1. Long ago there were no schools in Ireland, the children used learn by the hedges, and ditches, and these schools were called hedge schools. The school-master at that time was known as the hedge schoolmaster. The scholars at that time were better scholars than the scholars of the present day. At the time of the penal laws, the scholars used to be watching the soldiers for the school-master, because the English did not want the Catholic school-master to be teaching the scholars their religion. Sometimes the scholars used have to run away when the soldiers used come.