Penistone, Stocksbridge, Hoyland & Chapeltown Express, etc. — 1899-11-17 (Penistone, South Yorkshire, England)

JONNJ WHOPSTRAW " IN DONEGAL.  PART 11.  [Continued from last week.;  Jehu and I sampled most of the roadside "pubs.' It was hot and dusty. We were a'.ways dry Cr getting dry. Though of a mean outside appearance they had more choice and variety of good things than is to be found in many English roadside houses of greater pretensions. Ducks and geese were nibbling, bathing. or basking alongside the roads wherever you went. " Whose are they?" I asked Jehu. "Oh; they belong the far-rem pint," says he, pointing to a hut htif-a-mile away. "Don't they get lost or stolen?" I asked. "Phwat. do ye mind any cratur would have such dirty ' actions. Bad luck to him if caught. Worse for him than any rint-payer in the campaign. Pull the beam out of thine own eye and cease to 'all the Irish either thieves or savages; whilst at home neither an apple tree, gooseberry- truth, fowl, or duck, and often sheep, is not safe from daylight marauders and their snap-dogs." We met donkeys with hampers on each side, and frequently the driver on his tail carrying manure and all sorts of provender. Some going to fairs sixteen miles away. Their hampers were three. decker, loaded with chickens and ducks. The goinie trade is a distinct branch. The dealers scour the country corecting and shipping them. We also saw carts with young tr.'s for shafts protruding before and behind. If the horse WWI not in you would not know which was the front end. These were loaded with all sorts of merchandise, pigs and calves in crates, and get:mm.ly two robust drivers. I never saw a happier lot of traders, unless it was on Dore Moor, and they were "Tiilsa" calf dealers. I remember once being there. I saw b id.a-di•zen ponies and carts, two but!ey leil•face.l chaps in blue smocks, and a couVe of calves in each cart. • I was told it took them a week to inly them and ,I bring them to Sheffield, and they coul•I all live ,I and have :t weekly booze out of it. 3fy informant , said he could always tell when they had met with a good market ; they took i drop extra tud smok•td cigars. Whilst I was listening to this up t' m's it little old man "liester•skelter" On a stiff cob. All bet corn is up in Sheffield to-day.- cx.c.anna ' my informant. 'that coodgri. keel. a shop ill , Hasthersage • dour wnl be up two•rence a stone in lialfotn-hous.. _ _  tritereNting clinr.cter I frequently ,au.  .. . - ... ~. . . a welt-dressed woraatt or girl carrying her boots aunt walking barefoot ; whether bur comfort or eeonomy I can't say. hut befuire entering a town they squat on the road side and put On their stockings and shoes. On leaving a tiuwn y.iti see t hem :n the same position put' in g t hem off. 1)11 one occasion I came upon one quite unexpected. She was s,a alone in a nook on the li,..tch, as I thought in the teL of undressing. I came back wondering if she was contemplating suicide. in a few moments she bad tucked up li. r dress :did skirts :umi started to cross to the other side of the Bay some too or three miles the utter being nit at the time. This was. I think, :it Duidanachy, w here I Innt a stroll during the C.I upir of hours allowed for 'utich and change of hots,. I only saw one bit of "div-irshon.- That N 1,124 at one of the out :mulish Balfour raila:uy shut bins. ' There %Vila a fair in somewhere in the neighbour. hotel. A. we pul up at the little bor. ,alled a station there. were :ibout a dozen brawny men tike catee dealers uith their usual long ash plants waiting for the train. There wits ouch a "hullobulloo." cursing and screeching "murther" in a carriage in the rear. Some wanted to get out .ind tither, to get in. The factotum (station.master, clerk, porter, and signalman) was frantic. tie shouted. Now will ye come out there," utters terrible threats, and runs away again after ten minutes delay. and sundry attacks on the earria'.te door. iond shouts of "Now, won't ye be 'paceitblel and come out," he appeals to the men with the ash plants; Now will ye help me." They complied at once. Another attack on the carriage door by factotum. They push him inside, the screeching became ten times louder. Whether factotum had collared his men or they Lad cuilared him I don't know, but the cattle men acre linked to factotum, and out comes halfa-dozen of them embracing each other, tumbling on the platform two feet be:ow the carriage footboard, and such a "Venting" to get them separated. (Inc would nut get in again. but lay blubbering on the bank. He would have another fight before he would 40. Poor factotum had lost all authority, and retired. Perhaps to mend his clothes. Blubberers mates would nut hare him left. They coaxed him. the cattle men "planted" him, but a'.l to no purpose. After twenty minutes delay the driver Yew his whistle. All were in quick except blubberer, who would not move until the train started, when up he jumped, and on to the step. and was dragged inside. Somewhere seeing a substantial building on the mountain side. "AVhat is that" I asked. "That is the police barrack fur 'copping' the poteeners (c'audeettne whisky stills)." said dehu. "Ah! foine times thin when the pilice were stoppin' them we could get plinty, but since the Bishop Icame down, an' told them to stop makin' it. divil a drhop can we get. The police is all gone. an' the barracks now a school. "Then, what the Bishop says is law here!" I said. 'Shure, now, 'it is,' said Jebu. (To be Continued.)