one might have died in, especially if they had the consumption. The
man says, Im very sorry, but beggars cant be choosers.
It takes us all day to haul the furniture on the pram from one end
of Limerick to the other.There are four wheels on the pram but one is
bockety, it wants to go in a different direction.We have two beds, one
sideboard with a mirror, a table and two chairs.Were happy with the
house.We can walk from room to room and up and down the stairs.You
feel very rich when you can go up and down the stairs all day as much
as you please. Dad lights the fire and Mam makes the tea. He sits at the
table on one chair, she sits on the other and Malachy and I sit on the
trunk we brought from America.While were drinking our tea an old
man passes our door with a bucket in his hand. He empties the bucket
into the lavatory and flushes and theres a powerful stink in our kitchen.
Mam goes to the door and says,Why are you emptying your bucket in
our lavatory? He raises his cap to her. Your lavatory, missus? Ah, no.
Youre making a bit of a mistake there, ha, ha.This is not your lavatory.
Sure, isnt this the lavatory for the whole lane.Youll see passing your
door here the buckets of eleven families and I can tell you it gets very
powerful here in the warm weather, very powerful altogether. Tis
December now, thank God, with a chill in the air and Christmas
around the corner and the lavatory isnt that bad, but the day will come
when youll be calling for a gas mask. So, good night to you, missus, and
I hope youll be happy in your house.
Mam says, Wait a minute, sir. Could you tell me who cleans this
lavatory?
Cleans? Ah, Jasus, thats a good one. Cleans, she says. Is it joking you
are? These houses were built in the time of Queen Victoria herself and
if this lavatory was ever cleaned it must have been done by someone in
the middle of the night when no one was lookin.
And he shuffles up the lane laughing away to himself.
Mam comes back to her chair and her tea.We cant stay here, she
says.That lavatory will kill us with all diseases.
Dad says,We cant move again.Where will we get a house for six
shillings a week? Well keep the lavatory clean ourselves. Well boil
buckets of water and throw them in there.
Oh, will we? says Mam, and where will we get the coal or turf or
blocks to be boiling water?
Dad says nothing. He finishes his tea and looks for a nail to hang
our one picture.The man in the picture has a thin face. He wears a yel-
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