“The officers’ class was all about a rifle. Paddy – , the bold officer, had one drawn, & all its pasts named, but he didn’t show the inside of it. I learned that an oak is the best tree to shelter from bullets behind, being hardest for them to get through, & how a cartridge is made – he had a cartridge which he took to pieces for us, & showed us the cap & the little holes the spark comes through to the powder…. Paddy – says that in an execution squad only one rifle is loaded, which seems to me a ridiculous arrangement.”
Continue reading “WEEK 18: (28th Jan – 3rd February 1918)”
“Very wet morning. B. showed me nice photos of her brother Mike & his family. How superior he looks to the 2 English brothers in law. She was telling me about the farce she wrote about Cats when she was at the Ursuline, it sounded very good in parts. It cleared in the afternoon & she took one over the castle which was rather interesting, but the only thing of any importance known about it seems to be that it belonged to the Ormonds & Black Thomas Butler lived there. Then we visited a china shop kept by a Mrs Hinkson whom B. knows in Cumann na mBan, & I bought 2 nice plates for 6′”
