School: Cill Fhínghín (roll number 16222)
- Location:
- Killeeneen More, Co. Galway
- Teacher: Séamus Ó Ceallaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0033, Page 0294
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- An old Schoolmaster.
There was an old schoolmaster in the village of Caherdine about eighty years ago. Pat Callanan a friend of the poet "Patcheen" Callanan was his name. He spent a week or so in every barn teaching English.
Each scholar had a rod around his neck and every time he spoke a word of Irish at home there was a cut of an knife on the rod and when he went home his parents beat him well. This is the way the Irish died down in the country. When the scholars went home the teacher would know whether they spoke a word of Irish or not. In the morning he would look at their teeth and if they spoke a word of Irish there was a black mark on a tooth. If he saw a black mark on a tooth he would slap the scholar. The scholars were afraid to speak Irish and they had to speak English. That teacher did not get much money for his teaching. He got a penny a week. He taught English, arithmetic, history, and writing.
- Informant
- Patrick Kelly
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 58
- Address
- Caheradine, Co. Galway
