extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. COUNTY LONDONDERRY [Sam Brown continues to reminisce about his experience of being hired to work, as a young man]: Meantime, unknown to Sam, his father had taken earls (two half-crowns) on Sam’s behalf from a farmer called Willie Clarke of Lakeview near Ballyronan. Sam was furious at not being consulted by his father before he accepted the earls:       ‘Under no circumstances will I go to Willie Clarke. Will ye give me the earls?’       An’ we had it up an’ down. Says I, ‘Give me the earls.’ An’ m’ father put ‘is han’ in ‘is pocket an’ give me the two half-crowns. Out I go an’ I niver stopped till I landed in the fiel’ to Willie Clarke an’ a fella. Well the fella was fit till handle horses alright if you were in the fiel’ wi’ ‘im. He was scourin’ these potatoes wi’ two horses an’ Clarke was back an’ forrad wi’ ’im.       ‘Are ye comin’ home?’       ‘Naw,’ says I. ‘I’m comin’ to give ye these earls ye give me father.’       ‘I’m not takin’ them,’ says he.       ‘Ye didn’t give them to me. Ye’ll hae them to take.’       ‘Under no circumstances,’ says he. ‘Catch that plough to you see the way she’s runnin’.’       ‘O naw,’ says I. ‘I’ll ketch no plough.’ So I struck on up to the house. I was right an’ smart on me fut at that time. An’ Mrs Clarke says, ‘Who are you?’       ‘I’m Sam Brown.’       ‘Are ye comin’ home?’       ‘Naw,’ says I. ‘I’m comin’ to give ye these earls.’       ‘I’ll take no earls.’       She was stannin’ in the door. An’ I just threw them through the door into the kitchen between ‘er feet. An’ I luked roun’ an here wasn’t the oul boy comin’ as hard as he cud footle. An’ I made aff. He didn’t speak to me for about two years after it.       Sam worked for a spell also with a namesake of his – George Brown of The Loup. He was fourteen and it was the first place that he hired. He continues:       George lived his lone, well – just him an’ the father. The father was old and kinda dotin’. So I left school to attend the oul man an’ keep house. I hadn’t been rared wi’ the rest of the family so I didn’t really mind. I lived wi’ me father. He was the keeper of a farm at Ballybriest belonging to a vit [vet] in Magherafelt. He kep’ short-horn cattle an’ had a stud horse. A brother [of the vet’s] went to the market wi’ this stud horse on a market day. He [the horse] went along the road nickerin’ [whinnying]. You’d ’a been afeard till a’ met ’im. There was no such thing as lorries till transport them then. This man walked ‘im. He walked ’im to Cookstown. He walked ’im to Magherafelt.       That wud be away about nineteen hundred an’ six or seven. M’ father got a fiel’ for grazin’ a cow an’ he had to see after these kettle [cattle] for this vit, an’ me an’ m’ father lived in the house. Anyway, I went to George Brown’s an’ I attended to the oul man. I done the cookin’. We had a small wee pot that wud a hel’ maybe a stone o’ potatoes; potatoes an’ butter. Whiles we wud a’ fried a wheen o’ cuts of bacon an’ broke an’ egg on it. He lived a couple of years after I went there. The first year I just had three poun’ for the six months. An’ the next year a poun’ more an’ the next year a poun’ more an’ so on. I lived wi’ George ‘til ‘e got married an’ a year or two after ‘e married. He got a tar’ble good woman. Every six months I got paid. Well, I’d ’a got a wheen o’ shillin’s or a pair o’ shoes if I needed it or some clothes. George had a washing machine. It was wooden. You turned a han’le roun’ an’ roun’ an’ as you turned the han’le a spindle inside it wi’ lugs on it went backwards an’ forwards. There was a wringer on the top of it. That was the first place I hired.       The last place I hired was Jackson’s. I was fifty years in Jackson’s. She was a wee woman an’ she had a son an’ daughter an’ they were lookin’ someone to look after the horses. The son had a bad heart. I was goin’ to leave it one time an’ go to Scotland. I didn’t like this wee woman tellin’ me how to do things. She was no size. She was the real boss. The son couldn’t walk about or do anything. He died in 1914. When the son died I said, ‘If you were a pair o’ wise weemin now, (they had a farm of about fifty acres) yez wud call an auction, sell all the stuff aff, set the lan’ an’ you could live ‘private’. Where’s the use in youens carryin’ on farmin’?’       An’ the oul woman got out the handkerchief an’ she sat awhile an’ she said, ‘As long as you stay, I’ll pay you whatever you charge for you’re trustworthy, an’ I’ll farm. I wouldn’t like to see the things that me an’ my son have gathered up goin’ away. D’ye see?’       So I stayed. She lived to she was ninety years of age. I still stayed on after she died an’ the daughter carried on. I tuk the stuff out an’ sold it in the market an’ kep’ an account. I used to take maybe a litter of pigs or two or three head of cattle. Then the daughter died an’ the place was sold. I had a wee place of my own bought between Moneymore an’ Coagh. Then war broke out an’ anybody that had more than ten acres had to plough it; an’ the lan’ was better for grazin’ than labourin’; so I sold it again on Moneymore Fair Day by auction an’ bought another place at £400, all good lan’ an’ arable. That’s this place. I’m eighty-seven now so I’ll har’ly ever move again.       Girls hired in Magherafelt too. The trials and tribulations of one are recalled in the poem, ‘Magherafelt May Fair’ supplied by James Mulholland of Randalstown: Extracted from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places by May Blair. Previous extracts regarding County Derry/Londonderry: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Forthcoming extracts regarding County Londonderry: Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

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