SCHOOL: Scoil na mBráthar, Tuaim | ADDRESS:Tuam, Co. Galway
About the year 1872 things were different in Tuam to what they are now. The wages for working men was very small. they had to work for £2-6s until the emigration started. Boys and girls were brought over to America and they had not to pay the fee until they got work. They had to pay £2 to go over to America. when they went over the wages in Tuam increased.
The mens dinner consisted:- turnips, potatoes and gruel. Nobody got tea except very old people. At that time the eggs and butter was sold in the square. Turf was sold at 10d an ass-cart and 1s-6d a horse cart.
Every Sunday the town band used to play for two hours. People had to pay 2d for a barrel of water. There was a table of stone under the old clock in the market house and shoes makers used to sit there every day mending shoes. All the things that were not sold on one market-day would be kept until the next.
Bibliography
“The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0027, Page 0216” by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.