Angela's ashers
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:55 amWhen Frankie return home his situation is not better than in America.
The family lived in a dilapidated, unpaved lane of houses that regularly flooded and where they shared one outdoor toilet with all their neighbors. His father was an alcoholic and seldom found work. When he did find work, he spent his pay in the pubs. For years the family subsisted on little more than bread and tea.
Their mother was forced to ask for help from the Church and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Angela's mother (a widow) and sister refused to help because they disapproved of her husband, mostly because he was from Northern Ireland.
In the damp, cold climate of Ireland, each child had only one set of ragged clothes, patched shoes, and lacked a coat. Frank developed typhoid and was hospitalized. As a teenager, Frank worked at the post office as a telegram delivery boy and later delivered newspapers and magazines for Eason's. He also worked for the local money lender, writing threatening demand letters as a means to save enough to finally realize his dream of returning to the United States. When the money lender died, he found her hidden money, and threw her ledger of debtors into the river. The story ends with Frank's sailing into Poughkeepsie, New York, ready to begin a new life at age nineteen.
The family lived in a dilapidated, unpaved lane of houses that regularly flooded and where they shared one outdoor toilet with all their neighbors. His father was an alcoholic and seldom found work. When he did find work, he spent his pay in the pubs. For years the family subsisted on little more than bread and tea.
Their mother was forced to ask for help from the Church and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. Angela's mother (a widow) and sister refused to help because they disapproved of her husband, mostly because he was from Northern Ireland.
In the damp, cold climate of Ireland, each child had only one set of ragged clothes, patched shoes, and lacked a coat. Frank developed typhoid and was hospitalized. As a teenager, Frank worked at the post office as a telegram delivery boy and later delivered newspapers and magazines for Eason's. He also worked for the local money lender, writing threatening demand letters as a means to save enough to finally realize his dream of returning to the United States. When the money lender died, he found her hidden money, and threw her ledger of debtors into the river. The story ends with Frank's sailing into Poughkeepsie, New York, ready to begin a new life at age nineteen.