And my mother, if anybody was sick or anything, she was there. And when the babies was born without a doctor, she’d be there.... A lot of my father’s success should go to my mother.

Ed Harrington

And, of course, Ed Harrington, you heard of him. His time was [spent] repairing harness of the last days, but I believe he made harness in the early days. He was a very cross man. He was going around threshing [wheat for his neighbours]. So my Uncle Simon had a bunch of white leghom hens. He was a great hen man, and he got Harrington’ s [threshing machine] from him. Somebody asked him, “You had Harrington’s thresh?” And he said, “Yes.” “What kind of an outfit is it?” “Not very good,” he said. “One of my white leghoms flew in the middle and went right through and there wasn’t a feather knocked off her.”

R 22 BELFAST PEOPLE