Oldcourt
SINCE ELLEN CLANCY’S DEATH, MARY KEPT HERSELF TO HERSELF AS SHE worked on the road, and thought only of what she could buy with her hard-earned pennies. She pitied the old widow women who worked alongside her, as they grew weaker and frailer by the day.
One of the men working nearby had collapsed. Denis Leary and a few of the other fellows tried to give him some water and a little bread to revive him, but their efforts came to nothing. The foreman ordered three of the men to lift the man’s body carefully on to one of the carts and to cover him with a bit of tarpaulin. He instructed two others to take him into town to the dispensary.
Ten days later the foreman called the workers together to inform them that the public relief works scheme was ending. Come Monday there would be no more work for them.
Mary’s heart sank at his words. The implications for her and her family were too terrible to contemplate.
‘We are willing to work,’ big Tom Corrigan shouted angrily. He was a six-foot-five giant of a man. Although he was lean, he could still swing a pickaxe higher and harder than anyone. ‘You cannot just dismiss us when we all have hungry mouths to feed. We have killed ourselves working for you.’
‘We need the work,’ Denis joined in. ‘We have families to feed.’
‘Who has decided it?’ called another voice from the crowd.
‘The British government has issued orders that all public relief schemes across Ireland are to end and I must follow such orders,’ the foreman informed them dispassionately.
‘Please, sir, let us work,’ cried one of the women. ‘Our children will starve.’
‘I’m sorry to impart such news,’ the foreman said, looking embarrassed at the tattered and exhausted motley group of workers before him, ‘but this is no decision of mine. I too must follow orders.’
‘We are willing to work,’ a few shouted. ‘Give us work!’
‘There is not the money to pay for further works,’ the payment clerk interrupted loudly, daring them to challenge him. ‘You will receive the wages due to you tomorrow but that is all, for officially this scheme is ended.’
Angry, dissenting voices murmured their disapproval and upset.
‘Get back to work,’ threatened the foreman, ‘if you do not want to be docked a few hours’ pay.’
As she walked home across the fields, Mary’s upset at such bad news gave way to a strange sense of relief that neither she nor John would have to undertake such terrible work on the roads. Far too many lives had already been lost over those paltry few brass coins. Surely there must be some other means and a better way for their family to survive.