Those people of long ago did not thatch their houses as the people nowadays. They thatched them as the people nowadays thatch their hay-stacks with rows of ropes straight across their houses. They never used straw, it was always wild rushes. In those days there were no shops but few and I have heard of people who walked up to thirty miles for their necessaries.AnaithnidThere were no candles long ago. The people used to gather rushes that grew on boggy ground. They used to strip off the green peel off the outside and leave them lying on the ground three or four days. Then they used to dip the rushes one by one into tallow and light them. They were sold for a farthing and each one burned forShay Carberry