If
truth be told, m’ own granny ran such an establishment in Monaghan Street during and between both
Wars! That was the home where my mother
gave birth to me AND to my older sisters.
But I do hope it was NOT granny’s
Ateing House that featured in the following story!
Tam
Dunne of Dromantee used to tell the story of the Newry Ateing House! The woman of the house prepared and served
dinners on Fair Days (she may have done it every day, but Tam was there only on
Fair Days).
The
hungry farmer could get a slap-up feed consisting of fried steak and onions,
with a mug of strong tea, for a reasonable sum. Sometimes there were potatoes too, boiled in
their jackets, and lashings of buttered bread.
The
woman asked Tam if he wanted the steak plain, or ‘gobbled’.
He
asked what the difference was, and she replied,
‘The
gobbled steak is a penny dearer.’
‘Ah,
well, so’, says he, ‘I’ll have it gobbled’.
When
it was set on the plate, the woman began to ‘gobble’ or munch on his steak!
He
cried out!
‘I’ll have it plain! I’ll have it plain.’
Isn’t
ingratitude an awful thing?!
I
suppose today’s equivalent is to request your steak ‘tenderised’!
Reminiscence 
