CH. III.] WIDOWS WITH YOUNG FAMILIES. 159 



When it was asked whether a woman could not earn 

 something by spinning, the same witness replied " Buy- 

 ing flax to spin it, and sell the yarn, is like buying powder 

 to shoot a robin-redbreast; the bird is not worth the 

 powder. They will pay sixpence for a pound of flax, and 

 after spending perhaps three days in spinning it into two 

 hanks, they will sell the yarn for eightpence ; then, if the 

 wheel goes out of repair, it would never pay for mend- 

 ing it." 



The witnesses said they did not know an instance 

 within the parish of landed proprietors granting to the 

 widows of their tenants either cabins or gardens, whereas 

 there are farmers who allow the widows of their cottiers a 

 cabin and a plot, and occasionally a patch of con-acre, 

 rent-free. 



One witness adds, that he has known widows, after 

 having passed through the stages of support by private 

 charity and mendicancy, to have been driven by absolute 

 want to prostitution. But widows do not beg with the 

 assurance of women with illegitimate children. 



County of Westmeath ; examinations taken by Thomas Osier, Esq. and 

 James O'Flynn, Esq. ; parish of Benowen, barony of Kilkenny. 

 Eleven witnesses. 



One witness stated that she did not know the exact 

 number of widows in the parish ; that in spinning they 

 earn about three-halfpence a day, and that they get a good 

 deal of private charity, potatoes, milk, meal and all kinds 

 of food : they do not consider this begging. Often, with 

 one child on her back and another in her arms, with two 

 or three following her, the widow begs from door to door, 

 until they are old enough to be useful to the farmers, when 

 she supports herself by labouring, with their assistance. 



