School: Aughclare
- Location:
- Aughclare, Co. Wexford
- Teacher: M.E. Campbell
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0873, Page 144
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- XML School: Aughclare
- XML Page 144
- XML “Olden Times”
- XML “Reaping the Corn”
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- (continued from previous page)past six or seven o'clock in the morning."
- "Reaping the corn in the olden days was a slow job. The hook was a man-killer The teeth on this hook are like the teeth that are now on a bread-knife, and it was not every man that was able to sharpen these. When a man starts to cut corn at first with a hook he is bound to cut himself, and it is an old saying that you must cut yourself three times before you are a reaper. In the big farmers' places I often saw ten men reaping, and there would be about five of them, five of the best in front. The man leading them would be the best man in the place, and he would be called the leader, and then the man next to him would be called the "neck hook". There were names on them all, but I cannot think of them all now. Each man would take off a space of about two feet, and what(continues on next page)
