O'Callaghan
whilst tearing a body to pieces; of his mother-in-law stopping a poor
woman and asking her what she had on her back, and being replied it was
her son, telling her she would smother it; but the poor emaciated woman
said it was dead already, and she was going to dig a hole in the
churchyard for it. These are things which are of every-day
occurrence."[238]
Taking Ballydehob as a centre, there were, at this time, in a radius of
ten or twelve miles around it, twenty-six soup kitchens--namely, at
Skibbereen, Baltimore, Shirken, and Cape Clear (three); Creagh,
Castlehaven (two); Union Hall, Aghadown (two); Kilcoe (three); Skull
(two); Dunmanus, Crookhaven (two); Cahiragh (two); Durrus, Drimoleague,
Drenagh, Bantry, Glengariff, Adrigoole, Castletown, Berehaven, and
Ballydehob. They were making and distributing daily about seventeen
thousand pints of good meat soup. They did great good, but it was of a
very partial nature. Mr. Commissary Bishop tells us "they were but a
drop in the ocean." Hundreds, he says, are relieved, but thousands still
want. And he adds, that soup kitchens have their attendant evils: an
important one in this instance was, that the poor small farmers were
selling all their cows to the soup kitchens, leaving themselves and
their children without milk or butter.
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