Notwithstanding this, his wants were for the most part anticipated, so
far as their means would allow them; his shed was kept waterproof; and
either shovel or pitchfork always ready to be extended to him, by way of
substitution for the right hand of fellowship.
When he called for anything, the usual observation was, "Husht! the
crathur's callin'. I must take the shovel an' see what he wants."
There were times, it is true, when the mirth of the poor fellows was'
very low, for hunger was generally among themselves; there were
times when their own little shed presented a touching and melancholy
spectacle--perhaps we ought also to add, a noble one; for, to
contemplate a number of men, considered rude and semi-barbarous,
devoting themselves, in the midst of privations the most cutting and
oppressive, to the care and preservation of a strange lad, merely
because they knew him to be without friends and protection, is to
witness a display of virtue truly magnanimous. The food on which some
of the persons were occasionally compelled to live, was blood boiled up
with a little oatmeal; for when a season of famine occurs in Ireland,
the people usually bleed the cows and bullocks to preserve themselves
from actual starvation. It is truly a sight of appalling misery to
behold feeble women gliding across the country, carrying their cans and
pitchers, actually trampling upon fertility, and fatness, and collected
in the corner of some grazier's farm waiting, gaunt and ravenous as
Ghouls, for their portion of blood.
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