For the Life of Me by Robert Briscoe Alden Hatch

Author:Robert Briscoe, Alden Hatch [Robert Briscoe, Alden Hatch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Great Britain, General, Scotland, Ireland, Western
ISBN: 9781787208728
Google: oy5BDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2017-01-12T15:55:03+00:00

From the bank I rode in a bus out to Tallaght under the Dublin Mountains. I recall how lovely was that summer morning, and me with my life brand new in my hands after so close a call. The hills were the bright emerald green which gives our island its nickname. There were purple cloud shadows flying across the fields and up the slopes and ravines. Perched on the top against the bluest sky there ever was I could see the little stone ruin of the Hellfire Club, where the Regency dandies went to raise the devil, and according to legend once actually did so.

Some call these hills the Featherbed Mountains because the turf on them is so deep and soft. In our courting days Lily and I would sometimes walk up them and lie on our backs on that springy turf looking over Dublin City and the wide blue bay to the far off misty mound of Howth Head on the edge of the Irish Sea.

I got off the bus opposite the little pub in Tallaght, and stood for a bit in the sunshine warming my soul in the unchanging quiet of a country village. With the children playing on the sidewalks and a grand old sow rolling in the dust you could not think that there was anything wrong with the world at all.

Then I remembered that life was earnest even if it did not seem real these days; and set out to find Andy. His brigade was supposed to be quartered either here or over at Crooksling, so I decided to make some cautious inquiries. I went into the cold oak-dark bar of the pub and ordered a pint of Guinness.

Now I was alert again, for you could trust no man. Luckily a young priest came in—you could usually trust a priest. So I got into talk with him and found that the Staters had come out in strength and driven Andy far south into the Wicklow Hills, which are as wild and lonely as any Scottish moor. Indeed, the galloping disintegration of our forces that soon left us with nothing but forlorn little guerrilla bands hiding out in the back country had already begun.

Since the Free State Army was between me and Andy, and his whereabouts unknown, I took the next bus back to Dublin, grateful for one last quiet sight of the Irish country.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.