landlords, much more could be done. The convent to which I allude was
founded at the close of the year 1861. There was a national school in
the little town (in England it would be called a village), with an
attendance of about forty children. The numbers rose rapidly year by
year, after the arrival of the nuns, and at present the average daily
attendance is just 400. It would be very much higher, were it not for
the steady decrease in the population, caused by emigration. The
emigration would have been very much greater, had not the parish priest
given employment to a considerable number of men, by building a new
church, convent, and convent schools. The poorest of the children, and,
in Ireland, none but the very poorest will accept such alms, get a
breakfast of Indian meal and milk all the year round. The comfort of
this hot meal to them, when they come in half-clad and starving of a
winter morning, can only be estimated by those who have seen the
children partake of it, and heard the cries of delight of the babies of
a year old, and the quiet expression of thankfulness of the elder
children. Before they go home they get a piece of dry bread, and this is
their dinner--a dinner the poorest English child would almost refuse.
The number of meals given at present is 350 per diem. The totals of
meals given per annum since 1862 are as follows:--

During the year 1862 ...... 36,400
" " 1863 ...... 45,800
" " 1864 ...... 46,700
" " 1865 ...... 49,000
" " 1866 ...... 70,000
" " 1867 ...... 73,000
_______

Making a total of 320,900