156 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK II. 



where they are always made welcome to a potatoe, even 

 if the family are themselves in want ; and as for those 

 who are bedridden, they are sure of having even better 

 sustenance brought to them than they could get for them- 

 selves by going out. 



Everybody among the poor thinks it a duty to help 

 the widow, and those who are well enough off to give 

 away a bit of old clothing, are sure to put it aside for 

 some decent widow. 



A widow said : " I have seven children, three of them 

 went away, as they were starving. I have now four with 

 me. I have a cabin and bog-garden. I pay 1 9 10s. for 

 the whole. It is dangerous to sleep in the house, lest it 

 may fall. I have 2, 10s. worth of con-acre, and am 

 rearing a pig, which will hardly pay half the rent. When 

 I am run out of potatoes, I live on weeds and cabbage." 



Dr. Longheed states, that he knows of no instance of a 

 widow being provided for by the landlord under whom 

 her husband lived ; but on the contrary, that in this 

 neighbourhood the landlord seldom loses any time in get- 

 ting them off his ground as fast as he can. 



Province of Leinster, county of Carlow ; examinations taken by Captain 

 White and T. N. Vaughan, Esq. ; parish of Carlow, barony of 

 Carlow. Nineteen witnesses. 



There are in the parish about seventy widows. A Ladies' 

 Industrious Institution has been established, at which 

 some may earn threepence a-day at knitting, spinning 

 and rug-making ; but, generally speaking, there is no em- 

 ployment for females. 



There are twenty widows on the list of the Established 

 Church, and the average collection is 50, 18s. ll^d. per 

 annum for the last three years. None are put on the list 



