through the famine, and had never attempted to proselyte either by a pound of Indian meal, or "ten ounces" of black bread.
A rainy morning took me from Castlebar, and in a few hours I reached Tume, and first visited the workhouse. Eighteen hundred were here doing the same thing—nothing; but one improvement, which is worth naming, distinguished this house. All the cast-off bedclothes and ticking were converted into garments for the poor, and given them when they left the house. Their rags which they wore in, were all flung aside, and they went decently out. Next I visited the convent, and here found half a dozen nuns hiding from the world, and yet completely overwhelmed with it. They had a company of four hundred children, most of them who were starving in the beginning of famine, and have instructed and fed them daily. This was the first school I had visited during the famine, where the children retained that ruddiness of look and buoyancy of manner, so prevalent in the Irish peasantry. "We have tested," said a nun, "the strength of the Indian meal. These children, through last winter, were fed but once a day on stirabout and treacle, and had as much as they would take; they were from among the most feeble, but soon became strong and active as you now see." They assembled for dinner, and as had been their custom, they clasped their hands and silently stood, while one repeated these words : "We thank thee, O God, for giving us benefactors, and pray that they may be blessed with long life and a happy death."
