IRISH SERVANTS 141 



Another day, quite unable to ask for a darning 

 needle, she picked up her dress, and calmly made 

 the motion of darning her stocking to the pink- 

 cheeked confusion of the shopman. 



Anna was the merriest of servants, but she did 

 not like Ireland at all when I brought her over. 

 The easy-going ways of the people were beyond 

 her, so she went off to England to teach a child 

 there. 



The two Irish servants whom I imported to 

 Guernsey were a droll and worthy pair, one a 

 groom, whom I had had before, the other a cook. 



Both were excellent, but not amusing. 



I left Guernsey when the war began and came 

 back to Ireland for good, taking soon after my 

 arrival, the man who has been with me ever since. 

 He is probably one of the best grooms you would 

 find. His horses are fit and big and blooming, but 

 how they arrive at it I have never quite realised, 

 for his methods are strange. 



" You should niver be clanin' a horse an' he 

 cowld," is one, probably an excellent, maxim, 

 " Rub him afther work, that's when it do him good. 

 Isn't it as bad as to be takin' a bath out of doors 

 to strip a poor horse in the mornin' an' be at him 

 an' he shiverin'." But strange things have to be 

 contended with and looked after. A remedy used 

 for one thing is supposed to be efficacious for the 

 next. 



A hunter gave himself a sUght strain, the ever 



