View of a Cottier 9 s Family at Breakfast. 97 



Hospitality throws widely open every door in 

 Ireland ! An apology is scarcely necessary on 

 entering any abode the stranger is received 

 with kindness, and made heartily welcome to 

 the best fare that can be afforded. In the first 

 cabin I reached, which was constructed of mi- 

 serable clay daubing, I found the family ga- 

 thered round a stool at breakfast ; some of the 

 party were seated, others on their knees ; all 

 applying to a wooden bowl placed on the stool 

 filled with potatoes in their skins; but neither 

 salt nor butter-milk attended the repast ! The 

 family consisted of a mother, three small chil- 

 dren, and a girl about fifteen years of age. 

 Their dress, and the interior of the cabin, be- 

 spoke the extreme of poverty. The poor wo- 

 man informed me her husband was a laborer ; 

 that during the busy season of the year, whilst 

 work was to be had, they fared tolerably well ; 

 and when they could afford butter-milk with 

 their potatoes, they were quite content. Bread 

 they seldom partook of; and as to meat, some 

 of them had never tasted it ; even salt, they had 

 not always the means to procure. These me- 

 lancholy facts were recited with a simplicity so 

 natural, that it was evident not the least con- 

 sciousness existed of the effect they were cal- 

 culated to produce. Habit had reconciled the 



VOL. II. H 



