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The Hiring Fair
The poem 'The Hiring Fair' by Jimmy Quigley (as referenced in the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places, by May Blair.Once you have read the poem, you can return to the Irelandseye extract from 'Hiring Fairs and Market Places', which quotes this poem:
THE HIRING FAIR
Sad did I stray one twelfth of May, far from my native home,To earn an honest living in the valleys of Tyrone.
I left the hills of Donegal and looked back with a sigh –
I mind it yet, I’ll ne’er forget until the day I die.
I’m on my way this hiring day to the hiring in Strabane:
And not alone on the banks of Mourne where Red Hugh took his stand.
Sure I will take my stand to-day outside the oul Town Hall,
And down thon street ’tis there we’ll meet the lads from Donegal.
It’s up the Back and down the Main and round the town we’ll go;
We’re ready now to take our place where Mourne waters flow,
Ach, there’s a farmer now in sight outside McGiffer’s pawn,
An’ we know the first thing he will ask – ‘An’ lads are ye stayin’ on ?’
Says this big farmer with a smile, ‘Can you plough barren land,
And milk the cows and feed the sows just ten mile from Strabane?
We rise at six an’ break the sticks to light a fire grand.
Of course I am a bachelor and not a married man.’
This farmer made me shiver as he took me by the hand,
Like a lamb being sold I was feeling cold till I reached the coffee stand.
Says he, ‘Drink up your coffee boy, for our bus is on the Square,’
And homeward bound to Newtown town, we leave the hiring fair.
With speed of dash and still no cash, this farmer fooled me on,
And night and day I worked my way till all my strength was gone.
He made me do the work of two; this was his careful plan,
Till I got wise and cut my ties and headed for Strabane.
Return to the County Tyrone extract from the Appletree Press title Hiring Fairs and Market Places, by May Blair.
