(Interviewed by Anne McMenamin, 2000)

Mary Ellen:
I was ninety-seven on the 14th May. My three sons, James, Packie and Stephen live with me in my home in Ruskey, Convoy. James is 74, Packie's 72, and Stephen's 60. My father was Johnny Harper. He was a farm labourer who worked with other farmers. He worked at that all his life and he also worked in Convoy Mill for a time. My mother was Bridget McGlynn. She was from Ruskey too.

I was only four years old when my mother died. There were three other children, Joe, Patrick and Stephen. When she gave birth to Stephen she rose and went out too quick. She went out and did her work and she got the cold. She lived ten days after the birth. My granny came to stay with us. She had a big hand in the rearing of us. It was a hard life, growing up, money wasn't so plentiful then, it was very scarce.

When I was 13, Bridget Carlin wanted me to come and work for her in her house so I left school and went there. I worked in the farmhouse. It wasn't far to her house, just a wee bit up the lane. I came home every night. She didn't pay me, she paid Granny. She had no children at all. Her husband was killed when he fell out of the cart and broke his neck. I was also hired in Johnny Temple's for six months. He was the same family as Magees of Donegal Town. My son, James, was also hired.

James:
I was 17 when I was hired in Letterkenny to a farmer in Omagh. I went with no intention to be hired. It wasn't the same as my mother when she was hired out. In my case you got paid by the week if you wanted it and that was the only difference. In my mother's and other cases at that time you didn't get paid for six months. They might have given you something if you needed socks or shoes or a few smokes.

I went to Letterkenny and I was introduced to a farmer, John McCafferty. He was from Omagh, Co Tyrone. They were very nice people. There was a lot of hiring. There used to be a hiring day or Rabble Day as it was called, in Ballybofey and in Letterkenny. It was always on 12th May and 12th November. You were hired for three or six months. I was hired for six months. I was paid twenty-eight shillings a week (£1.40). It was a good wage compared to what others got. I was employed to do farm work. I lived in the house and got fed with the family. You were up early in the morning, mind you. But I could come home every time I took the notion.

Once, the wage man who was employed by the government came round and he asked me how many days I had worked and how many hours and he said: "Oh, you're not getting enough wages." He drove back up to the farm and he made them write out a cheque and came back down and gave it to me. For the time I had, I think that my wages was supposed to go up by 2/6. But I tore the cheque up, I had made a bargain with the man and he was decent to me. I was happy there. He only wanted me for six months and that's the time I spent with him.

I worked with another man. I didn't stay as long with him. That was just outside Omagh. They would treat you like a dog. I had a wee room upstairs, just the bare stones, whitewashed, and there wasn't even a chair in the room. But that was an exception at that time. The bed was all right, but they called you at about ten to six in the morning.

You milked first and then when you came in, your bread was buttered for you and you got a big bowl of porridge with milk in it. There wasn't even a jug for you to put as much milk in as you liked. You got the bare quantity. Sure they buttered the bread for you so you didn't waste time. When you finished your breakfast you went out and started cleaning the byres and doing the work you hadn't finished already. Then you did general farm work. On Saturday mornings you went out with potatoes with one of the sons. They were selling them around the place. In the afternoon, you went with one of the women, to shop in Omagh. You carried what she bought. I didn't stay long, they were no good.

They all used to go to the room. Judy, one of the girls, had a boyfriend who used to come and it was embarrassing sitting there. They used to come out to the kitchen where the big range was. I went out the first night, but there wasn't much money and it was three-quarters of a mile into Omagh. The next night, the boyfriend said "Are you not going out tonight?" and I said "No, I've no money." So he slipped me five shillings and Judy gave me half a crown and that used to be the routine until I left.

Mary Ellen:
I married Jimmy Callan from Ramelton when I was twenty-two. He was working in Ruskey in Mc Loughlin's pub. He was also hired for a time in Tinney's.

I remember what I wore on my wedding day: a dress, coat and hat. My grandmother and I bought it in McGintys of Ballybofey. We did not have a wedding breakfast first. The wedding was about 11 o'clock. After the wedding, we had a taxi hired for the day. We came back home to eat and then we went to Letterkenny and toured for the rest of the day.

My husband worked for Callaghans who were wealthy farmers. He was the horseman there for many years. Callaghans used to supply Ballybofey and Stranorlar with milk. Jimmy was fed at home and his wages were eighteen shillings a week (90 pence). We also got two quarts of milk a day and one rood of potatoes. That was all.

James:
We had to bed their cattle and look after them in the wintertime when we came home from school. We never got any pay for that. We used to fodder the horses and when they had dried off we used to go out and brush the horses and curry comb them and clean them up at ten o'clock at night. That was part of our job at that time. They had big boilers there and we used to make porridge. Oatmeal, corn and mash were made for the cows. There were eighteen acres of turnips and they fed them to the cows. He didn't put in many potatoes, just corn and turnips for the cows. All he sold was milk. He did a bit of cattle dealing also but his main income was selling milk.

Another milk supplier was Walkers of Kilcadden. Johnny Slevin, Kilcadden, used to be the milkman for them. His pony could have took you round the route, no bother. If you were a stranger on the milk run the pony took you to your customers. Joe Russell used to supply the buttermilk and Fairmans had another milk cart. Frank Boyle was a milkman with Callaghans. They all had their own customers. They carried cans with different measures for different quantities of milk.

When the ploughing time came, you had to go to the forge with the plough at night to get the cooter and sock welded because the pieces had worn. We got it done at Murray's Forge in Ballybofey. It would be 10.30pm or 11.00pm at night when you got home. The horses were already home. You would fodder and currycomb them and make sure they were ready for the morning. My father did this. In the harvest time he was responsible for getting all the crops cut. We used to take on extra men to tie the corn. Old Callaghan walked about like a gentleman, hard hat on him, and a nice suit, his watch and walking stick.

When I left school, I was thirteen years and three months. I worked for Tommy Slevin, a builder, who lived in Ballybofey. I started working for him at fourteen or fifteen. The wages weren't big then either and the shovel was a lot bigger than me.

Tommy Slevin bought the old castle at Monellan during the war years. The castle was previously owned by landlords back in the old times. Delap owned it. He bought it for eighty pounds. He took a lot of stones and filling from the old castle. There was lead, big doors and slates and other things. The wood was perfect and during the war lead was scarce. He used the old lead in place of new lead in buildings and it cost him nothing.

My mother was never too fond of travelling. She went to Bundoran or Rossnowlagh, places like that. When we were young there were no outings except Cooledawson school always gave a school excursion and my mother always went on that with whatever three or four of us were going. The train always took us to Bundoran or Rossnowlagh. You'd get off there and they would have hampers, big hampers with sandwiches and we made the tea and then we got more before we left.

There used to be a lot of fishermen, local ones. They went to Killybegs and brought back the fish. Roddy Mulholland, from Ballybofey, he was one. The fishermen used to come around with fresh herring. You would hear them shouting. Sometimes they'd go out around the country but they wouldn't come to our house much because they had to go up a long lane and it wouldn't have been worth it if they had been refused.

Packmen went around. They went around with drapery wrapped up in oilskin cloth and this big strap on it. Some of them had a bicycle with a big crate on the front and others just carried it. A man from Drumboe, Paddy Anderson was his name, used to come round. There were plenty of them. Once, a man came around who said he could make half crowns out of silver. He showed a couple of coins. Some people around here gave him silver things and one morning he disappeared and they couldn't go to the guards. They couldn't say, because they were breaking the law themselves. They were aiding and abetting. He knew what he was doing.

Tin smiths came with pans, big quarts and pints, half gallon ones, all different sizes. They'd have come with them in a bundle. All you wanted was money and that was scarce. You'd never charge them for a meal at that time, you gave it to them. You'd give them a drop of tea. Some of them stayed in tents. They made the pans at night. They had all these tools and you'd stand watching them. You had a better relationship with them then than now.

Extract from Anne McMenamin's book, 'When We Were Young', a delightful collection of stories and photographs, collected around the district. The book may be purchased by contacting the publishers, Voice Publishing Co. Ltd., Main Street, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, Ireland. Email: donegalthevoice@eircom.net