the high road. These schools are well attended, and 
 seemed to be in excellent order. The sick and poor sur- 
 rounding the convent are also visited by the Sisters, and 
 the novices are thus trained for the work of their future 
 lives. 
 
 Beside the Portobello Bridge of the Grand Canal is a 
 large white stone building, on which is inscribed " St. 
 Mary's Home for the Blind." This institution again is 
 under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, and is another 
 proof of the admirable way in which they discharge the 
 duties allotted to them. Of all the charitable institu- 
 tions 1 ever visited this is, without exception, the hap- 
 piest. A spirit of joy and cheerfulness pervades the 
 whole house ; the sound of merry laughter meets your 
 ear continually ; peace and joy is written almost on every 
 face, and yet this is the home of a class of deeply-afflicted 
 beings — those who have never seen, or who must never 
 
30 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 see again, the light of day, the fair world around them, 
 or the kind faces of those they love. The cheerfulness 
 of the blind is, indeed, often remarked by strangers ; but 
 a peculiar joyfulness seemed to characterize the girls 
 of St. Mary's. When we came to know more of the 
 management of the institution we ceased to wonder at 
 their happiness. . They are surrounded by those whose 
 one thought it is how to make their life a happy and 
 a holy one. The most watchful care is exercised for their 
 comfort ; the most careful training given to their capa- 
 bilities. The superioress of the house is one of those 
 beings who has the gift of drawing the hearts of others 
 to her, and of influencing them for good. She has a 
 singular aptitude for understanding the characteristics 
 of the blind, and is untiring in her exertions to promote 
 their welfare. And surely a special blessing is theirs 
 who smooth the difficulties and lighten the burdens of 
 those whom God has stamped with the seal of suffering, 
 whom He has shut up in a cloister of His own making ; 
 for in whatever class of life blindness falls, it is always 
 a heavy misfortune. There are indeed exceptional cases, 
 where the mind is so richly gifted, where the other 
 faculties of the body are so marvellously quickened, that 
 a blind person becomes the centre of a home, the support 
 of all around him.; but these cases are rare ; and, gene- 
 rally speaking, the blind member of a family is a burden 
 and an anxiety, even among the wealthier classes. But 
 how is this misfortune doubled when it regards the poor ! 
 The poor families to whom it is a struggle to get the 
 children through their early childhood, and who look 
 forward to each member becoming independent at as 
 early an age as possible — what a burden must not a blind 
 child be to them ! It requires double watching through 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 31 
 
 its infancy ; and when school-time comes, brothers and 
 sisters may go, but not the blind child, Shut out from 
 the pleasures and employments of childhood, how sad 
 and desolate is a blind child's life ! Look, again, at the 
 blind children in workhouses : what a miserable life is 
 theirs ! what aggravations of the unhappy lot of all 
 workhouse children! how completely are they at the 
 mercy of rough officials, and when they grow up to man 
 and womanhood, how manifold the hardships and dangers 
 to which they are exposed ! Hardships mostly as regards 
 boys, but fearful dangers as regards girls. Then in the 
 matter of faith also — in this respect how unprotected are 
 the blind ! The outward symbols of the faith have no 
 power to retain their affections ; they cannot see the 
 altar gloriously arrayed, the priests in the vestments — 
 which each convey a lesson ; they may not look upon 
 even the veiled presence of their Lord ; they cannot gazo 
 on the beautiful picture, the " storied window," the 
 imposing worship of the sanctuary ; above all others 
 they are dependent on teaching, upon the efforts of 
 fellow-creatures to enlighten their minds, and instruct 
 them in the truth. 
 
 It would be difficult to describe the effect produced on 
 the mind by a visit to this asylum. We found two large 
 rooms filled with the pupils : one the older, the other the 
 younger portion of the school. Looking round on those 
 faces, we were struck by the listening look common to the 
 blind when the intelligence has been cultivated. Some- 
 times the faces of the blind display a touching beauty ; 
 and even when the blindness has proceeded from some 
 cause which has disfigured the face, it is almost always 
 accompanied by that expression of mute resignation 
 which goes straight to the spectator's heart. The intel- 
 
32 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Hgence of these children was truly remarkable ; they 
 were far beyond seeing children of the same age. The 
 love and desire of learning had been better than eyes . 
 to them. Specimens of beautiful needlework done by 
 them were for sale. To listen to their music and 
 singing was really a treat. The love of and aptitude 
 for music is proverbial among the blind ; -»but in this case 
 it had been brought to perfection. An excellent music- 
 master had come constantly to give lessons ; and under 
 his care the girls had acquired a refinement of taste in 
 singing which took us fairly by surprise. The attitude 
 of the group who stood round the organ was worthy of a 
 sketch ; the rapt faces, the listening look more marked 
 than ever, as if they caught some echoes of a music that 
 we are too deaf to hear, were most striking. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this intelligence, the blind are 
 exceedingly helpless in many things ; and not all the 
 training in the world will ever make them otherwise. — 
 They require to be under the watchful and tender care 
 of religious. There are other classes of the poor who are, 
 perhaps, rather unfitted for their contact with the rough 
 world by the gentleness and kindness of a nun ; not so 
 the blind. Kindness, encouragement, sympathy, are to 
 them as the air they breathe. "We could not help notic- 
 ing the extreme difference between the Dublin asylum 
 and one in a provincial Irish town, which was under 
 secular management. Not that there was anything in 
 the managers to find fault with ; they were kind, just, 
 and active, but fulfilled their work as an irksome duty, 
 for which they were paid. The Sister of Charity watches 
 over the blind as a labor of love. She is never weary of 
 devising plans for their comfort and improvement ; she 
 is sorry to be called away from them, glad to return ; 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 33 
 
 she counts them over as the jewels that are one day to 
 sparkle in her crown . 
 
 This helplessness prevents the blind from entirely earn- 
 ing their own support, save in rare instances, and this 
 especially applies to blind girls. Blindness generally 
 arises from illness, sudden accident, or disease in the pa- 
 rents ; it is ordinarily accompanied by a delicate consti- 
 tution, so that a blind woman is incapable of long and 
 persistent labor at mat and basket making, the branches 
 of business generally open to them. In this matter the 
 deaf and dumb are much better off than the blind ; there 
 are a dozen occupations to which they can be trained ; in 
 many large houses an intelligent deaf and dumb servant 
 would be rather an acquisition than otherwise ; but who 
 would engage a blind servant ? The blind inmates of 
 the Portobello Asylum are not, therefore, a changing 
 community ; vacancies seldom occur. When we visited 
 it one child was dying. She lay in the pretty little in- 
 firmary, gasping for breath, the death- dew on her brow; 
 but she was ready to die, ready to open her eyes at last 
 and gaze upon the vision of Eternal Beauty : she had 
 only one earthly wish, that her little blind sister might 
 be taken into the asylum and there " taught how to die." 
 The superioress told us she had four pressing applica- 
 tions for the bed when death should have made it va- 
 cant. 
 
 The union among the blind children is remarkable. 
 The Sisters of Charity — accustomed as they are to every 
 kind of labor among the poor — consider the charge of 
 the blind the easiest and pleasantest of their works ; there 
 is seldom a dispute, or a reproof needed ; the children 
 are gentle, obedient, and loving, and most fervent in faith. 
 As they pass up the broad staircase, you see them bow 
 3 
 
3± IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 their heads. " What do you that for ?" " Because the 
 images of our Lady and St. Joseph are there," they an- 
 swer ; " you told me so." Their prayers rise up like in- 
 cense before God, for they are the prayers of sinless 
 hearts : happy are those who, by becoming their benefac- 
 tors, have a right to be remembered by them at the 
 throne of God ! 
 
 Though the hope of teaching blind women to support 
 themselves entirely is a fallacious one, there are many 
 families who would find it an immense benefit to have a 
 child educated at this school, and then sent home when 
 she is grown up. Instead of the helpless, useless, un- 
 happy being she would have been, if allowed to pass all 
 her life without education, and under a system oi pet- 
 ting, she returns home an intelligent, happy creature, 
 dependent on others for many things, it is true, but able 
 to render them services in return. For though the Sis- 
 ters of Charity show their blind charges every possible 
 kindness, they are never weakly indulgent. They are 
 careful to train their characters ; to treat them, \n short, 
 as far as possible, as if they saw; providing with quick 
 foresight for the occasions when they cannot help them- 
 selves ; but exacting from them what is within their ca- 
 pacity, and therefore preventing them from feeling a con- 
 stant sense of helplessness. 
 
 One of the temptations peculiar to blindness is sus- 
 piciousness ; it is also, as we know, the temptation of 
 old or infirm persons who are dependent on others. Who 
 can wonder ? How easy it is to deceive the blind ! How 
 often advantages might be taken of their weakness by 
 evil, designing people ! and, not to go so far, people who 
 are deficient in judgment may make many mistakes and 
 cause much suffering to the blind. It is easy, therefore, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 35 
 
 to see the immense benefit it is to have a blind asylum 
 watched over by religious. As soon as the blind girls , 
 knew the nuns, all suspicion vanished, and has never re- 
 turned Instinct was as strong as sight, and revealed to 
 them the character written on those faces which we 
 looked upon — they felt the refined sense of honor, the 
 patient self-denial, the heartfelt affection which we saw 
 in the gentle Sisters of Charity. 
 
 After our first visit to the asylum we were invited by 
 the kind superioress to witness a play acted by the blind ; 
 and truly it was worth seeing. The scene was laid in 
 the time of the French Revolution ; and Marie Antoin- 
 ette, Madame Elizabeth, and other personages of the pe- 
 riod, did their parts with admirable self-possession ; the 
 Abbe Eugeworth, in beretta and cloak, gave his blessing 
 with sacerdotal dignity . Several choral pieces were in- 
 troduced into the play to enliven the scene ; while the 
 remarks of a comic character, who, somehow or other, had 
 something to say to every one, effectually dissipated the 
 mournful character of the play. The burden of her tale 
 was the superior merits of "old Ireland" over any 
 other country in the world ; and some stanzas of her 
 parting song, composed by herself, were as follows : — 
 
 Come to old Ireland and seek Information— 
 
 'lis there you'll see sights that 'will soon make you stare; 
 Sure half what you hear of is all botheration— 
 
 Come judge for yourself, and you'll find I speak fair. 
 Come to old Ireland and see those fine places 
 
 They have raised in this land for the use of mankind; 
 'Tis the first in God's Heart, if the last in Bis creatures, 
 
 That beautiful spot called the " Home of the Blind." 
 Come to that place where they're all so united, 
 
 Though born in counties divided afar — 
 They're from Dublin and Cork, Tipperary and Kerry, 
 
 Kilkenny and Waterford, Limerick and Clare. 
 
 These simple pleasures are highly prized by the blind 
 
36 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 children ; and surely it is of no little moment to give 
 pleasure to those who are cut off from the many enjoy- 
 ments which strew our paths. 
 
 Once a year the blind girls undergo an examination, 
 and assist at a concert in aid of their asylum given in the 
 Rotunda, Dublin. 
 
 The present asylum of the Sisters of Charity has two 
 great disadvantages : it is too small, and has no outlet ; 
 there is no garden or ground of any kind ; the portion of 
 the house for the Sisters is very inconvenient and un- 
 wholesome, but they would bear it uncomplainingly if 
 they were not pained by having to refuse so many press- 
 ing cases. They are now only able to receive one hun- 
 dred inmates. 
 
 Air and space for exercise also are necessary for the 
 comfort of the blind ; for to take them out of doors is al- 
 ways a difficult and sometimes a dangerous undertaking. 
 The Sisters therefore had long been wishing to move, and 
 they had intended to build at Harold's Cross, when a 
 house and grounds at Merrion, the second station from 
 Dublin on the Kingstown line, fell vacant and were for 
 sale. Many difficulties stood in the way of the purchase, 
 but the blind girls prayed heartily, and in simple faith 
 believed their prayers were granted, when the obstacles 
 one by one were removed and the place was theirs. 
 
 The house at Merrion is small, and buildings must 
 therefore be added before all the blind girls can be moved 
 from Portobello. At present they come in detachments 
 for change of air, and their enjoyment of their new home 
 is indeed a pleasant sight to witness. The grounds are 
 very spacious ; well planted with trees. On one side is 
 a very pretty garden, and beyond it are fields belonging 
 to the Sisters. The house fronts the sea, and is divided 
 
IKISH HEARTS. 37 
 
 from it only by the high road and railway ; but a pas- 
 sage beneath the line enables any one to pass safely to 
 the beach and enjoy sea bathing. A more perfect spot 
 for the purpose could not have been found, and with 
 thankful hearts the Sisters have taken possession of it. 
 
 The first stone of the new buildings was laid by the 
 Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, on September 18, 1866. 
 When they are completed, the house at Portobello will 
 be given up, and all the blind girls transferred to JNler- 
 rion, while fresh cases will then be admitted. When 
 the new arrangements are finished " St. Mary's Home 
 lor the Blind ' ' promises to be one ot the finest blind 
 asylums in the three kingdoms. 
 
 CHAPTER 111. 
 The Irish Sisters of Charity were founded in 1815, and 
 before they had been twenty years in existence, a new 
 order sprang into being, similar to them in many re- 
 spects, but differing in others. The foundress of this new 
 order was a Miss, or (as it is now usual to call her) Mrs. 
 Katherine McAuley, an Irish lady, who finding herself 
 left in middle life without pressing domestic duties, and 
 the owner of a large fortune, resolved to devote both time 
 and money to the service of the poor. She had no thought 
 of being a nun, but intended to pass a retired life with a 
 few ladies who had gathered round her. She purchased 
 ground in Lower Baggott street, on the south side of 
 Dublin, and desired an architect to build a house for her. 
 Some large rooms fit for teaching poor children, and a 
 chapel, was the order she gave him ; but without intend- 
 ing it he built a convent, and without intending it Kath- 
 erine McAuley and her friends were training themselves 
 
38 IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 as religious by their life of self-denial and devotion. — 
 When she saw what the designs of Providence were, she 
 meekly submitted ; and at fifty-two years of age went to 
 serve a year's novitiate in the Presentation Convent in 
 George's Hill. There her cell can still be seen, the tiny 
 room in which no doubt many secret victories were won, 
 and many fervent prayers breathed for the anxious future 
 before her, by the humble, patient novice. 
 
 In 1831 the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy was 
 founded ; in 1841 it was approved by the Holy See, and 
 in that same year Mrs. McAuley died, leaving fourteen 
 houses of her institute in existence. The most remark- 
 able features of this order have been its extreme popu- 
 larity and its marvellous spread. New orders generally 
 grow slowly at first, and have hard frosts and keen winds 
 to contend against. Not so the Sisters of Mercy : like 
 the Sisters of St. Vincent in France they caught the ge- 
 nius of their native country, and have been and are likely 
 to remain the favorite among Irish orders. Before their 
 foundress died tliey spread into England ; now they pos- 
 sess in England and Scotland together forty houses ; they 
 have gone to Australia, New Zealand, California, and 
 America, while in Ireland their convents are like a net- 
 work over the land ; almost every town of importance 
 possesses one of their communities, and a large portion 
 of the education of Irish children is in their hands. Dr. 
 Forbes, in his " Memorandums in Ireland," speaks of the 
 ** noble Sisters of Mercy so widely spread over Ireland, 
 and so constantly to be found where good is to be done." 
 He adds that, "As in all Catholic countries so in Ire- 
 land, Sisters of Charity or Mercy are found, educating 
 the young, nursing the sick, feeding the hungry, cloth- 
 ing the naked, harboring the homeless, imparting relig- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 39 
 
 ion to improve the good and to restore the "bad, and all 
 with that utter self-abnegation and self-devotion, and 
 with that earnestness, tenderness, and patience which 
 can only spring from the profoundest conviction that in 
 so laboring they are fulfilling God's will as revealed to 
 man.'"* 
 
 The difference between the Irish Sisters of Charity and 
 the Sisters of Mercy consists chiefly in their form of gov- 
 ernment. The Sisters of Charity are governed by a 
 superioress-general, subject to an Ecclesiastical supe- 
 rior, the bishop of the diocese in which the mother 
 house is situated. They have but one general noviciate in 
 which all novices must be trained, and any Sister may be 
 sent to or from any house of the order as the superioress- 
 general may wish . With the Sisters of Mercy each house 
 is independent of the others, is governed by its own su- 
 perioress, subject to the bishop of the diocese, and re- 
 ceives and trains its own novices. No Sister can be sent 
 from one convent to another without her own consent 
 and that of her bishop. When it is desired to make a 
 new foundation of Sisters of Mercy, one of the existing 
 convents is prayed to send out a filiation, i. e. to give up 
 two or more of its Sisters to found the new community ; 
 and it is hoped and believed that they in their turn will 
 receive novices and grow into a large community ; like a 
 swarm of bees, they go forth from the parent house and 
 find honey for themselves. Sisters of Mercy can also 
 found branch houses which are dependent on and sup- 
 plied from one community, and this is frequently done in 
 large towns or in different parts of one diocese. There is 
 much to be said in favor of both these forms of govern- 
 
 * Memorandums in Ireland, vol. 11. p. 27. 
 
40 IRISH IICXMES AND 
 
 ment, both are equally sanctioned by the church , and 
 both have their advantages and drawbacks. But it ia 
 curiou3 to observe that in France the tendency to the cen- 
 tralised form of government is strong, and by far the 
 most popular; all their modern orders have, without ex- 
 ception, adopted it ; while in Ireland, the form of gov- 
 ernment of the Sisters of Mercy is undoubtedly the favor- 
 ite and most popular, and best suits the wants of the 
 country. 
 
 The convent in Baggot street is an extensive building, 
 but with a very plain exterior. Within, much pains 
 have been spent on decorations of a strictly conventual 
 character. The cloisters and convent chapel are beauti- 
 ful ; there are immense poor schools in the rear of the 
 building, a large House of Mercy, and a home for pupil 
 teachers. The three main objects for which Mrs. Mc- 
 Auley designed her order were the care of poor schools, 
 the visitation of the poor, and the charge of a House of 
 Mercy, and to these three works whenever practicable 
 the Sisters are bound by rule to attend. 
 
 The House of Mercy is meant as a temporary refuge 
 for respectable girls and women out of employment. It 
 is chiefly filled by servants out of place, and has often 
 proved a most valuable place of refuge for those in dan- 
 ger. The inmates are taught to labor for their own 
 support, either at needle or laundry work, and the Sisters 
 try to get situations for them. It is not intended that 
 they should remain any length of time in the house, but 
 only till they can find employment. In addition to these 
 three works of charity the Sisters may undertake any 
 other, either under their own roof or in branch houses. 
 The Sisters of Mercy in Dublin being the largest and 
 most important house of the order, have five branch 
 
IRISH HEAETS. 41 
 
 houses, the three principal among which I visited, and 
 will now speak of. 
 
 The Charitable Infirmary, Jervis street, is one of the 
 oldest hospitals in Dublin. It was founded in the year 
 1728 by a small band of medical men ; it began on a very 
 small scale in Cook street, but was soon moved to Inns 
 Quay where it become considerably enlarged, and occu- 
 pied the site of an old Dominican priory. After sixty 
 years it was driven from its place to give room to the 
 "Four Courts," the most beautiful public building 
 that Dublin possesses. The Infirmary took refuge in 
 Jervis street, and was accommodated in a large house, 
 the property of Lord Charlemont. 
 
 In 1792 a charter for this hospital was granted by gov- 
 ernment, and the managers were incorporated as the 
 " Guardians and Governors of the Charitable Infirmary, 
 Jervis street. ' ' Upon the present board there are no medi- 
 cal men. The building has a plain brick exterior. It 
 contains a reception room, board room, lecture room, and 
 six wards, capable of containing seventy patients. This 
 hospital was, until about thirteen years ago, served by 
 the usual class of hospital nurses, under charge of a ma- 
 tron. The medical men were by no means satisfied with 
 their mode of service. The patients were neglected, the 
 hospital was extremely dirty, and it was resolved that the 
 Sisters of Mercy should be asked to undertake the nurs- 
 ing ; and the request was made and granted. A certain 
 number of Sisters were sent from the convent in Baggofc 
 street, and a few small and inconvenient rooms, but well 
 separated from the rest of the hospital, were allotted to 
 them, and the Sisters began their work. In a very short 
 time cleanjiness and order reigned throughout the place 
 — the patients were made comfortable, and the doctors 
 
42 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 found that their orders were carried out. Stimulants 
 now went down the patients' throats instead of those of 
 their nurses, and all that careful nursing could do to al- 
 leviate suffering was performed. Jervis street Hospital 
 is chiefly used for " accidents," and other surgical cases, 
 and there are few under medical treatment. The house 
 is not well suited for an hospital— the top wards being far 
 too low and not very capable of sufficient ventilation. I 
 understand it is the intention of the governors to build a 
 new hospital shortly. The Sisters are able to do much 
 for the souls of their patients, taking care to instruct the 
 ignorant — to teach them to suffer patiently and to turn 
 their thoughts to the God they have forgotten in their 
 time of health. More than once a wedding has taken 
 place, in the little chapel, between those whom sickness 
 had led to repent of the past and desire to lead a Chris- 
 tian life for the future. 
 
 The second branch of the Sisters of Mercy is at the 
 Mater Misericordiae Hospital, the chief Catholic hospital 
 of Dublin, and one which bids fair to become equal in 
 importance to any in Europe. The idea of its creation 
 originated with the Sisters of Mercy, who, not contented 
 with being ready to devote their labor to its care contri- 
 buted £10,000 towards its expenses. They then under- 
 took the arduous task of begging, and obtained from the 
 public £17,000. With this sum a portion of the hospi- 
 tal was built and furnished. The Sisters of Mercy took 
 possession of it in 1861, and receive about a hundred 
 patients. In Dr. Bristowe's report to government on the 
 hospitals of the United Kingdom, the following mention 
 is made : — 
 
 " The Mater Misericordise Hospital, founded in the 
 year 1861 by the Sisters of Mercy, and as yet incomplete, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 43 
 
 lies to the north of Dublin, on the confines of the town ; 
 it occupies an elevated site, and is surrounded by large 
 open spaces. On the score of salubrity, the site seems 
 wholly unobjectionable. 
 
 " The hospital when complete, will form a quadrangular 
 building, and will hold, we believe, about 500 beds. At 
 present the anterior portion only is in existence. This is a 
 handsome symmetrical three-floored building, presenting 
 on each floor a corridor at the back, extending from end 
 to end, with wards and other rooms opening out of it in 
 front, and with staircase, operating rooms, and offices 
 (forming a compact block), extending from its central 
 part backwards. 
 
 ###### 
 
 " The hospital is kept scrupulously clean, and its ven- 
 tilation, and indeed all its internal arrangements, seem 
 admirable. Patients are admitted without any recom- 
 mendation other than the fitness of the case for admis- 
 sion, and all classes of disease are eligible, except infec- 
 tious fevers. 
 
 " This hospital promises, in our opinion, to be, when 
 complete, one of the finest hospitals in Europe. It is 
 built on the corridor plan ; but the distribution of corri- 
 dors, and wards, and beds, is such as entirely to neutral- 
 ise any ill effects that could possibly flow from the adop- 
 tion of this plan, while all the advantages that spacious, 
 cheerful, well-ventilated corridors afford, are thoroughly 
 secured."* 
 
 During the year 1866, 1,100 patients passed through 
 the wards of this hospital, and 3,491 were treated as out 
 
 * Report to Government on the Hospitals of the United Kingdom. By 
 J. S. Bristowe, M. D. 
 
44 IKISH HOMES AND 
 
 patients. In the autumn of that same year Dublin was 
 visited by the terrible scourge of cholera. The hospital 
 instantly opened its doors to the victims, a certain num- 
 ber of wards were set apart for them, and 2G6 patients 
 were received and well cared for. At all hours of the 
 day and night the Sisters and medical men were ready to 
 take them in, and the tenderest and most vigilant care 
 was bestowed on them. It fell to the task of one Sister 
 to compose the limbs and shroud the bodies of more than 
 one hundred victims of this terrible disease. In common 
 with the other hospitals of which I have been writing, 
 immense spiritual good is wrought within these walls. 
 Kind and gentle words make a great impression on the 
 careless ; the example of self-devotion they see before 
 their eyes tends to strengthen it. If they are murmur- 
 ing under their poverty and sickness, they see those born 
 to comfort and luxury giving up all— imprisoning them- 
 selves within hospital walls — to wait on them ; and ad- 
 vice from such a quarter is more appreciated. Few Ca- 
 tholics leave the hospital without having approached the 
 sacraments. No distinction of creed is made in this hos- 
 pital, and Protestants are as tenderly cared for as the 
 rest, and freely allowed any ministration of their reli- 
 gion. " Whether the postulant be Catholic or Protest- 
 ant, Mahometan or Jew, he is God's work, made in his 
 Creator's image ; and the gate opens to him freely, with- 
 out a question as to his religious faith. He is not asked 
 to violate his conscience that he may receive relief. He 
 is not required to purchase his life at the price of his 
 apostacy. The name of charity is not desecrated by as- 
 sociation with sectarian intolerance. It is not made a 
 bait to corrupt or a sword to persecute wretches broken 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 45 
 
 down by disease to incapacity of resistance, and power- 
 less to help themselves."* 
 
 This is a pleasing contrast to another hospital which, 
 though standing in a Catholic country like Ireland, 
 denies admission to any priest within its walls even to 
 visit the dying, and has more than once turned out a 
 patient in his last extremity because he would not die 
 without the consolations of his faith. In a city where 
 such fearful bigotry can exist an hospital like the Mater 
 Misericordise is doubly needed. The hospital " has no 
 grant from the State or permanent income from any 
 other source. It is dependent entirely on public benev- 
 olence for support. During the past year a sum of 
 £3,818 was voluntarily bestowed, and every shilling re- 
 ceived has gone directly to the relief of the patients. 
 The Sisters of Mercy are no charge whatever on the 
 Mater Misericordise Hospital, being supported out of the 
 funds of their own community. Of the £3,818 received 
 last year, £1,851 was realized by a bazaar. One thou- 
 sand pounds has been lodged towards the creation of a 
 fund for the completion of the unfinished wing of the 
 building. Nine years ago that wing was erected to the 
 height of twenty-one feet, but the work was necessarily 
 stopped for want of funds." The hospital being now 
 out of debt, efiorts are being made to complete this wing. 
 In it "a fever ward, which is much needed, will be 
 supplied, and it is hoped that by the addition of more 
 than two hundred beds the hospital will be enabled to 
 accommodate three hundred patients." 
 
 The Mater Misericordise and also St. Vincent's Hos- 
 pital have been founded upon the mediaeval system. They 
 are the property of a religious order, which is alone 
 
 * Speech of Bight Hon. Judge O'Hagan. 
 
46 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 responsible for their management, and to whom alms for 
 their support are committed. In modern times hospitals 
 have fallen under the management of "committees" 
 and "boards of directors," or "governors." The Sis- 
 ters of Mercy, feeling the magnitude and importance of 
 their undertaking, and considering the large sum of 
 public money committed to their keeping, have resolved 
 to amalgamate the two systems. They have, therefore, 
 called to their aid a committee or " council " of the lead- 
 ing Catholic gentlemen of Dublin, to whom the accounts 
 of the hospital are thrown open, and whose advice and 
 co-opera*tion are gratefully received. It is from their 
 first annual report that the above quotations are taken, 
 and the council further add : ' ' Annexed to this report is 
 a statement of the receipts and expenditures for the past 
 twelve months. We cannot conclude without expressing 
 our admiration of the good order and cleanliness of the 
 hospital. The admirable manner in which it is kept, 
 and the clear and accurate system of accounts have given 
 us the greatest satisfaction, and reflect the highest credit 
 on the Sisters of Mercy." 
 
 When we reflect that so large a portion of the funds 
 was contributed by the Sisters of Mercy themselves, and 
 that the expenses even of their own support are not 
 charged upon the funds, we must confess that this chal- 
 lenge of public inspection and criticism is the very op- 
 posite of that narrowness of spirit with which religious 
 are, and often unjustly, accused. Speaking of this hos- 
 pital, Judge O'Hagan adds : "The contribution of the 
 Sisters of Mercy was very great indeed. And this they 
 offered that they might open for themselves a new field 
 of labor— made terrible by mephitic vapours and the 
 groans of tortured men — and bringing them into fearful 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 47 
 
 contact with pestilence and death. And, since the hos- 
 pital was established, they have been its only nurses. 
 They have ministered, with their own bands, to its suf- 
 fering inmates — repelled by no tbrm of disease, however 
 loathsome, and declining no office, however mean, so that 
 they might mitigate a pang or speed a soul more peace- 
 fully to heaven ! And all this they have done grauitous- 
 ly, not merely receiving no stipend for their services, but 
 maintaining themselves from their own resources, and not 
 taxing even for their food the funds of the hospital in 
 which they toil unceasingly to the extent of a single far- 
 thing. Surely this is admirable, and not less admirable 
 too the rule by which they open their doors, at all times 
 and under all circumstances, to every human beiug who 
 needs their help, without let or hindrance. Suffering is 
 the sole condition of its own relief. It requires no pass- 
 port from wealth or rank. It is subjected to no cold and 
 jealous scrutiny. There is no fear that a human creature 
 shall perish at the door, whilst those within deliberate on 
 the propriety of his admission." 
 
 The Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, speaking of the 
 Mater Misericordise, said : " I recollect that when it was 
 proposed to commence this hospital there was a difference 
 of opinion about the merits of the plan according to 
 which it is now partially erected. Some said that the 
 proposed building would be too expensive, that it would 
 be too grand for the poor, and that it would be better to 
 erect an humble and less ornamental structure, which 
 would be more in harmony with the miserable normal 
 condition of our poor. Having been consulted on the 
 question, 1 declared in favor of the present plan. We 
 have palace3 for guilt — we have palaces for force — we 
 have palaces for legalized want, in which what is called 
 
48 IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 pauperism is dealt with according to the principles of an 
 unfeeling political economy. "Why, then, should we not 
 have at least one palace for the poor, in which poverty 
 would be relieved in a true spirit of charity and accord- 
 ing to the dictates of the Gospel ? Such palaces are met 
 with under the name of Alberghi or Ospizi de Poveri, in 
 Naples and Genoa, Rome and Paris. Why should not 
 Dublin show its respect for true poverty by imitating the 
 good example given by other cities ? The Sisters of 
 Mercy, acting according to the spirit of their institute, 
 determined to adopt the plan best calculated to elevate 
 and ennoble poverty, and they have been most successful 
 in erecting an hospital which does credit to their good 
 taste, and is a great ornament to the city/' 
 
 In the conception and progress of this great work 
 there presided a guiding spirit — one of those rare char- 
 acters from whom "great" actions may be expected — 
 and it is her principle, which was here strenuously car- 
 ried out, that those who labor for God's glory should 
 strain every effort to let their work equal, even if it can- 
 not excel, the deeds of those who toil for an earthly re- 
 ward. 
 
 The third branch house of the Sisters of Mercy in 
 Dublin is connected with one of the most important 
 institutions in Ireland — the Prison Refuge at Golden 
 Bridge. 
 
 It was in Ireland that the problem how to reform our 
 female criminals was first solved, and it is mainly owing 
 to the Sisters of Mercy that the solution was accom- 
 plished. The reformation of a female prisoner has long 
 been acknowledged to be a harder task than that of a 
 male — indeed, many have deemed it impossible. She has 
 sinned more against the instincts of her better nature, 
 
IPJSH HEARTS. 49 
 
 the consequences of her crime have had a more harden- 
 ing effect upon her, but, above all, the absence of hope 
 has a fatal effect on her character. And this despair is 
 really not much to be wondered at. If a poor woman 
 endure her sentence patiently, and keep the prison rules, 
 6he goes out at the end of her imprisonment with very 
 little prospect for the future, save that of fresh dishon- 
 esty. What is to become of her ? She has no character. 
 Who will employ a discharged prisoner? The sharp 
 witticism of Dr. Whately, that he who employed a con- 
 vict servant would soon have no spoons left in the house 
 but himself, is an article of faith to the vast majority of 
 people, and nobody feels himself bound to risk losing his 
 plate, or his other household gods. For men there are a 
 dozen modes of hard, rough, out-door employment to 
 which they can turn ; but take away from a woman do- 
 mestic service, charing, and laundry work, and there is 
 nothing left to her but wretched needle-work, at which 
 even respectable women can hardly earn their bread. It 
 must seem almost like a mockery to speak to a poor pri- 
 soner of the mercy of God, when the mercy of her fellow- 
 creatures is so sternly withheld. For many years past 
 the Sisters of Mercy have been permitted to visit the 
 female prisoners at Mountjoy Prison, the principal and 
 strongest prison in Ireland, and one which is now toD 
 familiar to us, from its association with the Fenian pri- 
 soners. 
 
 Here the Sisters exercise a most beneficial influence 
 over the miserable inmates. They instruct them together 
 in class, and it is a rule that no prison official shall be 
 present. Yet this class often consists of wild, desperate 
 women, with great physical strength and easily-roused 
 passions. The matron of Mountjoy described to us once 
 4 
 
50 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 how standing in a prisoner's cell, with an immense bunch 
 of keys in her hand, she suddenly perceived that the 
 woman was about to spring upon her, in which case the 
 keys would have been sent with all their force against 
 her head. Just in time the matron, a strong, vigorous 
 woman, knocked her assailant down, and thus saved her 
 own life. Among such as these the Sisters move fear- 
 lessly, and have never had to suffer. Even the wild din 
 of tongues issuing from those kept all day, and many a 
 day, in enforced silence, is hushed by the uplifted finger 
 or the gentle tones of a Sister of Mercy. Great good 
 was therefore to be expected from placing these women 
 for the concluding part of their sentence in a refuge un- 
 der the sole care of these Sisters. The proposition was 
 made to the superioress in April, 1856, and in a few days 
 only she was ready to begin the work. 
 
 Before passing to the Refuge, I must say a word about 
 Mountjoy Prison, although 1 do not wish to reckon it 
 among the " Irish homes " that I have visited. It stands 
 at the north of Dublin, in an open, airy situation. It is 
 a prison for men and women, the two compartments being 
 of course entirely distinct. The head matron of the fe- 
 male prison is a person of very superior attainments. A 
 lady by birth and education, she does not content herself 
 with merely doing her duty, but throws all the powers of 
 her mind and heart into the work. She evidently desires 
 the real reformation of the prisoners, and gives her cor- 
 dial co-operation to the efforts of the Sisters of Mercy. 
 Her subordinates are carefully chosen, and are influenced 
 by the excellent qualities of their superior. It is a dis- 
 mal occupation to take a walk through Mountjoy ; the 
 long white corridors and walls unrelieved by a patch of 
 color ; narrow iron staircases running here and there to 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 51 
 
 upper stories and galleries ; long rows of cells, with 
 closely locked doors, and a little window in the middle 
 through which the matron can peep, or the prisoner make 
 any necessary want known. Pacing up and down a cor- 
 ridor containing a number of those cells, is a matron 
 dressed in black, whose countenance and manner show 
 you she is firm, resolute, patient, and prepared for emer- 
 gencies. Here she must stay an allotted number of 
 hours, till her watch is over, and she is relieved by an- 
 other officer. 
 
 The next class of prisoners are allowed the luxury of 
 having their cell door open, and thus seeing all that 
 passes, in the occasional passage of a matron, or some 
 other official ; yet this slight break in the dread monoto- 
 ny of solitary confinement is valued , and looked on as a 
 reward. We went to the school where prisoners attend 
 in detachments for one hour per day. This is one of their 
 greatest enjoyments, and its deprivation, therefore, is 
 used as a punishment for certain offences. It was curious 
 to see women of every age, even to the grey-haired, 
 standing in classes with spelling-books, like so many 
 children, many of them able to learn but little, but eager 
 and interested in the employment, which broke the mon- 
 otony of their days, and gave them some new ideas. 
 Women in the advanced classes of prison life work in a 
 common room, then pass to the laundry, and other em- 
 ployments in the prison. Through all these stages they 
 must pass, and behave well in each before they can enter 
 the Refuge ; it is intended strictly as a reward for good 
 conduct, and the hope of getting there, the hope for the 
 future, is the star that rises on the dark night ol their 
 despair and recklessness, and leads them on to exertion. 
 The Sisters, in their visits to the prison, are able to learn 
 
52 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 the character of the women, and this is an immense help 
 to them in the management of the Refuge. 
 
 I visited the chapels of the prison, both Catholic and 
 Protestant. The male prisoners are on one side, the fe- 
 male on the other. There are three chapels in Mountjoy, 
 Catholic, Established Church, and Presbyterian, and 
 each has its chaplain. The Catholics are so numerous 
 as to require the services of two priests. We need hardly 
 say that the Catholics in Mountjoy and all Irish prisons 
 are in an overwhelming majority over the Protestants ; ' 
 yet for the small minority ample religious provision is 
 made, while in England for the large masses of Catholic 
 prisoners, because they happen to profess a faith differ- 
 ent from that of the State religion, in many prisons very 
 little or no religious provision is made. The most 
 affecting sight in Mountjoy was the infant school. There 
 are collected together the poor little creatures whose 
 mothers are in jail. Some were sleeping in their cots, 
 others toddling about the floor, others a little older learn- 
 ing their letters. They were clean and nicely cared for, 
 and looked happy enough ; many of them very pretty, 
 and all with the innnocent baby faces which appeal to 
 every heart. Poor little beings, what a straDge fate is 
 theirs ! there for a brief space sheltered from the storm, 
 "but soon to go out and make experience of life in its 
 roughest, bitterest aspect. How soon from many of 
 them the innocence of childhood will be snatched ! Per- 
 haps raging in some of the cells above, or in the " pun- 
 ishment cells," tearing about like wild beasts, were the 
 mothers of some of them, to whom their future training 
 would be committed. 1 know not how any one could 
 look at these rosy, smiling faces, without shedding tears ; 
 it is at least a merciful arrangement which permits their 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 53 
 
 being cared for during these few years, and taught holy 
 lessons which may linger as fragments in the memories 
 of some. 
 
 Nothing strikes a visitor to Golden Bridge Refuge 
 more than the un-prison life look of the place. It is a 
 striking contrast to the great formidable-looking military 
 barrack opposite to it. A wooden gate leads into the 
 domain, and on each side of the gate is a building, that 
 on the right a disused Protestant church ; on the left 
 the schools ; for the Sisters add on to their prison work 
 schools for the poor children in the neighborhood. 
 
 Golden Bridge is a little way out of Dublin, on the 
 Inchicore Road, but it lies in the midst of a large and 
 poor population. The house is by no means suited for 
 the purpose, and immense pains, contrivance, and perse- 
 verance were needed to enable the Sisters to receive pris- 
 oners there at all — out-houses, lofts, and sheds have been 
 converted into dormitories and work rooms, while money 
 has been collected, and large, fine laundries built. But 
 what cannot be done by the right person in the right 
 place ? and fortunately for the prisoners the order of the 
 Sisters of Mercy possessed among its members one whose 
 qualities of head and heart rendered her pre-eminently 
 suited for the undertaking. I cannot speak of Mother 
 Mary Magdalene, or Mrs. Kirwan (as she is generally 
 called), as I would, because she is still among us, and to 
 those who have done, and are doing great deeds, praise 
 sounds like an impertinence ; it is sufficient to say that 
 she has made the Refuge what it is — a success ; she has 
 " redeemed multitudes of women, and redeemed them 
 permanently to virtue, society, and God." She has 
 touched " seared consciences, and softened flinty hearts."* 
 * Speech of Bignt Honorable Judge O'Hagan, 
 
54 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Hundreds of women who would have spent their time in 
 Mountjoy Prison in a state of chronic rebellion and pas- 
 sion, engendered by despair, and gone out worse than 
 they came in, more ready to sin against society and to 
 break the laws of God, have struggled through their 
 prison life, done well at the Refuge, and are now earning 
 their bread respectably, the past forgiven and forgotten. 
 And though these latter are rare, there have been more 
 consoling cases still where the repentance has been of 
 that depth and fervor which reminds us forcibly of the 
 great pattern of penitents, to whom much was forgiven 
 because of her great love and contrition. Many of the 
 prisoners are not fallen women, and one of them who 
 had unhappily lost her good name, although indeed she 
 had been more "sinned against than sinniDg," wept 
 with many and bitter tears over her lost innocence, hum- 
 bling herself in spirit infinitely below her companions. — 
 11 Ah! Rev. mother, if 1 were but like the others !" she 
 would say, and thankfully accepted the hardship of her 
 lot as a deserved and salutary penance. 
 
 A girl, whom we will call Mary, was left an orphan at 
 twelve years of age with a little brother. They had an 
 aunt who offered to take the girl provided she deserted 
 her brother. This she refused, and the two children 
 wandered about the country all but starving. At last 
 Ihey stole some trifling thing and were sent to prison for 
 a short time, but long enough for the tide of evil to flow 
 over them. They came out much worse than they went 
 in. Mary lost her innocence, and was again and again 
 committed for theft ; at last she fortunately received a 
 sentence for seven years, and after spending nearly four 
 in prison came to the Refuge. There she learnt to sor- 
 row truly for the past, and her conduct was so satisfao 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 55 
 
 t3ry that the Sisters placed her in service in Dublin, in 
 the house of one of those charitable ladies who are willing 
 to help on the good work by giving these poor creatures 
 a trial. Here she remained two years, and at their close 
 received an offer of marriage from a respectable brick- 
 layer well able to keep her ; but she would not accept 
 him till Mother Magdalene had seen him and approved 
 of the match. This being done, all seemed going well, 
 when one day Mary appeared before the Mother flushed 
 and agitated. " I want you, ma'am, to tell Dennis 
 everything about me ; 1 could not deceive him ; I could 
 not marry him unless he knows all, and 1 don't know 
 how he will take it." Mary went out and in came Den- 
 nis, not at all over-pleased to find there was any hitch in 
 his love affairs. " What do you know of Mary?" said 
 the Superioress. " Everything that is good, ma'am," 
 answered Dennis warmly ; " what have you to say 
 against her?" "Nothing," replied the nun; "and 
 what she has now bid me do raises her in my estimation, 
 but she wishes you to know she was once a convict at 
 Golden Bridge." " I know that, ma'am," said he with 
 
 much feeling; " the housemaid at Mrs. found 
 
 it out and told it to me, thinking to turn me from Mary, 
 but I have never spoken to her since, I thought it was so 
 mean ; and as for Mary, 1 think more highly of her than 
 ever." They were married, and at a year's end Mary 
 died in giving birth to her first child. Almost her last 
 thought of earth was to see again the loved face of the 
 nun who had indeed been a true friend and mother to 
 her. Dennis came afterwards to Mother Magdalene 
 weeping bitterly over his loss. " Oh, ma'am," said he, 
 " she was a wife for a prince, beautiful and so gentle; 
 all the people in the house we lodged in respected her, 
 
56 IKISH HOMES ANT) 
 
 though she spoke to no one but me. After our marriage 
 she could not rest till she had told me the history of her 
 life, but I never cast a thought on it after." Another 
 girl in her early youth had been betrayed and deserted ; 
 she wandered about with her baby begging ; falling into 
 the hands of an abandoned woman she was persuaded to 
 desert her baby, and take to theft and evil courses. She 
 allowed the tempter to take the baby from her arms, and 
 then she followed her bad counsel ; but a perpetual re- 
 morse haunted her, and she strove to drown it in reckless 
 sin. She came to the Refuge ; repentance began to do 
 its work, and her sorrow was deep and overwhelming. 
 She behaved very well, and on leaving was respectably 
 placed in America. Friends, home, honest earnings, a 
 good name were again hers ; but still she heard that 
 feeble wail, still she felt the last pressure of that little 
 burden on her bosom, and though she went thankfully, 
 patiently about her work, she said there would be a 
 shadow over her to the end of her days. 
 
 Strange and romantic indeed are many and many of 
 the histories which have come to the ears of the Sisters 
 in this. Refuge ; these lives have often been tragedies 
 acted in secret, and would outdo the plot of any sensa- 
 tional novel. One who knows the Refuge well thus wrote 
 of its inmates and others like tbem : — 
 
 Did each her dark wrongs untold, 
 Well might our blood run cold- 
 Love believed, 
 Love deceived, 
 Anguish and wrath ; 
 Sad mothers bemoaning them, 
 Brothers disowning them; 
 Cast away, 
 Fast they stray 
 Down by sin's path. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 57 
 
 Not harshly abusing them, 
 No, nor ill-using them, 
 
 Saddening some, 
 
 Maddening some, 
 Makes them amend. 
 Instruct them to pray instead, 
 Earning pure daily bread; 
 
 Bear with them, 
 
 Share with them— 
 He will befriend. 
 
 Poor outcasts ! for peace they sigh, 
 Sure 'twere lelease to die. 
 
 Who shall say, 
 
 Such as they 
 Mercy ne'er found ? 
 'T were hard all their woes to tell, 
 Christ alone knows it well; 
 
 Judge no more, 
 
 Once before 
 He wroto on the ground. 
 
 Placing out the prisoners when they leave is the chief 
 care of the nuns ; it is the completion of their work, 
 without which all the previous labor would be wasted ; 
 and it is not easy. A prisoner who has done well during 
 her prison term has earned money which makes her a 
 prize for the moment to her "pals" and former evil 
 companions. A girl who had been convicted of sheep 
 stealing and committed to prison in Cork, there made 
 acquaintance with two bad women, and on her being 
 sent to Mountjoy, made a bargain with her friends to 
 call for her as soon as her sentence should have expired. 
 "When sent to the Refuge she was found to be deceitful 
 and cunning, and little hope was entertained of her re- 
 formation. But a change passed over her, and she came 
 to Mother Magdalene to tell her story, and asked to be 
 saved from her prison acquaintances. She was sent to 
 America, where she was found to have respectable 
 
58 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 friends ; and when at the appointed time the two women 
 came faithfully to fulfil their pledge (for when did Satan 
 ever forget his appointments ?) it was with no little ju- 
 bilation of heart that the Sisters told them she whom 
 they sought was gone away. The enquirers seemed 
 greatly astonished at the news. In America this girl did 
 well, and wrote grateful letters. Against dangers such 
 as she was exposed to the nuns have to guard many, and 
 they have to provide employment for their charges suited 
 to their characters and capabilities. Many emigrate, and 
 as the Sisters of Mercy have convents in most of the colo- 
 nies, they are sent to these by the Sisters from the Re- 
 fuge, and thus find friends and helpers in a strange 
 land. 
 
 Mother Magdalene's influence over the prisoners is 
 unbounded : a result not so much to be wondered at, 
 because she is one of those beings on whom the gift of 
 influence has been bestowed ; and the intellectual and 
 the refined cannot resist its spell. And all the powers 
 of a mind fitted to shine pre-eminently in the most 
 accomplished circles are exerted to win the confidence 
 and direct aright the character of these poor outcasts. 
 One of them was sent to service at a great distance from 
 Dublin ; she behaved very well and remained a quarter ; 
 at its end her wages were paid, and she was allowed 
 a day's holiday. She took a return ticket for Dublin, 
 and presented herself at the convent. She^bad exactly 
 one hour to spare before she had to return to the station, 
 and the price of the ticket had swallowed up nearly all 
 her earnings ; but she was quite contented, having 
 accomplished the object of her journey, which was, she 
 said to Mother Magdalene, ll to have a good look at you, 
 ma'am ;" and when remonstrated with by the Mother for 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 59 
 
 spending her money on so transient a pleasure when she 
 might have done other things with it, bought a useful book 
 for instance, replied, " And sure, ma'am, I mean to do 
 it again." After all was it so very transient? If there 
 are " sermons in stones " what lessons may not be read 
 from the faces of those we reverence — lessons which may 
 linger in the memory and aid us in the hour of trial. 
 
 For a long time the two employments of the prisoners 
 were washing and needlework, but Mrs. Kirwan con- 
 stantly regretted that she was not able to vary these. 
 Some women are not suited or strong enough for laundry 
 work ; and then the long monotony of " stitch, stitch, 
 stitch," is very trying and very hard for them, and tends 
 to keep up that dwelling on self, and reverting to the 
 past, which it is the aim of the Sisters to prevent. Jn 
 the course of 1866, Mrs. Kirwan ventured on a little 
 experiment, and is attempting the weaving of lindsey. 
 No manufactories of this fabric exist in Ireland, all 
 lindsey, as well as most other articles of wear, is im- 
 ported ; and the people who blame the Irish for not 
 exerting themselves, would be the last to purchase home- 
 made goods. Mrs. Kirwan 's experiment is a very coura- 
 geous one, for it cannot be made without much expense. 
 A manufactory had to be fitted up, looms purchased, 
 and weavers engaged for a certain time to teach the art. 
 When I visited the Refuge several looms were in opera- 
 tion, worked by the prisoners, and various bales of lind- 
 sey manufactured by them were ready for inspection ; 
 it seemed very well made, and as good as what would be 
 seen in a London shop. If this experiment should suc- 
 ceed, it will not have to trust entirely to the mercy 
 of the public, for the Dublin Sisters of Mercy, with their 
 five branch houses, and the various institutions under 
 
60 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 their charge, are consumers of a great deal of lindsey 
 which might be supplied from their own looms. At all 
 events the employment has had an excellent effect on 
 the women; the work interests them, and they labor 
 away with good will. Passing through the laundries we 
 saw two pretty little children, whose mothers were among 
 the prisoners. When a prisoner with a child is sent to 
 the Refuge, the child comes also, and the mother can see 
 it at the intervals of her work, and this must have a 
 humanizing and softening effect on the poor creatures. 
 It must be remembered that the whole cost of this Refuge 
 is by no means defrayed by the Government ; it allows 
 only five shillings per week for each convict. Out of this, 
 and the small profit arising from the prisoners' labor, 
 every expense has to be met. The erection of the laun- 
 dries cost a large sum ; the Sisters borrowed it at the 
 usual rate of interest, and have to pay off the principal. 
 All this anxiety, responsibility and burden falls on them, 
 in addition to the heavy cares of the Refuge itself. There 
 is an erroneous idea in Ireland that institutions under 
 Government do not need further help — on the contrary, 
 tbey often need it more than others, for it would be a 
 grievous thing if the help that Government offers had to 
 be refused for lack of the necessary funds to meet it. 
 After the Golden Bridge Refuge was in operation, 
 a Protestant one was opened, which contains about a 
 dozen prisoners. The Government extend the same help 
 to it as to the Catholic, and in this respect there is no 
 cause for complaint ; and as far as the Refuges are 
 concerned, all creeds are treated by Government with 
 perfect justice and fairness. Before leaving the Refuge 
 1 visited the schools, divided from it by a long strip of 
 grass land. Several hundred children attend this school, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 61 
 
 and as the population around is extremely poor, an 
 industrial school is added to the literary ones. The 
 Protestant church on the other side is an absurd object, 
 being utterly empty and disused; there would be no 
 difficulty in the Sisters purchasing it, except that by law 
 a building belonging to the Established Church must 
 remain as it is, whether there be a congregation or not, 
 and when it is not of the slightest use to any mortal. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 On the opposite side of Dublin to Portobello, near the 
 beautiful cemetery of Glasnevin, is the Blind Asylum for 
 boys and men. The door was open to us by a Brother 
 in the Carmelite dress, but both dress and Brother were 
 so dirty we thought he had come to the door by mistake. 
 He showed us into a small parlor, where we found a poor 
 little blind boy, whom his father had brought, waiting in 
 hopes of admission. 
 
 Presently in came the superior, but, alas ! there was 
 little improvement in his appearance from that of the 
 porter. He was, however, most pleasant and good 
 natured in his manner, and quite willing we should see 
 the institution. TTe went first into the shop where the 
 articles made by the blind are arranged. Few are sold 
 on the premises, for the asylum is quite out of Dublin, 
 and I should imagine has few visitors. They are bought, 
 however, by shops, and thus employment is afforded to 
 the boys. There was a great array of brushes, mats, and 
 baskets of all kinds, and they looked very well made. 
 Two workmen are employed in the institution to teach 
 the blind and superintend their work. We were then 
 shown into a large, desolate-looking sort of barn, abso- 
 
62 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 lutely bare of furniture, except that at the extreme end 
 was a piano. A gentleman "was seated at it, and a few 
 of the blind boys ware standing round him taking a 
 music lesson, We went to the basket department, where 
 we found other blind boys making coarse baskets and 
 hampers, and this, our guide told us, was all that was to 
 be seen. 
 
 The whole place was very dirty and disorderly, the 
 blind inmates were dirty and untidy, and had an uncared- 
 for look, as if in the hands of those who did not under- 
 stand their management. We noticed with pain the 
 contrast between the blind boys and girl3 ; the latter so 
 thoroughly trained to exert their faculties, and do all 
 they can to help themselves. They walk about with an 
 air of freedom and confidence, feeling sure they will be 
 guarded from all danger. The blind boys, even those 
 who had been ten years in the house, stumbled here and 
 there, literally groping their way, and showing very 
 plainly that their capabilities had never been drawn out, 
 or their education as blind persons attended to. And, 
 of course, it is not every one or every religious order that 
 is suited to this important work. The teachers must 
 themselves not only learn, but possess qualities suited to 
 the task. No doubt the Carmelite brothers have the 
 kindest and best intentions towards their afflicted charges, 
 and we heard from good authority that the moral train- 
 ing of the institution is excellent, but they do not give a 
 visitor the impression of being suited for the difficult 
 and arduous task entrusted to them. We came away 
 wondering that in the diocese of Dublin such an asylum 
 was suffered to exist without reform. 
 
 Not very far from Glasnevin, on the Cabra Road, is an 
 institution which forms a striking contrast to the one 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 63 
 
 we have juet mentioned. It is the Home for Deaf and 
 Dumb Boys, under the charge of the Christian Brothers. 
 The building is a large and handsome one, standing on 
 rising ground, with a large open space surrounding it. 
 Fortunately we arrived there just before school broke 
 up, and found the large schoolrooms filled with silent 
 and attentive scholars. The Brother accompanying us 
 questioned the different classes as we passed along. The 
 question was written on the black board with chalk, and 
 the boys answered on their slates with remarkable ce- 
 lerity. It was curious to see how they watched their 
 teacher's face, and how one word or a sign was sufficient 
 for them ; the rest was read from the countenance of 
 the Brother. From the school-rooms we passed into the 
 workshops, where different trades are taught the boys, 
 each superintended by a skilled workman. We visited 
 the tailor's department, and then the shoemaker's, and 
 in these a certain number of boys learn to make their 
 own clothes and shoes. From thence we passed to the 
 bakery, where some of the boys help to make the bread 
 of the establishment ; and lastly, we visited the printing 
 office, where the foreman showed us specimens of very 
 fair printing indeed done by the deaf-mutes. There is 
 always plenty of employment for them in this line, as 
 the Christian Brothers, who are a numerous body in 
 Ireland, publish their own school books, and have many 
 of them printed here. By the time we had seen the 
 shops the boys had finished school, and rushed out into 
 the playground, where they ran about, and occasionally 
 made an uncouth noise. They never, however, said the 
 Brother, play with the joyousness of other boys. They 
 are cheerful and happy, but have a gravity beyond their 
 years. The brother showed ua the large garden, well 
 
64 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 planted with flowers and vegetables. Here a fewat»a 
 time can always be trusted ; they seem to have no turn 
 for running over the beds, or doing any mischief. Few 
 have any taste for gardening, but they have a great 
 belief in the efficacy of fresh air, and when they complain 
 of some slight illness like to be allowed a walk in the 
 garden. There they will be seen pacing up and down 
 the gravel paths like grave old men, and after a little 
 while they return to school " quite well." The trades 
 which the boys are taught are made quite a secondary 
 object as compared with the school work. They were, 
 in fact, added on after the asylum had been for some 
 time in the hands of the Brothers. For these religious 
 were not content with looking after and teaching the 
 boys, they studied them, and they found it would be an 
 excellent thing to create some employment which should 
 fill up spare hours and interest them, besides giving 
 them assistance towards earning their bread when they 
 leave. Playtime is not to them the entire relaxation it 
 is to other boys, and the most common temptation to 
 deaf-mutes would be to plot and conspire among them- 
 selves if left too much to their unoccupied thoughts. 
 For the freemasonry of a deaf-mute is unlimited. The 
 most vigilant teacher, well trained in the language of 
 the deaf and dumb, can never be a match for boys who 
 can carry on their conversations in silence and with the 
 utmost celerity. The trades were introduced, and a 
 most excellent effect has resulted from them. The boys 
 are occupied, interested, happy, and contented, and try 
 to prepare themselves for earning their Own bread. ' ' But 
 school work is by far the most important for them," 
 insisted and repeated the Brother; " to be able to com- 
 municate with their fellow-creatures is the main point 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 65 
 
 for them. " Reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geog- 
 raphy, and in some cases a little drawing, are gene- 
 rally the whole of their attainments ; and a course of 
 ten years is usually required before this can be fully 
 acquired. It is difficult for those not acquainted with 
 deaf-mutes to understand the immense labor required to 
 teach boys to whom sound has no meaning. 
 
 After passing through the dormitories, which are large, 
 lofty and airy, we entered a small room called the study, 
 where the elder and more advanced boys come to read in 
 the evenings. I was surprised on taking up the books to 
 see in what simple language they were written ; and then 
 we discovered that when the deaf mute has learned to 
 read, the world of literature is by no means open to him. 
 A new word to him conveys no meaning. He can read 
 " banner," lor instance, as well as we can ; but till some 
 one shows him by signs what it is he is none the wiser, 
 and therefore his progress through the world of words is 
 necessarily slow. I asked if the boys were inclined to 
 be religious, and was answered in the affirmative. They 
 soon acquire a settled conviction that there is not much 
 chance of happiness for them in this world ; that most of 
 its enjoyments are shut out from them, and that they had 
 better try and secure the promises of the world to come. 
 They are always eager to approach the sacraments ; have 
 a very lively faith in the unseen world, and often talk of 
 heaven as the place where they shall for the first time 
 " speak and 6ing." Their fault is generally violent tem- 
 per, which vents itself oftener in spite and revenge, not 
 being able to express itself in outspoken fury. The care 
 of deaf-mutes is a far more arduous and depressing one 
 than that of the blind ; and we felt a deep admiration 
 when we saw these excellent Brothers, many of them 
 6 
 
66 IRISH HOMES AKD 
 
 young, clever and superior men, devoting themselves to 
 this laborious undertaking for the sole motive of the love 
 of God. 
 
 The blind are after all beings like ourselves, helpless by 
 a certain deprivation, and cut off from many of the plea- 
 sures of life, but with their other senses sharpened to an 
 extraordinary degree, often proficients in certain arts, 
 and able to enter into and understand all that passes 
 around them — affectionate relations, true and faithful 
 friends. The deaf-mutes are a race apart, a people within 
 a people, cut off from their fellow-creatures by a mysteri- 
 ous and impassable barrier. It is extraordinary to recol- 
 lect how many centuries were suffered to pass away before 
 any attempt was made to alleviate the condition of a deaf 
 mute. They were " separated from both God and man 
 by a law more immutable than that which divided the 
 leper from bis nation . ' ' Far too little known is the noble 
 man who though he " worked no miracle, yet taught the 
 deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. ' ? M. Sicard, in- 
 ventor of the language for the deaf and dumb, was bom 
 in 1742 and died in 1822. M. Carton, from whom we 
 quote the above words, remarks on the " infinite toil and 
 trouble " with which the deaf-mute must be taught. Ha 
 says, " it is the labor of a life, one-half at least of which 
 must be spent in learning how to give what the other 
 half is devoted to imparting." The grave necessity for 
 a deaf and dumb asylum may easily be perceived when 
 we learn that the census of 1863 gives 5,053 as the num- 
 ber of deaf-mutes in Ireland. The Cabra Asylum receives 
 two classes of inmates : first, the children of the poor; 
 and, secondly, the children of those who can ailbrd to 
 pay a small pension for their support. Little difference 
 is, however, made between the two classes ; the second 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 67 
 
 have a separate dormitory, a few extra comforts, and do 
 not work at the trades ; in all other respects they are on 
 the same footing as their poor companions. Their com- 
 mon misfortune has levelled almost every distinction of 
 rank. For the support of the poor boys, the Brothers 
 are quite dependent on alms ; and as this is the only 
 Catholic institution in the three kingdoms, it ought to be 
 better supported than it is, and either enlarged or similar 
 ones set on foot at other places. 
 
 There was perfect cleanliness and order in all parts of 
 the establishment, and a large allowance of fresh air. 
 We took leave of the kind and courteous Brother and left 
 the " Home for Deaf-mutes," heartily wishing that the 
 blind boys could enjoy the privilege of being under the 
 care of the excellent and intelligent Christian Brothers. 
 Their superior capability for the work over a single house 
 of Carmelite Friars is obvious. Many hundreds of them 
 are banded together under one superior-general, who can, 
 of course, choose the subjects most suited for each par- 
 ticular work ; added to this, every Brother is specially 
 trained for the work of educating the poor, and taught 
 to study their characters and to raise their tone. If their 
 attention were once drawn to the care of the blind, no 
 doubt we should soon have an asylum for boys equally 
 good as that for girls. 
 
 Upon the Glasnevin Road stands another large and 
 handsome building under the charge of these same 
 Brothers. It is an orphanage for boys, principally sup- 
 ported by the Association of the Brothers of St. Vincent 
 de Paul. It seemed to us to be in excellent order and 
 well managed, and, no doubt, is of great use in providing 
 a refuge for homeless and orphan boys. 
 
 About half a mile farther out of Dublin than the Home 
 
68 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 for the Deaf and Dumb Boys, we find a similar institu- 
 tion for girls, under the care of the Sisters of St. Domin- 
 ic ; they have also a school for young ladies. The build- 
 ing is not nearly so good a one as that for the boys, but 
 at the same time it is well adapted for its purpose. The 
 course of instruction for the deaf-mute girls is the same 
 as for the boys. Needlework, of course, is added in this 
 school. After having been a few moments in a deaf-mute 
 school, the silence becomes oppressive. What a hum and 
 murmur and stir of life would be heard among the chil- 
 dren of any other school ! but here these young creatures 
 stand silently in their places, while their speaking eyes 
 follow us about with an eager questioning glance, as if 
 we could bring them news from the world from which 
 they are for ever shut out. The communication of the 
 deaf-mutes with each other and their teachers is a mix- 
 ture of talking on the fingers and making signs. Their 
 prayers are entirely in the latter. We asked the Sister 
 in charge to let the children say a prayer before us, and 
 accordingly they said, or rather acted, the Paternoster 
 and Ave Maria. We were much struck by the extreme 
 reverence of their manner and the depth of meaning in 
 their gestures. " The Lord is with thee," every head 
 was bowed low upon the breast, a mute confession that 
 the Highest had come down to the lowly, the Creator to 
 the creature. The information the Sister (a fair, bright- 
 looking girl of nineteen) gave us about the children tal- 
 lied with that of the Christian Brothers ; the same faults, 
 difficulties and virtues characterize each sex. The Sister 
 told us that when she first was put in charge over the 
 children she could not imagine why the priest who came 
 to hear the children's confessions always sent for and con- 
 sumed a quantity of lucifer matches. At last she asked 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 69 
 
 the children why he wanted them. "Why, Sister, he 
 wants to burn our sins," was the instant reply ; and then 
 she found that all the children who could write preferred 
 making their confessions in writing instead of using their 
 peculiar language. A young deaf-and-dumb postulant 
 was teaching in the school. The Sisters trust she will 
 persevere, and that others among the deaf-mutes may 
 have a similar vocation. 
 
 In my walks in the Glasnevin direction I often turned 
 into the cemetery and wandered about its numerous al- 
 leys. A more beautiful cemetery 1 do not think could be 
 found, thickly planted with trees and shrubs, the paths 
 and graves most beautifully kept ; many of the monu- 
 ments are graceful and in good taste, and there are lew 
 of the hideous erections which disfigure the London 
 cemeteries. Within the cemetery rises a ' ' round tower," 
 but not " of other days," for it is a modem erection and 
 a memorial to Daniel CTConnell. Near it is the grave 
 of the " Liberator," a vault with an iron gate, to which 
 you descend by steps, and through which the coffin is 
 plainly to be seen. Offerings of flowers, eternelles and 
 laurel wreaths, freshly gathered, were lying around. 
 And no wonder. Surely there are faithful souls enough 
 to keep tokens ever fresh and green before the grave of 
 him whose great heart beat only for Ireland, without 
 thought of self ; who has lain down to rest worn out by 
 the long conflict for his loved country, but victorious, 
 even in his death, and leaving behind him an immortal 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of late years many of the foreign orders have found 
 their way to Ireland. The Irish orders had borne the 
 
70 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 brunt of the battle, had pioneered the way, and now 
 willingly welcomed fellow-laborers into the immense and 
 increasing harvest-field which lay before them. 
 
 The Sisters of St. Vincent of Paul, or Soeurs de Char- 
 ite, were accordingly invited to Dublin about a dozen 
 years ago, and they immediately responded to the call. 
 Their costume excited much attention , for the Irish Sis- 
 ters of Charity and Sisters of Mercy had always worn 
 black bonnets and cloaks when in the streets, and the 
 white " cornettes " of the French Sisters was a novel 
 sight. So strong an impression did it make on the Irish 
 mind, that in Dublin the Sisters of St. Vincent are gen- 
 erally spoken of as the "white bonnets." The Sisters 
 took possession of a large but ancient house in North 
 "William street, standing in a somewhat forlorn situation 
 on the banks of a canal. It had already been the home 
 for many years of two communities of enclosed nuns, 
 both of whom had migrated to more suitable quarters, 
 and the convent chapel had become the parish church. 
 This, however, was no obstacle to the establishment of 
 the Sisters of Charity, for, according to their holy rule, 
 " their chapel " was to be "the parish church." The 
 grated choir of the religious still remains, and is used by 
 the Sisters, who, to the eyes of those who know them in 
 other countries look strangely out of place, for " their 
 grating," said their holy founder, " was to be no other 
 than the fear of God." Joining on to the old and dingy- 
 looking convent of the Sisters, now stands a large hand- 
 some building in red brick, which forms the Orphanage 
 of the Sisters, and contains over a hundred orphan girls 
 of various ages. This building was raised and furnished 
 by funds principally provided by the commercial young 
 men of Dublin. The order of the Sisters of St. Vincent 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 71 
 
 seems to be a favorite one with them, and they deter- 
 mined that a suitable orphanage should be added on to 
 the convent. With great zeal and energy they organized 
 a large bazaar and raffle, took the whole management 
 into their bands, and realized so large a sum of money, 
 that the Sisters were able to buy the ground, and then 
 build the Orphanage. It is well built, and the arrange- 
 ments are excellent. Two large school-rooms are divided 
 off by folding doors, which, when occasion requires, can 
 be taken down, the rooms thrown together, thus forming 
 one really magnificent room. We visited the large dor- 
 mitories, the lavatory and linen room, and, finally, the 
 industrial school department, where the orphans are 
 taught needlework and artificial flower making. They 
 also do the work of the house, under the direction of the 
 Sisters, and are thus trained for servants. 
 
 Besides the Orphanage, the Sisters teach the parish 
 day schools, and visit a large number of sick and poor. 
 Happening to go there one Sunday, 1 found the Sisters 
 busy at work in a Sunday school, which was well filled, 
 especially by a class of girls who were not able to receive 
 instruction in the week. 
 
 At no great distance from North William street, the 
 high road leads us to the quiet suburb of Richmond, con- 
 sisting of green fields and lanes, with detached houses 
 and cottages next them. Before the high green wooden 
 gates of one of the houses we paused, and the door being 
 unlocked by a porter, we made our way up the short 
 avenue to a small neat villa, with a garden on one side, 
 and large grounds at the rear. At the extreme end of 
 these grounds, on rising ground, stood a large, newly- 
 built house, with windows from which it would not have 
 been easy for anyone to make their exit, and this, we 
 
72 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 were told, was the asylum, containing sixty lunatics, un- 
 der the charge of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. I 
 expressed my surprise at finding the Sisters of this order 
 in charge of such a work, having always beeu accustomed 
 to see the white cornette surrounded by little children , or 
 bending over the sick bed of the poor. 
 
 The superioress replied that the Sisters were not often 
 called upon to take charge of the insane, and that at the 
 present moment she believed there was only one other es- 
 tablishment of the kind among their many thousand 
 houses ; but that there was nothing foreign to their spir- 
 it in their doing so ; for their holy founder had an espe- 
 cial compassion for the insane, and would have rejoiced 
 to see his daughters called to their service. And what a 
 service it is ! 
 
 What a scene presented itself to my gaze when, ac- 
 companied by the Sisters, I went through the house ! — 
 What a motley crowd all gathered together under the 
 ban of that common misfortune which had shut them out 
 from the happy homes and "busy world in which they 
 had once had their share ! Those who are tractable are 
 allowed to be in the Sisters' house and the grounds, the 
 reception parlors only being shut off from them. 
 
 An elegant-looking girl, with magnificent coils of hair 
 wreathed round her head, was playing and singing at a 
 piano ; a nun in her habit was walking about the grounds ; 
 a young lady of three-and-twenty was amusing herself 
 with a doll ; another was seated under a tree surrounded 
 by dozens and dozens of pieces of paper of every variety, 
 shape, and hue — "her correspondence;" and various 
 other poor creatures were scattered here and there, 
 while one or two Sisters were employing themselves in 
 their neighborhood, keeping a quiet but vigilant guard. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 73 
 
 We walked through the grounds to the asylum, and 
 after seeing the various parts of it, the Sisters unlocked a 
 door, and we found ourselves within the portion set apart 
 for those who cannot be at all trusted alone. We had no 
 sooner entered than a woman flew at me, and seizing my 
 wrists with an iron grasp, implored me to rescue her. — 
 She had written to the Lord Chancellor and Dr. Cullen, 
 but her letters were intercepted. The Sisters were not un- 
 kind, but they would have it she was mad, and kept her 
 here among all these insane people, and it was all a con- 
 spiracy against her. At last the Sisters prevailed on her 
 to release me, but she followed us about wherever we went 
 in that portion of the building, repeating in a vehement 
 manner her piteous story. There were terrible cases in 
 these rooms : wild, haggard-looking creatures, with their 
 grey hair streaming on their shoulders, talking incoher- 
 ently to themselves ; one keeping up a perpetual moaning 
 and weeping, and others talking incessantly and in the 
 wildest way ; and with these some of the Sisters have to 
 pass the livelong day. We saw the bedrooms for cases 
 like these so arranged that they cannot hurt themselves, 
 and can tear nothing else but the bed clothes in pieces. 
 These latter are very frequently found in shreds in the 
 morning. 
 
 Close beside the Lunatic Asylum, divided only by a 
 high wall, stood a convent of the Presentation order, 
 built some forty years ago, and inhabited by a communi- 
 ty of nuns who taught their poor schools, and prayed in 
 peace. It was a terrible blow to them when the Lunatic 
 Asylum was built. Solitude and silence fled from their 
 pretty chapel, their quiet cells, their pleasant grounds. 
 They could not even be at peace when they wandered to 
 the little cemetery at the extremity of their enclosure, 
 
74 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 where some of their dearly loved companions reposed, and 
 where they had marked out their own graves. 
 
 The Presentation nuns are, as we have before remark- 
 ed, an enclosed order ; each house is independent of an- 
 other, and the nuns at Richmond soon found that nov- 
 ices would not venture within their walls for fear of their 
 strange neighbors. Meanwhile, the lunatics had increas- 
 ed in number, and applications for admission had con- 
 stantly to be refused. The committee who manage the 
 asylum had to contemplate further building, and so after 
 some years of this trying life for the Presentation nuns, 
 and many negotiations, an arrangement was effected. 
 The committee purchased the convent and grounds, and 
 the community removed to one ot the other suburbs of 
 Dublin. It was a great sacrifice ; many of the nuns had 
 grown old in these walls ; every spot had its association 
 in their eyes ; here they had peacefully lived, and here 
 they had hoped to die. Their chapel was particularly 
 dear to them. It had been built by a benefactress, and 
 was certainly an elegant and devotional one. However, 
 they had the consolation of knowing that their departure 
 would help on a good work, and that at the place to 
 which they were going poor schools were very much 
 wanted, while the children who had attended their 
 schools at Richmond would be able to find instruction in 
 neighboring ones. The day succeeding their departure, 
 and on which the Sisters of Charity took possession of 
 their new domain, was September the twenty-seventh, the 
 anniversary of the death of St. Vincent de Paul. Bene- 
 diction was given in the little chapel, at which many of 
 the patients chose to be present. It was a strange and 
 painful sight to see the places just vacated by the nuns 
 filled by these wild-looking creatures, attired in every 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 75 
 
 variety of costume. After Benediction, we walked 
 through the new grounds, and visited the nuns' ceme- 
 tery, a pretty, peaceful spot. The names and age3 of the 
 departed are inscribed on a stone tablet let into the wall 
 surrounding the cemetery, while a little cross stands over 
 each grave. We observed that many of the Sisters had 
 attained great ages ; none had died young, and one had 
 reached the good old age of ninety years. We asked the 
 Sister of Charity with us if she now would choose her 
 grave among the vacant spaces. " It would be of little 
 use to do that," she answered, smiling; " we must never 
 cling to any spot on earth ; orders might come from my 
 superiors any day, and 1 should pack up my little blue 
 bag, and be off." 
 
 While standing in the cemetery and walking in the 
 grounds we could fully appreciate the late sufferings of 
 the puns. Distinctly borne upon the air that still au- 
 tumn day came the wild shouts and shrieks of the unfor- 
 tunate inmates of the asylum. Near the convent their 
 words could be heard distinctly, and too often these are 
 of a nature at which the hearers shudder. We went over 
 the empty, deserted convent and saw how it was to be 
 adapted to its new purpose. We found that some of the 
 nuns' cells had actually looked into a piece of ground at 
 the back of the asylum, where the poor patients too much 
 afflicted to mix with their more peaceable companions 
 were allowed to take the air. At that moment two were 
 in it leaping, dancing, and howling exactly like wild 
 beasts. It was a sickening sight. "One of those," said 
 the Sister with us, "is a young lady of good family and 
 fortune, handsome and accomplished. She is an excel- 
 lent musician, and in her lucid intervals spends much 
 time in music ; but, when her paroxysms come on, she is 
 
7 b IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 in this state. But," added the Sister cheerfully, " she 
 will be cured, no doubt." She then went on to tell us 
 that, as a rule, those violently afflicted are often cured. 
 The quiet delusions are the most obstinate, and generally 
 incurable. When the new buildings are ready the Sis- 
 ters will receive three classes of inmates, at different rates 
 of payment. They have a number of strong country girls 
 as servants to help them in the house work. They have 
 no other assistance, and in all the years they have man- 
 aged the asylum, have never required it. No men have 
 ever had to be called in to quell the violent outbursts that 
 will occasionally occur. The asylum is under the medi- 
 cal care of Dr. Fitzpa trick, whose skill and care, sup- 
 ported as it is by the devotion of the Sisters, has won 
 success for this institution, and has led to its being able 
 to send out a great number of cures. No words can fitly 
 describe the auduous nature of the task the Sisters have 
 undertaken for the love of God. One Sister observed 
 that, had she known before she entered the order that she 
 would ever be called upon to take care of lunatics, she did 
 not think she ever could have joined it. Now that it is 
 her appointed work she goes through it fearlessly and 
 cheerfully. The great difficulty is to make the patients 
 eat ; a disinclination for food is a constant accompaniment 
 of madness. " The food is poisoned," or " they are dead, 
 and don't require any food," and a dozen other delusions 
 are urged in answer to any entreaties. The struggles of 
 the Sisters at meal times with their patients are most 
 wearing. Dressing and undressing also are times of 
 woe. Not only will the patients refuse to help them- 
 selves, but they will throw obstacles in the way of their 
 attendants, and be far more troublesome than the most 
 refractory child. Then in petty spite the insane are of- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 77 
 
 ten ingenious. On Sundays when the Sisters come down 
 in clean cornettes of snowy whiteness, the result of much 
 starch and ironing, it is thought a great amusement to 
 launch a cup of coffee at their heads, and lo ! the work 
 of some hours is undone. It is the harder because 
 the rule of the Sisters of St. Vincent enjoins that they 
 wash and get up their own cornettes. Then, what pa- 
 tience is required to listen to the constant rambling, the 
 extraordinary stories, to soothe the wild delusions, to 
 quiet the restless maniacs ! Much can be done, says the 
 Sisters, by moral influence. Incessant vigilance is re- 
 quired to foresee a coming storm and allay its violence. 
 The patients have ingenious ways of hiding themselves 
 in distant corners of the large grounds, so that when the 
 dinner bell rings, the Sisters may have to hunt for them. 
 The trial of their incessant noise and restlessness must be 
 very hard to bear, but the worst trial of all is the lan- 
 guage which will pour forth from the lips of the violent. 
 It is a strange phenomenon, of which no satisfactory so- 
 lution has yet been given, that in insanity the mind 
 turns to the very opposite of the direction which it took 
 while in the exercise of its faculties. The fond wife 
 tarns against her husband, the mother forgets her child, 
 and so, from the lips of those who were formerly gentle, 
 refined, and earnestly religious, there flows forth foul 
 and blasphemous language, which sickens the hearts of 
 those compelled to listen. Religion has great influence 
 over them : it has a softening and soothing effect on many , 
 and then there are cases where a long lucid interval oc 
 curs, during which they can approach "the sacraments 
 Cases which the Sisters have received from other asylums 
 where religion formed no part of the system, were al- 
 ways the most difficult to manage. A beautiful account 
 
78 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 of the working of the insane asylums in Belgium, under 
 the charge of religious Sisters, gives many examples, 
 which the experience of the Sisters of St. Vincent bears 
 out, of the wonderful result* of religion on the insane. 
 Watchful care can often perceive when fits of violent in- 
 sanity are coming on, and, " in these circumstances, con- 
 fession is often made and the Holy Communion received : 
 the viaticum, as it were, of the dolorous way through 
 which the stricken spirit has to pass." # In incurable 
 cases, lucid intervals often occur before death, and then 
 the Sisters are at hand to discern the first dawn of re- 
 turning reason — to husband the precious hours — to 
 bring to the fainting spirit all the succors of its holy 
 faith before its weary journey be ended, and it has gone 
 where there shall be no more mists or shadows, or hu- 
 miliation of the body and intellect. 
 
 As we passed through these melancholy rooms and 
 grounds, bright even as the latter were with flowers and 
 shrubs, and watched the Sisters at their task, firm, vigi- 
 lant, alert, gentle to all, bright and cheerful in manner, 
 and above all, perfectly calm and fearless, we wondered 
 at the wonderful versatility of the order of St. Vincent 
 de Paul — how it models its subjects for every variety of 
 work, enabling them to watch over every form of suf- 
 fering, and to pass from one employment to another 
 with the greatest ease. I had last seen the superioress 
 of this asylum, as a Sister, in charge of the immense 
 " lingerie " of the military hospital of Val de Grace, in 
 Paris. There she had sat tranquilly among sheets and 
 shirts, sewing on buttons and counting out towels. Life 
 bad flowed by her in quiet routine, and she had loved 
 
 * The Month, July 1861. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 79 
 
 her community well. At the instant call of obedience 
 she went out to another field as widely different as could 
 he well conceived, and here she was moving about 
 among the lunatics as tranquilly and as calmly as when 
 in her linen store, glad and joyful to be doing the will 
 of God. " It is not a work that any one would choose," 
 she observed ; u but, after all, the insane are the most 
 forsaken of all God's creatures.'''' And 1 felt how true 
 these words were, no matter in what rank they may be 
 born— how lovable and charming they may have been 
 — their family are afraid of them, want to hide them out 
 of sight, and get rid of them ; and as I quitted this 
 " home for the forsaken," 1 felt that I had witnessed 
 to what heights of self-abnegation of a Sister of Charity 
 can attain, and rejoiced that in Ireland true-hearted 
 women had been found who would devote themselves to 
 the care of these afflicted and lonely beings. Though 
 the Sisters of St. Vincent are a French order, a great 
 number of Irish and English ladies have, of late years, 
 joined their ranks. Some of the ancient names of Eng- 
 land have pent daughters to swell their numbers. At 
 the asylum the community is entirely of Irish and Eng- 
 lish Sisters. In North William street, the superioress 
 only is a Frenchwoman. 
 
 In Mount Street, near Merrion Square, Dublin, I 
 found a house of Nursing Sisters, or " Dames de Bon 
 Secours," a branch of the well-known order in France. 
 These Sisters are trained to nurse the sick ; they leave 
 their convent and go to the houses of either rich or 
 poor, performing the work of a nurse, and doing all 
 they can with both body and soul of their patients. 
 They return to their convent from time to time for both 
 bodily and mental rest. This has been found a very 
 
80 IRISH HOMES AKD 
 
 useful order in Ireland, and Protestants as well as 
 Catholics often ask for the Sisters' services. "When I 
 visited the house, the whole community, with the excep- 
 tion of the superioress and one Sister, were out nursing. 
 As the house is simply adapted for their residence when 
 resting from their labors, there is, of course, nothing 
 observable about it. The chapel, which 1 visited, is 
 merely a large room fitted up with great care for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Dublin abounds in pretty suburbs. Turn in what 
 direction you will, you soon come to shady lanes and 
 green fields. From the Drumcondra Road many of the 
 former branch out ; and one pleasant Sunday afternoon 
 when the first leaves of autumn were beginning to fall, 
 we turned our steps towards High Park Convent. This 
 convent, as its name denotes, stands in the midst of a 
 small but exceedingly pretty park, which visitors see 
 to advantage, having to walk some distance through it 
 from the porter's lodge to the convent. The house of 
 the former owners of the place has been converted, 
 with additions, into a convent, and creepers grow over 
 the front of the house, and a prettily-laid-out garden is 
 on one side. Some hundreds of yards from this house 
 stands a large and rather gloomy-looking building, which 
 is used as an asylum for penitents ; it is quite separate 
 from the convent, but the penitents and the Sisters in 
 charge of them come up often in the day to the convent 
 chapel. At the rear of the convent is a low range of 
 buildings, formerly out-houses, but converted with much 
 ingenuity into habitations for human beings. The en- 
 trance to these was locked, and, on being ushered within 
 them by a courteous nun of the Good Shepherd, we 
 found ourselves in the midst of a number of reformatory 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 81 
 
 children, who, at that moment, were in the playground. 
 This reformatory is under government inspection, and 
 contains about forty children, most of whom had the 
 bold glance and the hardened manner habitual to chil- 
 dren who have been early accustomed to sin — who have 
 lost their innocence before they knew its value — who 
 have been taught to curse instead of to bless — to mock 
 instead of to reverence. Here they are undergoing the 
 sentence of the law for some offence or other — a regi- 
 ment of miniature prisoners, defiant and cunning, and 
 hard to manage, with the bloom of childhood rudely 
 rubbed off, and with no womanly steadiness and self- 
 respect to take its place. They formed a great contrast 
 to the penitents whom we afterwards saw — the volun- 
 tary prisoners who, knowing their own degradation, and 
 having tasted the bitterness of sin, have willingly en- 
 tered these sheltering walls, and are trying to regain 
 their good name, and to make their peace with God. "We 
 asked the Sister which of the two works was the most 
 trjing. She said the reformatory was by far the most 
 arduous ; the penitents were in all ways more amenable 
 to rule and easy to manage. She told us sad histories 
 of some of the reformatory children. One of them had 
 come from a family ol thieves — father, mother, brothers, 
 sisters, and even grand-parents having followed the trade. 
 She told us of others whose parents drove them out to steal 
 — of parents waiting like harpies for the day on which 
 their child's sentence expires, to drag it into fresh crime, 
 utterly ignoring and defeating the efforts of the nuns to 
 provide honest employment for it in the future. Such 
 are some of the trials and discouragements with which 
 the religious have to contend. To counterbalance them 
 they have the comfort; of knowing that many of the 
 6 
 
82 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 children improve during their detention ; the kindness 
 shown them softens their hearts, and they go out really 
 reformed. Some do well afterwards ; and, even in those 
 on whom time and anxiety have been apparently wasted, 
 there is hope that the good seed may be lying dormant, 
 and some day may bear fruit. They have, at all events, 
 been taught what is right ; their detention has been a 
 time for learning good — not of increasing evil — and those 
 to whose charge they have been committed can feel they 
 have done what they could. We saw the refectory and 
 schoolroom of the reformatory. They are well contrived 
 in buildings which we should have thought it impossible 
 could ever have been converted into useful rooms ; but 
 new buildings are greatly needed : neither air nor space 
 are sufficiently allowed in the present ones, besides which 
 room for additional children is very much required. 
 
 One great difficulty in this reformatory is the want 
 of work ; employment is absolutely necessary lor the 
 children ; needlework is their only resource, and even 
 this is hard to get. As the Government allowance for 
 each child is by no means sufficient for all the expenses, 
 the Sisters would be glad to get any work which would 
 bring in a moderate profit, but they have not been 
 able to procure such. The work we saw was exceed- 
 ingly well done; we were shown some colored shirts, 
 requiring plenty of neat, strong work, which were sup- 
 plied from a shop in Glasgow. The owner of them said 
 he would give some more. Yes, and well might the 
 canny Scotsman promise a supply, seeing that he paid for 
 the making the liberal sum of half a crown per dozen, or 
 twopence halfpenny each. The penitents are chiefly 
 employed in laundry work, and fine large laundries are 
 attached to their asylum. 
 
IRISH HEARTS, 83 
 
 It was the hour for vespers when we left the reforma- 
 tory, and all the penitents were assembled in the chapel. 
 Their quiet, subdued appearance and reverent manner 
 was refreshing after seeing the poor children. The sys- 
 tem of thi3 asylum differs from that at Donnybrook. 
 The women remain two years and then are provided with 
 situations ; some few, however, who wish to remain for 
 life can do so. 
 
 The Sisters of the Good Shepherd are a French order ; 
 there are two distinct branches of them in Ireland, differ- 
 ing only in their form of government. The Sisters at 
 High Park are independent of any other house, receive 
 and train their own novices, and are entirely under 
 the control of the bishop of the diocese. 
 
 On the road to High Park we passed the College of 
 All Hallows, a fine extensive building surrounded by 
 large grounds. It was a generous thought for Ireland, 
 amidst her many home wants, to provide a college for 
 missionary priests, and it has been nobly carried out. 
 The idea of its foundation originated with a single priest, 
 without money and influence, but with a great deal 
 of faith, zeal and perseverance. Around such a one 
 others always gather, and so from a small beginning 
 All Hallows has attained its present fair proportions, 
 and it now receives a large number of students, and sends 
 out priests every year to foreign missions. The chapel 
 and library are well worth seeing. 
 
 The nuns of the Sacred Heart have also given their 
 services to Ireland. This order was founded in France 
 immediately after the French Revolution, and the nuns 
 make an especial vow of devoting themselves to educa- 
 tion . They educate both rich and poor ; and in Ireland 
 they have three convents. I was only able to visit the 
 
84 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 one near Dublin. These nuns had formerly occupied 
 the house at Glasnevin, now the property of the Sisters 
 of the Faith, and on removing from thence had pur- 
 chased the house and grounds belonging to the late Mr. 
 Dargin, near Stillorgan. The house is not sufficiently 
 large for the purpose, and when 1 visited the convent 
 workmen were busily employed in raising additional 
 buildings. The grounds are magnificent, and were laid 
 out by Mr. Dargan with admirable taste. Lt was at this 
 residence that the Queen came to visit Mrs. Dargan 
 when in Ireland, to mark her sense of the great services 
 Mr. Dargan had rendered his country. From the tower 
 of this house there is a magnificent view extending over 
 several counties. The nuns have a boarding school for 
 young ladies, and a day school for poor children. 
 
 1 took a delightful drive along the western side of the 
 Phoenix Park to visit the convent of the Sisters of St. 
 Joseph at Mount Sackville. The park quite surpassed 
 my expectations of its beauty ; it is indeed a park for a 
 city to boast of, and I think the most enviable part of the 
 Viceregal office must be the possession of the Lodge 
 situated in the midst of this lovely domain. As we 
 neared Mount Sackville, we had a fine view of the Straw- 
 berry Beds on the north bank of the Liffey, the favorite 
 summer resort of Dublin residents. The house chosen 
 for the convent stands in an excellent situation, with a 
 lovely view on all sides, and fresh air in abundance. 
 The Sisters of St. Joseph are a French order, and have 
 many houses in France and the French colonies. They 
 can undertake all works of mercy ; but their house in 
 Dublin, when I visited it, was intended only for a young 
 ladies' school. The nuns received us most kindly, and 
 courteously showed their little chapel, and their large 
 
IRISH HEAETS. 85 
 
 garden, and gave us all the information we wanted. 
 Their habit is picquresque, being of dark blue, with 
 white coif and black veil. 
 
 I have already spoken of the religious institutions in 
 the neighborhood of Dublin, at Merrion, Black Rock, and 
 Stillorgan. At Booterstown there is a convent of Sisters 
 of Mercy, a branch from Baggot street. Here are large 
 poor schools and an orphanage. 
 
 At Kingstown is a convent ot the Sisters of St. Domi- 
 nic, built on an eminence, with very fine grounds, and 
 commanding a magnificent view of the bay and moun- 
 tains. This order has a school for young ladies and a 
 poor school of eight hundred and sixty-seven children. 
 
 An orphanage managed by ladies, and called St. Jo- 
 seph's, is well worth a visit. Some of the ladies who 
 superintend it live in their own families, and give to it 
 what time they can spare ; others live altogether with 
 the children. The latter seemed particularly well- 
 trained, bright, and intelligent. Their singing was very 
 good ; one little creature had an exquisite voice, and was 
 besides so exceedingly pretty that she especially needed a 
 safe shelter and a careful training to prepare her for her 
 future life. 
 
 I believe the plan of keeping the children till they are 
 quite grown up is in operation at this orphanage, and 
 that so far the result has been satisfactory. 
 
 The orphanage stands in a good situation adjoining 
 fields ; there is no wall around the garden, and all is free 
 and open, forming a strange contrast to its neighbor a 
 quarter of a mile off, the celebrated " Birds' Nest," 
 whose dismal playground shut in by high walls and 
 locked dormitory, denote its true character— a prison for 
 Catholic children. The girls of St. Joseph among their 
 
86 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 other accomplishments are taught to bake bread, a most 
 useful preparation for domestic service. The bread 
 seemed to us excellent, and the elder girls take great 
 pride in making it so. The children looked thoroughly 
 happy, and evidently every effort of the cheerful beaming 
 superintendent was directed to making them so, and 
 bringing them up to be useful and happy in the future. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Notwithstanding the arrival of so many foreign 
 orders, and the rapid increase and growth of those of 
 native birth, Ireland is still putting forth new blossoms 
 of good works and devoted lives. A new religious con- 
 gregation of women has recently been canonically erected 
 by the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, under the title of 
 Sisters of the Holy Faith, and closely connected with it 
 is an excellent and charitable work known as St. Brigid's 
 Orphanage. To speak of it rightly brings me to a pain- 
 ful subject, and one on which I would fain not touch, but 
 that it is impossible to avoid it ; I mean the disgraceful 
 practice of what is called souperism. In looking into the 
 past history of Ireland we have seen the various efforts 
 made to draw the poor Irish, and especially their chil- 
 dren, from their ancient faith. But as years have passed 
 on, and at the present day when some of the rooted pre- 
 judices of our fathers have been torn up, and when the 
 Irish Catholics have made such great efforts to educate 
 their own children, in spite of difficulties, we should have 
 imagined that this form of persecution would have van- 
 ished away, and been among the things that were. On 
 the contrary, it is lively and rampant to the present day ; 
 more rancorous, more bitter, and more unprincipled than 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 87 
 
 ever. " Souperism," indeed, may be said to have at- 
 tained its full maturity at the very time when the dic- 
 tates of mere humanity would, we should have thought, 
 have silenced it forever. The time of the Irish famine ! 
 We know— nay, rather, alas ! we do not rightly know 
 that lamentable history. Sitting at home by our com- 
 fortable English firesides, we did not fully estimate the 
 sufferings of that slow, lingering death by starvation. — 
 We can hardly realize the scenes witnessed at pleasant 
 country houses in Ireland when the lawn would be cov- 
 ered by gaunt hungry forms, strong men wasted to a 
 shadow, women with dying children in their arms call- 
 ing out to the mistress of the house, " Don't be afraid, 
 ma'am ; if you have nothing for us, tell us so and we will 
 go quietly away." At such a time as this, when the 
 brave and patient people were in the throes of their strong 
 agony, the detestable (may we not 6ay diabolical ?) sys- 
 tem of souperism put forth a new and strong develop- 
 ment. 
 
 The agents and helpers of this society, which is called 
 by many names, and has various branches, were not 
 ashamed to tempt the starving man to sell his soul ; were 
 not ashamed to snatch the child from its mother's arms, 
 promising food and shelter at the price of that child's 
 faith. No one can ever forget the efforts that were made 
 in England to assist the Irish in their dire distress. — 
 Government did much, and private charity was not be- 
 hindhand. Crowds of Protestants gave relief to the poor 
 Irish , neither asking nor caring whether they were Ca- 
 tholics or not, and numbers of generous hearts in Eng- 
 land sent large alms to their suffering fellow-creatures 
 with no thought of anything save of their misery. But 
 there were others whose course was very different, and 
 
88 IEISH HOMES AND 
 
 who took advantage of the misery of the poor to tamper 
 with their consciences. And deep was the injury they 
 did tj Ireland. Not on account of tbeir converts — for af- 
 ter all tbeir pains and their expenditure, the numbers 
 are very smali, and those whom they have perverted are 
 precisely those whose loss is little felt — but on account 
 of the bitter feeling against England which their proceed- 
 ings tend to keep up in the minds of large classes of the 
 Irish. At the time of the famine much might have been 
 done to cement a cordial feeling between the two coun- 
 tries, if help and sympathy had been given with univer- 
 sal generosity. Wnen Irish people are doing their ut- 
 most to relieve the wants of their poor, giving up their 
 patrimony, and devoting their whole lives to the cause of 
 education or the works of mercy, or when good under- 
 takings are being raised up and supported by the pence of 
 the poor, what effect must the proceedings of a body like 
 the Irish Church Missions produce on them ? Here they 
 see 26,0007. sent from England annually, for no other 
 purpose than to try to undo or to mar the efforts of 
 t.ieir whole lives. They see starving Protestants 
 neglected in order that starving Catholics may be 
 tempted. They see ladies and gentlemen, when they 
 find themselves unable to turn the poor man from his 
 faith, bribing him to give up his children to be brought 
 up in one which they must know that in his secret heart 
 he disbelieves, and they see this work wrought by Eng- 
 lish gold and too often by English hands, supported by 
 noble names, patronized sometimes by the very rulers 
 whom they are bound to respect ; and then at the same 
 instant they are told that in England truth and honor 
 are valued beyond all other possessions. The latter as- 
 sertion must 6eem to them a mockery, and the whole 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 89 
 
 proceeding must tend, and does tend, to estrange them 
 i from a country from which they have a right to expect 
 better treatment. The progress of the soupers with the 
 adult poor is very slow ; they only succeed in obtaining 
 the nominal conversion of handfuls of them, who are un- 
 able to resist the tempting offers made to them . A story 
 told at the time of the famine may be taken as a fair il- 
 lustration of the way in which adult converts are made. 
 
 A poor man sorely tried by hunger made up his mind 
 to " turn souper." He went into a Catholic Church, 
 and, looking at the altar with its Tabernacle, said, 
 " Good-bye, God Almighty ! when the famine's over I'll 
 come back to ye." Dr. Forbes, in his "Memorandums 
 in Ireland," says, " the conversion movement originated 
 in the year of famine," a fact which of itself would be 
 enough to throw suspicion upon it. In truth, so un- 
 satisfactory have the adult converts proved, so addicted 
 are they to the practice of what is called "jumping" 
 back to their ancient creed, to sending for a priest in 
 their last moments, and otherwise disappointing their 
 patrons, that the efforts of the soupers are now more ex- 
 clusively directed to another branch of mischief more 
 costly, but far more sure of success — the perversion of 
 children. 
 
 A bad Catholic in Ireland can always sell his children 
 if he only apply at the right quarter, and orphanages of 
 various kinds and under various names have been raised 
 for the sole purpose of receiving these Catholic children. 
 
 So pressing and increasing became thi3 evil that it was 
 determined in Ireland to make a strenuous effort to resist 
 it, and St. Brigid's Society took its rise for this purpose, 
 placing itself under the patronage of a well-loved Irish 
 saint. Its object was to receive such children as were in 
 
90 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 danger of losing their faith, and the founders of the char- 
 ity were determined not to relax their efforts till live hun- 
 dred children should have been rescued. 
 
 The mode of management of this institution is almost 
 unique, and could not be carried out in any country so 
 well (if indeed practicable at all) as in Ireland. Instead 
 of placing the children in an orphanage and thus incur- 
 ring the expense of building or renting a house with its 
 inevitable cost of management, the children of St. Brigid 
 are placed with respectable peasants in the country, who 
 are paid for each child's board and clothing. These 
 families are carefully selected, and are bound by certain 
 rules in regard to the children, such as that they shall be 
 kept clean and tidy and sent to school. 
 
 Generally, several children are placed in one parish, 
 which seems to keep up an emulation among these foster- 
 parents. At certain times the managers of St. Brigid's 
 go to the place where the orphans are and hold an exam* 
 ination, and prizes are given to the parents, consisting 
 of ten shillings for each child that proves to have been 
 kept up to the standard which the managers have laid 
 down for it. The plan has answered admirably ; the 
 work of St. Brigid's has been visibly blessed ; funds have 
 flowed in and helpers have come forward ; and, in 1866, 
 when the tenth report of the society was put forth, the 
 managers were able to state that 622 orphans had since 
 1857 passed under their care. It is curious to look at 
 the subscription list of this charity ; there is but one sum 
 which would be reckoned in England as a large subscrip- 
 tion ; but as the amounts decrease in size they increase in 
 number, till at last it becomes evident that the mite 
 of the poor man and the hardly-won money of the middle 
 class have been largely given to aid in this good work.— 
 
IRISH HEAETS. 91 
 
 This work was set on foot by a lady named Miss Mar- 
 garet Aylward, whose early exertions in hehalf of the 
 poor were rewarded by six months' imprisonment on most 
 unjust grounds. After her release other ladies gathered 
 round her, and by degrees a religious community has 
 sprung into being. These Sisters, besides undertaking 
 the large amount of work which the management of such 
 a widely-scattered family as the children of St. Brigid 
 must entail, have opened in various parts of Dublin six 
 poor schools, for besides the orphanages the "soupers" 
 have started poor sehools, where clothing, food, and 
 other bribes are freely given, and the Sisters of the Faith 
 found that additional schools to the existing ones were 
 needed to combat this evil. After the labors of the day 
 the Sisters retire to a beautiful convent at Glasnevin, sur- 
 rounded by extensive grounds, through which the little 
 river Tolka takes it way. Glasnevin was in early ages 
 the home of saints. St. Columba " came to the little 
 monastery of Glasnevin near Dublin, and found himself 
 to his great delight in the company of St. Comgal, St. 
 Canice, and St. Kieran." It is therefore a fitting site 
 for a religious house, and suited for those whose special 
 mission is to sustain in Ireland the faith that these great 
 saints sought to plant. 
 
 It is chiefly in Ireland that children could be safely 
 placed in country villages and left to the guardianship 
 of the peasants. In many parts of England and Scotland 
 immorality is as rife in the country as in towns; in Ire- 
 land, whatever may be the faults of the people, the inno- 
 cence of children is safe among the peasantry. In Ire- 
 land only would one remarkable result of placing the 
 children among peasants be attained. Many of the peo- 
 ple insist on adopting the orphans, some before their 
 
92 IEISH HOMES AXD 
 
 time "on the books" of St. Brigid's is expired, and oth- 
 ers as soon as the managers announce that they must re- 
 move the children and place them out to earn their own 
 living. The report of St. Brigid's for 1865 states that 
 twenty children were thus adopted ; in 1866, twenty- 
 seven. The managers of St. Brigid's rejoice greatly over 
 this fact, not on account of their release irom responsi- 
 bility and expense, but because the poor orphan has now 
 found what St. Brigid's could not give him — a Rome. — 
 And this leads me to say a word on the vexed question 
 of orphanages, and the relative merits of the system of 
 St. Brigid's, and that of the more usual one of bringing 
 up the children in large masses under the care of reli- 
 gious. It is in Ireland chiefly that a discussion of this 
 question is useful, for the plan of St. Brigid's has never 
 yet been tried on a large scale in England. In England 
 the present plan of orphanages is a necessity, and it 
 is certain that in Ireland the existence of both systems is 
 also a necessity. There are some cases which can only be 
 properly dealt with in regular orphanages. 
 
 As regards St. Brigid's, the benefits seem to be as fol- 
 lows : First, economy — no slight recommendation when 
 people have to contend against the lavish outpouring of 
 English wealth on the wrong cause ; the Sisters of the 
 Faith maintain 256 orphans, and manage six day schools, 
 with an income of £1,903. Secondly, their system tends 
 to provide the children with homes and friends of their 
 own, and thus to prevent them from ever being such 
 waifs and strays of humanity as poor orphans often run 
 a chance of becoming. Even in the cases when the fos- 
 ter-parents cannot adopt them, they have a great affec- 
 tion for them, and always look on them as bound to them- 
 selves by a certain tie. Thirdly, they are more fitted for 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 93 
 
 the rough path in life they have to pursue. The child 
 in the orphanage is brought up too tenderly ; her life 
 flows on in an easy routine ; she is under the care of 
 kind and gentle teachers, striving to be just in all their 
 dealings with her ; food and clothing come to her with- 
 out any trouble. It is true she is taught to work for the 
 general good, but not for her own individual wants and 
 needs, and ail this produces a tendency to helplessness. 
 When she goes out of the peaceful convent, and hears rough 
 words, and meets the petty injustice, thoughtlessness and 
 selfishness which those who live in the world must meet, she 
 is dismayed, frets to get back again, and finding that im- 
 possible, often gives up the struggle in despair. On the 
 other hand, the advocates of the old system plead that in 
 Irish country cabins you cannot train the children in 
 proper habits of cleanliness, order, and industry ; you 
 cannot fit them for domestic service ; you reduce them to 
 a lower level, instead of raising them to a higher ; that 
 if well brought up in orphanages they will be able to pro- 
 vide for themselves, and so gain friends, and have homes 
 of their own. It will be seen that the arguments on both 
 sides apply principally to girls ; indeed, for boys I think it 
 is a matter of indifference under which system they are 
 brought up, but for girls it is really an important ques- 
 tion. The report of St. Brigid's states that the children 
 placed out in the world are doing well, with a very few 
 exceptions. The greatest fault to be found with the old 
 orphanage management — and this equally applies to 
 England — is that it does not train orphan girls to be good 
 servants. The want of good domestic servants is becom- 
 ing a serious evil, and the tendency of girls of the lower 
 classes to reject this mode of livelihood, and adopt others 
 of " more freedom, more independence," is certainly in- 
 
94 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 jurious to them, and it is but natural to expect that or- 
 phanages would do something to stem this evil. Yet the 
 complaints of those who take servants from these institu- 
 tions are all but universal, and cannot, therefore, be con- 
 sidered as the prejudices of a few. The great cause, we 
 believe, arises from sending out the children far too 
 young. The French orphanages, which do train good 
 servants, keep their girls till they are twenty-one. It is 
 the custom in our orphanages to send out the girls at 
 fourteen or fifteen, before the character is formed, the 
 principles strengthened, or the habit of steady exertion 
 has been formed. At eighteen or nineteen a girl may 
 wish to see the world even if it cost her some trouble, 
 may be tired of living a dull and monotonous life, and of 
 being treated like a child, but she will have overcome 
 these feelings when four or five years younger. 
 
 The managers of St. Brigid's are able to record with 
 thankfulness that not one of their children has been sent 
 to a reformatory or prison, or even brought before a 
 magistrate. 
 
 Touching anecdotes can be told of the affection and grat- 
 itude of the orphans. A little boy, when placed out to 
 service, came to the Sisters with his Christmas box of 
 four shillings. Another, in announcing a rise in his 
 wages, said, " Then 1 can support my poor mother, and 
 I'll pay for two of the orphans too." 
 
 As an instance of the affection of the foster-parents, the 
 following may be given : A little boy, after being four 
 years on the books, gave signs of idiocy : it was neces- 
 sary to send him to the union, as he could not be a per- 
 manent burden on the orphanage ; but when the nurse 
 heard of it, she said she would adopt him. " Is he of 
 any service to you ?" was asked. " What service could 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 95 
 
 the poor boy be to me ? But he is a loving child, and if 
 he must be put off the books, I'll keep him, I'll be a 
 mother to him," Such, then, is the history of St. Brig- 
 id's, " a simple story of a good work silently, laborious- 
 ly, and successfully carried on." 
 
 There are many charitable institutions in Dublin un- 
 der the management of seculars instead of religious. The 
 most remarkable of these is the Night Refuge for women 
 and children. It is situated in the worst and most 
 wretched part of Dublin, " the Liberties," and therefore 
 easily to be found by the miserable class of people for 
 whom it is intended. This admirable institution was 
 founded by an excellent priest, the Rev. Dr. Spratt, and 
 has continued for many years under his care. He has 
 been fortunate in securing a building well suited for the 
 purpose, an old warehouse containing three floors, and 
 surrounded by a large yard, In this yard are large 
 wooden doors which unclose at five in the evening, and 
 remain open till nine o'clock, to admit homeless wan- 
 derers. The first floor of the Refuge contains the very 
 poorest class who apply for admission, the homeless and 
 the starving, to whom a great charity is done ; the beds 
 consist simply of a mattrass and rug laid in a sort of open 
 wooden box, one close beside the other. A greater char- 
 ity still to our minds is given to the inmates of the second 
 floor ; here are iron bedsteads, not so close together, and 
 a greater air of comfort is apparent ; it is meant for the 
 bettermost poor who may be reduced to utter penury. I 
 call it a greater charity, because the misery of this class, 
 when brought to extremity, is greater than that of the 
 very poor. The loss of shelter to them is shameful, as 
 well as hard, and they are often driven into sin for want 
 of it. The third floor is much smaller than those below, 
 
96 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 a sort of loft in fact. Here we find an altar and crucifix . 
 here night and morning prayers are said, in which the 
 inmates may join ; and here once a year Mass is ofiered 
 up, and that solitary occasion is the feast of Christmas. 
 Could a better day be found than the birthday of Him 
 for whom in a whole city there was no room , and whose 
 birth took place in a poorer place even than a night re- 
 fuge ? 
 
 Every night the inmates of the Refuge receive a piece 
 of dry bread, and in too many cases this is the only food 
 they taste in the day. The funds do not allow that even 
 this poor relief should be given on the week day morn- 
 ings, but it is bestowed on Sundays, as there is so little 
 chance of the poor people getting any elsewhere. All the 
 inmates must leave the Refuge at eight in the morning, 
 and the doors are then closed till five in the evening, 
 when the " refugees" begin to flow in ; the matron 
 takes her place at a table, and inscribes in a book the 
 name and occupation of each comer. It is left to her 
 discernment to know who shall be sent to the upper dor- 
 mitory. Persons in every kind of employment have 
 sought refuge here. Governesses, dressmakers, seam- 
 stresses, domestic servants, some more, some loss respec- 
 table, have implored shelter in these charitable walls ; 
 and the mercy extended to them does not end with giv- 
 ing them rest, shelter, and food, their case is inquired 
 into, and, if possible, means are devised for giving them 
 a fresh start, and taking them out of the wretched class 
 of mendicants. Many a poor creature has been saved 
 from despair, many a wounded heart comforted by this 
 kindly charity ; and many sins prevented — who can 
 count up the sins avoided by the poor inmates for even 
 one single night ? Every evening the Rev. Dr. Spratt 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 97 
 
 comes himself to the Refuge, and sees that all is going on 
 well. Here he is truly like a father amidst his children, 
 a wretched and miserable crowd, dirty and footsore, 
 homeless and friendless, cold and hungry, but still the 
 children of that heavenly Father who rejects no one, and 
 whose example His faithful servant is thus following. 
 This good priest is also responsible for the whole expense 
 of the institution, and has of course to beg for it the alms 
 of the charitable. Like every other work of charity it is 
 capable of being imposed upon ; but we imagine that the 
 simplicity of the accommodation would prevent any but 
 those in real need from availing themselves of it. 
 
 A brief record of the numbers admitted each week to 
 the Refuge appears in the Freeman 's Journal. I extract 
 the following at hazard : — 
 
 "The Night Refuge. — Weekly return of admissions 
 into St. Joseph's Night Refuge, Brickfield Lane, Cork 
 street, Dublin, of homeless women, girls, and children of- 
 good character, who there received nightly shelter and 
 partial support for the week ending March 21, 1867: 
 Servants, 229 ; children, 63 ; children's maids, 28 ; cooks, 
 23 ; laundresses, 31 ; plain workers, 44 ; shirtmakers, 
 24; dressmakers, 9 ; school teachers, 7 ; bootbinders, 10 ; 
 petit dealers, 27; factory girls, 36 ; knitters, 42 ; travel- 
 lers, 29 ; shop women, 7 ; scourers, 38 — total, 651." 
 
 In Mecklenburgh street, Dublin, is a penitentiary con- 
 taining thirty-three women under the charge of a matron. 
 It does not differ from the ordinary aspect of such insti- 
 tutions, except in the circumstances of its foundation. 
 Bridget Burke was a poor widow, who, after her hus- 
 band's death, became a domestic servant. While in this 
 employment she began to take a lively interest in the 
 fallen of her own sex, and rescued one after another of 
 7 
 
98 IKISH HOMES AND 
 
 them from evil courses. A good man about the same 
 rank in life as herself helped her, and at last proposed to 
 her that they should take a house in which to receive 
 penitents. " But," exclaimed Bridget, " sure we have 
 no money." — " Let us have confidence in God," he an- 
 swered; "let us place it under the protection of the 
 Blessed Trinity. They knelt down together and prayed. 
 On rising, Mr. Quarterman said, "Here is a penny." 
 Bridget gave another ; a third was contributed by her 
 daughter, and with this sum they commenced their un- 
 dertaking; they began to collect, and most of their 
 funds came from the poor, chiefly domestic servants, and 
 so the work prospered and grew into its present form. 
 Many of the poor creatures rescued by Bridget, after a 
 probation, found employment and did exceedingly well : 
 some married ; and touching stories are told of the grati- 
 tude that many evinced to the charitable woman who, 
 out of her own poverty, had thus aided them in their dire 
 necessity. 
 
 Not far from the convent of North William street is a 
 building with somewhat of a conventual appearance, al- 
 though it is unfortunately not under the care of religious. 
 It is an asylum popularly called the "Old Maid's Home," 
 and intended to receive respectable single women when 
 age and failing health have made them unable to earn 
 their own bread. The building is well adapted to its 
 purpose ; and there is a little chapel attached to the 
 house, where Mass is daily said ; a chapel that would be 
 pretty if it were only clean. This institution proved by 
 no means a pleasant sight ; from one end to the other it 
 was extremely dirty, untidy and forlorn looking. The 
 infirmary, in which were several sick women, was fear- 
 fully close, and was in terrible need of ventilation. The 
 
IRISH HEAKTS. 99 
 
 matron seemed a most unfit person for the charge. She 
 was far too old, bent, feeble, had lost all her teeth — in 
 fact was almost decrepit. It is impossible she can rightly 
 manage such an institution ; none of the inmates looked 
 comfortable or cared for. I wished for a fairy wand to 
 be able to put the institution under the charge of the 
 Sisters of Charity, or the " Little Sisters of the Poor," 
 and then to behold the change that their arrival would 
 create. Soap and water, fresh air, and a wholesome at- 
 mosphere would attend their footsteps, and the poor in- 
 mates' faces would brighten, and peace and content reign 
 in the house. 
 
 There are various confraternities and guilds in Dub- 
 lin, in fact far too numerous to be noticed at any length. 
 Bands of men and women join together for prayer or 
 good works and meet at certain hours. One great use of 
 these confraternities is the high tone they tend to keep 
 up in their members ; any member guilty of a serious 
 offence would be disgraced before his fellow-members 
 and expelled from their company. The Confraternity of 
 the Sacred Heart were most under my notice, as they 
 came for their devotions to the church of St. Francis 
 Xavier, Gardiner street, near which I happened to re- 
 side. A number of men, apparently respectable mechan- 
 ics, met the first five evenings of the week, at eight 
 P. M. They did not need any priest to direct their de- 
 votions, but performed them among themselves, if not 
 very melodiously, at least very fervently. It was a pic- 
 turesque sight to see the group with their lighted can- 
 dles at the bottom of the nave, while the rest of the 
 large handsome church, with its side chapels, was hid- 
 den in gloom, lighted only by the dim rays of the altar 
 lamp. This church on Friday and Saturday evenings is 
 
100 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 also a sight worthy the attention of a tourist. It is 
 literally filled -with people waiting their turn around one 
 of the fourteen confessionals. Ttiere may be seen people 
 of every rank, of every position in life, hut notably the 
 poor, in earnest attentive groups. It is a moving pha- 
 lanx. The people who were there before seven gradually 
 move on, confess, and depart ; they are succeeded by 
 others, and it is long past ten o'clock before the num- 
 bers begin to thin. 
 
 On Sunday morning the scene is equally remarkable. 
 The Masses commence at six, and continue every half- 
 hour till noon ; often three or four Masses are going on 
 at different altars at the same moment. At all these are 
 crowds of communicants, and a priest has to descend to 
 the communion rails, placed in the nave, to communicate 
 the mass of people, who would otherwise obstruct the 
 way. This is not peculiar to St. Francis Xavier's ; the 
 same scene might be witnessed at the Cathedral in Marl- 
 borough street, St. Dominic's, and many of the other 
 large churches in Dublin. The most ordinary spectator 
 could hardly fail to be struck with the fervor and devo- 
 tion of these crowded congregations. There is little 
 ceremonial in Dublin except at the Cathedral Church, 
 where the offices are grandly performed ; but elsewhere 
 beauty of ceremonial is little regarded, and certainly it 
 has not been by " appealing to the senses " that the f'aitli 
 of the Irish has been sustained. The beauties of archi- 
 tecture, rare paintings, stained windows, good chureh 
 music, incense, and gorgeous vestment, were for centu- 
 ries unknown to the Irish people ; but without any of 
 these things their faith was fervent and clear, and their 
 devotion intense and fruitful. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Drogheda is easily reached by rail from Dublin — the 
 line running a great part of the way along the coast, 
 and giving the traveller pleasant sea views. The great 
 lion of the place is, of course, the viaduct which spans 
 the River Boyne, at a height of 90 feet. The railway 
 passes over it, and it is a curious sight, when standing 
 on terra Jirma, to watch the progress of the train over 
 the perilous height. Viewed from the railway station, 
 Drogheda is a most picturesque town, divided in two 
 parts by the River Boyne, the " nun-faced river," broad 
 and clear, with a crowd of shipping lying on her waters. 
 The town has a singularly two-fold character, standing 
 in two counties, two ecclesiastical provinces, and two 
 dioceses. The busy part of the town lies in a deep val- 
 ley, and the descent from the railway station is a sharp 
 one. Half-way down, my attention was attracted by a 
 pretty Gothic building, surrounded by shrubs and flow- 
 ers. On inquiry, I found it to be the poor-house, and 
 then the mullioned windows and pretty ornaments ap- 
 peared a great mockery of the misery within. Climbing 
 a steep and dirty lane behind the poor-house, I gained 
 the heights commanding a good view of the town, and 
 found myself on the spot from which the batteries of 
 Cromwell first opened on the devoted city, and from 
 whence he directed the siege. At no great distance 
 stands St. Mary's Protestant Church, an ugly modern 
 building, which occupies the site of the Church of St. 
 Mary of Mount Carmel, that fell the first day that Crom- 
 well's cannon began to play upon the town. In the 
 churchyard still stands a fragment of the old walls, cov- 
 ered with moss— all that has survived the batteries of 
 
102 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Cromwell and the ravages of time. Descending a long 
 flight of steps leading from St. Mary's, 1 found myself m 
 the streets, and found also alas ! that the enchantment 
 lent by distance had vanished, and that Drogheda was a 
 very dirty old town. It was raining, and the streets were 
 literally a sea of black mud, and it was a relief to make 
 a temporary halt at the Imperial Hotel, where cleanli- 
 ness, comfort and civility reigned supreme. Leaving the 
 centre of the town, and climbing the hill on the north 
 side, I came to St. Peter's Church, also modern and Pro- 
 testant, but of better architecture than St. Mary's. It 
 occupies the site of the ancient St. Peter's Church, and 
 the principal scene of the horrors of that most horrible 
 siege, when " there was no mercy for man, or woman, or 
 child." " The grey old veteran of a hundred fights and 
 the little child of a year old ; the fair- faced Leinster wo- 
 man, singing her Irish song as the tall Tipperary grena- 
 diers strode up the hill ; the brilliant young English 
 cavalier and the wild Wicklow chief; the grave alderman 
 at the Thorsel ; the circumspect gunner at the Mill- 
 mount ; priest of" hoary head, and lady of high degree — 
 all alike doomed to mingle their blood in a stream full 
 enough to flow from the steps of St. Peter's Church to 
 the river wharves."* For four days the carnage raged, 
 till the Parliamentary soldiers were able to report that it 
 was finished and " none spared." 
 
 Drogheda seems to abound in Catholic churches. I 
 went into three, and learned there were several others. 
 The town is now well supplied with religious orders : 
 Augustinian, Dominican and Franciscan monks have 
 each their church, in addition to those of the parishes. 
 Passing along the streets we saw a poor woman standing 
 * Dublin Review, January, 1866. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 103 
 
 at the door of one of the houses. It opened, and a white 
 cornette, the well-known head-dress of the Sisters of St. 
 Vincent, peeped out to answer the call. I speedily made 
 my way to the same portal, and was kindly welcomed by 
 the superioress. It happened to be a Saturday, "our 
 busiest day," said the good Sister, " on which I am 
 transformed into a banker's clerk. We have under our 
 care a home for factory girls, whose Saturday afternoon 
 is free, and who come to pour their wages into my hands, 
 and insist on their accounts being kept for them." In 
 the same street with the convent another house has been 
 taken by the Sisters, in which between forty and fifty 
 factory girls are lodged. Here the homeless and friend- 
 less, and those whose own homes are scenes of tempta- 
 tion, may take refuge. Here they are lodged and board- 
 ed, and have firing, candles and soap for 3s. a head per 
 week — and the institution is entirely sell-supporting, al- 
 though the wages and board of two servants have to be 
 paid out of the funds, for the factory hours do not allow 
 the girls time to do their own cooking and cleaning. I 
 made inquires about the bill of fare, and, although I 
 found meat (always a rare luxury with the Irish poor) 
 was not tasted more than twice a week, it comprised soup 
 and potatoes for dinner, porridge for breakfast, and the 
 dearly loved comforts of butter and tea. The house is 
 large, roomy and airy. Two Sisters sleep there, and at 
 half past four every morning, no matter at what time of 
 year or in what weather, have to traverse the short dis- 
 tance from the home to the convent, and join the com- 
 munity at meditation. At half-past five they return to 
 the home to read morning prayers with the girls, who 
 must be at the factory by six. At eight they return 
 to breakfast, and must be at the factory again at nine. 
 
104 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 From one to two is the dinner hour, and at six the day's 
 work is over. Their evenings till nine o'clock are free, 
 but the Sisters have evening classes for them, to which 
 they persuade them to come. The superioress herself 
 superintends the class for needlework, which she is very 
 anxious they should attend. Their occupation is rough 
 and hardening enough, and she is desirous that they 
 should learn the art so necessary for a woman's pwn 
 comfort and respectability, and so likely to render them 
 better wives and mothers if they marry. At nine o'clock 
 there are night prayers, and the doors are closed for the 
 night, and no one can stay out after that hour. This 
 little community, therefore, consists of girls who wish to 
 lead a steady respectable life, for the wild ones would 
 not submit to these few wholesome restraints. Their 
 love and confidence for the Sisters is strong. On Satur- 
 day afternoon, as we have said, they bring their 
 money to " Mother," as they insist on calling the 
 superioress, and require her to manage it for them. 
 She has first to deduct the 3s. due to the house, and then 
 to enter the balance remaining to each girl, and to advise 
 as to the disposal of it. Then she has to decide on the 
 respective merits of various bonnets, shawls and gowns, 
 for they are never happy till their purchases are exhibited 
 to and approved by the Sisters. The girls are a light- 
 hearted set — living in the present and thinking little of 
 the iiiture. " I cannot help laughing sometimes," said 
 the superioress, " at the very sound of their merry bursts 
 of laughter." Nevertheless their life is a hard one, and 
 disease and death overtake them sooner than other women. 
 The exposure to all weathers tells upon their constitu- 
 tions. The sound of the factory bell must be obeyed to 
 the instant, no matter whether it be through rain, snow T 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 105 
 
 or wind ; and they often arrive at the factory wet to the 
 skin, yet obliged to work for four hours without changing 
 clothes or shoes. The Sisters desire to add on to the 
 home an asylum for them in sickness or premature old 
 age ; but, for this purpose, funds are needed. I have 
 rarely seen a charitable work which appealed more to my 
 sympathy than this. It is so completely helping the poor 
 to help themselves — keeping up in the girls a spirit of 
 honest independence while giving them at the same time 
 the protection and guidance they require at their age and 
 in their position — guarding them from continual and ter- 
 rible temptations to sin. Besides the factory girls there 
 are a few young dressmakers' apprentices, from the coun- 
 try, serving their time, and thus under safe protection 
 while away from their own homes. An interesting story 
 was told us in connection with this home. A travelling 
 pedlar, with his wife and three little girls, often passed 
 through Drogheda, and stayed a while in the town. The 
 three children then went to school at the Presentation 
 Convent, and in all their future wanderings never for- 
 got the lessons they received from their kind teachers. 
 "While they were in Dublin the father died, and the 
 mother, unable to support her children, was tempted 
 to sell them to the "soupers." A clergyman of this 
 school offered to take the three children off her hands, 
 provided he might bring them up Protestants. While 
 the poor mother was wavering, the children themselves 
 took the matter in hand, ran off to a priest, told their 
 tale, and assured him that if they could only get back to 
 Drogheda the Presentation nuns would take charge of 
 them. The priest paid their fares, and the little group 
 presented itself at the doors of the Presentation Convent. 
 A consultation took place between the good nuns and the 
 
106 IEISH HOLIES AND 
 
 Sisters of St. Vincent : the result was that the three girls 
 were received into the home v The two eldest go to the 
 factory and earn their own support ; the youngest at- 
 tends the Presentation school, and the expenses of her 
 support are shared by the nuns and the Sisters. The Sis- 
 ters of St. Vincent have a large night school, which is 
 well attended. They also visit the poor of half the town, 
 and this is a more than usually arduous task, for the peo- 
 ple are miserably poor, and there is a very small propor- 
 tion of the wealthier classes. Many manufacturers make 
 money in Drogheda, but when it is made they hasten to 
 spend it in pleasanter localities. 
 
 Close beside the Sisters' house stands the old gate of 
 St. Lawrence, the only one left of the ten gates which 
 once guarded the town. There is a portion still remain- 
 ing of the West, or Butter Gate, but no vestige of the 
 others. 
 
 St. Lawrence's gate is entire, and an excellent speci- 
 men of mediaeval architecture, consisting of two circular 
 towers of considerable height, pierced with loop hole3. 
 A short distance from the outer side of the gate we found 
 ourselves at the door of the " Sienna Convent," so called 
 because it is dedicated to St. Catherine of Sienna. This 
 convent is one of the second order of St. Dominic, and 
 the nuns are enclosed. The convent at Drogheda has a 
 long and eventful history attached to it. The last victim 
 put to death at Tyburn under the penal laws was Oliver 
 Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, who suffered July 11th, 
 1681. In his letters from Newgate he spoke with his 
 usual tenderness of the relations who would have to 
 mourn his loss, and among the others he spoke of his 
 niece, "little Catherine." The little girl grew up, 
 inheriting some of her uncle's zeal and devotion, and at 
 
HUSH HEARTS. 107 
 
 an early age entered a Dominican convent in Brussels. 
 When it "was decided to make a new foundation of the 
 order in Ireland, Catherine was appointed prioress, and 
 Drogheda was fixed upon as the scene of her labors. A 
 mud cabin in the outskirts of the town was the first con- 
 vent ; from thence they removed to a small house in Dyer 
 street, a narrow and wretched locale. They dressed as 
 seculars, and were not known to be nuns, but were, not- 
 withstanding, faithful and loving children of St. Dominic. 
 By degrees, as the clouds of persecution began to hang 
 less heavily over the land, the nuns began to build a house 
 ostensibly as a school for young ladies ; they devoted 
 themselves to education for the twofold object of support- 
 ing the community, and concealing their religious pro- 
 fession. All appearance of a conventual building was 
 carefully avoided, and a plain, solid-looking house of 
 grey stone was completed. It is surrounded by a large 
 garden, and thus removed from the bustle of the streets ; 
 being also built on the heights overhanging the town, it 
 commands a fine view of the Boyneand adjacent country. 
 On one occasion, while the penal laws were still in force, 
 the house was visited by government officials " searching 
 for nuns." Catherine Plunkett had by that time gone 
 to her rest, and the prioress who held her place received 
 them. Her dress, appearance, and composed manner re- 
 moved all suspicion from herself, and when the officers 
 asked her if there were any nuns in the house, she re- 
 plied with true woman's wit, " They are no more nuns 
 than I am." The officers were satisfied with the reply, 
 and withdrew. At length brighter times began to dawn, 
 and the nuns were able to put on their habit, and some 
 of the older religious of the convent now can well re- 
 member that day of joy. Like so many of the ancient 
 
108 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Irish convents, this house is full of traditions of saintly 
 lives among those whose consecration to God was un- 
 known to the world around them, and who, by persever- 
 ance under terror, hardship, and difficulty, won for the 
 daughters who were to come after them a peaceful heri- 
 tage. And a benediction has rested on the house. Gra- 
 dually precept after precept of their holy rule has been 
 put in force, although the difficulty of uniting its strict 
 observance with the care of a large school is very great. 
 There is also a poor school attached to the convent. — 
 When St. Dominic framed the rule for the second order, 
 he did not contemplate the union of active duties with 
 the precepts which he imposed. The nuns have resumed 
 the singing of the Divine office in choir, and as the " ves- 
 per bell" sounded before my visit was concluded, I 
 went into the exterior chapel to be present at the service. 
 Vespers were followed by compline, and it was a striking 
 and picturesque sight. The choir was filled with relig- 
 ious in their habits and scapulars of white serge, the 
 professed nuns with black, the novices with white veils. 
 The community possesses among its members several 
 voices of great power and sweetness, and the chanting 
 was very lovely. While the "Salve Regina," which 
 concludes the compline office, was being sung, the nuns 
 came down from their stalls, and passed in procession 
 before the Prioress, who sprinkled them with holy wa- 
 ter, according to an ancient custDm of the Dominican 
 Order. 
 
 Sienna Convent possesses another object of great interest, 
 which often brings strangers on a pilgrimage to its doors. 
 The head of the martyred Archbishop Plunkett was 
 placed in this convent by one of his successors in the See 
 of Armagh, to whom it was granted from Rome. The 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 109 
 
 mangled remains of the Archbishop were, after his death, 
 given to his friends, who interred them close beside the 
 grave of Father Whitbread and four other Jesuits, also 
 martjrs at Tyburn, " under the north wall in St. Giles." 
 The iiead and arms from the elbow were placed in a 
 separate case. Two years afterwads the precious remains 
 were removed to a Benedictine monastery at Lambspring, 
 Germany. The head was placed in a silver shrine and 
 sent to Rome, and was for a long time preserved in a 
 Dominican convent there. But it was fitting that the 
 relic should belong to the country for which the Arch- 
 bishop had laid down his life ; and Sienna Convent, 
 founded as it had been by Catherine Plunkett, was un- 
 doubtedly the most fitting place for it. It is kept in a 
 little oratory opening from the reception parlor, en- 
 shrined in a little ebony temple, with four silver pillars. 
 The skull is of a dark brown color, but quite perfect, and 
 the features are plainly to be recognized, and give evi- 
 dence that some of the existing likenesses of Dr. Plunk- 
 ett are very good ones. With mingled feelings of many 
 kinds, I stood and knelt before the relic. Here was the 
 silent record of Ireland's past ; bitter persecution met by 
 undaunted courage, faith, and patience to the end. — 
 Standing by me were the white-robed nuns, records of 
 Ireland's present putting forth daily new strength and 
 vigor, and giving promise for the future. xYn old grey- 
 headed bishop, whom English justice could not spare, 
 was yet more honored in his death, his memory more 
 cherished and reverenced, than were ever any of her 
 proud and prosperous men. And he, too, was the last 
 on whom Tyburn's cruel work was done ; he was the 
 witness and the seal of that long list of victims — the no- 
 ble, the talented, and the holy, some in the flower of 
 
110 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 their days^ some in declining years, both English and 
 Irish— who had offered their lives for the faith, 
 
 After taking leave of the kind and courteous nuns, 
 1 pursued my way to the cemetery outside the town, 
 bearing the curious name of the " Cord," it is supposed 
 because it was originally the burial-place of a convent 
 of Poor Clares in the olden time. This, however, is 
 simply a tradition ; no traces whatever exist of the 
 convent. From the cemetery I had a magnificent view 
 of the Boyne, the viaduct, and the south side of the 
 town ; I found myself standing exactly facing the spot 
 on the opposite heights which I had reached in the 
 morning, and on which Cromwell's batteries had been 
 placed. An old laboring man was passing through the 
 cemetery, and was very willing to answer any questions. 
 " Yes, it had always been supposed that there were nuns 
 on this spot; and that walk," said he, pointing to a 
 path shaded by trees, " was for many years called the 
 * nuns' walk.' " xVfter returning to the town, and pass- 
 ing once more through St. Lawrence's Gate, I turned to 
 the right, and made my way up streets built on rising 
 ground to Magdalene tower, the only vestige yet left 
 of the Dominican monastery existing before the siege. 
 The tower is very beautiful, and 1 should have been glad 
 to get close to it ; but it was so surrounded by hovels 
 of the dirtiest dessnption that it was impossible. While I 
 was walking about, trying to get the best view I could, a 
 man came up whose costume was a curiosity; it consisted 
 of a mass of rags, and the wonder was how they all 
 managed to keep together. There did not seem to be 
 half a yard whole among them ; but there they hung, 
 dirty but picturesque, and crowned by shaggy locks and 
 a tattered hat, from beneath which shone out two large 
 
IRISH HEARTS. Ill 
 
 bright Irish eyes. To him the humorous lines might 
 
 certainly have been applied — 
 
 And it my poor parents saould want to discover me, 
 Sure it won't be by describing my clothes. 
 
 He looked at me, his face lighted up, and he wanted to 
 know if I was going to sketch the " tower." I said 
 " No, but I wished to see it to better advantage ;" 
 whereupon he volunteered to pilot me through one of the 
 hovels to tbe foot of the tower. This offer I declined, 
 but I was struck by the lively interest the poor fellow 
 took in the old ruin ; tbe siege, and Cromwell, and the 
 monks were all pat on his lips ; the history of the past 
 was a vivid and familiar thing to him. He did not beg, 
 but seemed to regard my investigation of the " ould 
 tower " as a personal compliment to himself. On the 
 south side of the town stand the large schools and 
 convent of the Sisters of Mercy. This, to my regret, 
 1 h? I not time to visit ; but I learned that the education 
 </ Aie poor girls, and the visitation of the sick of all on 
 this side of Drogheda, was undertaken by this commu- 
 nity. I did not leave Drogheda without driving to see 
 the celebrated ruins of Monasterboice, about three or 
 four miles from the town. They have been so often 
 described in Irish travels that J will not dwell on them, 
 or endeavor to describe the round tower, the two ruined 
 churches, and the wonderfully sculptured crosses to be 
 found closely grouped together in this lonely spot. On 
 my journey to and from Monasterboice I had a specimen 
 of the Irish car-driver, who, on my asking him if he had 
 spent all his life in Drogheda, replied, " Sure, havn't I 
 been to England ?" — " How long did you live there ?'' — 
 " Sure and thin I went one day, and came back the 
 next," said he, with a twinkle in his eye, as if quite 
 
112 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 aware of the absurdity of the proceeding ; "I went over 
 to Liverpool, and thought it was a mighty bustling place, 
 and then I came back." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Very beautiful is the view which Newry presents from 
 the main line of railroad, as the traveller looks down on 
 it, lying on the banks of the river, with mountains 
 rising in the distance ; and it is very curious to watch 
 the train apparently climbing up the hill as it wends its 
 way from Newry to Goragh TVood, the junction station. 
 There is a great confusion of stations at Newry : you 
 can alight, if you please, at the main line station, and 
 walk or ride less than two miles into the town ; or you 
 can get out at Goragh "Wood, cross the line, and be 
 conveyed in another train to the town. In Newry itself 
 there are two stations, and the line runs through them to 
 its terminus at Warrenpoint. I had reason to remember 
 well the railway arrangements at Newry. I took my 
 ticket at Drogheda, and saw my luggage labelled for 
 Goragh Wood. On arriving at my destination no lug- 
 gage was to be seen ; the van of the train 1 had left was 
 open, and 1 spied my possessions and pointed them out; 
 but the train was late (1 doubt its ever being otherwise) , 
 the guard shut the van, and the train was gone. On 
 arriving at Newry, I poured my griefs into the ^ear 
 of the station master, who telegraphed up to Goragh 
 "Wood for particulars. Profound silence ensued. No 
 answer whatever came back. He then proposed tele- 
 graphing to Belfast, and while he was doing so I went 
 out for a short distance into the town. On my return, I 
 was informed that there was nobody at the other end of 
 
IRISH HEARTS . 113 
 
 the telegraph, and so he had written by the post ! Unable 
 to go on to Warrenpoint as I had wished I betook myself 
 to a hotel in Newry, which turned out to bean " Orange " 
 one, for at Newry one has entered the north, and finds 
 oneself between the two contending armies. The next 
 morning was Sunday, and I had an amusing illustration 
 of the way in which the poorer Irish answer a question. 
 Being too late for the eight o'clock Mass at the Cathe- 
 dral, and finding the next Mass was«at ten, 1 asked the 
 chambermaid if there were not one at another church. 
 " Yes," she said, " at the old chapel at half-past eight, 
 if you can only find the way ; go straight up the street, 
 and then ask." I set out, and soon after passing the 
 Cathedral asked a bright-looking servant girl, in. her 
 Sunday best and prayer-book in hand, the way to the 
 old chapel. 
 
 " But sure there's no Mass there," was the reply : and 
 do what 1 would, 1 could get no other answer. Seeing a 
 postman the other side of the street I crossed over and 
 asked my way of him. " But sure there's no Mass 
 there," was his reply ; and as he had evidently no inten- 
 tion of directing me further, 1 gave it up and retraced 
 my steps to the hotel. The idea of answering the ques- 
 tion simply, and leaving me to find out my own mistake, 
 never occurred to either of my informants. Newry is a 
 bright, clean, cheerful-looking town, with some large 
 fine streets and good buildings. It seems also busy and 
 stirring ; there is access every half hour by train to 
 Warrenpoint, the port of the town, and an exceedingly 
 pretty sea-side place, only less lovely than its little 
 neighbor Rostrevor. "Warrenpoint is greatly frequented 
 in the summer, and a great number of lodging-houses 
 have been built to supply the demand. 
 8 
 
114 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 On Sundays the whole " aristocracy " of the town 
 hasten to their favorite place of resort. The Cathedral 
 of Newry is nothing more than a large handsome parish 
 church, with good proportions, and well lighted. It was 
 filled with a large attentive congregation, both at the 
 four Masses and in the evening. Until the year 1830 
 not a single convent existed either in Newry or even in 
 the whole of Ulster, so virulent was the spirit of the 
 Orange party. In that year, however, it was deter- 
 mined to break ground , and a community of Poor Clares 
 from Dublin came to Newry and took possession of a 
 house in the High street, a close and narrow one in the 
 heart of the town, and having for their neighbors a 
 Unitarian chapel on one side, and an Orange Lodge on 
 the other. The little band of defenceless and innocent 
 women were housed, and their chapel arranged in one 
 of the front rooms of the house. They were not suffered 
 long to remain in peace. The Orangemen assembled 
 outside the convent, broke every pane of glass in the 
 front of the convent, then threw into the house a quantity 
 of stones, and tried their best to break down the iron 
 grating which guarded the door ; in this latter attempt 
 they did not succeed. Then one more unmanly than the 
 rest fired into a cell window, and the ball passed close to 
 the head of the nun who occupied it, grazing her cheek. 
 As the chapel windows were completely destroyed, the 
 nuns were anxious to remove the Blessed Sacrament into 
 the back of the house, but for some time it was impossible 
 to get a priest into the house, and when one did come on 
 the following day he had to creep in disguised. During 
 the whole ot this outrage, which far exceeds anything 
 which the Fenians have done in the late rising, and 
 which took place less than forty years ago, the police 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 115 
 
 never once inter! ered, not a hand was put forth by the 
 guardians of the law to defend a community of educated, 
 refined, and Christian women from injury, insult, and 
 danger of life. For many months the windows remained 
 unrepaired, and the community lived in the rear of the 
 house, fearing further attacks. 
 
 The grounds of St. Clare Convent are very extensive, 
 and a sharp hill rises at the end of them, which has been 
 well planted and laid out with trees and flowers, and 
 from thence there is a lovely view of the town outspread 
 like a map, the river, and the mountains. There, on 
 more than one bright summer's morning, I sat gazing on 
 the fair landscape, and listening to one who, undeterred 
 by stones and missiles, came in the bloom of early youth 
 to link her fate with the nuns of St. Clare ; and who 
 now, in the evening of a life thus spent in devotion to 
 God and His poor, can look back, and witness to the 
 wonderful changes wrought in the position of the Catholic 
 religion even in a part of the country where it naturally 
 could least expect to flourish. The proper place for 
 the nuns' cemetery would have been at the summit of the 
 hill ; but so great was the virulence of the Orange party 
 that even the graves of the dead would not have been 
 safe in a spot to which easy access over the walls at 
 night could have been obtained, and the dead were there- 
 fore buried in a vault scooped out in the middle of the 
 hill. But now they might safely rest in the open ground, 
 and no angry strife would be waged over their resting- 
 place. The Unitarian chapel has long since been closed, 
 and its buildings thrown into the convent ; the Orange 
 lodge has been razed to the ground, and on the site are 
 rising up the walls of fine large poor schools in the place 
 of former ones too small and ill-ventilated, in which the 
 
116 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 nuns have for many years instructed poor children. 
 The nuns of this order are enclosed, and no secular can 
 visit any part of the convent, except the chapel and 
 grounds, without the bishop's permission. This being, 
 however, obtained, I went over all the convent, the 
 refectory, kitchen, and dairy ; the bright-looking com- 
 munity room with piano, pictures, and books ; the 
 library with well-filled shelves ; the long rows of cells : 
 all was very simple and poor ; there were none of the 
 beauty and ornament which is so fittingly introduced into 
 conventual buildings. The adverse times through which 
 the community passed have prevented all this ; but there 
 is a peculiar charm attached to the dwelling-place of 
 those who have bravely fought and gained great and im- 
 portant battles, and this has been essentially the case of 
 the nuns of St. Clare at Newry. A large number of 
 poor children attend their schools, and for many years 
 they were the only Catholic girls' schools in Newry. The 
 chapel is open to the public, the choir of the religious 
 being separated from the rest of the church by a grille. 
 The entire relics of one of the martyrs of the Roman 
 catacombs was recently presented to this convent, en- 
 closed, as is the custom in Borne, in a wax fac-simile of 
 the Saint richly dressed. It is the object of great admira- 
 tion and respect to the poor, many of whom come long 
 distances to visit it, and the chapel is hardly ever empty. 
 So successful has the mission of the Sisters of St. Clare 
 proved in Newry, that it was thought advisable that an- 
 other religious order, and one whose members were able 
 to visit the poor, should be brought in ; and in 1855 a 
 foundation of Sisters of Mercy was sent from the convent 
 at Kinsale, and a house taken for the nuns on the oppo- 
 site side of the town to that on which St. Clare's convent 
 elands. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 117 
 
 In course of time, a large and very fine convent was 
 built almost facing the " Model Schools," a pretty Gothic 
 building. The convent is in the Italian style, one which, 
 though not so pleasing to the eye, is generally found to 
 be more adapted for conventual purposes. The chapel, 
 though only a large room, is very devotional and pretty ; 
 a fine painting by Carlo Dolce, " Our Lord showing His 
 Wounds to St. Thomas," hangs upon the wall, and sev- 
 eral other paintings are very good. A large garden di- 
 vides the convent from the House of Mercy and poor 
 schools ; attached to the former is an Industrial School 
 on a large scale, and which has so high a reputation for 
 the excellence of its work that orders come from all parts, 
 even the colonies, and the girls are therefore kept in con- 
 stant employment. The specimens I was shown were 
 wonderfully fine work. The Sisters have a great deal to 
 do on Sunday, having several confraternities to manage. 
 These consist of girls of different classes, and also women, 
 a sort of " mothers' meeting." They meet in the differ" 
 ent schoolrooms, and are each superintended by a Sister. 
 On entering one of these rooms, where a class of rough 
 looking girls was assembled, the sound of weeping 
 reached our ears, and several of the pupils were seen to 
 be "drowned in tears." The cause of the grief turned 
 out to be the approaching departure of some of the Sis- 
 ters who had been instructing them, and who were going 
 the next day to make a foundation of their order in Lur- 
 gan, a town about twenty miles off. Many of the girls 
 who attend these classes are from the factories, and these 
 Sunday associations tend to keep up an esprit de corps 
 among them. Their conduct, their piety, and zeal would 
 put to shame many who have leisure, and every oppor- 
 tunity of serving God. Out of their scanty wages they 
 
118 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 put aside money to be spent in helping those who are 
 poorer than themselves. 
 
 The Sisters have a branch house at Rostrevor, about 
 seven miles from Newry and two from Warrenpoint. 
 This lovely little spot has been often described by travel- 
 lers in Ireland. It is, I think, one of the loveliest sea- 
 side places that can exist ; it stands in the midst of rich 
 woods, with mountains rising on all sides, and the beau- 
 tiful bay of Carlingford lying at its foot. As yet it is 
 unspoiled by tourists ; for though it has its "season," 
 the accommodation is not large, and the place is so quiet 
 that none but real lovers of scenery would care to spend 
 much time in it. There is a handsome Protestant church 
 in the centre of the town, and a little farther on a Catho- 
 lic one, which is in its way a little gem, both exteriorly 
 and interiorly. Adjoining it is a small convent with two 
 large school-rooms, built in the same style as the church, 
 and the two together form a striking object from the 
 road, framed as they are in a landscape of such extreme 
 loveliness : when 1 visited the spot the convent was yet 
 unfinished, 2>ut the Sisters had been there more than a 
 year, and were lodged in a house or rather large cottage 
 opposite the church , and formerly the residence of the 
 parish priest. Everything here was on a very small 
 scale, the chapel being of the tiniest description , and the 
 school being held in a cow house, and one which from its 
 size and ventilation was not at all good enough even for 
 cows. Yet in this wretched place, filled with dirty rag- 
 ged children, often coming in dropping with wet, in this 
 stifling atmosphere the Sisters of Mercy have gone on 
 patiently doing their duty. The visitation of the poor in 
 these country villages often entails a great deal of fatigue, 
 as the Sisters have to traverse long distances and rough 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 119 
 
 roads, and to encounter all kinds of weather. Attached 
 to the Sisters' house are a nice garden and several fields, 
 from which lovely views may be obtained of the bay and 
 the opposite shore. The work at Kostrevor is over- 
 shadowed and made more difficult by the existence of 
 souperism in an aggravated form within its borders. 
 Every efiort is made by a certain number of people to 
 draw away the poor from their faith by giving them 
 food, clothing and other rewards ; and to cope with this 
 renders the work of the Sisters cruelly hard. A lady of 
 this class once made her way, not without great appre- 
 hension as to her safety, into the little convent. She was 
 courteously received by the Sister in charge. She asked 
 her if she had ever heard of the Redeemer, or knew that 
 such a book as the Bible existed. The Sister begged her 
 visitor's pardon for laughing heartily at the questions. 
 " 1 have read of such things in books, madam," she said, 
 " but could not have believed that any educated person 
 could really have believed us ignorant of that knowledge 
 which is the foundation of our faith." Against bigotry 
 and gross ignorance such as this the Sisters have to fight 
 their way with the weapons of patience, gen%ness and 
 forbearance. 
 
 The pleasant town of Carlow, on the banks of the 
 " goodlie Barrow," and lying in the county called the 
 " garden of Erin," is easily reached by rail from Dublin. 
 Its principal object of interest is the Cathedral, which is 
 so closely connected with the memory of the celebrated 
 Dr. Doyle, Bishop of Kildare, whose exertions for the 
 cause of religion in Ireland are so well known. The 
 Cathedral is a very fine building, with a tower of one 
 hundred and fifty-one feet in height ; the west front is 
 richly decorated. In the interior the very striking monu- 
 
120 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 ment to the memory of Dr. Doyle, representing the 
 Bishop reclining in sleep with Ireland kneeling by his 
 side, is one of Hogan's best executions. Close by the 
 Cathedral is a pleasant park, well planted with trees, 
 and overlooking the river Barrow as it rolls along. In 
 this park stands St. Patrick's College, consisting of a 
 centre and two wings. Both ecclesiastical and lay stu- 
 dents are educated here ; and the library and the chapel 
 are both well worth seeing. 
 
 There is a large Presentation convent at Carlow, with 
 nourishing poor schools. The Sisters of Mercy have also 
 a convent here, and it boasts of being the third founda- 
 tion made by Katherine McAuley in her lifetime. Mrs. 
 McAuley went to Carlow April 10, 1837, where a tempo- 
 rary abode had been taken by the Bishop for the Sisters. 
 As the Presentation nuns had already the charge of the 
 poor schools, the Bishop begged Mrs. McAuley to allow 
 her Sisters to take charge of middle schools, and to this 
 she consented. In due course of time a convent with its 
 House of Mercy was built. It is a pretty " home-like " 
 looking convent, surrounded on all sides by a large, well- 
 planted garden, and shut in by high walls from the road. 
 The middle schools are exceedingly well managed, and the 
 children were particularly intelligent and well taught, 
 and had good manners, a point of no little importance 
 with a class of children naturally inclined to " airs." 
 Middle schools, well managed, are certainly a great want 
 of the present day, and to provide them is a great char- 
 ity. We are all of us as particular about our castes as 
 any Indians that ever lived , and no one can expect that a 
 small tradesman or farmer will send his children to the 
 same school with the bare-footed little ones of the peas- 
 ant. And the children of this class, removed from the 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 121 
 
 rough simplicity of the poor, a little inflated with com- 
 fort, a little set up above their neighbors, run a terrible 
 risk of serious evil. But when girls of this class are well 
 educated, as those at Carlow assuredly are, they grow up 
 steady, sensible women, with immense power of doing 
 good to their own families and to others, in their hands. 
 
 The Sisters of Carlow have also a school for little boys, 
 which is situated at some distance from the convent, un- 
 fortunately for the Sisters who have to go there in all 
 weathers, and unfortunately for me, too, since I had to 
 wait some time ere a beaming iace, whose sunshine even 
 the trials of life in Eastern hospitals could never over- 
 shadow, returned from it to welcome me to her convent 
 home ; and, moreover, was unable to visit this school, as 
 I should have liked to have done. The Sisters have a 
 large number of poor and sick people to visit ; the House 
 of Mercy adjoining the convent was full of inmates ; the 
 building is well adapted for the purpose, and all seemed 
 to be in perfect order. I much wished I could have 
 stayed longer at Carlow, have visited the old castle, and 
 rambled over some of the surrounding country, which 
 looks so tempting when viewed from the town ; but the 
 exigencies of a return ticket and press of time obliged 
 me to hurry back to Dublin. 
 
 I was unlucky enough to enter the fine old city of Lim- 
 erick the day before the annual races, when the streets 
 were thronged by a motley crowd, and there was no 
 slight difficulty in getting accommodation. A kind friend 
 came some distance to meet me for fear I should miss 
 seeing any of the "lions." So we saw the huge stone 
 on which the treaty, so soon to be broken, is said to have 
 been signed. T^e stood on the bridge of the Shannon, 
 the " king of island rivers," as it lay rippling in the 
 
122 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 sunlight, and I tried to fancy the boat "with the dying 
 
 monk : 
 
 Through the low banks where Shannon meets the sea, 
 
 Up the broad waters of the river king, 
 (Then populous with a nation) journeyed he, 
 
 Through that old Ireland which her poets sing : 
 And the white vessel, breasting up the stream, 
 
 Moved elowly like a ship within a dream. 
 
 I suppose almost every one knows the story of the 
 Italian monk who cast the bells for his own monastery 
 in Italy, from whence he and his brethren were driven by 
 some invading army ; and how, long years afterwards, 
 when sent on an embassy to Ireland, he heard the sound 
 of the bells he had so loved from the towers of Limerick 
 Cathedral : 
 
 The white- sailed boat moved slowly up the stream ; 
 
 The old man lay with folded hands at rest ; 
 The Shannon glistened in the sunlit beam ; 
 
 The bells rang gently o'er its shining breast, 
 Shaking out music from each lilied rim, 
 It was a requiem which they rang for him.* 
 
 The Cathedral when reached is disappointing, being 
 heavy and gloomy looking. I was disappointed also with 
 the new Catholic Cathedral, which, though a fine build- 
 ing, is cold and uninteresting. On the outskirts of the 
 town is a very handsome church belonging to the Re- 
 demptorists, and a pretty little one near the railway sta- 
 tion is that of the Dominicans. 
 
 In the good old times a Dominican priory had existed 
 in Limerick, but its inmates had been driven away, and 
 their convent had fallen into a picturesque ruin. Within 
 the enclosure which surrounded this convent a house had 
 been built, and when Mrs. McAuley was induced, in 
 1838, to make a foundation of her order in Limerick, 
 
 * Bessie Rayner Parkes, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 123 
 
 this house was given to the Sisters. She thus describes 
 it in one of her letters : " There is a very nice old convent 
 enclosed by the walls of an abbey — a beautiful ruin. 
 There is a most simple, beautiful tomb just opposite to 
 the cell I occupy ; a holy abbess and a lay sister are de- 
 posited there — a very large weeping willow hanging over 
 the grave. It looks delightful and excites me to medita- 
 tion of the most consoling kind." This convent was 
 situated in a very wretched part of the town, but that the 
 Sisters cared little about, and were only glad to be among 
 the poor. The work increased so rapidly that a large 
 addition to the original convent, together with a House 
 of Mercy and poor schools had to be made. Even these 
 latter seemed to me insufficient for the number of chil- 
 dren who flock to them. I thought the infant school was 
 overcrowded ; but the education and management of the 
 children were apparently very good. Besides the schools 
 attached to the convent, the Sisters have four others in 
 different parts of the city, and altogether more than 
 3,000 children are instructed by the Sisters of Mercy in 
 Limerick. There are two branch houses belonging to 
 this convent in Limerick : the first is St. Vincent's Or- 
 phanage, a fine large building in the Gothic style, built 
 a little way out of the town. It is on the same plan as 
 the other orphanages that I have mentioned, and was 
 filled by a crowd of clean, healthy, contented-looking 
 children. An aims-house for old widows is also connected 
 with this branch house ; and the chapel, and indeed the 
 whole pile of buildings, is exceedingly pretty. This 
 house receives 130 orphans and 16 widows. The most 
 interesting institution in Limerick, and one of the most 
 remarkable 1 think in all Ireland, is the second branch 
 house of the Sisters of Mercy at the workhouse infirmary. 
 
124 IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 The workhouse is built in an excellent situation, about 
 half a mile out of the town. In the year 1856, the guar- 
 dians took the enlightened step of asking the Sisters of 
 Mercy to undertake the charge of the infirmary, and they 
 readily responded to the call. A workhouse infirmary, 
 though under the same roof, is always a distinct depart- 
 ment from the rest of the workhouse, and with the in- 
 firmary only the Sisters have to do. There are various 
 wards for both men and women, and nearly 1,000 pa- 
 tients can be received. A workhouse infirmary is a fa- 
 miliar spot to me. 1 have visited one often, and cer- 
 tainly I never left one without a sad heart, after having 
 witnessed the discomfort, dirt, and neglect (to use the 
 mildest words) , in which the patients were left. But in 
 the Limerick infirmary a changed scene met my eye — 
 floors clean and fresh , beds with spotless linen and white 
 coverings ; the medicines, books and little comforts the 
 patients require close at their side ; the Sisters of Mercy 
 with pleasant laces and kind words moving about in lieu 
 of the " pauper nurses ;" an indescribable air of comfort 
 and repose in the whole place. Wardmaids and ward- 
 men assist the Sisters in the rough work of the infirmary, 
 but their vigi lant care superintends all ; they see that 
 their patients are properly fed, that the doctor's orders 
 are carried out, that they are treated as the poor in a 
 Christian land should be treated, and not as in other 
 workhouses, far worse than a pack of valuable dogs 
 would be. And then the Sisters care for the souls of 
 their patients and try to turn the time ot their illness to 
 good account. 
 
 It must always be borne in mind that the class of poor 
 who enter an infirmary is very different from those who 
 come into an hospital ; the latter are the, respectable la- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 125 
 
 boring poor, servants, &c, and often the lower middle 
 classes who are reduced in circumstances ; the former are 
 the pauper class, the lowest, most wretched, most igno- 
 rant, most neglected of the population, and therefore 
 most needing instruction and elevating influences.- - 
 Among this class of sufferers the Sisters of Mercy in Lim- 
 erick go about consoling, teaching, and helping. They 
 bring back forgotten truths to the minds of some ; they 
 teach others sublime lessons which they have never before 
 heard ; they lead the sinner to repentance, they soften 
 the hardened, deadened heart ; and God's special bene- 
 diction rests on them as they pursue their course ; for 
 not only are they doing a great work, but they have won 
 a great victory for their country, they have broken down 
 a tremendous barrier, have gained the outposts of the 
 great barren desolate field of workhouse poor, neglected 
 and oppressed. Their example has been already followed 
 in three or four other towns ; and may we not hope that 
 the time will come when the workhouses of Ireland shall 
 be in their hands ? The Sisters took me into two small 
 wards equally as good as the others, and rather more 
 comfortable on account of their size ; these were the 
 " Protestant wards." One, 1 think, had four, the other 
 six, inmates, while the whole number of patients at that 
 moment was over 600. So careiul are the guardians that 
 the feelings and consciences of the Protestants shall not 
 be interfered with by their Catholic fellow-patients, that 
 this arrangement has been resorted to. Here the Protes- 
 tant clergyman can visit them, hold services, &c, when- 
 ever he pleases. And this is done in Ireland to a minor- 
 ity of ten among 600, and I thought of certain English 
 workhouses, where the Catholic poor are counted by hun- 
 dreds, yet where their feelings and their consciences are 
 
126 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 utterly ignored ; where a priest can only enter when he 
 is sent for to an especial case, and may not speak to any 
 other Catholic in the ward ; where Catholic visitors are 
 allowed no entrance, and Catholic books are confiscated ; 
 where no provision is made for the administration of 
 Catholic services ; and I asked myself where was the 
 boasted justice of Englishmen, and when would this dis- 
 grace be wiped off from our country. The expenditure of 
 the Limerick infirmary, under the new management, does 
 not exceed that of the preceeding, although the comfort 
 of the patients has been greatly increased. The reason 
 for this is very obvious, as the recent disclosures respect- 
 ing London workhouses will abundantly demonstrate. — 
 The comforts that should have gone to the patients went 
 to the nurses, and the process is now reversed. The Sis- 
 ters practise the most careful economy in all details, and 
 waste of all kinds is -rigidly prevented. If there be ever 
 any apparent increase of expense in this infirmary, it 
 arises from the fact that more poor consent to enter it 
 since the Sisters have been in charge. Some, perhaps, 
 will cavil at this, but surely every poor man has a right 
 to relief and comfort in the hour of sickness ; the infir- 
 mary at least of a poorhouse should be made such as he 
 will not shrink from entering. As it is now rather a 
 fashion to abuse workhouse guardians, a tribute should 
 be given to the wisdom and humanity of the Limerick 
 Board in having had the courage to break through exist- 
 ing customs and make these excellent changes. - 
 
 They must, I am sure, be rewarded in seeing their in- 
 firmary a model one in Ireland, and knowing that they 
 have pioneered the way for others to follow, in bringing 
 about a reform which must work an immense good in the 
 country. 
 
IRISH HEABTS. 127 
 
 I visited the convent of the Good Shepherd in Limer- 
 ick, which is a foundation from the well-known house of 
 this order in London, The Sisters have an asylum for 
 peDitents under their care and also a Government refor- 
 matory for children. The asylum was begun many years 
 ago in Limerick by a lady, who, unable from pressing 
 family duties to enter a convent in her youth as she 
 wished, devoted herself to good works, and especially to 
 the raising up the fallen of her own sex. The asylum for 
 penitents prospered under her care, and many souls were 
 rescued. "When middle life had come, and those of 
 her relations whom she had brought up had gone to 
 give themselves to God's service, she resigned her 
 work for penitents into the hands of the Sisters of the 
 Good Shepherd, and went to serve her novitiate as a Sis- 
 ter of Mercy under a superioress whose childhood and 
 youth she herself had trained ; and when her vows were 
 made, and, as old age was creeping on, it would have 
 seemed time to rest in her loved community, she gave up 
 her native land, and those who were dearest to her heart, 
 and set out on a long and arduous journey to a distant 
 shore to found a convent of her order. There she now 
 rests from her labors, far away from her own green Ire- 
 land, one of those heroic souls of whom the world knows 
 nothing, who neither sought nor cared for fame, but for 
 whom is reserved an exceeding great reward. 
 
 The Convent of the Good Shepherd is a large and hand- 
 some one ; the asylum can receive more than seventy pen- 
 itents ; the management seemed to be the same as that 
 in High Park ; the women are employed chiefly in wash- 
 ing, and there are magnificent laundries. The penitents 
 here are not expected or urged to remain for life, and the 
 greater part do not, but some who desire to remain can 
 
128 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 do so. Among these were a few who had entered the 
 asylum when it was under the management of the lady I 
 have spoken of ; and when her name was mentioned they 
 blessed it with deep gratitude. 
 
 The faces of the reformatory children here were a great 
 contrast to those in Dublin ; I could have fancied myself 
 in an ordinary school, and on entering their room we were 
 received with the same pleasure and interest that the ar- 
 rival of visitors generally excites among ordinary chil- 
 dren. It was a great comfort to hear the nuns say that 
 they were not at all bad children, bat had been generally 
 committed for some very slight offence, and had been led 
 into that principally by poverty and neglect. The Sis- 
 ters had good hopes of sending them out thoroughly 
 improved by their detention. 
 
 There is a convent of the Presentation order in Limer- 
 ick, with schools for 500 children ; and at Laurel Hill, 
 near the city, a convent of " Faithful Companions of Je- 
 sus," a French order for the education of the upper 
 classes.- 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Notwithstanding all I had heard of the beauty of Cork, 
 it quite surpassed my expectations. The weather was 
 perfect — a " St. Luke's summer ;" and from the kind and 
 hospitable " Irish Home" in which I was living, at the 
 summit of one of the heights which surround Cork, we 
 saw the grey autumn mist hanging over the city gradual- 
 ly disperse before the sun, and the river, the churches, 
 the steeple of " Shandon," and the quaint picturesque 
 houses lie glittering in its rays. 
 
 The surrounding scenery of Cork has been often de- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 129 
 
 scribed in better words than I could hope to use. The 
 river Lee, with its rich variety of landscape, lies out- 
 spread before the spectator's delighted gaze as the train 
 or the steamer transports him from Cork to the Cove. A 
 line of railroad runs on each side of the river, with sta- 
 tions at the various pretty villages which ornament the 
 banks of the Lee. 
 
 The Ursuline Convent, at Blackrock, is a large and 
 handsome building, and forms a conspicuous object in 
 the landscape. It was founded by the Ursuline Nuns 
 who came from France in 1771, and is one of the chief 
 places of education in Ireland. The river joins the sea 
 at Queenstown, or the Cove of Cork ; its magnificent har- 
 bor and the view from the heights, of sea and land, with 
 islands dotted here and there, the winding river, and the 
 shipping, are exceedingly beautiful ; and then there are 
 the " Groves of Blarney," with the stone which so few 
 have courage to kiss, great as the promised result may 
 be ; and the castle " once strong and ancient," as the 
 song declares, but now — 
 
 Sure you're nothing at all but a stone 
 
 Wrapt In ivy. . . . 
 Bad luck to tbat robber, ould Crommlll, 
 That plundered our beautiful fort. 
 
 My first visit to Cork took place immediately after the 
 erection of the statue to Father Mathew, at the top of 
 Patrick street, immediately facing the bridge, and the 
 town had hardly recovered from the excitement conse- 
 quent on the fetes of the occasion. There, in the midst 
 of the city in which he was born, in which so much of 
 his great work was wrought, stands the image of the man 
 whom his country can never forget— the simple, self-de- 
 nying, warm-hearted Irish priest, whose one thought in 
 9 
 
130 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 life was to rescue his countrymen from the dread curse 
 of their existence. 1 went to the church in which he 
 used to minister, but there was nothing f any note to be 
 recorded of it ; then to the cemetery which he laid out 
 and arranged, and in the centre of which he now lies. — 
 It is at some little distance from the town, and might 
 with ordinary care and pains be as beautiful a cemetery 
 as that of Glasnevin ; but it had, when 1 saw it, fallen 
 into a terrible state of neglect. The only tomb appar- 
 ently properly looked after was that of Father Mathew 
 himself. It consists of a broad slab of granite laid upon 
 the ground, a cross in the centre, and an iron railing 
 surrounding it. There is hardly an hour in the day 
 when a " pilgrim" may not be found kneeling by the 
 grave of him whom many reverence as a saint. But the 
 rest of the cemetery was in sad confusion — trees and 
 shrubs growing as if in a forest; while weeds, nettles, 
 and long gras3 choked up the passage to and from the 
 graves. Perhaps by this time matters may be all put 
 straight, otherwise it would be a disgrace to the enlight- 
 ened city of Cork. 
 
 One of the great " lions" of Cork now is the Church 
 of SS. Peter and Paul, worthy in beauty if not in size to 
 be the cathedral of the diocese ; it is, however, only a 
 parish church, but a very large sum indeed has been 
 spent on its decorations. It is the work of Mr. Weiby 
 Pugin, son of the orreat architect of that name, and it is 
 one of which the city has every reason to be proud. The 
 elevation of tne building, the roof and the apse, are 
 most admirable, while pillars of different colored mar- 
 bles, and the richest carving in stone for the altars, de- 
 light the eye. 
 
 It formed a great contrast to another church which 1 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 131 
 
 visited in Cork, and one of the oldest, strongly resem- 
 bling a well-constructed but weather-beaten barn of 
 enormous size, with great ugly galleries, and an altar 
 raised on high steps so that it could be seen by all. — 
 This church fulfils the object for which it was built, 
 that of containing as many people as possible. 
 These two churches struck me as remarkable specimens 
 of Ireland now and Ireland fifty years ago. Then space 
 and a roof to shelter them, and an altar which they 
 could see, and a floor to kneel on, was all the Irish hoped 
 for, dared to expect. Faithfully and patiently through 
 long years of trial they worshipped in these humble 
 temples, while the cathedrals that their fathers built 
 were neglected and disused by those who could not value 
 them. Now the time has come when once more the 
 beauty of architecture, marble, and gold, and gems can 
 be brought into the service of the sanctuary, and build- 
 ings may rise up to vie with those which sprung from 
 the love and devotion of olden days. Connected with the 
 "barn-like" church, I heard of a confraternity which 
 interested me greatly. It was for young girls from the 
 time at which they make their first communion till they 
 are twenty-one, and thus it lays hold of the girls who 
 have left school, a class which, at the present day, is not 
 nearly so much attended to as it ought to be. These 
 girls meet at the church at two o'clock every Sunday 
 afternoon, are divided into classes, and receive instruc- 
 tion, or rather keep up the instruction of their school 
 days. The priest in charge of this association, a speci- 
 men of those devoted self-sacrificing men of whom the 
 Irish priesthood can furnish so many examples, gives 
 them a short address, and there is, I think, some singing. 
 All simple enough, but tending to sustain a bond of 
 
132 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 union and keep holy lessons alive in their hearts. All 
 the members are bound to go to the sacraments once a 
 month, and a high tone of conduct is kept up amongst 
 them. Serious offenders are punished by expulsion, 
 which is looked upon as a terrible disgrace. " And what 
 do you do with those who misbehave," said I, " because 
 there must be some?" — " If possible," was the answer, 
 " I try to persuade them to go to England." The reply 
 smote upon my heart, for I knew well how many of the 
 Irish girls in England who are so hard to manage, so 
 difficult to reclaim, were those who, in their own country, 
 had began by being a little wild, and having taken the 
 first downward step, and rubbed off the bloom of their 
 youthful innocence, when thrown into the whirl of one 
 of our great wicked cities hurry onwards with rapid pace 
 to ruin. There is some difficulty in getting teachers for 
 this confraternity. Many ladies do not like to give up 
 the best part of a Sunday afternoon for a work requiring 
 patience and skill; besides which, the teacher's duty 
 binds her to look after her pupils in the week, to see 
 why the absentees did not make their appearance, and to 
 visit those who are ill. A story was told me in connec- 
 tion with this association which would not form a bad 
 plot for a novel, and was certainly a little " romance in 
 real life." A young girl once offered herself as teacher 
 in the confraternity. She was poorly clad, and stated 
 herself to be a seamstress ; but there was a grace about 
 her appearance and manner which convinced the priest 
 to whom she spoke that she was of gentle birth. It 
 turned out to be the case ; she and her sister were well 
 born, but, losing father and mother in their infancy, 
 were left, with their fortune of £20,000, to the guardian- 
 ship of an uncle. He sent them to be educated at a con- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 133 
 
 vent in France, and there one sister died ; and when the 
 other, at the age of seventeeD, returned to Cork, she 
 found her uncle flown and herself penniless. 
 
 She went out as a governess, but finding that mode of 
 life intolerable, gave it up, and earned her bread by 
 needlework. She was received as a teacher; the priest 
 watched her narrowly, and was perfectly satisfied with 
 her conduct and patient industry. One day she came to 
 tell him that one of her pupils was seriously ill, and had 
 no one but an old mother, almost too infirm to work, to 
 nurse her; might she go and help her? He gave per- 
 mission, and Ellen (as I will call her) nursed the young 
 girl till she died. Then the poor mother bewailed bit- 
 terly ; her last, her only one, was gone, and she was left 
 alone to starve and die. She, too, had seen better days, 
 but misfortune had come heavily on her, and her only 
 son, a bright and clever lad, had chosen to go to Cali- 
 fornia, telling his mother to be of good heart, for he 
 would come back to her a rich man. But seventeen 
 years had flown by, and not a word had come from 
 him ; so he must have been dead long ago ; and now her 
 girl was gone, who used to help her with washing, and 
 enable her to keep out of the dreaded union. Then Ellen 
 bade her be comforted, for she would fill a daughter'splace, 
 live with her, and work for her till life should end. And 
 in a Ruth-like spirit she toiled hard for the old woman's 
 support, watched tenderly over her, and hoped when that 
 task should be fulfilled to become a nun. One day 
 a letter came to the priest who directed the confraternity 
 bearing a foreign postmark ; it proved to be from the 
 long-lost son of the old mother, who had truly enough 
 become a rich man, and had acres of lands and flocks of 
 sheep, whose letters home had all gone astray, who had 
 
134 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 thought his mother dead, but had heard of her from a 
 former member of the confraternity, married in Cali- 
 fornia, who told him he had a mother and sister in Cork 
 So Robert (as I will call him) wrote to the priest to beg 
 him to break the news to his mother, to give her money 
 from him, and to entreat her and his sister to take ship 
 and come out to him, where they would live in peace and 
 plenty the rest of their days. When the old woman 
 heard the news she fell down in a fainting fit ; but on her 
 recovery expressed herself eager and willing to undertake 
 the voyage, and see her only child again before she died, 
 provided Ellen would take the place of the sister he 
 expected, and accompany her on the voyagQ. And to this 
 Ellen consented, intending, as soon as she should have 
 delivered the old woman safe into her son's keeping, to 
 seek admission into the convent of the Sisters of Mercy 
 at San Francisco, who were greatly in want of fresh 
 sisters. So the pair set off, and arrived safely in Cali- 
 fornia, where, as my readers will of course foresee, Robert 
 fell instantly in love with Eilen, and besought her to be 
 his wife. His position would have insured her every 
 comfort that money could buy in California. But Ellen's 
 heart was too firmly anchored ; to love the poor and to 
 serve her Lord was her sole ambition, and steadfast to 
 her word she speedily entered the convent. Already a 
 true nun in heart she fulfilled her duties admirably. 
 Soon after her profession she was sent into the hospital. 
 An officer, mortally wounded, was brought in, and Ellen 
 had to wait on him. He was a confirmed infidel, and 
 was ready to die as he had lived, unbelieving and blas- 
 pheming ; but beside him Ellen prayed, and beside him 
 6he labored. The conquest of this soul was given her, 
 and he died penitent, blessing the name of Him whose 
 

 IRISH HEARTS. 135 
 
 love had so inspired the feeble words of a Sister of 
 Mercy. 
 
 The Christian Brothers have a large establishment in 
 Cork, and I have purposely omitted mentioning the 
 schools of these Brothers in Dublin, because it was in 
 Cork that 1 first became acquainted with them. The 
 order of the Christian Brothers is a French one, and 
 was founded by the Yen. J. B. de la Salle, towards the 
 close of the seventeenth century. His rule and constitu- 
 tions were adopted in 1817 by a small body of men in 
 Ireland who, from the year 1802, had been devoting 
 themselves to the care of poor schools, and living in 
 community. From that time the order in Ireland has 
 made rapid progress ; they have now seventy establish 
 ments in the country, and have about 30,000 children 
 under their care. 
 
 Our Lady's Mount at Cork is a large house built on 
 one of the hills that surround the city ; a wide lawn 
 gradually slope3 down it to the entrance gate, where 
 stand the schools, and in a few minutes after passing 
 them you find yourself among the poorest population 
 of the city. The schools are very fine, space and air 
 abound in them, perfect order and cleanliness prevail, 
 and the manner of the boys is very good. There are 
 eight class rooms in this school, the boys advancing by 
 different gradations. There is a great mixture of ranks 
 among the boys, a barefooted little fellow with scanty 
 garments standing next to one evidently of a better 
 grade; indeed, the education given in these schools is 
 of so excellent a character, that parents above the very 
 poor are eager to procure it for their children. "The 
 knowledge communicated in the schools embraces not 
 only reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, 
 
136 IEISH HOMES AND 
 
 and bookkeeping, but also an acquaintance with' such 
 branches of mathematical science as are suited to the 
 tastes and talents of the pupil, and to the stations of life 
 which they are destined to occupy. Geometry, mensura- 
 tion, drawing, and mechanics, are special objects of at- 
 tention." 
 
 The occasion of the erection of Father Mathew's statue 
 brought to Cork several " special correspondents " and 
 reporters of the London papers. One of these gentle- 
 men was persuaded to visit the Christian Brothers' 
 schools. He began by asking what books they used, and 
 on being told " our own," looked the scorn he was too 
 polite to express. The books were given to him, and he 
 was requested to examine the classes himself in his own 
 way. Thus he gradually advanced through the school, 
 becoming more and more surprised as he went on. — 
 " Really, this is astonishing," said he, to the friend 
 who accompanied him, and at last on reaching the last 
 class he relinquished his task as examiner, fairly confess- 
 ing the boys were beyond him. He was then taken to 
 the drawing school, the walls of which were hung with 
 framed drawings of various kinds. The visitor, imagin- 
 ing them to be selected for the boys to copy, said they 
 were very good — some evidently were by a French artist 
 — and it was with difficulty he could be made to believe 
 that they were the productions of the boys. But when at 
 last the fact had dawned upon him, and he realized what 
 well-educated intelligent lads the Brothers could turn 
 out, a brilliant idea seized him. " What do you do with 
 them here ? send them to London ; with such acquire- 
 ments they could get excellent situations there." And 
 then he was informed that even in the benighted city of 
 Cork it was quite easy to place the boys in positions in 
 
IEISH HEAETS. 137 
 
 which they can do well. So he departed a little wiser 
 than he came ; but I never heard that the British pub- 
 lic were ever informed of the result of his visit. 
 
 In the chapel belonging to the Brothers the Superior 
 showed us a silver lamp for the altar, the present of one 
 who had attended the schools a barefooted ragged little 
 urchin, and who was now a prosperous tradesman, never 
 forgetting in the hour of his prosperity the kind teach- 
 ers of his poverty-stricken childhood. He was by no 
 mean 8 a solitary instance of the rewards the Brothers of- 
 ten meet amid their toil and discouragements. The 
 Brothers' house is spacious, and very simply furnished ; 
 the chapel is a very pretty one, and there is a library 
 well stocked with books. By rule, the Brothers are 
 obliged to devote a certain time to study each day. 
 
 This house possesses a peculiar interest, as having once 
 possessed among its members the brilliant and talented 
 Gerald Griffin. Here he died, of typhus fever, in June, 
 1840, and his body rests in the little burying-ground half 
 way down the garden, which divides the house from the 
 school ; a small green plot of grass, with iron railings 
 around, and large trees overhanging it, and a few graves 
 marked with a head-stone and a cross in the centre. — 
 "With varied and mingled feelings we stood by the grave 
 of one whose life, though brief, had contained so deep a 
 lesson. Nothing, perhaps, can more clearly describe the 
 true vocation of a Christian Brother than Gerald's own 
 letters, written from this very spot. To a friend in Lon- 
 don he writes : — "I was ordered off here from Dublin 
 last June, and have been since enlightening the craniums 
 of the wondering paddies in this quarter, who learn 
 from me with profound amazement and profit that o, x, 
 spells ox ; that the top of a map is the north, and the 
 
138 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 bottom the south, with various other ' branches ;' as also 
 that they ought to be good boys, and do as they are bid, 
 and say their prayers every morning and evening, &c.; 
 and yet it seems curious even to myself that I feel a great 
 deal happier in the practice of this daily routine than 1 
 did while I was roving about your great city, absorbed 
 in the modest project of rivalling Shakespeare, and 
 throwing Scott into the shade." It is a curious task now 
 to read the records of Gerald's early life ; to see the 
 young man of twenty, full of the ardor of youth and ge- 
 nius, struggling in the great arena of London life, thirst- 
 ing for fame, and often not able to earn his daily bread ; 
 how he went about from manager to actress, and from 
 actor to critic, burning with eagerness to see a play of 
 his performed on the boards of a London theatre. " The 
 object of my life for many years," he calls it ; and when 
 a piece of his actually did appear he is thrown into 
 " buoyant excitement of mind and heart." What a cup 
 of bliss, then, would have been the furore about the 
 "Colleen Bawn ;" but, happily for him, the fame he 
 sought for did not come. He attained a certain amount 
 of success, but was so wearied with the struggle that he 
 turned away to a settled profession, and then his views 
 changed ; he began to think that fame, after all, was not 
 worth the pursuit, and a few years after beheld him a 
 Christian Brother, happy and radiant, and full of peace, 
 and eager only to devote his fine talents to the service of 
 God. But it was not to be ; the soul that seemed fitted 
 to do so much in the future was not to linger on the 
 earth : his early presentiment was to be fulfilled. 
 " In the time of my boyhood I had a strange feeling 
 
 That I was to die ere the noon of my day; 
 Not quietly into the silent grave stealing, 
 
 But torn, like a blasted oak, sudden away." 
 
IEISH HEAETS. 139 
 
 In his community life Gerald had been as much loved 
 as he had been by the family and friends he had 
 left. Even after the lapse of so many years, the Superior 
 of the house could not speak of him without deep emo- 
 tion , and he had not yet ceased to mourn the loss of one 
 so richly gifted, both by nature and grace. 
 
 Besides the schools at Our Lady's Mount, the Brothers 
 have two others in different parts of Cork. 
 
 Just opposite their gate is a convent of the Irish Sis- 
 ters of Charity. They have large poor schools for girls, 
 and also one for infant boys, and they are of great assist- 
 ance to the Brothers in preparing the boys well before 
 entering the boys' schools. 
 
 Attached to this convent is a Magdalene Asylum, the 
 finest of the kind I have ever seen. The plan of man- 
 agement is the same as that at Donnybrook, but the gen- 
 eral arrangements of the house very far excel those of 
 the latter. Each inmate has her own little cell, and this 
 renders the house a very suitable one for women who 
 were of a rather better position in life than those who 
 generally fill such asylums. It greatly increases the dif- 
 ficulty of reclaiming persons of this kind, if they find 
 they are to be in constant contact night and day 
 with those who are naturally rough, coarse, and unfeel- 
 ing. The first germs of their repentance are often weak, 
 and they frequently give up the struggle in despair, and 
 run back to evil courses. In the Cork asylum, as else- 
 where, the penitents have to work for their own support. 
 There is a large work-room, and magnificent laundries. 
 We were much struck by the quiet manner and modest 
 demeanor of many of the women, giving evidence of the 
 improvement which had been wrought in their charac- 
 ters. 
 
140 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 The convent of Sisters of Mercy, in Cork, bears the 
 poetical name of St. Marie's of the Isle ; it is built on a 
 piece of ground called the Island, and formerly the site 
 of a Dominican Abbey. "This convent is the fifth founda- 
 tion made by Mrs. McAuley, and is one of the most flour- 
 ishing of the order. It is built in the Gothic style, of 
 brown stone, with bright colored limestone quoins, win- 
 dows, and door-ways, and is a beautiful and picturesque 
 building. The interior is equally good, and altogether 
 it is a worthy successor of the convents of bygone days. 
 The whole expense of its erection was borne by the peo- 
 ple of Cork, and it is certainly a great ornament to the 
 city. Adjoining it are large poor schools, an orphanage, 
 and a large House of Mercy. There is a numerous com- 
 munity, and all their works seemed to be in a flourishing 
 condition. There are several branch houses belonging 
 to this community, one of which has charge of a hospital, 
 which we visited. A large house has been devoted to 
 the purpose, and the hospital is managed on the same 
 plan as that in Jervis street, Dublin. The size of the 
 house does not admit of good accommodations being given 
 to the Sisters ; but this they accept and make light ot 
 with their usual cheerfulness. 
 
 A little way out of Cork, at Sunday's Well, is a lovely 
 little church, belonging to the Vincentian Fathers. The 
 interior is remarkably graceful, and it is the work of Mr. 
 George Goldie. 
 
 An institution in Cork interested me very deeply. It 
 was situated in Mary street, and was a home, or rather a 
 training school, for workhouse girls. A certain number 
 of ladies in Cork visit the workhouse regularly, and, in 
 common with all other workhouse visitors, were grieved 
 to the heart at the state of workhouse girls. Indeed the 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 141 
 
 condition of these girls in all the unions where the sys- 
 tem of district schools does not exist is perfectly appall- 
 ing, and it id extraordinary that no steps to remedy such 
 a state of things have been taken. A number of orphans 
 and deserted children are always found in the workhouse 
 school ; when they become old enough to go out to ser- 
 vice, they are sent to it ; but, as a rule, they never stay. 
 They do not want to stay ; the restraints of service are 
 very irksome, they like the workhouse, and back they 
 come, not back to the schools, which are, I believe, in 
 Cork very well managed, and where only a certain 
 amount of evil can be learnt ; but they return to the 
 adult wards to mix with women of all ages, of all classes ; 
 to hear language, to learn evil, which we cannot even 
 contemplate. Here the habits of idleness strengthen ; 
 they dawdle through their little task of work, with no 
 care for the future, no incentive to exertion ; the worst 
 passions of their nature are allowed to grow up un- 
 checked, and if they ever do leave the workhouse, it is 
 certainly to swell the criminal class of the country, or 
 else they are sent out to the colonies in emigrant ships, 
 with the worst possible results. To take the lowest 
 ground, they are from first to last an enormous expense 
 to the union. Yet such is the immovability of work- 
 house guardians, that the excellent efforts of the Cork 
 ladies were only supported by a portion among them, and 
 seem in great danger of being shipwrecked by the sense- 
 less opposition of the rest. 
 
 Two years ago it was determined to try the experiment 
 of training workhouse girls for service, and after an in- 
 finity of trouble the guardians consented. They took a 
 house in Mary street, in a very dilapidated state, so that 
 a large sum had to be spent on repairs. It was plainly 
 
142 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 furnished, a matron engaged, and girls drafted in ; but 
 every possible obstacle that can be imagined stood in the 
 way of its success. The girls hated to be taught, and 
 had brought with them the bad habits engendered by 
 workhouse training, inveterate idleness, and a tendency 
 to cunning and deceit. A very short time only was al- 
 lowed for training them, and the girls always felt that if 
 they chose to go back to the wookhouse they had only to 
 turn restive and the thing was accomplished. Many of 
 these girls had been trained from infancy in the work- 
 house, some even born there ; they knew no other home, 
 cared for no other life, for it is the remarkable charac- 
 teristic of workhouse girls that they have no ambition to 
 rise ; then there were the guardians wanting to see the 
 results of the plan, fearing the expenses ; good people 
 shrugging their shoulders and prophecying the work 
 would be a failure. Notwithstanding all this, the ladies 
 and their matron worked on ; in these two years seventy- 
 seven girls passed through the house ; forty of these are 
 doing well in situations, nineteen were failures, nine had' 
 not sufficient health for service, and nine were in the 
 house when it closed. For it is closed, and the good 
 work stopped. The immediate cause of its closing was 
 the ruinous state of the house, from which it became 
 absolutely necessary to move, while there was difficulty 
 in finding another. While the matter was pending, some 
 of the guardians strongly opposed the re-opening of the 
 home, asserting that the good done by it did not com- 
 pensate for the expense to the rate-payers. The financial 
 state of the home was as follows : —Entire cost of home, 
 730/. 10s. 2d.; value of clothing on hand, 48Z.; clothing 
 in store at the workhouse for use of home, and charged 
 to its account but never drawn, 74/. 17 s. 3d.; cost of 
 
IEISH HEAETS. 143 
 
 utensils, 47/. 17s.; bedding, 31/. 14s. 6d. ; furniture, 
 31/. lis. 5c?. All the above articles were available for 
 use, and should therefore be deducted from the 730/. 10s. 
 The repairs of the house were 90/. ; therefore the actual 
 expenses of the home for two years were 406/. 10s., and 
 for this sum the result has been obtained that forty girls 
 have been taken from the pauper class, and are earning 
 their bread respectably. It is quite certain that if they 
 remained in the workhouse all their lives they would 
 have cost a great deal more than 400/., and even if this 
 were not the case, is not sach a change as regards these 
 unhappy children worth some expense. To deny them 
 the opportunities which it is now certain that they are 
 ready to avail themselves of, is surely worse than the 
 slave trade. It is difficult to believe that the Cork guar- 
 dians can persevere in their opposition ; we trust soon 
 to hear that the home is re-opened and in a flourishing 
 condition. 1 was much struck when I visited the house 
 with the excellent good sense with which it was man- 
 aged. For instance, the matron's bedroom was fitted 
 up simply but nicely, as a lady's would be, in order to 
 teach the girls how to set a bedroom in order. Her 
 meals were served up with the same care, the girls 
 taught to wait on her. The ladies of the committee 
 would sometimes order their luncheon to be prepared 
 at the home in order to teach the girls how to wait, and 
 how to use the common articles of civilized life. These 
 things may seem too trifling to repeat, but they would 
 not appear so to those who understand what a work- 
 house girl is, and how completely the ladies have had 
 to train young barbarians. " Their entire surroundings 
 in the workhouse are different from those of everyday 
 life, their daily routine there in no way fits them for 
 
144 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 life outside, and a girl of fourteen or fifteen years of 
 age, reared in the workhouse, is as unlearned in the 
 experience of life as a child of five years old in the gen- 
 eral population. It is only when a girl leaves the work- 
 house that she learns the use of such simple domestic 
 implements as a knife and fork, or knows practically, at 
 the cost of her mistress's temper and pocket, that an 
 earthern bowl is more brittle than a tin porringer. 
 Children in the workhouse never, or very rarely, see the 
 commonest articles used in a kitchen. As to the way of 
 setting out, or the appendages of the simplest table, they 
 are mysteries to them. Beef, mutton, poultry, fish, &c, 
 were all things they read of or saw in pictures ; but, 
 if all were placed before them, it would be very problem- 
 atical if they could distinguish one from the other. 
 Soup or porridge they could understand — it was their 
 daily food — but if they were starving, and given the 
 materials to make it, they could not do so.* 
 
 The ladies feel certain that if they had a large house, 
 and were able to take in a greater number of girls, the 
 expenses would be in comparison lessened, and the re- 
 sults equally satisfactory. " The expense individually 
 would be less than the dreadful experiment of emigra- 
 tion, and the guardians would have the consciousness of 
 knowing that, as Christian gentlemen, they had helped 
 the poor females under their care (many of whom are 
 orphans) to make themselves respectable and useful mem- 
 bers of society at home, instead of paying thousands of 
 pounds to send them out to certain destruction." It is 
 very satisfactory, but not surprising, to find that the 
 girls placed out in service come to the matron or the la- 
 
 * Report of the Mary Street Home. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 145 
 
 dies for advice and help. Surely it is not possible that 
 such a work as tbis, in the heart of generous Ireland,will 
 be suffered to peris '.i. 
 
 Tbere are two Presentation Convents in Cork, one of 
 ■which is that built by Miss Nagle, whose grave is to be 
 seen within its enclosure. 
 
 The picturesque town of Kinsale is comparatively lit- 
 tle known to tourists, lying as it does out of the beaten 
 track. Did such a lovely sea-side place happen to lie on 
 the English coast it would long since have been over- 
 run by visitors, and much of its beauty destroyed. Stucco 
 villas and a grand " parade" would have broken in upon 
 the calm and repose that now hang over the little town, 
 full of memories of the past. Irish chieftains, and Spanish 
 invaders, and Parliamentary soldiers have each in their 
 turn held Kinsale in their power, and stirring deeds 
 have been wrought within its walls. Now it is quiet and 
 deserted — the quaint old houses rising in tiers on the side 
 of a hill, while a river slowly wends its way towards the 
 little bay. A promontory, once occupied by a fort, now 
 in ruins, juts out into the harbor. Charles Fort is on the 
 opposite side, and beyond is the broad Atlantic and the 
 11 Old Head," looked out for as eagerly by the Irishman 
 returning from America as the Land's End or Needles 
 are by English eyes. Kinsale abounds in pretty walks, 
 and there are many points on the different hills in the 
 vicinity of the town from which beautiful views of the 
 forts, bay, Bandon river, and surrounding country can 
 be gained. I was living in one of the pretty country 
 houses in the neighborhood, a true and pleasant " Irish 
 home," with a lovely garden, shaded by large trees, the 
 sea almost at one's feet, and a tremendous hill to ascend 
 or descend in coming or going to the town, but up and 
 10 
 
146 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 down which the horses trotted complacently, as they 
 were used to it all their lives, and desired nothing better. 
 The Convent of Sisters of Mercy at Kinsale forms a con- 
 spicuous object, being erected on the summit of the hill 
 above the town, and consisting of a large pile of build- 
 ings in the Italian style. The church is large and hand- 
 some, with a beautiful choir for the religious on one side 
 of the altar, shut off by a grating, while the rest of the 
 church is open to the public. The schools attached to 
 this convent are very fine ones. No pains or expense 
 have been spared on the buildings or on their fittings, 
 while equal care has been taken with the training of the 
 children. There are several large school-rooms and va- 
 rious class-rooms opening from them, and the whole ar- 
 rangements and training of the children are very good. 
 They are under government inspection, and they are an- 
 other instance of the excellent results that can be attained 
 in schools to which women of education and ability, ac- 
 tuated by the highest motives, devote their full attention 
 and energy. Besides the literary schools, there is a large 
 industrial one, in which the girls are taught needlework, 
 and also lacemaking. There is a large poor population at 
 Kinsale, and it is very necessary to enable the older girls 
 to do something towards their own support. The nee- 
 dlework was very good, and some of the specimens of lace 
 quite beautiful. A House of Mercy and Orphanage are 
 also connected with this house, both on a small scale, the 
 Sisters not having possessed sufficient land to build as 
 largely as they would have desired. The land, however, 
 now, has been obtained, and a^large orphanage will be 
 built, and also, 1 believe, an hospital. The Sisters have 
 a large number of poor and sick to visit, and often go 
 considerable distances ; they also visit the poorhouse. — 
 The convent at Kinsale was founded from Limerick in 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 117 
 
 1844, a lady of Kinsale having devoted herself and her 
 iortune to the good work. A few Sisters were sent from 
 Limerick to make this foundation, and in twenty-three 
 years their numbers have swelled to nearly two hundred, 
 enabling them to send out a large number of filiations. — ■ 
 They have sent foundations to various towns in Ireland, 
 to England, California, and the United States. Ten 
 years after the convent had been founded, two Sisters of 
 Mercy from Dublin arrived at its door. Soon after their 
 entrance the great bell of the convent was rung, and the 
 whole*community, to their astonishment, were begged to 
 assemble ; and then the visitors told them that Sisters of 
 Mercy had been asked for by the English government to 
 nurse the soldiers of the Crimean army. The essential 
 point was to provide a suitable superioress for the little 
 band to go forth on this new, untried and difficult mis- 
 sion. Would they give up their Mother under whose 
 auspices their convent had risen up, and was then flour- 
 ishing, and sending out fresh branches, for this arduous 
 and perilous undertaking ? Without this leave and the 
 permission of the bishop the superioress could not go. — 
 The sacrifice was a hard one, but it was generously made ; 
 and the Rev. Mother, with two Sisters, set out for Dub- 
 lin, and from thence to London. Other convents con- 
 tributed Sisters. Cork sent two, as also did Carlow, 
 Charleville, and Dublin ; Liverpool gave three, and 
 Chelsea one ; and the fifteen Sisters went out in Decem- 
 ber, 1854, to their hard and trying labors. In rather 
 less than two years they returned, but not all. Some 
 were left behind, far away from quiet convent cemeter- 
 ies, where they had hoped to rest, never to be seen again 
 till the 
 
 " resurrection morning 
 Has Just begun to break." 
 
148 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " St. Luke's summer" unfortunately came to a sudden 
 close the very day that we quitted Cork for Killarney. — 
 It began to rain, and there seemed no intention of its 
 ever leaving off ; and so it was amidst driving clouds of 
 rain and gusts of wind that I caught the first glimpse of 
 the mountains of Kerry, and entered the far-famed town 
 of Killarney. The season was over ; the hotels were 
 empty, and the town wore a deserted aspect. " Doing" 
 the Lakes was utterly out of the question — 
 
 It rained all day, and it rained all night ; 
 
 It rained when morning broke ; 
 It rained when the " travellers" went to sleep, 
 
 And it rained when " they" awoke.* 
 
 We amused ourselves with a visit to the beautiful 
 Convent of Sisters of Mercy, built some little way out of 
 the town, and commanding, I believe, a very fine view, but 
 on the occasion of our visit this waslridden from our gaze 
 by the blinding rain. We went into the poor schools, 
 which were very fairly attended in spite of the weather. 
 There is an industrial school for lace making attached to 
 this convent, and also a House of Mercy ; while the Sis- 
 ters have heavy work on their hands in visiting the nu- 
 merous sick and poor. This convent seems to have ex- 
 cited particular admiration in Dr. Forbes, who says, 
 " There was a singular air of calm and solemnity in this 
 house, and the Sisters, though looking cheerful, as busy 
 people generally are, had something in their bearing 
 which inspired at once reverence and awe." 
 
 The great ornament of Killarney is the Cathedral, the 
 only one 1 have seen in Ireland worthy of the name. It 
 is one of Pugin's happiest conceptions. The tower is 
 
 * F. W. Faber. 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 149 
 
 not yet built, and this of course greatly detracts from the 
 beauty of the exterior ; but within the great height of the 
 roof, the noble pillars, the sense of space and grandeur, 
 made one think of some of the beautiful cathedrals of old, 
 of our own and foreign lands. Our first visit was paid about 
 eight o'clock in the evening ; it was a pitch dark night, 
 not a star was to be seen, and as Killarney is guiltless of 
 street lamps it was with some difficulty that we groped 
 our way to the cathedral. We were amply rewarded. — 
 The only light was cast from one or two lamps burning 
 before the altars, throwing flickering gleams of radiance 
 here and there, and leaving the stately pillars and great 
 spaces beyond wrapped in gloom. Here and there was 
 the form of a worshipper enveloped in a cloak and drawn 
 together in the extraordinary fashion which Irishwomen 
 only can adopt. Now and then they prayed out loud in 
 a low sort of moan, an Irish habit anything but agreea- 
 ble in a small church, but which here, coming as it did 
 from distant corners, had a very curious weirdlike effect ; 
 then the moan ceased and there was utter unbroken si- 
 lence, and the darkness seemed to deepen. Presently ap- 
 peared a light, borne by a man who clumped over the 
 church and peered about with his candle, evidently look- 
 ing for some one ; but not finding the object of his 
 search, he knelt down and prayed. In a few minutes in 
 came three or four other men quite of the working class, 
 to whom the first comer administered a sharp rebuke for 
 their want of punctuality ; they were succeeded by some 
 others and fell to their devotion very heartily. They 
 turned out to be the confraternity of the Rosary who 
 meet in the cathedral every night. "Wishing to be in 
 Killarney itself, we had taken lodgings, being tempted 
 thereunto also by the excessive cleanliness and sweet -face 
 
150 IEISH HOMES AND 
 
 of a young woman who wanted to let her rooms. The 
 lodging3 were spotlessly clean, and snowy linen lay upon 
 the beds. I had ordered a fire in my bedroom, and on 
 returning from the cathedral we were dismayed to find 
 the room choked with smoke — peat smoke, too, which 
 fills your eyes and gets down your throat without any 
 mercy. "And sure 1 am 50 sorry !" said the pretty 
 landlady ; "it is the first fire that has been lit since the 
 summer, and it is just that the jackdaws have built a 
 nest on the top of the chimney." So both for the jack- 
 daws' comfort and our own we begged to have the fire 
 put out as soon as possible. It was a pleasant sound 
 when the house grew quiet to hear from the upper rooms 
 a chorus of little voices saying their " ora pro nobis," as 
 the pretty young mother was putting a brood of little 
 ones to rest. 
 
 The next morning we started for Kenmare, telling our 
 landlady we should be away one- night or it might be 
 two ; but as it depended on the weather, she might ex- 
 pect us back the next day. And the next evening ac- 
 cordingly we did come, and found everything neat and 
 clean; but our hostess's face grew sorrowful — "Oht 
 sure, ma'am, we thought you said you might not come 
 till to-morrow, and the first thing to-morrow morning 
 my husband was going to see about the jackdaws !" It 
 was an Irish trait — truly a vexing one. During our ab- 
 sence we had left all our luggage in this woman's keep- 
 ing, although we knew nothing of her, having an in- 
 stinctive trust in the goodness of her face, and our confi- 
 dence in Irish honesty was not misplaced. 
 
 The weather was kind enough to hold up for a little as 
 we pursued ourjourney along the mountain road which 
 leads from Killarney to Kenmare. I wonder whether a 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 151 
 
 more beautiful drive than that one can be had anywhere, 
 and I strongly doubt it. To me the memory of it will 
 certainly be " a joy for ever :" on the one side, the 
 lakes lying in their deep valleys ; on the other, the richly 
 wooded heights rising above our heads, decked as they 
 were that day in their autumn tints, every variety of 
 brown, red, gold, and orange ; in the distance the great 
 purple mountains, from which the clouds rolled away 
 sometimes in great black masses, and sometimes over- 
 shadowed with gloom, and every now and then a tran- 
 sient gleam of sunshine broke over them like a smile ; 
 while between us and the lakes lay a tangled mass of un- 
 derwood, and shrubs, and rocks in wild fantastic confu- 
 sion, as if nature, weary of painting the landscape, had 
 thrown them carelessly from her hand. And then we 
 came to a little lake lying by itself in silent beauty with 
 the great mountains watching on all sides ; and as the 
 miles drew on we came more into the heart of the moun- 
 tains, and a wild rocky waste spread itself on either 
 hand, and the rain began again, or rather a sort of thick 
 falling white mist which made all surrounding objects 
 look ghost-like and strange. The rain cleared away 
 again, and the sun came fully out, as we began a sudden 
 descent, and found ourselves looking down on the valley 
 ofKenmare. In the midst of the valley lay a beautiful 
 pile of buildings, such as in an English village would be at 
 once taken for church, parsonage, and schools. They 
 are, however, in fact, a church, schools, and convent 
 bearing the title of Holy Cross. Arrived in Kenmare, 
 we were not long in paying the convent a visit, and were 
 received with affectionate hospitality. The whole has 
 been raised at the expense and under the constant super- 
 intendence of the parish priest, Archdeacon 'Sullivan. 
 
152 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Spacious cloisters surround the building, one of which 
 leads to the choir of the religious, which occupies the left 
 side of the sanctuary. 
 
 The interior of the church is very beautiful, and con- 
 tains several good painted windows ; the east window is 
 especially excellent, representing the Crucifixion. The 
 ancient and beautiful custom of the " sanctus bell" has 
 been introduced into this church. The bell is so placed 
 that it can be rung from the altar, so that all absent 
 from the church may know the exact time when the 
 greatest act of Christian worship is accomplished. There 
 is a fine organ in the church, and the music is particu- 
 larly good. The nuns take great pains with their choir ; 
 they happily possess several first-rate musicians, both vo- 
 cal and instrumental, in the community, and they make 
 it one of their duties to render the music of the sanctuary 
 as worthy as possible of divine worship, and also care- 
 fully train some of their school girls to play the organ 
 and conduct the choir in country churches. 
 
 This convent is one of the most interesting in Ireland ; 
 it seems so completely to fill the place of the religious 
 houses of by-gone days, when the convent was the refuge 
 for all who needed help or sympathy ; when 
 
 The Abbess listened, prayed, and settled all; 
 
 Young hearts that came, weighed down by love or^wrong, 
 
 Left her kind presence comforted and strong; 
 
 Thus strife, love, sorrow, good and evil fate, 
 
 Found help and blessing at the convent gate.* 
 
 Most of the religious houses we meet with now have 
 been called into being by the exigencies of the times ; 
 and their presence in large crowded town3 seem to fit in, 
 as it were, with the manifold wants of the present day ; 
 but the abbey of the Holy Cross rises in such a valley 
 * Adelaide Anne Proctor. 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 153 
 
 and amidst such beauties of nature as the monks and 
 nuns of old loved to surround themselves with. Great 
 purple mountains lie in the distance with their glorious 
 variations of light and shade ; a river, called in Irish 
 Finihe (bright water) ,* wends its way through the con- 
 vent grounds ; the quiet nuns glide through their clois- 
 ters ; and all recalls the vision of olden days when the 
 land was overspread with stately abbeys and priories. 
 
 The nuns of this convent are a foundation from the 
 Poor Clares at Newry, and came to Kenmare on the 
 feast of St. Raphael, October, 1861. 
 
 The poverty of the people at Kenmare is great, arising 
 chiefly from the fact that there is no work, the sad, sad 
 cry which so continually reaches one's ears in Ireland. 
 There is no resident landlord in the place, and what the 
 people are to do to help themselves, as they are so con- 
 stantly advised to do in England, it is hard to see. 
 The building of the church and convent gave employ- 
 ment to very many for some years, and the distress has 
 been great since they were completed. Both men and 
 women, when they can manage to earn a little, try to 
 save rigidly, that they may get enough money to emi- 
 grate ; and the Sisters, in order to obviate this evil, 
 opened an industrial school, which gives employment to 
 several hundreds, and here needlework of all kinds, and 
 lace making, are carried on ; Limerick lace, and Irish 
 point and guipure, with many other varieties, are beauti- 
 fully executed. The great market for the disposal of 
 the lace is in the tourist season, when Kenmare is the 
 
 * The river takes its rise in a mountain lake which, lies beneath an 
 abrupt precipice, some 1.000 feet high. In this lake there is an island 
 called the Finihe, or Bright Island, from the exceeding brightness of its 
 verdure, and of the wild shrubs and plants that grow on it. 
 
154 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 halting-place between Killarney and Glengariff ; the lace 
 is displayed at the hotel where the tourists stop to dine, 
 and some who stay longer pay a visit to the convent, and 
 see the good that is effected. Many ladies have been so 
 struck by the sight that they have endeavored on their 
 return to England to get orders for the lace there, having 
 taken specimens with them to show their friends. Be- 
 sides the industrial school, there are the literary ones, 
 which are under excellent management and are numer- 
 ously attended. Without having what is actually called 
 a middle school, the nuns try to classify the children, 
 giving to each the education most suited to their position, 
 and of course to their capabilities. Some of the children 
 are of the poorest class, and are not only taught but fed 
 and clothed by the nuns ; the breakfast and the little 
 stirabout and bread given at noon is often the only food 
 of hundreds of these little ones, while winter's cold and 
 summer's heat make no difference in their clothing — the 
 same wretched rags are worn all the year round. Then, 
 again, there are girls of a superior grade, who are being 
 trained for schoolmistresses : they receive a solid and 
 excellent education, their music is carefully attended to, 
 and their drawing is exceedingly good. 1 was much 
 struck by the specimens shown me, which gave evidence 
 of considerable talent in the children, and careful culti- 
 vation by their teachers. 
 
 It would not seem that the mountain wilds of Ireland 
 were the most likely place for literature to flourish; 
 nevertheless the convent of Holy Cross, Kenmare, has 
 done a great deal in this respect. Several works of 
 considerable importance have been composed by a mem- 
 ber of this community. Of one of these * a competent 
 
 • The Life and Eevelations of St. Gertrude. London : Burns & Oates. 
 
IRISH HEAETS. 155 
 
 judge has said, " the book possesses a profound interest, 
 and that of a character wholly apart from polemics." 
 
 The History of the Franciscan Order, and the Life of 
 St. Clare, are the productions of the same pen, besides 
 which the writer has found time to send forth a "vast 
 quantity of little books suited for the poor and children, 
 and has thus supplied many a gap in popular literature. 
 I understand that a work long wanted is now in pro- 
 gress within the walls of this convent — a popular and 
 illustrated History of Ireland. It is extraordinary that 
 such a work has not long since appeared ; the field of 
 Irish history has been far too little explored, and the 
 books issued on the subject, if learned and accurate, are, 
 as is truly said, too "pale in color and tame in lan- 
 guage," and thus, though useful no doubt to the earnest 
 student, have failed to interest the general reader. In 
 giving, then, a really trustworthy, impartial, and yet 
 popular history of the country, enriched with good illus- 
 trations, a religious of St. Clare will be doing a good 
 work and furthering a great cause. 
 
 The morning after our arrival in Kenmare was Sun- 
 day, and the town presented a spectacle well worth 
 seeing. Apparently the whole population turned out to 
 Mass ; the roads were thronged, and every house seemed 
 to be empty ; all were arrayed in their Sunday best 
 — even with the poorest, soap and water had achieved 
 some sort of victory, and the poor garments were tidied 
 up, while with a great number their Sunday apparel 
 was by no means to be despised. At the eight o'clock 
 Mass the church was filled, and the sermon was a sur- 
 prising one indeed to Saxon ears; not that it was given 
 in the Irish tongue, it was in the vernacular, and lis- 
 tened to with profound attention. 
 
156 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 It appeared that a few days previously two of those 
 miserable beings who, not content with their own ruin, 
 go about seeking to compass that of the young and inno- 
 cent, had entered the little peaceful town. The vigilant 
 eye of the shepherd had marked them out, and the 
 wolves were to be driven from the flock. The people 
 were forbidden to give them lodging or food, to exchange 
 a word, or hold any intercourse with them. I learned 
 afterwards that the warning would be quite sufficient ; 
 the intruders would, as similar ones had done before, 
 find the place too hot to hold them, and would decamp 
 with all possible speed. The people of Kenmare are not 
 perfect, and have their faults in common with the rest 
 of their fellow-creatures ; but the social plague-spot of 
 modern days and the dark shadow which hangs over our 
 green English villages can find no resting-place in these 
 mountain wilds . Kenmare is a very widely-spread parish , 
 and the priests have to go immense distances to attend 
 the sick and to hold "stations." It was impossible to 
 help laughing at the absurd idea of the " Parish Church " 
 of Kenmare not being that of Holy Cross. However, 
 such is the case. At the other end of the village stands 
 a commodious building, with plenty of room for a large 
 congregation, and an incumbent paid, out of the funds 
 of the country, to minister in it. His congregation con- 
 sists of about a score of people. This district suffered 
 greatly at the time of the famine, the people being 
 reduced to the utmost misery, which was immediately 
 taken advantage of by the " soupers," who were willing 
 to relieve any who would read Protestant Bibles and 
 tracts, and receive the visits of the " Scripture reader." 
 But the Kerry folk stood firm, and would not sell their 
 birthright for a mess of pottage. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 157 
 
 It was certainly very provoking of the rain. On our 
 return to Killarney, it came down in torrents, and 
 seemed to have made up its mind to go on. There were 
 so many places we wanted to see — so many things we 
 wanted to do ; for to visit Killarney and not sail upon 
 the Lakes is really something to be ashamed of — 
 
 But the merry clouds knew nothing of that, 
 And the rain kept pouring on. 
 
 Everybody said that when it once began to rain at Kil- 
 larney it always went on for a fortnight, and as what 
 everybody says must of course be true, we took leave 
 of our pleasant landlady, paying her a bill of such a 
 marvellously small amount that an English lodging- 
 house keeper would certainly have thought her insane, 
 and went by train to Charleville. It is a sleepy, unin- 
 teresting town, with plenty of objects of interest in its 
 neighborhood, and a fair, fertile country spreading on 
 all sides. It is strange now to think of the stir 
 and the bustle that must have been aroused in the 
 quiet place by the conflict so recently going on at 
 the town of Kilmallock, only five miles distant, when 
 the Fenians attacked the police barracks, and the man- 
 ager of the bank was shot down at his own door. 
 There is a strong contrast between the two towns. Kil- 
 mallock is one of the most ancient places in Ireland, and 
 one considered of such great importance that it was en- 
 tirely surrounded by fortifications. Here the great Earls 
 of Desmond had their chief power and state, and unfor- 
 tunate Kilmallock was, in the days of Elizabeth, razed to 
 the ground. Arising once again in new strength and 
 state, its beauty excited even the admiration of Crom- 
 well, who, bent as he was on destroying " every fortified 
 town and every castle and habitation of the Irish," was 
 
158 IEISH HOMES AND 
 
 anxious to spare this place. However, he speedily 
 changed his mind, and the fine buildings and fortifica- 
 tions were reduced to ruins, and it is now one of those 
 desolate spots which never seem able to recover the loss 
 of their former greatness. Charleville is, comparatively, 
 a modern town, and has but a brief history attached to 
 it. It was founded by the Earl of Ossory in 1621, and 
 named after the reigning sovereign ; and it was burnt to 
 the ground by the Duke of Berwick in 1690. 
 
 At the very outset of Mrs. McAuley's career as a Sister 
 of Mercy she was entreated to found a convent at Charle- 
 ville — a lady of the neighborhood having offered 5001. 
 and a house for the commencement. She foresaw great 
 difficulties for the new foundation, and was unwilling to 
 make it, but, with her usual meekness, yielded to the 
 entreaties of others, and went there, with other Sisters, 
 in October, 1836. The description of her journey thither 
 reads strangely when we remember it took place but 
 thirty years ago. She went to Tullamore, and intended 
 to " go on by the canal boat to Limerick, and thence to 
 Charleville. She did not know what a very slow and in- 
 convenient mode of conveyance the canal boat was, nor 
 its hours for starting. It was only when she reached 
 Tullamore she learned it would not leave until the middle 
 of the night. This arrangement precluded the possibility 
 of her or the Sisters getting any rest; and as the boat 
 did not reach Limerick until late the next night, they all 
 suffered much from cold and fatigue." When they 
 reached Charleville, they found the house so damp that 
 their clothes were moist when they rose in the morning ; 
 and the difficulties Mrs. McAuley had anticipated came 
 in abundance. But the Sisters persevered, and won the 
 gratitude of the poor, who were wont to exclaim : — " It 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 159 
 
 was the Lord who drove you in amongst us ! " The damp 
 house has been long since deserted, and a spacious con- 
 vent built in a good situation fronting the principal 
 street of the town, and having at its rear a pretty garden, 
 well laid out, with several fields beyond. The interior 
 arrangements of the convent are excellent— the corridors 
 being particularly wide and airy. The nuns have a pretty 
 choir, divided by a grating from the rest of their chapel, 
 which has an entrance from the street, and is open to the 
 public. Attached to the convent are spacious poor 
 schools, numerously attended and well managed. An 
 industrial school is also presided over by the Sisters, and 
 their visitation among the poor and sick is very large. 
 Nothing gives more striking evidence of the marvellous 
 way in which the Sisters of Mercy spread than these con- 
 vents in the provincial towns. They begin with a hand- 
 ful of nuns, and a few years later there is a flourishing 
 community. Nothing more plainly shows also the zeal, 
 generosity, and self-denial of the Sisters than the history 
 of some of these foundations. The community at Char- 
 leville had surmounted long and trying difficulties. The 
 harvest had come after the seed-time, and the community 
 was large and flourishing, dwelling together in close 
 union and peace. 
 
 Nuns for a colonial foundation were asked for, and the 
 Sisters responded to the call. Those who were bound 
 , together by the tender ties of nature, as well as those of 
 a religious sisterhood, were content to part probably for 
 ever in this life. In the summer of last year, a ship 
 sailed from Queenstown, carrying on board a freight of 
 passengers never before, I should think, gathered together 
 in one vessel, and whose assemblage gave very evident 
 proofs of the rapid progress of the Catholic religion, and 
 
160 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 the generous efforts of Ireland in its furtherance. The 
 vessel contained two Bishops, half a dozen priests, eight- 
 een nuns, and some ladies who intended to join the re- 
 ligious as soon as they were settled in their new homes. 
 Three communities of nuns made up the party — one of Sis- 
 ters of Mercy from Charleville, another from Athy, and a 
 third of Presentation nuns. They were bound respectively 
 for Bathurst, Maitland , and Hobart's Town. The vessel was 
 surnamed by some the " holy ship," and seldom indeed 
 would such united sounds of praise and prayer have been 
 heard as when this vessel made her way through the 
 world of waters. Those who think that conventual life 
 blunts the affections and hardens the heart would have 
 been surprised to hear the account of the partings on 
 board that memorable vessel — how the Sisters of Charle- 
 ville clung round their " Mother," who had gone to see 
 them off, and how the sacrifice of parting from their con- 
 vent home, though generously made, had cut deeply into 
 their inmost hearts. » 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Oranmore, on an arm of Gal way Bay, is a desolate 
 looking town ; a number of deserted, unroofed houses 
 meet the traveller's gaze, and he soon learns that emi- 
 gration has rapidly thinned the population of the place. 
 The country round is bare and dreary, except where the 
 eye catches a view of the coast with its innumerable 
 bendings, points of land, and jutfcings out into the bay. 
 The line of railway from Dublin to Oranmore is consid- 
 ered to be a very uninteresting one, and in truth, after 
 the pretty suburbs of Dublin have been passed, and a 
 glance has been caught of the grey towers of Maynooth 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 161 
 
 College, there are few objects worthy of notice, and the 
 country is for the most part flat and ugly ; but the day I 
 travelled on that line was what the Irish call a "pet 
 day," and the whole landscape was bathed in such floods 
 of glorious sunshine that even great tracts of barren moor- 
 land had their charm. 
 
 At Athlone the railway crosses the Shannon, which 
 even here is a beautiful and stately river. The train 
 halts awhile at Athlone, giving the traveller time to re- 
 call the ancient glories of the place, its eventful history, 
 the wars that had raged beneath its walls, and last, not 
 least, the fatal battle of Aughrim, whose loss was so dis- 
 astrous to the Irish cause. 
 
 At one station on the line the train also drew up for 
 a considerable time, and I was amused at watching a 
 specimen of Irish manners. A sort of half gentleman, 
 who had evidently been shooting or fishing in the town, 
 joined the train, and was accompanied to the station by 
 three or four young women, with shawls thrown over 
 their heads, and several boys and men, the evident idlers 
 of the town. A great deal of fun and chaff was going 
 on, the traveller giving warm invitations to " Mary, my 
 dear," to come with him, which Mary laughingly re- 
 fused. My attention was specially drawn to one of the 
 group, because I thought 1 never had seen so dirty a face 
 before ; presently the owner of it said something, which 
 fortunately I did not catch, whereupon a storm burst 
 upon his head ; " that he should have dared to say such 
 a thing in the presence of girls," was the burden of the 
 suholding, and he was abused by the traveller from 
 the third class carriage with vehemence, and called every 
 name of reproach in the Irish vocabulary ; his com- 
 panions and the stragglers on the platform looked on 
 11 
 
162 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 in silent approval. I expected to see an Irish row, but 
 no, my dirty friend took his reproof meekly, and seemed 
 greatly ashamed of himself, if not for what he had said, 
 at least for saying it " in the presence of girls;" and 
 I could not help wondering how many men of a similar 
 class in England would have submitted to such a dressing 
 for a like offence. The country round Oranmore is ex- 
 tremely rocky, and the eye grows weary of the continual 
 " crop of stones." " Stones everywhere ; in the walls, 
 the roads, the hills, the plains, and the fields ; all one 
 unmitigated sheet of grey monotony, only relieved by the 
 distant hills of Clare." Here and there along the lonely 
 roads we came upon a peasant woman in the picturesque 
 costume of the neighborhood ; a red petticoat, beneath 
 which are seen her bare feet, and a heavy cloak of dark 
 blue woollen, curiously draped about the figure and head. 
 It is no wonder the people emigrate, there is nothing for 
 them to do ; the cry of no work is repeated here more 
 sadly than ever, and the poverty is extreme. When in 
 the winter through which we have passed, London was 
 snow-bound for a week, and groups of men went about 
 the streets wailing out in melancholy cadence, " We 
 have no work to do," and people's hearts were touched, 
 and those who never gave to beggars sent out money and 
 food, saying they could not refuse that appeal, 1 used to 
 think of the peasants in county Gal way, for the snow 
 was deep on the ground there too, and there the cry, 
 " We have no work to do," might be chanted, not for 
 one week, but through many a long month. There is 
 a little Presentation Convent at Oranmore, with poor 
 schools, and a few miles distant, at the village of Clarin 
 Bridge, is a lovely little convent of the Irish Sisters of 
 Charity, called" Our Lady's Priory." We are so ac- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. lo'3 
 
 customed to come upon these Sisters amidst the busy 
 whirl of great towns, that it seemed quite a surprise to 
 find them in a " village convent," and one which reminds 
 us again of days gone by, when the convent stood close 
 by the castle gate, and religious were to be found in 
 country solitudes as well as in the heart of great cities. 
 The convent at Clarin Bridge was founded in the year 
 1844. It is a beautiful little building, standing back 
 from the road, and surrounded by a pretty garden, 
 shaded by a variety of trees. On one side is the chapel, 
 and on the other the schools ; and though Clarin Bridge 
 is such a quiet village the population is large and widely 
 scattered, so that the Sisters have a large attendance of 
 children, averaging between two and three hundred. 
 There is also a small industrial school attached, where 
 lace is made, and we were shown some beautiful speci- 
 mens of it ; but here, as in most industrial schools, the 
 great difficulty is to get a sale for the work. I was much 
 interested at finding that the Superioress of this convent 
 was the sister of Gerald Griffin, the " Lucy " of whom 
 he speaks so tenderly in his letters, to whom he was wont 
 to pour out his hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, and 
 whose example, no doubt, greatly influenced him in 
 turning from a vain pursuit of wordly fame to a life of 
 devotion and sacrifice. Of her convent life he thus 
 speaks in his poems :— 
 
 To see that bark with canvass furl'd 
 Still riding in that port of peace. 
 
 And then he continues : — 
 
 Oh ! darling of a heart that still 
 
 By earthly joys too deeply trod, 
 At moments bids its owner feel 
 
 The warmth of nature and of God. 
 
1G4 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 Still be his care in future years 
 
 To learn of thee truth's simple way, 
 And tree from groundless hopes and fears, 
 
 Serenely live, securely pray. 
 
 And when our Christinas days are past, 
 And life's tair shadows faint and dim, 
 Oh ! he my sister heard at last 
 When her pure hands are raised for him . 
 
 And they were parted. Cut off in the prime of life, 
 he rests in his quiet grave, and his memory is yet green 
 amongst us. She has lingered on to a good old age, 
 while those she loved have, one by one, dropped by her 
 side ; patiently filling up the measure of her appointed 
 task, and waiting for the hour when those who parted 
 for the love of God shall have their joyous meeting. 
 
 Near the convent is a large school, with house adjoin- 
 ing, belonging to the Christian Brothers; the commu- 
 nity is, of course, very small, but their school seemed to 
 be fully up to the, mark required for a country school ; 
 they also have a good attendance, and some of the boys 
 come long distances. 
 
 The Brothers told us various anecdotes of the love the 
 boys have for learning, and the pains some of them take 
 to keep up their learning in spare hours, after they have 
 been obliged to leave school and go to work. This school 
 and monastery were founded by the late Sir Thomas 
 lledington, who thus conferred a great and lasting benefit 
 on the poor of the neighborhood. He also gave a large 
 portion of land to the Sisters of Charity, while their 
 convent and its endowment for five Sisters was the gift 
 of his mother, Mrs. Redington. 
 
 Around the town of Galway gather many memories 
 of history and romance. On every side the quaint old 
 town bears marks of having fallen from a great estate, 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 165 
 
 white at each turn there is some record or other of 
 the busy part Galway once took in the history of the 
 country. Its ancient feuds, the proud names of its 
 " Tribes," its mercantile greatness, its victories and its 
 defeats, its sieges and its surrenders, all flock fast upon 
 the visitor's memory as he passes through the narrow, 
 half-deserted streets. But neither feud nor conquest 
 could rob it of its chief interest — the beautiful bay which 
 lies spread at its feet. No words can adequately de- 
 scribe the view when one stands on its shores, and the 
 wild Atlantic, broken only by the dark ridge of the Isles 
 of Arran, bursts upon the sight. Galway abounds in 
 religious houses ; to it the ancient orders have seemed to 
 cling, and to raise their heads again within its walls as 
 soon as ever they could do so in safety. I had an especial 
 wish to visit the Convent of Poor Clares in Galway, 
 standing on what is called " Nuns' Island," for the his- 
 tory of the order is one of the most romantic of any of 
 the Irish religious houses. It seems that a convent 
 of this order was existing in Galway in the year 1511, 
 but it suffered the same fate as others at the time of the 
 dissolution, and all traces of the religious who filled it 
 are lost. From time to time, Irish ladies entered foreign 
 convents with the hope of being able to make founda- 
 tions in their native land, and six Irish nuns from the 
 Poor Clares' Convent at Gravelines came to Dublin in 
 1625 ; and, says the old chronicle, " soon after they had 
 encloistered themselves in the city of Dublin, they ad- 
 mitted several to this form of life, and their persecu- 
 tion began by search and threatenings in such manner 
 that it was needful for them sometimes to hide them- 
 selves, and to send their ornaments (i. e. church orna- 
 ments) to some Catholic houses. Yet, notwithstanding, 
 
106 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 the sweet savor of their virtues extended itself, and the 
 manner of their life was much admired, and the more 
 so because in people's memory there were none clois- 
 tered in that kingdom, and so everybody was desirous 
 to see and hear them. Amongst the rest, the Lady 
 Deputy went disguised to look on them, the which 
 she did through the high grate, as they were in divine 
 office, and was in great admiration." Unfortunately 
 the Lady Deputy must needs tell her lord what she 
 had seen, upon which " the Lord Deputy sent the 
 mayor with armed men to the convent, ordaining to 
 bring the Abbess, with some of the religious, to his 
 presence, and to leave a guard upon the convent and the 
 rest, until further orders." As the mayor came back 
 with the defenceless nuns, " there assembled a great con- 
 course of people, who took compassion to see them go 
 abroad barefoot, and feared much that they would suffer 
 greater harm ; they raised such tumult that the mayor 
 feared to be stoned, whereupon, directing his speech to 
 Father Luke Dillon, brother to the Abbess, and some 
 other lords, knights, and gentlemen kinsmen to the 
 nuns, who were present there, he said that no hurt 
 should be done to the gentlemen, and, therefore, for 
 God's love, to appease the people. They did so, by the 
 persuasion of the same Abbess and other Sisters. Having 
 arrived at the Castle where the Deputy and peers, with 
 a great multitude of people, expected them, the Deputy 
 questioned the Abbess how did they dare to put up their 
 grates, and settle themselves in cloister there." The an- 
 swers of the Abbess, however, somewhat abated the fury ot 
 this wise ruler, and instead of driving them out of Ireland 
 as he had intended, he only commanded them to quit Dublin 
 within a month from that day. The order was obeyed, and 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 167 
 
 as the six novices, though unprofessed, would not be per- 
 suaded to forsake them, the whole set forth on their exile. 
 " They divided themselves into three companies amongst 
 some noble county friends of theirs, who charitably har- 
 bored them until a poor houEe was built for their habita- 
 tion in a solitary neck of land, without inhabitants, near 
 a great cave, not daring any more to settle themselves in 
 any great town, or city, or populous place; and there 
 they founded a convent, which they called Bethlehem, 
 and it was situated in such a low and shadowy bog, as the 
 physicians wondered how such tender creatures, very 
 delicately reared, could live therein, for in wet and 
 rainy weather the water would not only fall through the 
 roof of the house, but also in several places came up 
 through the ground. Besides that, all their houses were 
 so low that their cells and other rooms, except only the 
 choir, were upon the ground." This convent was situ- 
 ated in the neighborhood of Athlone, on the banks of 
 Lough Ree, a nuble expansion of the Shannon, but where 
 there is much marsh and bog land ; and, notwithstanding 
 the unhealthiness of the site, the community rapidly in- 
 creased, and people came from a great distance to see 
 them. Another Lady Deputy had the same curiosity as 
 her predecessor, and made the journey to Athlone, to- 
 gether with the Duchess of Buckingham, for the sole 
 purpose of seeing and conversing with the nuns. How- 
 ever, fresh persecution was at hand, and in 1641 the nuns 
 were warned that the Parliamentary soldiers were on 
 their track. For some months they lived " in^such panic 
 as it were far easier for them to suffer death at once than 
 to live in the like martyrdom." It was now that the 
 people of Galway, confident in their own superior safety, 
 besought some of the nuns to come within their walls for 
 
168 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 protection. Accordingly a foundation was made, but 
 thirty nuns remained behind in Bethlehem, being unwil- 
 ling to quit it till they should be actually forced to do 
 so. This soon took place, and they had to fly away in 
 boats to the other side of the lake, while the soldiers took 
 possession of the convent, " devouring all the provision, 
 making sport and laughter of the altars, pictures, orna- 
 ments, and sacred things that were therein. Some of 
 them would put on the habits of the nuns they found 
 there, and, jesting at them, would say, ' Come, let us 
 say Mass.' Lastly, they set fire to the convent." The 
 exiled nuns divided into two parties — one going to Wex- 
 ford, and the other to Athlone. But a few years later 
 both these convents were destroyed by Cromwell, and the 
 nuns driven away. Many of them went to Spain, and 
 were received into convents of their order, and beautiful 
 records remain of their holy lives and deaths— stories 
 which might form themes for a poet and subjects for an 
 artist. One ship touches the Spanish shore, but the aged 
 Abbess who is on board is worn out, and dies in sight of 
 land; or, again, when Sister Julia Blake, of Galway, is 
 dying, she is " so jocund and glad that she caused to be 
 played on a harp for her and therewith to sing Te Dsum 
 Laudamus." 
 
 The poor Clares, on their arrival in Galway, received 
 a great number of novices, and soon after sent the fol- 
 lowing humble petition to the corporation: — "That 
 your petitioners, members of this corporation, did some 
 yeares sithence forsake the world to serve the Almighty, 
 and what through the distempers of the tymes, and 
 through God's holy will, have suffered great afflic- 
 tion these seven yeares past, and in their necessity, 
 as bound by nature, repaired to this toune; shewing, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 169 
 
 further, that through necessity, by reason of the tymes, 
 their parents and friends are unable to furnish their 
 wants, as in peaceable tymes they have intended ; and 
 that your poor petitioners doe suffer much by the exor- 
 bitant rent they pay, and, notwithstanding their due 
 payment, are to be thrust out of their dwelling next May, 
 their lease being then ended ; the premises considered, 
 and taken to your consideration the inconvenience of re- 
 ligious women who want habitation, the convenience of 
 their residence in this place, the preferment of young 
 children, though poor, shall be relieved, by God's assist- 
 ance, in our convent, the everlasting prayers to be made 
 for you, the Glory of God, the preservation of the town 
 by your petitioners, and their successors their interces- 
 sions, the honor of Gall way to befounde such a monas- 
 terie; the petitioners humbly pray that you may be 
 pleased to grant them sufficient roome for building a 
 monasterie, and rooms convenient thereunto, a garden 
 and orchard, in the next island adjoyning to the bridge 
 of Illanalltenagh, and for that your petitioners' building 
 will be rather a strength than any annoyance, hindrance, 
 or impeachment, either to the highway leading to the 
 other island, or to the safety and preservation of this 
 corporation, which granted, they will ever pray. 
 Sister Mary Boxavexture, 
 
 Unworthy Abbesse . ' ' 
 This petition was acceded to, and the island " was 
 granted to the community in 1648, and the same was re- 
 corded in chapter and mayoralty book, in the mayoralty 
 t of Walter Blake, knight." Upon this island a hand- 
 some convent with cloisters was erected, but all was lost 
 when Galway surrendered, in 1652, to the arms of Crom- 
 well, and the convent was torn down. Many of the nuns 
 
170 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 seem to have lingered in Gal way or its neighborhood, 
 for a few years afterwards we find two of them renting 
 their own land from the man to whom it had been 
 granted by the Parliament, and farming it. The land 
 afterwards became the property of the crown. 
 
 In 1G36, a few of the Poor Clares still survived, and 
 still pined after a convent home, and they ventured once 
 more into Gal way, and took a large house in Market 
 street, where they received lady boarders for the purpose 
 of concealing the fact that they were religious. The an- 
 nals state that on the 1st of May, 1698, the convent was 
 broken into by the military, the nuns turned out, and 
 obliged to disperse among their friends. Undaunted in 
 courage, as soon as this storm had blown over, the nuns 
 returned to their place, and lived unmolested till April, 
 1712, when they were again turned out, and the convent 
 converted into barracks. A kind friend living next door, 
 Mr. Ambrose O'Connor, harbored five or six of them for 
 the moment. When night drew on tbey had a great 
 longing to creep back to their beloved and deserted choir, 
 there to say their matin office. Mr. O'Connor supplied 
 them with candles, and gave the sentry a doucer to in- 
 duce him to allow the poor ladies to say their prayers for 
 an hour. 
 
 So the nuns crept up to the chapel, and in low tones 
 eaid their matins and lauds ; meanwhile, the soldiers 
 who were sleeping in the cells were shaking with terror, 
 and went next morning to their officers to complain that 
 the choir was filled by the ghosts of nuns saying their 
 prayers, and that they would no longer sleep in a haunted 
 house. The convent was therefore deserted, and after a 
 little time the poor nuns ventured back to it. That same 
 year they sect six Sisters to found a convent of their or- 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 171 
 
 der in Dublin, but soon after their arrival they were 
 seized and taken to the judges, and their papers also 
 looked into. Such was the alarm the arrival of a hand- 
 ful of nuns excited, that an order was given that " all 
 the laws in force .against the Papists should be strictly 
 carried into execution." It does not appear that this was 
 put in force as regards the Dublin nuns, but as it had 
 been discovered they came from Galway, orders were sent 
 down to disperse the nuns in that town. However, the 
 religious were warned of it, and putting on secular cloth- 
 ing, they so mixed themselves with the boarders that they 
 could not be discovered. Time went on, and the nuns 
 were in great straits, and reduced to uttermost poverty; 
 and in 1740, " the times being more peaceable," two of 
 the nuns actually had the courage to make a journey to 
 London, a formidable undertaking indeed in those days. 
 Sister Sherritt, belonging to one of the oldest names in 
 Galway, was cousin-german to Lady Hamilton, one of the 
 ladies of the bed-chamber, and through her interest the 
 Queen was induced to grant them three acres of land, 
 " on their own island, to feed a couple of cows." 
 
 No doubt the peculiar character of Caroline of Ans- 
 pach inspired a hope that she might lend a favorable ear 
 to the petition. She was a woman of education, " a sol- 
 itary model of refinement in the midst of a gross, clown- 
 ish, and corrupt court ;" she was fond of power, and de- 
 termined to exercise it. It is also said that " she took 
 great delight in making theologians dispute knotty points 
 in her presence, perplexing them with questions concern- 
 ing the opposite doctrines of the different Christian 
 Churches." Perhaps the idea that the nuns of St. Clare 
 had been unjustly robbed and persecuted had some chance 
 of getting into her head ; at all events, it must have been 
 
172 IEISPI HOMES AND 
 
 a strange sight when they appeared before her, wearing 
 the poor habit of St. Clare, in the sight of her regal 
 splendor. 
 
 The nuns came back from London in " great joy, and 
 soon got possession of the three acres, when they planted 
 a garden, and built a small lodge for such of the Sisters 
 as might want to change air, the convent within the 
 town being close, and filling fast with subjects to the 
 number of fifty at one time." As time passed on the 
 funds of the community increased, till at last they were 
 able once more to build on their beloved island ; a con- 
 vent, chapel, and poor schools, all under one roof, ac- 
 cordingly rose up, and the entire community removed 
 there on the 15th of June, 1825. Thus, after an exile of 
 one hundred and seventy-three years, the same religious 
 family, the successors of those who had been driven out, 
 and who had gone through such cruel vicissitudes, came 
 back to their old quarters, to what is so touchingly called 
 all through their annals, " their own island," " their 
 dear island," to live there at last in peace and security. 
 Forty years have passed away, and here the community 
 still dwell ; only that by their side have risen up the 
 fresh young communities of modern days. On the other 
 side of the river, which runs around the island, is a Pre- 
 sentation convent, with schools, and the Sisters of Mercy 
 are also in the town. 
 
 We went into the chapel of the Poor Clares, and heard 
 them saying office. The community does not seem to be 
 numerous, and many of the Sisters are old, so that their 
 poor school has been discontinued, and, indeed, it is not 
 required in such close vicinity to the Presentation nuns. 
 No doubt in time, as is often the case in these ancient 
 communities, a fresh element of life and strength will 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 173 
 
 spring up ; and as active work seems no longer required 
 from the religious, the " first rule of St. Clare with the 
 straight statutes made by St. Collet " may be practiced, 
 as in another " Bethlehem," on the " Nuns' Island." 
 
 And then from the records of the past, from the con- 
 vent whose rule was made for quiet days in the ages of 
 faith, we went to see the Sisters of Mercy in one of the 
 outposts that they have lately gained in their incessant 
 warfare with the misery and the evil which have sprung 
 up in modern times. 
 
 We made our way to the workhouse, which stands a 
 little way out of the town, and where, within the last 
 year or two, the infirmary has been given up to the care 
 of the Sisters of Mercy ; the guardians having thus fol- 
 lowed the good example set by the board in Limerick. 
 The infirmary is, of course, on a much smaller scale than 
 that of Limerick. 1 do not think more than one hun- 
 dred patients can be received ; neither is the building to 
 "be compared to that of the former, and many of the 
 rooms are not at all suited for sick wards. Notwith- 
 standing all these difficulties the Sisters have done won- 
 ders ; the infirmary is perfectly clean, everything in or- 
 der, and an air of comfort pervades the place. AYe hap- 
 pened to see the dinners served , and the quality ol the 
 food, and the nicety with which it was sent up, formed a 
 great contrast to the wretched food and dirty plates I 
 had often seen used in workhouses belonging to rich 
 English unions. 
 
 At Limerick the Sisters of Mercy have a little house to 
 live in, divided from the infirmary by a small garden ; at 
 Gal way they have a set of rooms in the workhouse, and 
 closely adjoining the sick wards. It would be far better 
 if they had large airy rooms at a greater distance from 
 
174 IPJSII HOMES AND 
 
 the sick ; but it is of no use to talk to the Sisters of 
 Mercy about their own comfort and convenience. It is 
 much better for the patients, they say, that they should 
 be close at hand, and with that they are satisfied. It 
 would be only a repetition of what I have said about 
 Limerick to dilate longer on this work. It is precisely 
 similar, though on a smaller scale, and great is the good 
 wrought to both bodies and souls of the patients by the 
 presence of the Sisters. We were much struck by vari- 
 ous little things which showed us with what scrupulous 
 care waste was avoided, while the comfort of tbe patients 
 was rigidly attended to. The very faces of the bright 
 cheerful Sisters were calculated to cheer up the weary 
 despondency of the poor sufferers. We went into the 
 workhouse girls' school here, and I was dreadfully pained 
 at the sight, they looked so exactly like a set of young 
 savages ; perhaps the bare feet gave them -a particularly 
 wretched aspect to English eyes, bat I had seen plenty of 
 barefooted children in the schools and in the streets of 
 Ireland who were civilized enough ; the uncared-for, 
 wild aspect of these children was most terrible to behold. 
 Their playground is a very confined one, and along one 
 side of it runs a range of low buildings containing the 
 rooms in which are lodged the unmarried mothers and their 
 babies. This fact needs no comment. How such things 
 can be suffered to go on in a Christian country is a mys- 
 tery ; and how the rulers of a land can allow the preva- 
 lence of the workhouse system, calculated to demoralize 
 a large portion of the population, is also extraordinary. 
 Retribution for the crime of such neglect comes heavily 
 on us, but its warnings seem thrown away. O'Connell, 
 with his keen foresight, was convinced of the evil the 
 workhouses would do to Ireland, and raised up his voice 
 
IRISH HEAETS. 175 
 
 against them, and his prophecy has been abundantly ful- 
 filled. The plan of drafting workhouse children into dis- 
 trict schools does not exist in Ireland, and 1 believe the 
 poor-law in England and Ireland differs so much, that the 
 Acts passed in one country do not affect the other. There 
 is no doubt that, excepting only the glaring injustice 
 done to the children of Catholics in the district schools, 
 their system is a great step in advance. In Ireland the 
 formation of district schools would have less difficulty to 
 contend against than in England. The children are all 
 Catholics ; if there be exceptions, they are so few and so 
 readily discovered that such children could be easily 
 transferred to some Protestant orphanage, while the 
 Catholic children could be placed under the care of re- 
 ligious or a staff of respectable secular teachers, so easily 
 to be found in Ireland. Then, instead of training up a 
 gang of young savages ripe for any kind of mischief, the 
 orphan and deserted children would grow up to be useful 
 members of the population. That the plan would be 
 economical in the end it is certain, because the present 
 system, as we have seen in Cork, tends to make the chil- 
 dren life-long burdens on the unions ; whereas, if the 
 district school were well managed, the children would 
 become independent when grown up. It is a fact, that 
 children sent out from the district schools in England do 
 provide for themselves. In these schools, however, the 
 managers see the evii of sending out the girls at the early 
 ages of fourteen and fifteen, and some of them are trying 
 to get power to keep them till eighteen. In Ireland, I 
 believe, if the guardians were energetic the plan of dis- 
 trict schools might be introduced at once. 
 
 The Sisters of Mercy have a large convent in Galway, 
 from whence the religious who serve the infirmary are 
 
176 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 sent out ; they have two branch houses, one an orphan- 
 age, the other a Magdalene asylum. I had not time to 
 do more than visit the churches of the Franciscans and 
 Jesuits, the latter of which is quite modern, and a very 
 pretty and devotional one. 
 
 And so I took my leave ot Gal way, a place I had so 
 often longed to see ; the city which, " once frequented 
 by ships with cargoes of French and Spanish wines, to 
 supply the wassailings of the 'Neils and O'Donels, the 
 O'Garas and O'Kanes ; her marble palaces handed over 
 to strangers, and her gallant sons and dart eyed daugh- 
 ters banished, remains for two hundred years a ruin ; her 
 splendid port empty, while her ' hungry air,' in 1862, be- 
 comes the mock of the official stranger."* 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The pretty town of Loughrea, on the northern bank of 
 the lake from which it takes its name, is at some distance 
 from the railway. I left the line at Athenry, and pro- 
 ceeded thither on an outside car. The country was still 
 bare and rocky, and the landscape was not improved by 
 occasional scudding showers of rain ; but when it cleared, 
 there were distant mountain views to be caught which 
 enlivened the scene. The history of the Carmelite Con- 
 vent at Loughrea is one of deep interest, and is another 
 of those wonderful stories connected with the ancient re- 
 ligious houses of Ireland. 
 
 During the whole range of the religious persecutions, 
 the monks and friars had weathered the storm in far 
 greater number than the nuns, having been able to dis- 
 
 * Cromweilian Settlement of Ireland. By Jotm Prendergast. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 177 
 
 guise themselves, move rapidly from plaee to place, and 
 find means of support in a way which women could not 
 ace Dmplia 1. Consequently though the beautiful old mon- 
 astery, in the early English style of architecture, built 
 at Loughrea by Sir Richard De Burgh for Carmelite 
 friars in 1361, had fallen into ruins, monks of the order 
 lingered in tbe town, and were to be found there at the 
 close of the seventeen century. 
 
 A young dressmaker in the town had often expressed 
 to them her ardent desire to be a religious of Mount Car- 
 mel. Seeing her great virtue, the fathers themselves 
 gave her the habit, and received her vows. There were 
 always plenty of Irishwomen thirsting for religious life, 
 and women of all ranks soon gathered round Sister Mary 
 Teresa of St. Dominic, as she was called. One of the fa- 
 thers collected alms for them in Spain, and in 1755 a 
 house was built for them in the main street at Loughrea. 
 It bore no external mark of being a convent ; the lower 
 part of it was arranged as a shop, and a milliner for many 
 years rented it and carried on her business, while in the 
 rooms above the nuns labored, prayed, and suffered. — 
 The world knew nothing of them, they had no exter- 
 nal mark of being religious, but they lived the lives of 
 saints. Their poverty was extreme, and often they had 
 nothing to eat, but they prayed fervently, and their wants 
 were relieved in a remarkable way again and again. One 
 day the prioress told the community to pray while she 
 went out to beg, but she returned from her quest unsuc- 
 cessful. Seeing her poor children faint with hunger, she 
 bade them pray yet more fervently, and once again she 
 ventured out on her weary errand. A stranger whom 
 she had never seen came up to her, and silently put into 
 her hand a piece of gold. The nuns, in their simple 
 12 
 
178 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 faith, always believed him to be St. Joseph. Bat perse- 
 cution could not spare even this secluded and poverty- 
 stricken community ; information was given that they 
 were " nuns" and officials were ordered to seize the sup- 
 posed criminals, and search their house. The nuns were 
 warned of the danger, fled during the night, and were 
 housed by different friends. It suddenly flashed on the 
 prioress' mind that she had left papers of some importance 
 behind her, and she dared riot risk losing them. So she 
 dressed herself like a beggar woman, crept back to the 
 convent and secured her property, and as she returned, 
 met the officers on the stairs. But they never guessed 
 she was anything else but a poor beggar, and let her pass 
 without remark. The aflair of the supposed convent was 
 brought before the magistrates, and some charitable 
 friend pleaded the cause of the religious,, declaring they 
 were only a few poor ladies who chose to live together 
 and maintain themselves by their needlework. His re- 
 monstrance was listened to, and the nuns were allowed 
 to return, but for many years the utmost caution and se- 
 crecy had to be observed. Their chapel was literally an 
 " upper chamber," hidden at the top of the house, and 
 they wore a plain, secular dress, but were always true 
 nuns in heart and soul. A young lady once wished to 
 join them, but having no money, was unwilling to be- 
 come a charge to so poor a community. One day a per- 
 son whom she had never seen in her life came to her 
 door, and saying, " You wish to be a nun, take this 
 and accomplish your desire," gave her the sum she re- 
 quired. 
 
 Times began to brighten. The nuns now sent out 
 three foundations, the two first of which to Cork and 
 Limerick did not succeed, but the third one sent to Dub- 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 179 
 
 lin took root there and from it the other Carmelite con- 
 vents in Ireland have taken their rise. At Loughrea the 
 nuns now ventured to put on their habit, and in 1825 a 
 house, standing on rising ground, completely out of the 
 town, and with a good garden surrounding it, was built, 
 and the nuns took possession of it. The community was 
 still very poor, and received lady boarders in order to gain 
 means for support. They also had a poor school, there 
 being no other one for Catholic children in the place. — 
 Thus it became impossible for them to observe their rule 
 strictly, and as it is always difficult in such a case to 
 know where mitigation should begin and end, relaxation 
 gradually crept in. But it is a remarkable fact that all 
 through their career there were saints among them. 
 
 Mother Magdalene of St. John of the Cross used to 
 spend hours on her knees adoring the Blessed Sacrament, 
 and when her last hour came, she could only utter one 
 sentence agaki and again, " Oh ! Love Divine ! Oh ! 
 Divine Love ! ' ' And light not of this earth shone around 
 her, and sounds of celestial music came to welcome her 
 to her home above. 
 
 Another nun had passed through a long life with the 
 purity and innocence of a child. She died at last, worn 
 out with extreme old age, and bearing the usual marks 
 of advanced years, but after death the freshness and 
 beauty of youth came back to the corpse. Some gentle- 
 men who happened to see her in her coffin exclaimed, 
 " How vain these women are ! they have actually paint- 
 ed a dead body ;" but, say the convent annals very sim- 
 ply, " she was not painted, but she was an angel." In 
 Mount Carmel at Loughrea lives such as these had passed 
 away, prayers such as these had ascended up to heaven, 
 and benedictions rested on the house. In 1850 the Sis- 
 
180 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 ters of Mercy opened a convent in the town, and the ne- 
 cessity for supporting a poor school at the Carmelite 
 Convent ceased, and in God's good time the nuns were 
 inspired to re-establish the rule of St. Teresa in its 
 strict observance. In different ways and in many forms 
 God's angels come pointing out. the path that chosen 
 souls must follow. To Mount Carmel at Loughrea such 
 a message did not come in vain. It had been the birth- 
 place of the Carmelite order in Ireland in times of perse- 
 cution ; it was to be also the birthplace of the reform, a 
 second Avilla. Entirely trusting in Providence for sup- 
 port, the nuns gave up their psnsionnaires ; a grille was 
 erected, and strict enclosure restored ; in short, every 
 observance of the Carmelite rule, as reformed by St. Ter- 
 esa, was adopted ; so that when the General of the order 
 visited the house, he observed he did not think that St. 
 Teresa herself could find anything there to rectify. 
 
 Within these walls there is an inexpressible sense of 
 rest and peace. We feel withdrawn for awhile from 
 earth and its cares, and lifted up into a region above the 
 weary world. Here saints have lived and died, and here 
 their deeds are bearing fruit ; here weak and feeble wo- 
 men are imitating the lives of angels, not for themselves 
 only, but for us — for us who have to suffer, labor, and 
 combat in the world outside. A visit to Loughrea wakes 
 up many thoughts ; the foremost certainly is this : When 
 will the contemplative orders come back to Ireland ? Out 
 of her poverty, in the midst of her sufferings she has 
 done much, will she not crown her work ? In one re- 
 spect only Ireland is behind not only foreign countries but 
 even England herself. In all Catholic countries side by 
 side with the ceuvre of charity rises the house for prayer 
 and contemplation. The white veils of the Sisters of 
 
IEISH HEARTS, 181 
 
 Charity almost cover the land. The Frere des Ecoles 
 Chretiennes passes us at every turn. The poor are tend- 
 ed, cared for, honored, and schemes ibr their assistance 
 and benefit succeed, multiply, and bear fruit, because 
 holy hands are lifted up unceasingly to God ; and while 
 some are ministering to the Lord in the person of His 
 poor, others are sitting at His feet, hearing His word. — 
 AVho that has visited cities in Catholic lands, but has felt 
 the calm and hush that falls on them, when, after mak- 
 ing a round of the beautiful works of charity which the 
 town contains the well filled schools, the comfortable hos- 
 pitals, the asyles for every human woe, they enter within 
 the gates of one of those abodes of prayer and penance, 
 from which the busy world is shut out, where its maxims 
 may utterly be set at nought, where God is the sole Mas- 
 ter, and His praise the continual theme. And even 
 England, poor England, so poor in faith, so full of spir- 
 itual destitution, so scantily provided with religious 
 houses, with orphans calling out for help, and cries of 
 misery on all sides ; England has been wise enough to 
 bring back her praying orders to help on the active. — 
 And so, though the Minories, where once the daughters 
 of St. Clare lived and died, is now but a crowded street 
 in the heart of the metropolis, their successors live and 
 pray in its suburbs : there in the dead of night, watch- 
 ing before the Tabernacle ; there in the early morning 
 following in spirit along the way of the cross. 
 
 Hard by their abode, the Carmelite.3, the true daugh- 
 ters of St. Teresa, show us in very deed what was the 
 fashion of her life. A mile or two farther in the great 
 Babylon, and entering within a quiet chapel, we find 
 ourselves before Jesus exposed in His sacrament, and too 
 often, alas ! alone, save for one faithful watcher kneeling 
 
182 IPJSII HOMES AND 
 
 at His feet. A little farther on, and in another convent, 
 the scene is repeated. 
 
 In London alone there are more contemplative orders 
 than in the whole of Ireland ; for at present there are only 
 three in the whole country, the Carmelites at Loughrea, 
 the Franciscans at Drumshanbo, and the Kedemptoris- 
 tines, Dublin. It is quite certain that the need for ac- 
 tive orders is great in modern days ; but if the contem- 
 plative orders were wanted in the ages of faith, is it pos- 
 sible that they can be less necessary in an age of mate- 
 rialism and unbelief, when men are trying on all hands 
 to destroy every token of the unseen world — in an age, 
 too, of bustle and progress, and breathless speed, when 
 the mighty power ol prayer, and the lessons to be learnt 
 in solitude, are too often forgotten ? And if a life of 
 penance was called for in the days when men lived sim- 
 ply and hardily, and cared little for animal comfort, is it 
 not needed now when the luxury of the age has reached 
 an appalling height, when comfort has become a god, 
 and men shrink from enduring hardness? And expe- 
 rience shows that abundant blessings come in the train of 
 religious orders. Active orders spring up and multiply 
 by their side, their work is visibly blessed, and souls are 
 won to God. These things we see, and what shall we 
 say of those hidden from our eyes, woes averted, judg" 
 ments delayed, blessings falling like the dew? For the 
 sake of a few, God would have spared the sinful cities of 
 the plain ; for the sake of a few, He has patience still, 
 proud and stubborn though the nations be. 
 
 The Sisters of Mercy at Loughrea have a very fine con- 
 vent, and their schools contain four hundred and sixty- 
 eix children. They have also a House of Mercy and or- 
 phanage, and visit the poor and sick. I was very sorry I 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 183 
 
 had not time to see their house, but I was anxious to 
 reach Gort before nightfall, as the twelve Irish miles 
 which lie between it and Loughrea had to be traversed 
 on an outside car. The road runs close beside the 
 lough, which is about two or three miles in circum- 
 ference. Its waters looked dark and gloomy, for a storm 
 was gathering overhead. Presently, down came the rain 
 in torrents, such as I do not think I ever saw before ; but 
 the car-driver was unmoved, and the horse trotted quiet- 
 ly on. Along the road it was amusing to see the way in 
 which some of the peasant women met the fury of the 
 storm, by stooping till they were nearly double, and thus 
 letting the rain, which was driving furiously, pass over 
 them. Presently, the sky cleared, and the sun came out 
 and lighted up the landscape. Part of the road to Gort 
 is very pretty, passing through some pretty woods, and 
 close by several fine domains, well planted and laid out. 
 The rest of the way the country is bare and rocky as be- 
 fore. As weneared Gort the sun was beginning to set, 
 and the stars came out in the pale sky ; peasants were 
 coming home from the market, some in the half carts, 
 half cars, which are used by the Irish poor, some walk- 
 ing ; but nearly all barefoot, and in the pretty costume of 
 the county. As the sun disappeared it became extremely 
 cold, and I was very thankful when the car drew up at 
 a large house in the main street at Gort, which proved 
 to be the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy. There I had 
 such a welcome as one only meets with in Ireland, and 
 cold and fatigue were soon forgotten under the genial 
 influence of affectionate hospitality. 
 
 Gort is a neat, clean, but wonderfully quiet little 
 town, and the visitor is involuntarily reminded of the 
 remark of the author of the " Irish Sketch Book," who 
 
184 TEISH HOMES AND 
 
 describes Gort as a town which " seemed to bore itself 
 considerably, and had nothing to do." There is a little 
 stir of life, however, twice a day, on the arrival of the 
 mail coach from Gal way and Ermis, for at present this 
 old-fashioned mode of conveyance is the only available 
 one between the two towns. A railroad is in course 
 of construction, which is to join the Midland Great 
 Western line at Athenry, and which will be a great 
 boon to the traveller. Through the town of Gort runs 
 a broad clear river, on the banks of which stands the 
 convent. It is a large country house, which has been 
 transformed into a convent, while schools have been built 
 adjoining it. Behind the house are good-sized grounds, 
 planted with some of the finest oak trees I ever saw, 
 through which the river wends it way. On a rising 
 ground at the end of the grounds is the little quiet 
 cemetery of the nuns. The schools here struck me as 
 particularly good, the buildings well adapted for the 
 purpose, and the children thoroughly trained and well 
 taught. There are infant schools for boys and girls, 
 another for elder girls, and a small middle school. This 
 latter is an absolute necessity in Gort, and the children 
 of this class could not otherwise obtain any education, 
 there being no other convent of any kind within miles. 
 The chapel i3 only a large room, fitted up for the purpose, 
 but it is very pretty, and has an air of devotion about it. 
 It was pleasing to see the Sisters, when the labors of the 
 day were over, assembling in their stalls to say their 
 matin office, forestalling thus by prayer and praise the 
 cares and troubles of the coming day. There is an old- 
 fashioned, but clean and comfortable hotel at Gort, 
 almost facing a large plain building, which forms the 
 Catholic chapel. A large stone cross stands in the 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 185 
 
 churchyard, and several people were kneeling round it 
 in prayer, when, on the Sunday after my arrival in Gut, 
 I went to the chapel for nine o'clock Mass. It was like 
 a little bit out of a foreign country suddenly set down 
 before my eyes ; but on entering within the chapel the 
 scene as contemplated from the gallery was stranger 
 still. Tde whole floor of the church was given up to the 
 poor, and there are no benches or chairs of any kind. 
 There they stood or knelt, grouped in various attitudes, 
 and in a variety of costumes. The women, in their red 
 petticoats and blue cloaks, when btanding together in 
 groups, formed a subject for an artist; here and there 
 were those not rich enough to possess the valued cloak, 
 some of whom had tied bright colored handkerchiefs 
 over their heads, and others had arranged their poor 
 clothing as best they could. The occasional intrusion of 
 a straw bonnet, or, worse still, a hat, was a painful eye- 
 sore to the spectator. There were quite as many men 
 as women, and of all ages, some greyheaded, fathers 
 w^th their little ones clinging round them, smart look- 
 ing youths, and numerous boys. "When the consecration 
 bell sounded the whole mass bent low, many almost 
 prostrate on the ground ; it was like an Italian picture, 
 save and except that instead of sculptured marbles or 
 Gothic arches surrounding the multitude, there rose the 
 plain whitewashed walls of a poor Irish chapel. These 
 whitewashed chapels of Ireland , how they jar upon the 
 sight of those accustomed to see all that is noble and 
 beautiful adorning the sanctuary ! Yet what shrine3 
 they have been of faith and devotion ! what witnesses 
 they are to the persevering, unconquerable faith of the 
 Irish ! 
 There were a great many communicants at this Mass, 
 
18 G IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 and when it was ended the priest took off his chasuble, 
 and advanced to the front of the altar. There was a 
 sudden rush. Up got everybody from the floor, and the 
 multitude packed themselves in a compact mass round 
 the altar. The sermon was in Irish ; every eye was bent 
 on the preacher, every ear strained to listen, and it was 
 evident, from the gestures of the people, that their whole 
 attention was given to the discourse, and that every point 
 went home. Certainly Tennyson's satirical, but per- 
 fectly true, description of the farmers who fill the fine 
 old village churches of England, with their Norman 
 arches, their aisles, and their transepts, could not be 
 applied to the Irish peasantry; for when speaking of 
 the sermon, Tennyson makes the auditor exclaim — 
 
 An I niver know'd what a mean'd 
 
 But I thowt a 'ad summut to saay, 
 An I thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said, 
 
 An I corned awaay. 
 
 The eloquent preachers in crowded city churches would 
 often rejoice to have an audience so hanging on their 
 words. 1 declared afterwards that I understood the 
 sermon very well ; for it was the festival of the Seven 
 Dolours which formed the subject of the discourse ; and 
 the gestures of the priest, and the answering emotion 
 of the people plainly told that they were bidden to endure 
 patiently, and to suffer bravely after the example of her, 
 whose sorrows no mortal can ever equal. That Sunday 
 was a cloudless summer's day, and after the last Mass 
 was over, the kind old parish priest took me to see the 
 great lion of the neighborhood, Kilmacdaugh, some three 
 miles distant. The diocese in which Gort stands rejoices 
 in the poetical names of Kilmacdaugh and Kilfenora. 
 1 suppose I need hardly remind my readers that hi is 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 187 
 
 Irish for church, and hence the number of Mis scattered 
 widely over the country, which gave rise to the alarming 
 answer given to a Saxon tourist by an Irishman. He 
 had been to Kilsome, was going to Kilmany, and then on 
 to Kilthemall ! 
 
 The See of Kilmacdaugh was founded by St. Colman 
 in the seventh century. Here the cathedral was built, 
 close beside a round tower, and surrounded by six other 
 churches. We explored the ruins well, and 1 was for- 
 tunate in having a cicerone who had often visited them 
 before, and took a vivid interest in them. It was irrita- 
 ting to see cattle and sheep grazing in the area, more 
 especially as the place is held sacred by the people who 
 bring their dead for burial in its precincts. The former 
 owner of the place was proud of the ruins, and took 
 pains to preserve them. It has now, unfortunately, 
 passed into younger and more careless hands. It is sup- 
 posed that one of these seven churches was a college 
 chapel, another a monastery, and a third a convent — the 
 other three being probably smaller churches or oratories 
 dedicated to some favorite saints. The convent chapel 
 is the most perfect, and the east window and several 
 arches, with their corbels, show it to have been one of 
 great beauty. The round tower is especially remarkable 
 from its leaning seventeen feet out of the perpendicular, 
 and it is certainly a most singular object. Tradition 
 says it was built by Gobhan Saer, the architect of Glen- 
 dalougb and Antrim. 
 
 On leaving this interesting spot we drove through 
 some pretty country, with distant views of the " lonely 
 hills of Clare," all radiant with the sunshine, to Lough 
 Cooter. It was pleasant to see all along the way how 
 the people greeted the priest ; they came out from their 
 
188 IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 cabin doors, and children ran from their play to get a 
 word from him. We met groups of peasants returning 
 from the last Mass at an outlying chapel, and between 
 priest and people there was ever a kindly greeting. 
 Lough Gooter is the largest lake in the south of County 
 Galway, with many wooded islands lying in its bosom, 
 and lovely views between them. The "Castle,'' be- 
 longing to the Gougb family, is a modern erection, in 
 the castellated style, standing on the west bank of the 
 lake, and commanding a most exquisite view, while 
 the lawn slopes down to the water's edge. Beautiful 
 grounds, richly supplied with trees, surround the house, 
 part of them planted and laid out, part left for the 
 deer to wander about. A gateway and lodge stand at 
 each end of the grounds ; and after passing through the 
 whole length, we returned by another route to Gort 
 in time for the quiet Benediction in the little convent 
 chapel. 
 
 Travellers from Galway and its neighborhood proceed 
 by coach vid Gort to Ennis, and as there are many 
 emigrants, the coach is often full. This was the case 
 on the morning on which I left Gort, and accordingly 
 two " long cars " were furnished from the coach office, 
 which were rapidly filled with emigrants from Gort. 
 The whole cortege started from the office in the main 
 street, and it was a strange and sorrowful sight to see 
 the partings. A crowd of people collected -round the 
 passengers : mothers and brothers and sisters were say- 
 ing good- bye, weeping, wailing, and sometimes howling ; 
 kisses were given, last greetings exchanged ; promises 
 to write soon, to send money over, and " bring the others 
 out " were uttered, and, at last, away they went. I no- 
 ticed that the best were going—the young, strong, and 
 
IRISH HEABTS. 189 
 
 vigorous — the old, the feeble, and children were left 
 behind. By ray side sat two young girls, strong, healthy, 
 and active. I was amused at their costume. They 
 were going into the world, and had discarded the blue 
 cloak, and stuck on their heads showy bonnets much too 
 small for them, profusely decorated with tulle and arti- 
 ficial flowers, and with broad strings of white ribbon. 
 Anything more incongruous for a journey to America 
 could not be conceived ; but I was still further amused, 
 for when we were fairly out of town, passing through 
 the solitary monotonous country, and admiring friends 
 were left behind, out came the large shawls, in which 
 head, bonnet, and all were fully enveloped. They be- 
 came confidential, and told me they were going to 
 America to get places ; and on my suggesting that 
 they could find such at home, shook their heads, and 
 said not with such wages as in America. When they 
 were tired of talking they took out their books and 
 b^an to read, and, peeping over the shoulder of the 
 one next me, I perceived the volume carried with her 
 was a prayer-book . 
 
 It is a long dreary drive of nineteen miles to Ennis, 
 through an open limestone country, with low, craggy 
 hills. In all this part of Ireland the eye wearies for 
 the pretty villages and comfortable looking farm-houses 
 which give life and variety to the flat counties of Eng- 
 land. The station at Ennis is a wretched one, the plat- 
 form being of earth, and it was not improved by recent 
 rain and trampling of a crowd of emigrants. Although 
 this is the terminus of the Ennis and Limerick line, the 
 train was in no hurry to start. Everybody took their 
 time, and just half an hour after the one named in the 
 time bills the train set out. It progressed very slowly 
 
190 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 on its way, and I was not sorry, for it gave us the oppor- 
 tunity of an excellent view of Clare Abbey— close by 
 which the line passes—one of the loveliest ruins I had 
 ever seen, a graceful church, in the form of a cross, with 
 east window almost perfect, and a lofty tower, and the 
 ivy twining round about the broken arches, and covering 
 the walls with a rich green mantle. On reaching Lim- 
 erick, I implored a porter to get my luggage quiekly, as 
 I wanted to catch the next train for Charleville. " But 
 sure she's been gone this ten minutes. She was an hour 
 after her time. But your train was so late, she could 
 not wait any longer." As 1 expressed my vexation, be 
 said, in a tone of deep sympathy, " There'll be a train 
 to-morroiu.'' ' On making further inquiries at the station, 
 it turned out that the trains do not profess to fit in with 
 each other, and, as one of the officials expressed it, " The 
 great lines tries to eat up the little ones." 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 It must not be supposed that I have at all sufficiently 
 enumerated the charitable institutions of Dublin ; it 
 would require more time than 1 had at my disposal to 
 visit them all. Few, however, of those conducted by 
 nuns escaped my notice, but there are colleges, schools, 
 orphanages, and asylums of various kinds in a flourish- 
 ing state. 
 
 The Christian Brothers have magnificent schools in 
 Dublin attached to their principal house in North Rich- 
 mond street, and they have five branch schools in differ- 
 ent parts of the city, and a flourishing establishment at 
 Kingstown. 
 
 There were institutions also in Ireland that I much 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 191 
 
 wished to see, but which 1 was not able to reach, more 
 especially the Reformatory for girls at Monaghan , and 
 that for boys at Glencree. 
 
 Another order, partly of Irish origin, has made great 
 progress in Ireland — the Sisters of Loretto. I call it 
 partly Irish, because, though it was founded by Mrs. 
 Ball, an Irish lady, and its ranks filled by her country- 
 women, the institute itself is a foreign one, and has va- 
 rious houses on the Continent. This is entirely an edu- 
 cational order, chiefly devoted to the instruction of the 
 upper classes, although, as is universal in Ireland, free 
 schools are attached to their convents. Several of the 
 convents of this order are very fine buildings ; the 
 mother- house at Rathfarnham, near Dublin, is really 
 magnificent, and is surrounded by fine grounds ; when 
 viewing the chapel, or walking round the cloisters of this 
 convent one might fancy oneself in an " abbey of the 
 olden time," when orders vie with each other in raising 
 magnificent conventual piles, and cloister life flowed on 
 in unbroken security and peace. 
 
 There are two convents of the order in Dublin, and 
 another at Dalkey, built on rocky heights, and almost 
 seeming to hang over the sea. The chapel is very pretty, 
 and one hundred and eighty poor children are taught at 
 the schools. 
 
 The residents in Dublin are certainly fortunate in their 
 immediate vicinity to beautiful scenery, to which there 
 is such easy access. Trains to Kingstown ran every 
 half hour, and convey the passenger along the coast of 
 Dublin Bay with lovely views succeeding one another. — 
 From Kingstown the line proceeds to Dalkey, where the 
 pretty island of Dalkey, about a thousand yards from the 
 mainland can be visited, and where Killinny Hill rise3 in 
 
192 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 fine outline. Then we go onwards to Bray, in County 
 Wicklow, so well known to the tourist ; a charming and 
 favorite watering-place for the summer months, and with 
 hills rising on all sides. Bray Head towers boldly above 
 the rest, and the scramble up it is richly rewarded when 
 you have reached the summit, and behold distant moun- 
 tains, Dublin Bay, Dalkey Island, Kingstown, and the 
 town of Bray itself lying in a rich valley; the blue sea 
 washes the loot of the wild crag, the sunshine lights up 
 the scene, and large white clouds are drifting over the 
 sky, and the descent to the town is through wild tangled 
 woodland paths. 
 
 Therg is a large, handsome Loretto convent at Bray, 
 with fine grounds, formerly a gentleman's residence. — 
 We admired the ingenuity which had converted summer- 
 house and dairy into an oratory, while an old ruin, sup- 
 posed to be the fragment of some ancient religious house, 
 now guarded the cemetery of the nuns. 
 
 There are large poor schools attached to this convent, 
 receiving two hundred and sixty-seven children. The 
 chapel is beautiful ; indeed, in all the convents of this 
 order no expense has been spared to make the building, 
 and especially the chapel, beautiful and attractive. 
 
 On the Drumcondra road, long before we reach All 
 Hallows Convent, there is a large and rather gloomy- 
 looking house standing back from the road with a little 
 garden before it ; the entrance is at the side door, and 
 about a quarter past two every day a little knot of peo- 
 ple gather about the house. When the door opens they 
 all go up stairs, and find themselves in a moderately sized 
 room converted into a chapel ; an image of St. Alphonsus 
 Liguori is a conspicuous object, and a large alcove con- 
 tains an altar handsomely vested and adorned. At one 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 193 
 
 side of this alcove is a grating, and when at half-past 
 two a priest enters the chapel to give benediction, the 
 voices of nuns are heard chanting behind the bars. The 
 benediction over, the portress sternly banishes those who 
 wish to linger, and the chapel is closed again. This con- 
 vent is that of the Redemptoristines, or, as the Dublin 
 people call them, the "red nans;'" founded by St. Al- 
 phonsus at the same time as his congregation of priests, 
 and bound to strict enclosure and contemplation. Hav- 
 ing an introduction, 1 one day went into their parlor, 
 where there is a grating let into the wall, behind which 
 so jn appeared a sweet-looking nun : her dress was very 
 remarkable ; the habit is a bright red, the scapular sky 
 blue, a white coif shades the lace covered by a black 
 veil, while a colored miniature of Our Blessed Lord 
 hangs on the breast. This dress is worn as symbolical 
 of the office of the nuns, attendants round the altar 
 throne of One greater than any earthly monarch. I 
 asked the Sister what was the object of her order ; she 
 said to be " spiritual Sisters of Charity," continually 
 praying for those who suffer and sin, and for those whose 
 vocation it is to aid them. 
 
 There are Carmelite Convents in Dublin, but they are 
 disappointing to those who know the convents of this 
 order in foreign lands, and who are familiar with the 
 life of St. Teresa. The Carmelite Sisters in Dublin 
 have not yet resumed their true place ; they have not 
 yet recovered from the effects of the long persecution. — 
 Before the active orders were founded, it was an abso- 
 lute duty for them to mitigate their rule, and lend their 
 aid to the work of education ; but it would seem now as 
 if the time had come when they might resume the 
 strict observance of their holy and beautiful rule, and 
 13 
 
194 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 become not teachers but apostles; "Apostles seeking 
 souls, even as in the ocean bed is sought the hidden 
 pearl."* 
 
 It is true there are difficulties in the way, but surely 
 there are not greater than those which beset the path of 
 the Carmelites in France, when the storm of the great 
 Revolution had passed away. There, as in Ireland, the 
 wants of the poor were great ; for a time, the nuns had 
 to do the work of Sisters of Mercy, the education of the 
 young was important, and the restoration of religion 
 would have seemed to be best promoted by active works 
 of charity. Nevertheless, the Carmelites never rested till 
 they had regained their true vocation, and restored the 
 rule as their great reformer left it. We went to one of 
 the Carmelite Convents near Dublin ; there was no en- 
 closure, and the discordant sound of a piano, on which a 
 child was evidently learning to play, jarred strangely on 
 the ear, when we thought of the stillness and repose which 
 should characterize the convents of St. Teresa ; of the 
 " hermitages " to which the Sisters were bidden to retire; 
 of the solitude and silence which she so carefully en- 
 joined. 
 
 They were not " to work at curious and delicate things 
 which occupy the thoughts, and prevent their resting in 
 God." " They must not work altogether, for fear silence 
 should be broken," says their holy rule, and we remem- 
 bered the eloquent words of Pere de Ravignan, addressed 
 to a novice of this order : — " Oh, child of Carmel, follow 
 the steps of your mother ; cross the abyss, fly to the 
 desert, encounter the night ; seek, seek, and you will 
 find, you will find God. Give yourself up, immolate 
 yourself, and then you will bring down on the souls of 
 
 * Pere de Ravlfcnan. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 195 
 
 others and on our ministry the benedictions and graces 
 of •which we stand so much in need; cast away all that 
 keeps you back ; another world is waiting for you. To 
 this world you are dead and crucified ; forget it all, 
 break through it all, destroy it all, and you will find a 
 better life, because, then, you will live alone with God. — 
 You pass behind this grille, this door shuts upon you like 
 that of the tomb. What does this cloister, this barrier 
 denote ? That from this moment you enter into the holy 
 liberty of the children of God ; you have found freedom. 
 In the world there are chains, the yoke that must be 
 borne ; there we are slaves, slaves to our tastes, our hab- 
 its, and our passions ; slaves to the customs of the world, 
 the usages of the world, its opinions and its requirements; 
 in religious life is true freedom." 
 
 After passing through a number of streets in the di- 
 rection of Sandymount, it is quite a surprise when the 
 visitor, after a sudden turn in the road, comes upon the 
 open sea and fine range of sands, in which Sandymount 
 rejoices, and for this reason it is a favorite resort of Dub- 
 lin people. There is a beautiful Church here, dedicated 
 to the " Star of the Sea ;" a convent of Sisters of Chari- 
 ty, and the Carmelite Convent called that of " Lake- 
 lands." 
 
 The house is a good one with large grounds, and stands 
 in an excellent situation. Attached to this convent is an 
 orphanage, which the Sisters superintend. 
 
 It is managed by a matron with an assistant, and I 
 liked it because it was more homely and simple than or- 
 phanages usually are. The matron, a good, earnest wo- 
 man, with her heart in her work, apologised to me be- 
 cause the children had to dine in the kitchen, and there 
 was no refectory to show me. 1 told her I was heartily 
 
196 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 glad to find it was so, and 1 thought the little discom- 
 forts and roughness they had to encounter would be an 
 excellent preparation for their future life. 
 
 The charge of an orphanage ia a great anxiety. And 
 this anxiety does not end when a child has left the house. 
 Those who have brought her up ought to keep an eye 
 over her, correspond with her, become her resource in 
 hours of trial, and look after her through life. Now that 
 there are such numbers of active orders, there would 
 seem to be no difficulty in transferring to their care the 
 orphanages and schools, which at present weigh down the 
 hearts of the poor Carmelites, and it is perfectly certain 
 that the work would be far better done by the active 
 Sisters, who are trained to the care of the poor, than 
 by those to whom it is a gtne and a torment. — 
 Except in passing to the orphanage the nuns of this 
 house keep strict enclosure, and observe all the other 
 points of their holy rule which are compatible with their 
 active duties. No doubt the time will speedily come 
 when the observance of it will prevail in full vigor. I 
 believe the same work of restoration of the rule is pro- 
 gressing at the Convent of Ranelagh, but the nuns are 
 still burdened with a poor school in which they give the 
 religious instruction only, and of course it would be far 
 better to have the echool under the charge of those 
 who can take its whole management. 
 
 At Harold's Crose, almost opposite to the Sisters of 
 Charity, is a Convent of Poor Clares ; this community 
 has grown up from the six Sisters who came in fear and 
 secrecy from Gal way in 1712, and who were dragged be- 
 fore the judges. It is a large community, and in 1830 
 sent out the foundation to Newry, which has been so 
 successful. The convent ia very large, and has exten- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 197 
 
 sive grounds. An orphanage is under the charge of these 
 Sisters ; it is quite separate from the convent, and the 
 nuns have to cross the outer garden to reach it. It did 
 not seem equally well managed with the other orphan- 
 ages that I have seen, and the nuns evidently find it a 
 great burden, and are fully conscious that they are un- 
 able to see after the children who leave, or to collect the 
 funds for the support of the orphanage, as easily as reli- 
 gious of an active order would. We could not help 
 longing to see the orphanage transferred to the Sisters of 
 Charity close by, and then that the Poor Clares should 
 adopt the rule of their order, as it was brought from 
 Gravelines by their first Sisters, so that another " Beth- 
 lehem" could be restored in Ireland, where, says the old 
 chronicle, " they prayed continually, for while they la- 
 bored with their hands, they used to be many times say- 
 ing some kind of prayer in common, answering one an- 
 other therein choirwise. They observed such silence 
 that mid-day seemed to be night. They had mutual 
 charity to help and comfort one another, rising continu- 
 ally at midnight to say matins, and never eating flesh ; 
 nor wore sock, shoe, nor stockings, but contented them- 
 selves with wooden soles or pattens under their feet, and 
 observed all other things ordained by the first rule of St. 
 Clare, with the straight statutes made by St. Collet upon 
 said rule." 
 
 Not far from the Poor Clares at Harold's Cross is the 
 fine monastery of the Passionist Fathers, and a new 
 church is in course of erection. The present one is small 
 and without much ornament, but greatly frequented by 
 the people. 
 
 Another interesting spot in Ireland, which I much 
 wished to visit, is Benada Abbey in county Sligo. It 
 
198 IPJSH HOMES AND 
 
 was formerly an Augustinian Abbey, and after the dis- 
 solution fell into various hands, till at last it became the 
 property of a Catholic, whose dying wish it was to give it 
 back to the Church. He left sons and daughters behind 
 him, and it did not seem likely that his wish would be 
 fulfilled ; but his children before many years were over 
 had given to God not only all that they had, but the de- 
 votion of their whole lives. The sons are in the Society 
 of Jesus, the daughters are Sisters of Mercy and Charity, 
 and a convent of the latter order has been founded with- 
 in the limits of Benada Abbey. By a singular coinci- 
 dence, for it was not at all premeditated, the Blessed 
 Sacrament was placed in the new chapel on the Feast 
 of St. Austin. So alter three Ion* centuries one of the 
 waste places of Ireland has once more blossomed like the 
 rose. May it not be an augury for the future, and may 
 it not come to pass that many of those ruined sanctuaries 
 around which the people have so faithfully prayed will be 
 once more devoted to the service of God ? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A journey through Ireland, and a stay of any length 
 upon her shores, must necessarily leave many impres- 
 sions on the mind of the traveller ; and , in the present 
 state of things, when the " Irish difficulty " is a question 
 of the day, the record of the impressions of even one in- 
 dividual may not be wholly useless. My last visit to Ire- 
 land was paid shortly before the Fenian outbreak, when 
 the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, the country " pro- 
 claimed ;" when timid ladies had lain awake at night) 
 fancying they heard the tramp of the Irish Republic, 
 and when a universal depression hung over the country. 
 
IEISH HEAETS. 199 
 
 While in Ireland, I lived (with very rare and brief ex- 
 ceptions) entirely among the Irish, among those who had 
 been long resident in the country, and rarely, if ever, 
 quitted it. 
 
 Wherever I went I found Fenianism was disliked, fear- 
 ed, and disapproved of ; looked on as politically unwise 
 and morally wrong. Wherever I went I found people were 
 loyal to the English Government ; but, I must confess, it 
 was the loyalty of the head, not that of the heart ; and I 
 believe the great cause of Ireland's miseries may be 
 summed up in these few words : England is not loved, 
 not trusted. The educated and the thoughtful Irish, 
 who influence the classes below them, believe that no 
 good can result from the uprooting of the English Gov- 
 ernment ; that attempts at rebellion are certain to be un- 
 successful, and can only tend to disorganize and injure 
 the country, and so they discountenance them ; but there 
 is none of that affectionate loyalty which forms a greater 
 bulwark round a country than armed men or ships of 
 war. There is a universal discontent, arising from a 
 vivid remembrance of the oppression of the past, and a 
 keen sense of injustice in the present. 
 
 Englishmen say, What is the use of looking back to 
 the past ? In the first place it is natural to the Irish 
 character, and, secondly, the misgovernment of the pres- 
 ent tends to perpetuate it. Remove the causes of pres- 
 ent discontent, and you will have done much to obliter- 
 ate the past from the minds of the people. 1 very much 
 doubt whether those who so readily condemn the Irish 
 for their habit of looking back, really know what that 
 past to which they revert consists of, for the details of Irish 
 history are unknown to a great mass of Englishmen, and 
 if it were not so, it is hardly credible that, during the Fe- 
 
200 IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 nian outbreak, a writer in an English newspaper recom- 
 mended the " revival in Ireland of the stern measures of 
 Cromwell." How few people know the real history, or 
 the disastrous consequence- of those fatal measures. In- 
 deed, until a very recent period, the documents and state 
 papers, which form the true foundation for authentic 
 history, were hidden away in a little cell in Dublin Cas- 
 tle, covered with the dust of years. A skilful hand dis- 
 lodged them from their hiding-place, and the " records of 
 a nation's woe" have at last seen the light of day, and I 
 only wish every Englishman and every Englishwoman 
 Avere compelled to read these terrible revelations. The 
 effect of the English government, only two centuries ago, 
 was not only to " suppress a religion," but " rather to 
 extinguish a nation." "Let us conceive," says Mr. 
 Prendergast,* " the dismay of a poor nobleman, with his 
 wife and daughters, on the evening of the first market 
 day after the 11th of October, 1652, when some neighbor 
 came to announce the news proclaimed by beat of drum 
 and sound of trumpet in the adjoining town. It was, in 
 fact, the proscription of a nation. If he had been a col- 
 onel or a superior officer in the army, as almost all the 
 highest were, it was a sentence of confiscation and ban- 
 ishment, and a separation from his now beggared wife 
 and daughters, the partners of his miseries, unless he 
 had the means of bringing them abroad with him. The 
 Earl of Ormond, Primate Bramhall, and all the Catholic 
 nobility, and many of the gentry, were declared incapa- 
 ble of pardon of lite or estate, and were banished. The 
 rest of the nation were to lose their lands, and take up 
 their residence wherever the Parliament of England 
 should order. 
 
 * CromweUian Settlement of Ireland. By John Prendergast. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 201 
 
 On 26th September , 1653, all the ancient estates and 
 farms of the people of Ireland were declared to belong to 
 the adventurers and the army of England ; and it was an- 
 nounced that the Parliament had assigned Connaught 
 (America was not then accessible) for the habitation of 
 the Irish nation, whither they must transplant, with 
 their wives and daughters and children, before the 1st of 
 May following (1654), under penalty of death, if found 
 on this side of the Shannon after that day. It might, 
 perhaps, be imagined that this fearful sentence was a 
 penalty upon the supposed bloodthirstiness of the Irish. 
 But for blood, death and not banishment was the pun- 
 ishment, and the class most likely to be guilty of blood — 
 the ploughman, laborers, and others of the lower order 
 of poor people — were excepted from transplantation . The 
 nobility and gentry of ancient descent, proprietors of 
 landed estates, were incapable of murder or massacre ; 
 but it was they who were particularly required to trans- 
 plant — their properties were wanted for the new English 
 planters. There is an anecdote told by an Englishman 
 of the order of the Friars Minor, who must have dwelt, 
 disguised probably (a not uncommon incident) as a sol- 
 dier or servant, in the household of Colonel Ingoldsby, 
 Governor of Limerick, that explains the reason why the 
 common people were to be allowed to stay and the gent- 
 ry required to transplant. He heard the question asked 
 of a great Protestant statesman (" magnus hsereticus 
 consiliarius") who gave three reasons for it ; first, he 
 said, " they are useful to the English as earth-tillers and 
 herdsmen; secondly, deprived of their priests and gent- 
 ry, and living among the English, it is hoped they will 
 become Protestants ; and, thirdly, the gentry without 
 their aid must work for themselves and their families, or 
 
202 IRISH HOMES AXD 
 
 if they don't must die, and if they do, will in time turn 
 into common peasants. . . Connaught was at that 
 time the most wasted province of the kingdom. Sir 
 Charles Coote the younger, disregarding the truce or ces- 
 sation made by order of the king with the Irish in 1644, 
 had continued to ravage it, like another Attila, with 
 fire and sword. The order was for the flight of the Irish 
 nation thither in winter time, their nobles, their gentry, 
 and their commons, with their wives and little children, 
 their young maidens and old*men, their cattle and their 
 household goods. . . . And now there went forth 
 petitions from every quarter of the kingdom, praying 
 that the petitioners' flight might not be in the winter 
 time, or alleging that their wives or children were sick, 
 their cattle unfit to drive. . . . The petitioners were 
 the noble and the wealthy, men of ancient English blood, 
 descendants of the invaders, the Fitzgeralds, the Butlers, 
 the Plunkets, the Barn walls, Dillons, Cheevers, Cusacks, 
 who were now to transplant as Irish. The native Irish 
 were too poor to pay scriveners and messengers to the 
 council, and their sorrows were not heard, though under 
 their rough coats beat hearts that felt pangs as great at 
 being driven from their native homes as the highest in 
 the land." 
 
 The particulars of some of these petitions might have 
 moved a heart of stone : the aged, the palsied, the im- 
 becile, the dropsical, those in " tedious and languishing 
 sickness " cried out for mercy, and often could get none. 
 The work was accomplished, and "Ireland, in the lan- 
 guage of Scripture, now lay void as a wilderness." Five- 
 sixths of her people had perished, women and children 
 were found daily perishing in ditches, starved. The 
 bodies of many wandering orphans, whose fathers had em- 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 203 
 
 barked for Spain and whose mothers had died of famine, 
 were preyed upon by wolves. In the years 1652 and 1653, 
 the plague and famine had swept away whole counties, so 
 that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see 
 a living creature. Man, beast, and bird were all dead, or 
 had quitted these desolate places. The troops would tell 
 stories of the place where they saw a smoke, it was so rare 
 to see smoke by day, or fire or candle by night. If two or 
 three cabins were met with, there were found there none 
 but aged men, with women and children, and they, in the 
 words of the prophet, " become like a bottle in the smoke, 
 their skins black like an oven because of the terrible 
 famine." In fact, says Mr. Prendergast in his preface, 
 " in 1652, took place a scene not witnessed in Europe, 
 since the conquest of Spain by the Vandals. Indeed, it is 
 injustice to the Vandals to equal them with the English 
 of 1652, for the Vandals came as strangers and conquerors 
 in an age of force and barbarism, nor did they banish the 
 people though they seized and divided their lands by lot." 
 Cromwell's reign was brief, but the effect of his cruelties 
 remained in Ireland. The imprisonment in Connaught 
 ended, and by degrees the country was repeopled ; but 
 the lands of the Irish were confiscated, their property was 
 gone, and if for a short period there was some appearance 
 that justice would be done, all hope was lost again after 
 the battle of the Boyne, for that victory was followed by 
 the " Revolution Settlement." By it the lands lately re- 
 stored to the Royalist English and few native Irish were 
 again seized by the Parliament of England, and distribu- 
 ted among the conquering nation. 
 
 At the court for the sale of estates forfeited on account 
 of the war of 1690, the lands could be purchased only by 
 Englishmen. No Irishman could purchase more than the 
 
204 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 site for a cabin ; for to the condition of cottagers it was 
 intended that the relics of the nation should be reduced. 
 From that time to 1798 the penal laws remained in full 
 force. " Their main purpose was, on the one hand, to 
 prevent the Irish from ever enlarging their landed inter- 
 ests, for which purpose they were forbid to purchase land ; 
 and, on the other hand, to contrive by all political ways, 
 and particularly by denying them the power to make 
 settlements of their property by deed or will, and by 
 making their lands divisible equally among their sons at 
 their death , to crumble and break in pieces the remnant 
 that had escaped confiscation, and thereby to deprive them 
 of all power and consideration in the state.*' Such are a 
 few records of the past on which Ireland looks back, and 
 for which England owes her a long and heavy compensa- 
 tion. Not seventy years have passed since the repeal of 
 the worst of the penal laws, and not forty have expired 
 since Catholic Emancipation. How, in that brief space 
 of time, can it be expected that a nation can recover from 
 ravages like these ? Even had the reign of full and free 
 justice commenced in 1829, who could expect that the work 
 of centuries (for the Cromwellian cruelties were only a 
 continuation and aggravation of those heaped on Lreland 
 since the Reformation) could be undone in less than half 
 a century ? But, alas ! that reign of justice did not begin. 
 Concessions to Ireland have been meted out at rare inter- 
 vals, and with niggard hands, and many an element which 
 ministers to discontent has been left to smoulder in the 
 hearts of the people ; for how is it to be expected that 
 Ireland will forget her past miseries while the badge of 
 conquest is held ever before her eyes ? The Irish Caurcli 
 Establishment is called a sentimental grievance ; my im- 
 pression ia entirely the contrary, I believe it to be perpet- 
 
IKISH HEARTS. 205 
 
 ually irritating and galling the people. They laugh at 
 it, it is true, but they feel it nevertheless. Such a state 
 of things could never exist for a day in England or Scot- 
 land, and yet both countries boast of possessing less sensi- 
 tiveness, less imagination than the Irish. To the Irish the 
 Establishment is perpetually witnessing to the fact : " You 
 are a conquered people, you are not an independent part 
 of a great empire ; we have tried through long ages to force 
 our new religion upon you, and though you have resisted 
 us, you shall still have the result of our fruitless efforts 
 before your eyes : we will not let you forget the past. 
 Your fathers built cathedrals and parish churches ; we 
 took them from you, and for fear you should forget the 
 fact, we will keep them still. True, they are no use to us ; 
 our clergy have no flocks, our bishops nothing to do, but 
 you shall keep your barn-like chapels, or impoverish your- 
 selves in raising your churches, because you shall not have 
 your own, for you are a conquered people." 
 
 In days gone by the proprietor of a large tract of land 
 in County Clare refused to give a site for a Catholic 
 church ; " the people worshipped in the open air, carry- 
 ing stones in their hands as they journeyed to the place 
 of meeting, that they might not kneel in the mud. A 
 sort of wooden canopy placed on wheels was constructed 
 to protect the movable altar, and is still preserved as a 
 memorial.'"* Stories such as these linger in the minds of 
 the Irish , and the supremacy of the Establishment remains 
 to keep the memories of them alive. 
 
 Stories which illustrate the absurdity of the system fly 
 
 about Ireland in all directions, and are related with bursts 
 
 of merriment round the fireside. A Protestant clergyman 
 
 was once reproved by his bishop for holding his Sunday 
 
 *The Church Settlement cf I.- eland. By Aubrey de Vere. 
 
206 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 service at an unusually late hour. He replied that he 
 could not help it, for he had to wait for his clerk till he 
 came hack from Mass ! 
 
 "In the parish where I live," said an Irish gentleman 
 to me, " the clergyman has 300/. per annum, and there is 
 not one single Protestant in the place. The church is oc- 
 cupied simply by his own family and household." 
 
 Closely connected with the Established Church is the 
 terrible practice of " souperism," to which 1 have already 
 alluded in these pages. I shall at once be told that it is 
 foreign to the question, because souperism has nothing to 
 do with law, and can neither be enforced nor repealed by 
 Act of Parliament. But it can be repealed by public 
 opinion ; and were its real working and results known, I 
 believe public opinion would not be appealed to in vain, 
 and in saying this, 1 am thinking less of the fairness and 
 justice of Englishmen, than of their wish to heal the dis- 
 content in Ireland. 
 
 The evil done by souperism in estranging the two nations 
 is incalculable. It is perpetually putting English people 
 in an irritating light before the eyes of the Irish. They 
 come as foes, not as friends. Amidst all their sufferings 
 and persecutions, the Irish have kept their religion intact. 
 From Henry VIII. to Queen Victoria they have clung to 
 their faith, and " soupers " are like robbers come to pil- 
 lage their homes ; and they come with English hands and 
 English voices ; from the lady who boasts in Connemara 
 that she has converted an " aconite " (i.e. acolyte) to the 
 Bishop of Oxford, who highly approved and commended 
 the " conversion movement," which, be it well remem- 
 bered, originated in the time of the famine. "If," says the 
 Protestant Chancellor of Cork, one of the few Protestant 
 clergymen who abhor and expose the " souper " system, 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 207 
 
 "his lordship has been totally misinformed, 1 am very 
 sorry for it ; but 1 am fully persuaded he would see cause 
 to change his mind if he were acquainted with the facts 
 which I and so many other clergy would have furnished." 
 Dr. Forbes visited Connemara some ten or twelve years 
 ago, and with his usual rigid impartiality endeavored to 
 test the " reports " of the souper societies. If the subject 
 were not such a sad one, the shrewd remarks of the worthy 
 Protestant doctor would be very amusing. The Irish 
 Church Missions had declared they had between 5,000 and 
 6,000 converts in "West Galway, and that their labors had 
 thus rendered " a district extending fifty miles in breadth 
 characteristically Protestant, which but a few years ago 
 was characteristically Romish." "This," says Dr. Forbes, 
 " must be regarded rather as an expression of an amiable 
 and sanguine enthusiasm, commingling the hopes of the 
 future with the over appreciation of the present, than the 
 sober definition of a reality ; " for he goes on to remark 
 that county Galway is only eighty miles long, and its 
 population by the last census before this statement appear- 
 ed, 298,564. He went to visit Clifden workhouse, where 
 he finds 840 inmates, ten of whom are Protestants. Bat 
 then of course it is but fair to admit that " converts " 
 would not be found in the union, as their temporal wants 
 are well attended to. The same report, to which Dr. 
 Forbes's attention was drawn, stated that in addition to 
 these 5,000 or 6,000 converts, who are supposed to take 
 up fifty miles of the county, and leave the remaining thirty 
 for the happy 298,064, " nearly 5,000 children of converts 
 or Romanists daily attend the scriptural schools of the 
 Society." But when the Doctor came to investigate the 
 matter, he thought " it would be interesting to know 
 what was the relative proportion of the two classes of 
 
208 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 children," and believes that " the great majority of these 
 children are not only the children of Catholic parents, 
 but are in no other way Protestants, except as attending 
 such schools, and a certain portion of them going to the 
 Protestant Church ;" and adds that the Catholic parents 
 themselves told him " they permitted their children to 
 join these schools chiefly for the sake of the food and 
 clothing supplied to them." Dr. Forbes was evidently 
 convinced at the end of his researches, that the great 
 wealth of the souper societies had been almost thrown 
 away, as far as gaining converts was concerned, and only 
 tended to keep up a spirit of irritation and dislike in the 
 minds of the people. " There is only one disadvantage," 
 says he, " attendant on the use of the ' stirabout ' weapons 
 employed by the missionaries, in the handle it gives the 
 enemy to maintain, even if conquered, that they are der 
 feated by carnal, not by spiritual weapons ;" and he con- 
 tinues, " the triumph of the Protestants, if they are to 
 triumph, would be purer, grander, and more decisive, if 
 they could boast that their victory was the exclusive result 
 of the goodness of their cause, and their own personal 
 friends. At present they certainly give nearly as good 
 grounds to their enemies for bestowing upon Protestantism 
 the nickname of the " Stirabout Creed," as the honest 
 Laird of Rum in olden times gave to his Catholic subjects 
 for bestowing upon it the nickname of the " Religion of the 
 Yellow Stick." I give the history of this transaction in 
 Dr. Johnson's own words : " The rent of Rum is not 
 great ; Mr. Maclean declared he should be rich if he could 
 let his land at two pence halfpenny an acre. The inhabi- 
 tants are fifty-eight families, who continued Papists lor 
 some time after the laird became a Protestant. Their 
 adherence to their old religion was strengthened by the 
 
IEISH HEARTS. 209 
 
 countenance of the laird's sister, a zealous Romanist, till 
 one Sunday, as they were going to Mass, under the con- 
 duct of their patroness, Maclean met them on the way, 
 gave one of them a blow on the head with a yellow stick, 
 I suppose a cane, for which the Erse has no name, and 
 drove them to the kirk, from which they have never since 
 departed. Since the use of this method of correction, the 
 inhabitants of Egg and Canna, who continued Papists, 
 call the Protestantism of Rum, the religion of the Yellow 
 Stick." Dr. Forbes winds up his remarks on souperism 
 by saying that to the minds of many " it will appear un- 
 justifiable to seek to attain Protestantism in Ireland at the 
 risk of the comfort or peace of a nation which is pro- 
 foundly devoted to Catholicism, proud of its peculiar 
 doctrines, and happy in the practices they enjoin. " 
 
 It is the fashion to say that were the Establishment 
 swept away, souperism would become more rampant — 
 that all the Protestant clergy then would become a sort 
 of spiritual Bashi Bazouks, instead of being, as the 
 majority now are, quiet country gentlemen with nothing 
 to do. But facts prove the contrary, as it has been truly 
 said, " The ascendency would be too obviously absurd if 
 it acknowledged the Catholicism of the nation as the 
 permanent order of things ; that Catholicism it there- 
 fore is forced to regard as but an accident, destined to 
 vanish before the zeal of a church planted for the purpose 
 of compelling the nation to come in."* 
 
 And Protestant bishops are continually asserting 
 that the Irish Church is a " missionary " one, and the 
 heathen to be brought into its pale are the Roman 
 Catholics. An English clergyman, a man of cultivation 
 
 * The Church Settlement of Ireland, By Aubrey de Vere. 
 14 
 
210 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 and intelligence, and of the " High-church " school, runs 
 over for a few weeks to Ireland, and when summing up 
 his "impressions" on the state of religion in Ireland, 
 quotes the opinion of a friend which he evidently ap- 
 proves of and indorses. " Where is that Church of the 
 future to be found ? I think 1 see a nucleus near home, 
 and where you would least expect to find, it in a 
 church despised and rejected of men, a church that has 
 ' laid her body as the ground and as the streets to them 
 that walk over.' I could not but think of the Church of 
 Ireland — not the Irish branch of the English Church, 
 but the Church of the people (not the priests) of Ireland — 
 as the fil'ty-first of Isaiah was read yesterday. I know 
 the Irish people well, and their faith, love, and poverty, 
 and through all their poverty, ' the riches of their liber- 
 ality,' and I cannot think that God ever did desert or 
 ever will desert them. They have long lain under an 
 incubus of Romanism on the one hand and of English 
 persecution on the other. In our days the English ele- 
 ment of oppression has been removed ; there is nothing 
 now to complain of, but Rome has latterly been making 
 her yoke heavier and heavier. The present Archbishop 
 Cullen has been striving to introduce Ultramontanism 
 and all its darkest doctrines, and at present he has filled 
 the land with his priests. But I do not think he has sen- 
 sibly affected the faith of the people, and 1 rather hope 
 that a time of reaction may be at hand, how to be brought 
 about 1 know not ; but yet I think the dawn is even now 
 brightening the sky. 1 do no not think the Irish people 
 will come as a body into the English Established Church, 
 nor do I wish them to do so, but I do think a time is 
 coming when the Church, casting off its slavery to Rome, 
 will return to the faith of St. Patrick and St. Columba ; 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 211 
 
 and then to it will flock the better part of the State 
 Church, and we shall have (whether I live to see it or 
 not) a free Catholic Church in Ireland, a church free 
 from Rome, and free from England's oath of supremacy, 
 but of the ancient Catholic faith and apostolic succession, 
 and ready to communicate with every church holding 
 like faith. What a support would such a church be to 
 the poor government-ridden Church of England ! How 
 nobly the Irish people would then be avenged of her 
 who laid a yoke on them in Henry the Second's time, 
 which has ever since pressed into their flesh."* 
 
 If such a farrago of nonsense can be put forth by a 
 clergyman of this stamp, what can not be expected from 
 those of the Exeter Hall type ? 
 
 In the course of my travels, I came across a priest, well 
 advanced in years, who had spent his whole life laboring 
 hard for the good of his people. He was a very superior 
 man, warm-hearted, genial, and considerate towards all. 
 He would never have spoken a harsh word to any who 
 diffAed from him, and kindly deeds for others seemed to 
 be spontaneous to his nature. Yet such a man is obliged 
 to say publicly, " The elaborate machinery for the subver- 
 sion of the Christian faith of the destitute poor, and for 
 bringing up and rearing their children in Protestantism, 
 is a thing unknown in any other part of the civilized 
 world, nor would it be tolerated in any." And he asks : 
 " How are we to encounter this enormous and infamous 
 traffic which is carried on around us, and sustained by 
 English gold?" 
 
 Favorite instruments in the hands of the soupers are 
 placards of the kind most likely to insult and outrage the 
 
 * A ffoliday in Ireland in 1861, 
 
212 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 feelings of the sensitive people amongst whom they live, 
 and the walls of quiet towns and villages, filled with 
 Catholics, are struck over with, "Is not the Pope Anti- 
 christ?" and " Rome, the mother of Harlots ;" andinthe 
 parish of the very priest I have been speaking of, the rector 
 of the Established Church placards the walls with a sen- 
 tence which he plumes himself on having invented : " The 
 Papacy came hot from hell, and its presence makes a hell 
 upon earth. ' ' If the placards of the Fenians are torn 
 down, and those who posted them are liable to punish- 
 ment, because they tend directly to rebellion, surely the 
 perpetrators of such outrages, which most assuredly tend 
 indirectly to the same end, should be restrained. If insults 
 such as these to the faith of a nation are allowed to pass 
 unpunished— if men in England, who load Ireland with 
 good advice, who profess to be perpetually studying her 
 interests, do not raise their voices against it— it is no 
 wonder that Fenianism breaks out, and that not an Irish 
 Catholic's heart really clings to and trusts in the good 
 intentions and good faith of what is called, in refined 
 irony, " the sister country." The intense nationality of 
 the Irish has often been spoken of. I do not think any one 
 but those who have lived in the country can form an idea 
 of its strength. An Englishman is said to love his country ; 
 but for the most part — owing, no doubt, to the state of 
 quiet prosperity under which we have lived so long — it 
 shows itself in a calm content, and a lofty contempt for 
 the inhabitants of less favored lands. With the Irish it is 
 a passion, a motive power for their daily conduct, the 
 theme of their conversation, the object of their thoughts. 
 Not a nun in a quiet convent but whose heart beats qukk 
 when Ireland is spoken of ; the poor and the ignorant take 
 a vivid interest in the hopes and fears concerning the future 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 213 
 
 of the country. Can this spirit of nationality be turned in 
 the direction of an attachment to the United Empire? The 
 Irish, who are bid to love England, find themselves under 
 a sovereign who, in her long reign of thirty years, has but 
 twice, for a few days, set her foot on Irish shores. They 
 see the heir apparent make the tour of half the world, but 
 knowing nothing of the scenery, habits, and character of 
 the people of one of the fairest parts of his future empire ; 
 they see their chief ruler come and go with every change of 
 ministry, no sooner having learnt something of the people 
 than he is ordered away ; they see him, on coming into 
 office, take an oath containing words which they believe 
 to be blasphemous before God, and grossly insulting to 
 them; they see a charter persistently refused to their 
 Catholic University — a system of education introduced 
 " which ignores the nationality and excludes the religion 
 of the country, in which the schoolmaster is afraid to read 
 one of Moore's ballads, for fear he should be thought to 
 be teaching sedition, and the crucifix kept hid in a box in 
 a corner of the room."* And is it to be wondered at, 
 then, that their affections turn to the past, " and their 
 pride attaches itself less to the greatness of an empire in 
 which they have an unequal part than to recollections sad 
 and dear in which none claim a part with them " ?f 
 
 Of course no one can live in Ireland without perceiving 
 that some of the evils that exist might be remedied by the 
 people themselves, and that a certain amount of the fault 
 may be laid at their own door. They brood too much over 
 the past, they are too easily depressed by difficulties, and 
 they allow minor dissentions to split up their interests and 
 prevent the action of a united people. The demands of a 
 
 * Dublin Review, April 1867. 
 
 t The Church Settlement of Ireland. By Aubrey de Vere. 
 
214 IRISH HOMES AND 
 
 united Ireland no English government could resist, but 
 when there is little hope there is little union. " It is 
 often asked why Ireland has not sent more petitions to 
 Parliament on the subject of the Church. It had little 
 hope of success. A nation that has ceased to hope has be- 
 come formidable."* These things are well known to the 
 thoughtful among them, and it is their task— not ours — 
 to point them out. As for us, I know not with what face 
 we can preach to the Irish, and thrust our superior com- 
 mercial superiority in their faces, — we who are descen- 
 dants of those who have done them such bitter wrong. 
 
 Unstanch'd is the wound 
 While the insult remains. 
 
 Distrust the repentance that clings to its booty! 
 Give the people their Church, and the priesthood its right ; 
 
 Till then to remember the past is a duty ; 
 For the past is our cause, 
 And our cause is our might.f 
 
 The "Irish Homes" that 1 have tried, however im- 
 perfectly, to describe, are a witness to what the Irish can 
 do and have done ; out of their poverty, and their suffer- 
 ing, and their difficulties they have raised one after another 
 of these noble institutions, which in all material things 
 may vie with the grand establishments in England, on 
 which English wealth has been so lavishly expended ; 
 while from the spirit in which they are carried on, they 
 far excel the results of our splendid efforts. In these Irish 
 Homes 1 have tried to show the "Irish hearts" which 
 animate them. These witness to us of what Irishmen and 
 women can do and have done. They have not dreamed 
 away their lives, given up enterprises in despair, talked 
 about " poor despised Ireland," and then run away from 
 her to follow in the train of English fashion : they have 
 
 * Church Settlement, &c. t Aubrey de Vere. 
 
IRISH HEARTS. 215 
 
 remained in their country, worked for her, lived for her, 
 
 suffered for her ; and the land where hearts such as these 
 
 can be counted by thousands, where homes such as these 
 
 can be found at every turn, 1 cannot believe is destined 
 
 to perish. 
 
 Success and prosperity are not God's best blessings for 
 
 individuals ; they may not be for nations : — 
 
 Endurance it was that won, 
 Suffering than action thrice greater * 
 
 Ireland in her suffering and her poverty may be more 
 
 blessed than her prosperous neighbors : what looks like 
 
 failure may be in reality a success ; and when the deeds 
 
 of nations shall be reviewed, poor and despised as she is 
 
 now, Ireland may be found to have played no ignoble 
 
 part in the world's history. But surely it is not impossible 
 
 that the time should come when England will at last 
 
 generously and entirely repeal the wrongs of Ireland, 
 
 when the past will be forgotten in the peace and content 
 
 of the present, when America will find no longer any 
 
 rebellious spirit to fan, and when the kingdoms will be 
 
 so united that it can no longer be said with truth — 
 
 The emerald gem of the western world 
 Was set in the brow of a stranger. 
 
 1 Aubrey de Vere. 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
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 MAY 194] 
 
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