Dear Lucy,
If you came to Ireland I don't know if you'd even recognize it. The great Potato Famine has killed off everything. Our food is gone, and so are the people. Landlords and Protestants have been kicking the small farmers out of their land, leaving them with nothing. Pa says we should be all right for a little bit because we were able to save a quarter of our land. Most of the small farmers only grew potatoes. We mainly only grew them too, but the quarter of the land saved was the part where we grew cabbage. If we didn't have the cabbage field I don't think we'd be living on our farm anymore. Unfortunately cabbage can only last so long. I’ve gone into town a few times with my brother to get bread. We no longer have cattle anymore. Pa had to sell them so we could keep our farm a little bit more. With the cattle gone we haven’t had milk in weeks, just water.
Almost all our neighbors are gone. Ireland seems so empty, everyone’s either leaving to go to America, or have died from starvation. I went to pick up a potato the other day and it turned into mush right in my hand. For the farmers that only grew potatoes, they have nothing to eat but mush, and you cannot survive on that. All I can say is be happy you are already in America Lucy. Pa keeps telling me everything will be all right, but I can see it in his eyes that he's worried. Maybe we'll move to America too and then I'll be able to see you again.
Sincerely,
Anna Dover
This is the the link to the rough draft: http://rottenspuds1.blogspot.com/2011/09/rough-draft-letter-from-farmers.html
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