The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-09

schools at Glenties. I left at the age
of 10, and went to my first job as a
lIaborer in the Irish midlands, at the
| age OF IL. Markets are held three
| times a year, to which parents take
| their children and sell them to the
| highest bidder. 1t is really a crude
| form of slavery. I worked as laborer
in the turnip fields for about two years,
doing about II hours a day. In the
summer time we used to start work
between and in the morning and
finish at II at night. I earned $3.50
during the first half year. / had pota-
toes and buttermillk for breakfast, the
same fare for dinner, and the same
again for supper. Still I kept pretty
healthy. After two years of this life
shipped to Scotland, and started farm
work In the west of that country,
working In the fields as potato dig
ger. We worked in gangs of about 20
and slept in barns or pigsties, the cattle
being turned out at night to make room
for us. l received 81 per week for
this work during the season, and put
In about 10 hours a day. After this |
tramped about the country for a fort
night in search of work, and eventually
la farmer gave me employment among
and feeding cows. and similar kind
of work. / stopped with this farmer
for about three years, and received
s55 or $50 every half year, and while
with him I lodged in a shed near the
farmhouse, which had a fireplace and
a bed.
II used to start work at in the
morning and finish at at night, and
after the morning milking used to get
two hours in bed from till s. After
this farming experience I started as
a NAVY or platelayer on the rail-
ways between Greenock and Glasgow,
where l was one of what was termed
a flying squad worked as a plate
layer for a short time and then went
ter about Is months went back to the
railway again. 1t was then that start
ed writing verse.
"All this time I had been endeav-
oring to educate myself. / Joined
various circulating libraries and read
the works of Carlyle. Victor Hugo,
Rudyard Kipling, Bret Harte and Mon
taigne. I treasured In my mind every
thing I read. as 1t opened new world
to me. I was very fond of Kipling,
and some people say that my style is
founded on his poems.
Il used to write my verses on scraps
OF paper when the ganger was not
L
great deal of poem then wrote en-
titled The Lady of the Line read
1t to my mates, who liked it. but when
read 1t to the ganger he said / would
end my days In the madhouse. never
published that poem, as 1t was mere
doggerel.
"When was 10 I published the vol
un1e of verses which I called Clean
ings from a Navvy's Scrapbook,' and
between 5000 and 1000 copies were sold
1t Is realism that pays nowadays
Poems on abstract ideas, heathen gods
and mythology are not sa1eable; people
want spice of realism and / gave it
them"
Then the editor of one of the biggest
daily newspapers in London, who had
read MacGill's poems. offered him a
berth as reporter.
'T replied" said MacGill ''that although
I was a writer among navvfes, was
only navy among writer's; but he
persisted in my coming to London, and
SO 7 became a journalist. did dog
shows, cat shows and general routine
reporting for the Daily Express, but 1t
was not in my line While I was still
on the staff of that journal Canon
Dalton sent for me and I came to
Windsor. Here I am engaged trans
cribing and copying ancient manu-
scripts for the Chapter library and I
manuscripts deal with matters relating
to the castle and st. Georges chapel.
The work is very interesting and r
may say I have copied a lot of papal
bulls with the signature of the vari-
Gus popes. Nearly all the documents
are written In ink in beautiful hand,
on vellum. I am Just looking through
some papers written at the time of the
black death In England, when strict
precautions were taken at the CASTLE
find that everyone affected with the
plague or having the disease in his
household had to carry rod nine feet
long in his hand when he left the
castle SO that people he met should
know the fact and be able to give him
wide berth.
with regard to the future I am trying
my hand for the present at short stories
and novel writing, and shall continue to
draw inspiration from my experiences
among the workers.
That young MacGill has the true poetic
-tuff in him there isn't the slightest
7oubt Here is a typical set of verse
rom "The Navvy's Scrap Book in which
he influence of Kipling is evident, 1t is
allied "By the Way:
These be the little verses. rough and un-
cultured, which
I'VE written in hut and model deep In
the dirty ditch,
IN the upturned hod by the palace made
for the idle rich.
"Out on the happy highway. or lines
where the engines go.
which fact you may hardly credit. still
for your doubts tbs SO,
For am the person who wrote them. and
surely to God, l know!
Wrote them beside the hot-plate, or un-
der the chilling skies,
Some OF them true as death Is, some Of
them merely lies.