CHAPTER V 



STRAY MEMORIES OF THE COUNTRY 

 PEOPLE 



THE Irish peasantry are the most charm- 

 ing hosts on earth. They will ask you in 

 and give you the best they have and never 

 make you uncomfortable by apologising. Always 

 most expensive tea and good home-made bread, 

 often no butter, but whatever it is it is put before 

 you and you know your greatest offence is not to 

 eat. They have no buttermilk now, and are a 

 weaker race than the sturdy boys and girls who 

 were brought up on the sour stuff and potatoes. 

 Also the old thatched roofs helped to make them 

 stronger, as none of them would have a crack of 

 window or door open at night, but the thatch 

 did not shut in foul air as the new slated cottages 

 do. 



The old open grates with a great fire, the huge 

 sooty kettle or pot on its hook and the wheel 

 which made a draught blowing the turf to glowing 

 gold. I used to love to slip away to have tea with 

 the herd's wife when I was a child, and to turn 

 that wheel was pure joy. Little fluffy ducks or 

 chickens were often pecking on the earthen floor, 



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