In the village of Clooninagh long ago about seventy five or seventy six years ago there were four teachers who were called the poor scholars. Namely, Ned Acton. John Kennedy. Michael O Malley, and Murphy.
They used to teach in different places. Each family had to support them in their turns for a fortnight and to give them either a barn or a room to teach their scholars.

They used to teach English and no Irish, and for fear the children would speak Irish they used to put a piece of a stick tied with a bit of thread around their neck. This was called a Tally and it was examined every morning to see if there was any mark on it, the children were that innocent.The names of some of the books they had were redi-me daisy ("reading made easy") Single book, first class spelling book, double spelling book Universal spelling book and Arithmetic.They had very poor pay. They got a penny every Saturday morning and a sod of turf for a fire from every scholar they taught.In those days the people got their learning from travelling teachers.