[{"node":{"title":"Hanna097","Collections":"Part Two","Contributor":"Linen Hall Library","Coverage":"1951","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Thursday, April 7, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Hanna097","Item Description":"Manuscript","Keywords":"Killyleagh, Animals","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/hanna097","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Hanna097_0.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"91\n\nAlthough there was sufficient passion and confusion present, which,\nin a more inactive and leisured household might have broken out in violence,\nthe insistent demands of the farm took thou away from each other for long\nperiods. The Echlins had a few sheep on the slope overlooking the lough\nand several of the ewes dropped lambs prematurely. A sudden squall of\nsnow followed by a bitter frost killed several of the feeble creatures,\nand Hamilton spent a day and a night tending the survivors in an outhouse.\n\nThe store of coal ran low and twice Frank had to turn back on the frozen\nroads to Killyleagh. Trees had to be cut down, hauled to the farm-close\nand sawed into fire wood. These communal activities made it necessary for\ndecisions to be taken in the evenings, at the fireside, and advice offered\nand considered. And as the outside world thawed and the sound of running\nwater was heard once more in the dykes, so speech began to move again,\nsluggishly at first, between the brothers.\n\nYet, in the end, Frank and Hamilton fought. They had left the house\nafter the mid-day meal and as Sarah went to the door to empty a basin, she\nheard the heavy breathing of men. There was something evil and deliberate\nabout the sound. Then there came a hoarse grunt and the thud of a falling\nbody. She flew to the byre and saw them on the ground between the stalls.\n\nThe animals were tossing their heads in fear and crowding away from the\nstruggling men. Hamilton knelt on his brother\u2019s chest, his fist raised\nlike a hammer and his head nodding patiently as he timed his blow on the\nface Jerking from side to side beneath him. The woman screamed and\nlifting a graip, struck Hamilton on the back. The brothers rose slowly,\npicking the filth from their clothes. They stared at each other like\n","Type":"Text"}}]