Document text
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Check one)
PUB.
Living Lore in
row England
TITLE Shoe Ialitar af T4pm #7 (Irish)
WRITER Jai e K. Lean'.
DATE 6/09 WDS. PP. 7
CHECKER DATE
souR=.17vEN.(4) Interview James Hughes
COMMENTS
Name: Jane K. Leary, 32 Acorn St.
Informant: James Hughes, :51 Johnson St.
Subject: The Shoe Laster of Lynn (Living Lore)
"Yesterdiay I wint ta the circus, ant ya know, I
enjoyed it, aven thouh it wuz jest a small one. Ya
outa seen the croud thiere.
"The best theng of all about it wuz the horses.
Dintt thiey here them trained though? Thiere wuz one
thiere adancint a jig--ralely adancint a jig. Ya oughta
a seen him dancint. Ant another wuz adoint the shimmy.
Dintt he look funny?
"An another walked on his hind legs the whole
length of a house. Thetts quate 41wdel+ei a heft, ya know.
"An the clowns wuz funny too* Thiere wuz one
thiere thet tould walk up ta a co-opla pratty girls ant
first then know held ha ahugF;int one a tem. Or he'd
vet down on his amas (-ielnoo44 to em.
A
all arount jest laugh laike the dickens.
"An I'm a tellint 7a thierets a couple acts thiere
thet wuz elegant too. One fella stood on his head ant he
jumioed up the steps a a ladder ta the top on his head ant
thin down the other siade. I never saw the laike a thet
bafore in a circus. It sure wuz nice. Ant I been ta a
lotta circuses in ma tame.
It maide the ppople
"The first circus I iver winta wuz in Ireland
whin I wuz jest a little fella. Ma father took me ba-
fore he &tied. He wuz alwiays pratty fond a horses ya
know. It wuz one of thim thet killed him,
"Thiey hod fiarty ta fifty horses in thet circus
in Ireland. An clouns an' acrobats a lot laike thiey do
hiere. It wuz held in the same town whiere Lord Home
lived. He wuz the fella thet married an actress from
Pennsylvania. She hod thet famous Hope Difimond ya know,
ant thiey lived fir a good piart a thiere tame at Castle
Blaney in Ireland. Thiey hed a place in Angland too, but
mosta thiere tame thiey lived at Castle Blaney.
"It wuz a beautiful place all raight ant ya could
go raight up through the domain. Thiere wuz a lake and a
bag river and nice seats all arouni.
"In the old diays in the shoe shops thiey usta
close the shops at eleven a' clock so thet all the min
could see the prade (parade). Thim wuz the diays whin
Barnum hod a bag circus bafore he wint in with Bailey.
An' thin come Barnum and Bailey ant Ringlin' Brothers.
"I'll niver forget the clown thet usta travel with
Barnum's. He usta seng all the latest song's an after the
41t.
circus'd pass, thin all the young paople'd sf.ng the song
he'd brought along with the circus, one wuz 'Money, Money
Everywhere.il I don't remimber much a it but it inded with,
'How it drives away all sorrow and caret.
"But I dintt go ivery year. Whin ya hed seen one
of 'em, ya hed seen the mosta thim, I'd thought. Thiey
wuz all pratty much the same.
"Thiey wuz baggertn the one's ya see hiere now.
And the prades miade more excitemint thin thiere is tadiay.
But the circus now thet I saw yesterday. It wuz jest as
good aven if it was small. By Gosh, the wigglint a thet
horse thet shimmied wuz the best I iver seen.
"I'm ahopint ta get a little wirk bafore the
summer's over. Last summer I got a little in a slipper
shop thet does the pullint over ant a parta the lastint
by hand. It's a small buck eye. 'Taint miny a the shops
in Lynn tadiay thet ain't buckeyes.
"But I expect I'll get a little wirk, mebbe a
coupla wakes 4mommilM4 inywiays. Ant it oughta ba soon fir
I heard yesterdiay thet the cutters hed stiarted. The
cutter alwrays stiart a little while bafore the stitchers
ant the lasters ant ivory other body in the shop, ya know.
"I guess I'll get some sore hands from it too.
ya know whin ya don't kape 4.14meri raight after thet wirk,
your hands gets tinder laike till ya get ust ta it agin."
Hmichines is tiakini the place a min all the tame,
I rally don't know what the world is acomini too. But I
thought a one wiay out if the government iould only do
two thengs.
AFirst pension off all the old paople at enough ta
kape 'em so thiey iould heve a little purchasini power.
Thin, cut the hours in one half. If thiey wuz ta do thim
two thengs an' miake all the old fellas get out a ivery
kand a wirk, and thin give the young ones only the half
as much as thiey hed bafore, why thiere iould ba wirk
anoush ta go aroun.
iv
"Inywiays somethtng will heve ta ba done. Not
only did machines put a lotta min outa wirk, but aven
thim thet is runnini the machines we heve tadiay is in
danger a gettini pushed out bafore long. Thetis bacause
new machinery is beini miade all the tame thetill tiake
only the fourth a the min ta run 'em, thet is runnini 'em
tadiay. Why only the other diay I heard a how one machine
was invented thetill do what four machines usta do at the
G. E. Thiereill be thra min out bafore long raight thiere.
1
Ain't it terrible though?
Wakes
"Thie—
y don't miake the fuss over a wake that
they usta hiere, but a course thiey still set up with
tem. Thiey don't jest shet tem up in a room hake the
Protestants do.
"Now mosta the paople thetts agoint ta a wake,
don't stiay all the naight long laike thiey usta do.
But if the one thetts daied is a very good friend, or
some close relation ta ya, why thin oftin ya stiay a
good parta the naight. Thin arount midnaight thiey most
alwiays give ya a lunch, an sometames ya get a drenk er
two. But thiere ain't the drenkin hake thiere usta ba
atall.
"I stiayed ta a ciartin wake till four atclock
the other wake OPPOMI. But thet woman I knowed almost
all the tame I bin in Lynn. Thetts a good miny years.
But it ain't much fun astayint all the naight er the
half a the naight at a wake if thiere ain't someone
lively thiere ta talk to. At some a the wakes tadiay,
iveronets quiet an glum laike.
"The rale raison thet wakes usta ba in Ireland
ant Scotland too wuz rale good raison. They wuz because
oftin the paople thet wuz thought ta ba dead hed niver
daied atall, but wuz only in a coma laike.