r
locomotive engineer, and I chummed together. He had slept there for many
years, with two previous managers, and, in Robinson Crusoe fashion, had
recorded the years by notches in a beam of the ceiling. 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. The Duke of Wellington was there too, and great banquets were
being given. The _Duc_ had more than once visited Lord John's home and
enjoyed its hospitality, but he neglected to invite Lord John to any of
his banquets; and this is the cutting comment which the youthful future
statesman recorded in his diary: "The Infantado, notwithstanding the
champagne and burgundy he got at Woburn, has not asked me. Shabby
fellow! It is clear he is unfit for the government of a great kingdom."

[The Dargan Saloon: saloon.jpg]

In the creature comforts provided at Ballinasloe the working staff was
not forgotten. Adjacent to the station was a large room in which meals
were provided for the men, and another large room was furnished as a
dormitory. Two long sleeping carriages had also been built for the
accommodation of drivers, guards and firemen, which were used also for
other fairs as well as that of Ballinasloe.

Ballinasloe was new to me, and I felt not a little anxious concerning the
working of the fair traffic, which I knew was no child's play, and which
I was told was often attended with serious de