She bargained closely, getting the broom and a scrubber for one
half-penny, but as she was the first purchaser she spat upon the half-
penny for luck. Then came some more little girl buyers, who inspected
and turned over the brooms with an important commercial air, with intent
to get the worth of their half-penny and show to their mothers at home
that they were fit to be trusted to invest a half-penny wisely. They
bought and others came and bought until the stock began to diminish
sensibly.
A little man who had arrived with his load of besoms somewhat later sold
none. I saw him glance from his load to the stock of mother and
daughter, fast selling off, and become aware that his stock as compared
with theirs was rather heathery, and he began to trim off roughnesses
with his knife. I hope he succeeded in selling.
Drove out to Drumlane, where are the ruins of a large church and abbey
and round tower. The driver, a Catholic, talked a little, guardedly, of
the high rents. A broken-down looking man, who opened the iron gates for
us into the ruins, complained heavily of the rents. He was only a
laborer himself, the farmer he worked for was paying fifty-five
shillings an acre for part of his farm and L3 for the rest.
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