School: Clochar San Pól, Cill Fhíonáin (roll number 13026)

Location:
Kilfinane, Co. Limerick
Teacher:
An tSr. Bernadette
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0510, Page 466

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0510, Page 466

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  1. XML School: Clochar San Pól, Cill Fhíonáin
  2. XML Page 466
  3. XML “The Famine Times in Kilfinane District”
  4. XML “The Famine”

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  1. (continued from previous page)
    turnip form the poor woman. After a while the government put up soup houses in every district and great boilers of Indian meal were prepared. When any stranger came along he got a wooden saucer of porridge but no more and would have to move on to the next district the next day. There was a soup house situated in Bosnetstown with a government man in charge. One day a man came who had not taken anything for two days and the man said to him he would give him as much as he would be able to eat. He swallowed the first saucer without stopping and the man in charge asked him would he have another and he said "Yes" So he kept on giving him saucer after saucer of porridge until he thought he would burst. Six saucers of it he ate. There was about a quart in every saucer. Then he went away for a few hundred yards and threw himself on the ground and slept for three days. He then returned for more but the man only hunted him and told him to go to the next soup house
    Lizzie Halpin I got this story from John Harrell age 57
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.