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. 
     
    
   
   
    
     83