services were always free and were cheerfully given. After I grew up an Irish neighbour woman jokingly reminded me that she put the first clothes on me that I ever wore.

The Cattle Doctors and the Gaelic

When those women, who spoke Gaelic, came to doctor sick cattle we had some fun. When they got into animated conversation in Gaelic, with its peculiar tones and their more peculiar gesticulations, we boys went off into uncontrollable laughter. It was like turning the water onto the wheel of an old~fashioned mill, without being able

' to turn it off. The women thought we were poking fun at them and

it made them very angry. We had to flee for safety. Some of them never learned to speak English.

Snufi‘ and Snuff Boxes

After a time we would appease their wrath by making them snuff. We got thin leaves of father’s tobacco and dried them and ground them into a fine powder. This snuff was sniffed. up the nos- trils, in small pinches and at frequent intervals, as the conversation proceeded. It was a filthy habit, but it soothed their nerves and tem- per. The snuff box was an indispensable article of toilet, especially for the older women. Some of these boxes were very artistically made; the outside, however, was more attractive than the inside. They were nasty smelling things. Mother could not endure the smell or smoke of tobacco. That kept us from learning to use it. Some of my brothers learned after they grew to be men. A neighbor boy and I tried it. One night we got a piece of strong tobacco and, out of curi- osity, tried how it tasted. I got so sick I thought I would die and I never tried tobacco again. The other boy learned the bad habit and kept on at it.

There were only two Protestant families in the settlement but we got along with our Catholic neighbours very nicely; they were very kind and helpful in sickness or any trouble and always hospitable. Oc- casionally difficulties would arise, but they were not over religious dif- ferences. Some of the neighbours had a bad vicious habit of swear- ing. It was a wonder we did not learn it, for we heard it every day.

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