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25 May 1897 — Coole Park, Gort, County Galway | |
Tuesday. 25th [May 1897]. Augusta drove me to the station at Gort & I left by 12.20 train for Athenry. There I had to wait 2 hours so I & my maid eat our lunch in the waiting room. A peasant woman with a shawl over her head came in & told me she was going to Lough Ree to go out to service. She said she was in trouble & had had to leave her home. By degrees it came out that she was a widow & had been living with a brother who drank & beat her so she had gathered up her clothes & left him but she would be ashamed to go to service on his neighbourhood & so was going off further. She asked me to help to recommend her. I told her I was a stranger & knew no one so I gave her a little help towards a night’s lodging & she blessed me & asked my name that she might pray for me & when I left in the mail train for Dublin she stood bowing & smiling to me. She had rather a sweet pathetic face. We reached Dublin abt 7 & drove across the town in a cab to the other station to catch the boat train. Abt ½ hour brought us to Kingstown. A lady in the same carriage was very civil & offered to help me. She was young & pretty. On the steamer the stewardess called her Mrs Hussy. I got a private cabin, but I could not sleep the engines made such a noise but we had a perfectly smooth passage. At Holyhead wh we reached about 12 I got into a sleeping carriage & found the 2nd bed was occupied by my former companion Mrs Hussy. We talked a good deal about Ireland. She said she lived in Kildare & seemed to be much tried by the Irish as servants tho’ she confessed she could not help liking them– I did not sleep much on the journey & was glad when we reached Euston abt 6 oclock & went off to 3 Savile Row & straight to bed. | |
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