While it did relieve the pressure on the land and helped reduce over-populated areas, many were nervous about this sudden exodus. Catholic and pro-nationalist newspapers blamed the British government for it while the anti-nationalists blamed the economic problems of the country. Conservative Protestant papers described the phenomenon as ".a flight from the "tyranny of priests" and the "endless exactions" of the Catholic Church" (E p. 57). The newer, post-famine immigrants like Erin differed from the old. They were single, young and fresh, usually between ages 15 - 35 (B p. 62). Many were women who had heard of a great demand for servants in larger cities. They left their small farms or work as agricultural laborers in the hopes of escaping the poverty that awaited them when they fully matured. .
They probably thought they were going to the America described in the local newspapers. These newspapers often touted America as a land ".flowing with milk and honey, where the streets were paved with gold, and where all a bode had to do to scoop up a fortune was to stoop down" (E p.20) The letters that were written home by emigrants not only contained cash, but also what Lawrence McCaffrey, in his study, The Irish Diaspora in America, believes to be images of success - "Many Irish immigrants in America, attempting to calm parental anxieties and to present an image of success, wrote letters home exaggerating the possibilities for the good life in the United States" (B p. 61-62). This helped further the numbers of emigrants as they fled Ireland in search of what they believed others had found. However, Arnold Schrier found otherwise in his study of immigrant letters for Ireland and the American Emigration, 1850 - 1900. Segments from these letters show how many immigrants realized they got more than they bargained for. Hard work was the key in America, ".Irishmen worked harder and longer in America than they were ever inspired to do at home" (E p.