Evening star., 1900-05-19

bread cart along the mountain roads and
sells his oven-baked Cubicai loaves, two
pounds weight for . cents.
1t might be of interest to mention here
that the pay of a hired professional baker
is So week. with board and lodging. or
81 a week without. The ordinary laboring
mans pay is $1.50 a week with meals and
$50 per week without meals. The village
suit of clothes: the shoemaker charges
from GO to 10 cents for making a pair of
boots, and a blacksmith half dollar for
shoeing horse. In the two latter cases,
of course. the customer has himself
bought the materal-at the grocer's.
A journeyman tailor and journeyman
shoemaker are each paid S1.15 week, wit h
board and lodging. and a journeyman
blacksmith 81. IA per week, with board and
lodging.
IT, in an unusual case, the grocer needs
an assistant, he takes his pick of the young
lads of the countryside. and binds him as
apprentice for four years engaging. on his
part. to support and lodge him. give him
one suit of clothes the first year, two suits
each of the years following, and, in addi-
uon. perhaps. $50 or $40 for the last year
of his service When the apprentice gets
out of his time he gets appointment in
a city shop at 500 a year and board and
lodging on the premises
When the country woman comes in to
the village she carries in basket on her
arm eggs and butter, for sale to the grocer.
She gets for her eggs from s cents q dozen
in summer (when eggs are plentifuD to Is
cents and 20 cents a dozen in winter. And
he buys her butter, which she brings in
meaScans COR stack-shaped lumps) of three
or four pounds weight each, at every price
from 10 to % cents pound. according to
the market.
In return she purchases from him tea at
10 cents a pound. sugar al cents a pound,
starch at 10 cents a pound, tobacco (for the
Old man at home), cents an ounce and
snuff for herself at 10 cents an ounce.
The Publican and Mountain Dew.
The publican does not now make as much
profit as he did when poctin tpotteen-
illicit whisky was more in evidence. He
retails his whisky, gin and rum at cents
glass, or Go cents a pint; cheaper quail
ity of whisky and all his wines and cordiais
at cents glass; his mineral waters and
porter at . cents a bottle; his ale 6 cents
Il hottie. WhiSkies and cordials are the
principal drinks called for
As every gallon of whisky bears two and
a half dollars duty the temptation to pur-
chase mountain dew at an insignificant
price is strong. At one time the publicans
in our Donegal villages traded pretty heav-
lily in dew manufactured in artificial caves
in the mountains. smuggled into the village
and sold under the nose of the gauger and
police. A favorite method of smuggling
the kegs of poteen was to bring them into
the village hidden in carts of turf {peats)
which We're meant for sale. and many and
exciting are the hairbreadth 'scapes the
smugS.ers can tell about. ! remember a
comical case in which smuggler on his
way to the village learned that the police,
acting on information, were waiting for him
and his informant warned him to return
home and do away with the keg which he
had in the heart of his turf But he knew
a better trick. He swapped carts with a
comrade who had no whisky in his load,
and then both proceeded to the village. His
comrade delivered turf and keg safely to
the publican for whom 1t was intended.
whilst the police sergeant stopped the
smuggler and in most innocent fashion
insisted on purchasing the smuggler's load
of turf. The latter made great protest,
saying this load was "bespoken." and that
under the circumstances he would not sell
it for less than-an eXorbitant price men
toned. The willy sergeant closed the bar
gain at a snap. gladly paid the smuggier
double price for the turf, emptied the load
and-found himself a much mortified man.
POteen Seeking.
The chief duty of the police c'peelers'')
of these villages used to be still hunting or
poteen seeking. Armed with gun and a
long steel rod for testing ground where
buried kegs Were suspected, they tramped
the mountains all day lons-and were sell