My father is at the station to meet me and I can’t recognise him, but as there are only a few passengers getting off the train he quickly picks me out. I did write in advance telling him that I would be wearing a dark blue suit and black shoes. I wore long trousers for the first time and hoped that people would not laugh at me. My suit had been made several months and was already too small for me. Dad took me home in the horse and cart, the horse was called Charlie, it was not difficult to remember him because he had a bad limp, due to an injury when he was a foal. The distance to our village was four and a half miles which took three quarters of an hour. Dad knew most people we met and of course we stopped to have a chat. The old boreen was very familiar and had not altered very much. It was barely wide enough for the cart wheels.
Mother was outside the old house, which no longer looked like the stable which it was first intended to be. Two small windows had been built into the front wall, and there was a new front door. The roof had been repaired and there was a new concrete floor to replace the cobble stones. The chimney was still smoking a bit but dad said he was thinking of building a new one at the other end of the kitchen. The same old dad, still making plans and promises. It must have taken him ten years to put in the two windows from the time he first mentioned it. My eldest brother Mick was still in the same job in Connolly’s butchers for thirteen years. He also done the milking and worked on the farm as well. Jim the next eldest and my sister Norah had gone to the States, several years ago. This was the normal thing in those days, almost every family in the country had one or two members in the States, which was about the only place they could earn a living. Their fares were paid by relations already out there. Norah and Jim were doing well and often sent home a few pounds. Jim recently had an accident when he was knocked down by a car, he has since recovered.
Paddy and Joe who were first to leave Letterfrack are now at home and they work in the small village of Ahascragh a mile away. Joe is talking of leaving the country and going to England. Paddy is now qualified to do any running repairs to any vehicle and is employed at Brennan’s garage. I have two younger brothers at home, Martin who was with the nuns at Kilkenny for three years and Christy who was too young to leave home.
When I have been home a week Dad takes me to Ballinasloe to meet my new boss, who has promised to employ me as an improver. But we are informed that Mr Smith is shortly closing his workshop and his cutter who is starting on his own soon will employ me. His name is Mr Evans. Evans is a first class tradesman who has just returned from the States after spending twenty years there.
I buy an old second hand bicycle for 30/- payable in instalments at 5/- a week. I am now working and get on fairly well for about six months. But as I try to mix with the local chaps I quickly discover that I have very little in common with them. An industrial schoolboy is considered low class, within the same category as a pauper or a prisoner. And I am a tailor to trade which is considered the very lowest profession. A tailor is sometimes called a tramp – a tramp tailor is a common expression.
There is another boy from Letterfrack who works down the street, his name is Cunningham. He sometimes calls to see me at closing time and we walk along to the crossroads at the ash tree. He introduced me to some lads my own age the other night, and also to some girls. I noticed one called Peggy. I liked her a lot, she reminded me of another girl, the one from the convent at Kylemore, who said she had been beaten by the priest, yes that’s the girl, the same long hair, the same eyes, and the same freckles. I was beginning to think it was the girl from the convent, and intended to ask her when I got an opportunity. So that night Cunningham was waiting at the corner of the bank next door. As I reached him he said, we must hurry along, the girls want to see us at the ash tree. This made me strangely happy, I can’t explain how I felt exactly, except that it was a new and strange feeling, almost like the feeling I used to experience on a Christmas morning when I was in the school – the very first second I would open my eyes and like a flash I would remember that it was Christmas, or similar to the first morning of the holidays – at the very moment of awakening. I would be fully aware of the fact that the Brothers would be going away today and I would not be beaten for a whole six weeks, unless of course I done something wrong. We had reached the ash tree and the girls were waiting, Peggy kept looking at me, and I was embarrassed and hoped I would not blush again like I did last time. I remembered to ask her if she had been to Kylemore, but not in front of the others. We were having a very friendly conversation all the four of us, when Cunningham turned to me and said ‘You will soon be a year out of Letterfrack’. Peggy looked at me and said, ‘Were you there?’ When I answered, ‘Yes’ she said ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were one of them.’ I could then see she was fidgety and seemed to be restless. She didn’t look at me any more, so there was no need to ask if she was from the convent. Had she been at Kylemore, I feel sure that she would not hold it against me, as she was in similar circumstances. I said ‘good night’ and went home.
We always had several visitors in our kitchen at night and they were getting on my nerves, with the result that I would go for long walks and not get home before midnight, only to find them still there sitting as though it was mid-day. I had been attending mass on Sunday until recently just to please my mother, but now I felt I did not want to go any more. The people made me sick all standing outside the chapel talking nonsense. So I gave up going to church, and on Sunday would wander through the woods.
I hardly ever spoke to anyone except my mother. I was anxious to have a good talk to my brothers, that is those who were at school with me, but as time went on it became more difficult, so in the end I decided not to say anything. It would be useless, they had not been there very long, and they seen very little, and have now forgotten all about it. They are just like the rest of the people in the village. They go dancing and sit at the crossroads talking and laughing. I wonder what people talk and laugh about?
I have now noticed how dirty the people are. None of them have ever taken a bath, because it’s unknown in my part of the country. My father once said he never had a bath in his life. They wash their hands and face religiously on Sunday, but not any other day. The sufferings of the animals here is appalling. Only yesterday I seen a horse that was very lame and trying to pull a heavy load of peat, and some time ago I seen a pony with its back badly cut due probably to an ill-fitting harness.
There is a man in the village who is about seventy years old and is said to be a simpleton. They call him Cliss. He rides a pony to the fields daily to milk the cows for his boss, and on his return the young men of the village throw stones at him, and often throw him off his pony and spill the milk. Most of the villagers congregate to see this and seem to enjoy watching it. For these reasons I have no time for the people, I don’t care if I never see another man, I want to get away as far as possible. I now get twelve shillings a week. I give mother ten, and I will save the other two until I have my fare anywhere out of this island. We will soon be busy and am going to ask my boss to put me on piecework and I can work until midnight, and work on Sunday as well. If he does this for me, I should save five pounds in three months.
The boss, Mr Evans, has a daughter who has just returned from England where she has been training as a nurse at a hospital in the midlands. She is a most attractive and intelligent girl of nineteen. She was educated in the States. Betty is her name. Once she said she had never been to a country dance and would like someone to take her, but I did not realise that she wanted me to ask her along, until several days later her mother was a little angry when she learned that Betty was going to the dance with Joe Kelleher the footballer. Mrs Evans looked at me and said ‘You missed your chance. Why didn’t you want to take Betty?’ I answered that she had not asked me, and besides I had never been to a dance except to look in the window. I did not say that I once paid 2/6 but was afraid to go inside.
The boss now agreed to put me on piece rates, and I done more work because I worked later in
the evenings, and sometimes worked on Sundays. My eldest brother Mick now left his job where he worked for fifteen years, and looked after things at home. He applied to the Government for a grant to assist him to build a house. The new one-storey house was completed in three months from the time we received the material. Dad was reluctant to move into the new house but was persuaded to change his mind. During the building my trade got slack, and I worked only two or three days a week, so that I was able to assist my brother and dad, but I could not climb the ladder, as I got dizzy after about ten steps, and had to climb back down.
A new tailor was now employed, he was a very interesting chap who had spent many years abroad. He gave me information on where to find work in England and the different towns, where my chances were better in my trade, but he thought I should be better off to leave the trade and try something else. He was always broke after Monday, and I was able to lend him a little money. But he insisted on paying back more than I gave him which I did not like.
There was a mental hospital in the town, and we done quite a lot of work for the male nurses. One day we were making a first fitting for a chap from the hospital. And as he was sitting waiting for the garment to be tried on, he was telling my boss something of the general routine of the mental home. I became very interested when he said that they had several patients from a Christian Brothers school, who were troublesome and difficult to handle. The boss then asked what happened when the patients got out of hand. The male nurse laughed and said, ‘We have our own methods of dealing with such a situation. Of course we are not allowed to beat them, but there are other patients, who do the job for us. In my ward I have two fine big strong lads, who can handle anyone.’
I now felt ill. I was sitting at the machine, and was afraid to stand up in case I should fall. Breathing became more difficult and the perspiration was simply running from my hands and my armpits. I thought I must go out into the yard for air, my table was close to the machine, and I was able to stand and walk to the door by holding on to the table. They were so interested in the conversation that I don’t think I was noticed leaving. After walking about half an hour I was dry and went to a pub and bought a glass of stout which I couldn’t drink, so I bought a bottle of whiskey and took it away, and drank it in the field just past the ash tree. I lay down and fell asleep. It was dark when I awoke and it was very cold. I then realised that I had forgotten my jacket so went back to the workshop to collect it.
Mrs Evans got out of bed to let me in and I explained that I had been drinking. Betty then arrived with her boyfriend. They had been dancing and we all went into the workshop and Mrs Evans made tea, and after a while came out and said there were some sausages if we were hungry. Betty said she liked sausages and invited me to go to the kitchen and help her to fry them up. In the kitchen we found cold potatoes and onions and we fried the lot. Betty talked about a doctor in the hospital in England, who loved cold potatoes and onions. The light was bad in the kitchen so we took the food into the workshop. We found Joe Kelleher all worried. He explained that he had been in hospital for a year, with his back, due to an injury playing football. Betty asked me what it was like in the country, as she would like one day to see what it was like. I told her that in the country, or village where I lived, life was very much different. There was no gas or electricity, and no water, except at the well, and sometimes the well was dry and we had to go to the pump, which was almost a mile away. She then asked me if we had any baby ducks and chickens, or goats and donkeys. I told her we had ducks, chickens, geese, a small donkey and an old horse. She then asked me to promise to take her out there soon. I told her that she would not like the country very much, and it was not advisable for a visit now, as my mother was not well. Betty then told me that she was a qualified nurse and would love to meet my mother. I then promised to take her out at the earliest opportunity and added that we had no bathrooms or toilets. Betty then laughed, and shouted to Joe Kelleher who was asleep.
The following week Mrs Evans became ill, and Dr Rositon who lived a few doors away called and said that she was to remain in bed for ten days. She must not do any work of any kind. She was not suffering from a disease of any kind, only overwork and worry. Several things happened in the next few months. My elder brother Joe left home, and shortly after Paddy had an accident when he crashed his motorcycle, he was not badly injured and was back at work after a week. My sister in the States had left her job and went to a convent to become a nun.
Mrs Evans was now up and able to get about, but her husband started drinking heavily. About every three months he would spend a week on the drink and would have to go to bed for several days. Another tailor came to work with me. He had been in an industrial school about twenty years before (Salthill). When he heard I had been to Letterfrack he asked me if the Brothers still took the boys’ trousers off to beat them. When I answered yes, he told me that he was in jail during the 1921 trouble and had a far better time than at school. This man’s name was Maye. He was married with three children, and his wife had often taken him to court for drunkenness and beating her, and non-maintenance. Another tailor in the town also from Salthill, called Duggan, was a heavy drinker who neglected his wife and kids and eventually left them to become a tramp.
My brther Jack had now come home. He was sent from Letterfrack to a job in Mayo in 1931. Jack was now extremely nervous and could not do any regular work. He had now become most irresponsible, and got drunk whenever he got any money. Jack had been to Letterfrack for more than six years and never learned to read or write. He was subject to severe beatings almost daily for several years.
It’s now June 1934 and it’s two years since I came home, and am becoming more unsettled every week. Trade has been quiet and am finding it difficult to save any money, so I shall probably have to remain here another year. I am now subject to severe colds, about every three months, which leave me ill and weak and I get headaches and dizziness and spots in front of the eyes. My memory is now very bad and when I am sent on an errand, even for one item I must write it down or I shall forget.
Betty is now going steady with Joe Kelleher, and I am very glad because he is a good chap, one of the few nice fellows here. Betty is so lovely and so childish, she no longer talks about the visit to the country and I am very pleased. She often tells me about when she was a little girl. She has a wonderful memory, she had just started to go to school, and is not more than five years old, she has a dog called ‘Prince’, and together they walk along a river bank and the dog walks between her and the river in order to ensure that she does not get too close and fall in.
There is now a football match in Ballinasloe. It’s Sunday and I go to see the game, the first I have attended since leaving school. The game is between Galway and Tuam. The first half is played very well and without any serious incident but during the second half several of the players get injured and the game comes to an end with several fights. On my way home from the game I met a Letterfrack lad called O’Brien, better known as ‘Redskin’. He told me he works for ten shillings a week on a farm, near the bog road. He seems to be doing fairly well, and does not appear to have suffered greatly from his experience at school. He is a rather jolly lad and fond of games. Redskin was sent to Letterfrack because he had lost his parents, he said he was saving up to emigrate, because there was no future in this country for an industrial school lad. He said his boss does not trust him and when anything is missing he always gets the blame.
It’s now October, and the big cattle, sheep and horse fair is on. It’s held in the first week of October every year, and during this week there is plenty of trade. We usually get enough customers to keep us busy for a whole month. There are cattle dealers from the north, as well as gypsies, tinkers and fortunetellers, street singers and musicians. The gypsies are the most difficult to do business with. They usually supply their own cloth and we charge a pound for making up which takes us twenty hours’ really hard work, yet the gypsies always argue for more than an hour to have the wor
k done for a shilling or two less, and then invite the boss to the local public house and spend 5/- on drink.
After the fair there is always a circus and other entertainments at the far green. During this period we finish work early, around about 5 p.m. The farmers, jobbers and dealers spend money freely and there are a number of hangers on or beer thiefs, i.e. those who hang around the pubs for a cheap drink. I have known farmers to stay in town for a whole week after the fair. A few names I find it difficult to forget are Jim Coen and Charlie Green, they are good customers of ours. Another is ‘Bookie’ Higgins. They make the October fair and the week after an annual holiday. It’s drinks all round when they come to town. Higgins is a bookmaker, and he has a bad name amongst the punters, because he is a bad payer, except in the pub. The street singers come from all over the country at this time of year.
There is talk of Betty getting married and I am a bit upset, as I am very fond of her, but would not try to stand in her way marrying Joe Kelleher, because I think she would be doing the correct thing, but am worried in case they go to live in Joe’s home. There would be no fun in the workshop if Betty left. It’s good to see her cutting out her dresses and frocks without a pattern or even the use of a measuring tape. She often asks me to press up her costume or coat on a Saturday, and I refuse at first, saying that I am too busy but would willingly do it on Monday. She then walks away slowly, and returns and whispers in my ear saying it’s no good on Monday, the dance is tonight. I think for a few moments and say, ‘OK Betty, I will try my best.’ With that she runs away singing.
On the way to work the other day, the frame of my bicycle just broke across the middle, it was a ladies’ bike and therefore not as strong as if it had a cross bar. I simply threw it over the ditch into the field and walked the rest of the way. It’s a long way to walk, and back home again at night. There is a lad who comes to the shop. He is the assistant postmaster’s son, and he has an old racing bicycle for sale and he wants me to have it for 30/- but he must ask his father first of all. His father said it’s none of his business, so I bought the bike the next day and it was a treat, I could now get to work much faster and with less difficulty. It was a fixed wheel and took some getting used to, but was a pleasure to ride. With the racing bike I was much happier and was no longer anxious to get away in a matter of months. Besides I had 30/- less now and it would take at least three months to save that. I then made up my mind to try and stay another year.
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