The notches for
him then counted twenty-three years, and number one he notched for me.
Every morning an old jackdaw perched on a chimney outside our skylight,
and entertained us with his chatter. Atock said the old bird had perched
there during all his time; and as long as I visited Ballinasloe--a period
of nearly twenty years, he regularly reappeared.
To be able once a year to entertain friends and customers of the company
was one of the reasons, probably the main reason, why the directors
passed the fair week at Ballinasloe. Their hospitality was not limited
to invitations to dinner, for guests were welcomed, without special
invitation, to breakfast and lunch and light refreshments during the day.
It was an arrangement which gave pleasure to both hosts and guests, and
was not without advantage to the company. A good dinner solves many a
difficulty, whilst the post-prandial cigar and a glass of grog, like
faith, removes mountains. One who, in the last century, became a great
English statesman (Lord John Russell) when twenty years of age was in
Spain. The Duc d'Infantado was President of the Spanish Ministry at the
time.
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