Intemperance not Banished from the County of Mayo

Asenath Nicholson
1847
Chapter XXVI (17) | Start of Chapter

The effects of a fair on Monday night showed that Ireland is not emancipated from the effects of whiskey. Rioting and fighting lasted through the night, and in the morning many an inebriate was staggering home to his family. I walked to Westport with the peasantry, and at six in the morning was on a car for Castlebar. Called a few moments on a Baptist minister there, who presented me with a bundle of tracts, which were quite too sectarian to suit my purposes in visiting Ireland.

Ireland’s Welome to the Stranger is one of the best accounts of Irish social conditions, customs, quirks and habits that you could wish for. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, was an American widow who travelled extensively in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine and meticulously observed the Irish peasantry at work and play, as well as noting their living conditions and diet. The book is also available from Kindle.