That was the state of things in Ireland the year we left
it.
"The plague had carried off my father an' mother, my brothers was all
married an' moved away, an' my only sister was at service in London, so
when Mona begged me to come to America with her an' Michael an' the
little ones, I just jumped at the chance. Michael was a good fellow,
sober an' industrious, but there was no work to be had at home and he
had heard such wonders of the land across the sea. There, a man that was
a man had no trouble in findin' work an' making a comfortable livin' for
himself an' family. He wanted to leave Mona with his sister in Dublin,
who offered to care for her an' the children until he'd made a home for
'em in the country he was goin' to. But no, Mona wouldn't hear to that.
She'd promised at God's altar to take him for better or worse an' to
cling to him till death. Because the worse had come, she wasn't goin' to
desert him an' let him go out alone to the cold land of the stranger to
fight his battle all by himself. She'd go with him an' stand by him and
help an' comfort him in his struggles. She knew she could help him.
She'd been taught by the nuns an' could do all sorts of fine sewin'. In
America, as in Dublin, there must be rich ladies who would pay well for
a bit of fine embroidery or hand-made lace. No, no, Mona wouldn't be
left behind; he must take her an' the little ones, no matter what was
before them.
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