Famine Times

transcribed at

Famine Times  [duchas:4880597]

I am sure the old people have a number of old stories but there are not many old people round this village and I do not know very many only a few. The people were dying so fast long ago that when a man would die he would be taken in a turf basket and put on a man's back and brought to the grave and burried.
There was a man one time and his name was Mr. Sullivan. He lived in Mount Florence. This man had a lot of Indian meal. The people used to come to him for it at five shillings a stone. He would not give it; so they told the priest and he and the people came to him he still refused to give. As the priest was going he scraped his boots at the door and said "You can keep the Indian meal and in time the dogs will not eat it".
Then there was a man who had a lot of dogs and he came to

Famine Times  [duchas:4880598]

Sullivan for the Indian meal and got it for little or nothing. He gave it to the dogs but they would not eat it. So then Mr Sullivan got very poor and went round begging and had very bad clothes. So this tells us that "mean in the beginning and poor in the end.
The people used to be so hungry long ago that when they would be coming home from rambling the rotten potatoes that they would see thrown out they would take them up and eat them.