School: Cloonmorris (roll number 12496)

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1. Buying and Selling

   

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   In olden times, goods were not so often bought or sold as they were bartered (or exchanged). Goods were nearly always exchanged - for instance, potatoes would be exchanged for hay or something else. Here is an example of the way good were bartered:

   Some years ago, a man made a lay. He went to a dance a few nights after he had made it, and he ran away from the dance with a girl. After a while he came sorry for having ran away with her, so he said to his brother, "You ought to take her and I'll give you the lay along with her." (The man referred to was a man named McGarry who lived in Ballygeeher).

   Fairs were held in different towns on different days. Care is taken that they do not fall on the same day in the same locality. On the fair morning, any farmers who intend to sell their stock, they have to be up early to have their stock at the fair before the buying begins. Springer cows, fat cattle, shipping cattle, grazing cattle, yearlings, calves, sheep and horses have thir own particular place to stand in when offered for sale. The different buyers are shippers, grazers, local traders and dealers. They are men who buy cattle and sell them right away if they get any profit. The way of buying starts in this way: The man who intends to buy looks at the cattle for sale and asks the owner how much is

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. trade
            1. buying and selling (~3,622)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Bridie Beirne

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   14

   Address

   Cloonmorris, Co. Leitrim

   Informant

   Willie Geelan

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   13

   Address

   Cloontumpher, Co. Leitrim