School: Ballymackney (roll number 5501)
- Location:
- Ballymackney, Co. Monaghan
- Teacher: P. Ó Conghaile
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0933, Page 183
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- About seventy years ago before threshing machines were invented the corn had to be threshed with flails and threshing men used to go round the country with flails and stay maybe three weeks or a month in each house threshing. At that time of course the people had all the customs of the ancient Irish who and as a rule were very saving. An old "flailer" that used to do all the threshing round this part of the country was a man known as "Jack the Crack". At this time he was about 45 years and was working in the townland of Dromore near the village of Inniskeen.
At this time an old family called Gilmours two old men and an old lady none of them ever married. Jack was working away in the barn and three or four grains scattered out in the yard and old Gilmour came and threw them in. Dinner time came and Jack came in and sat down at the "dinner basket" he had no knife nor fork and had to peel the potatoes with his fingers. Friday in those day was reckoned as a very lucky day to start and usually the workers would get a herring roasted on the tongs along with a piece of butter but Jack only got a bare herring and looking at it for a while said in rhyme(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Michael Connor
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 14
- Address
- Garlegobban, Co. Monaghan
