“They said Redmond was having the Mall beeswaxed for a dance in honour of his victory, & that Nolan of Patrick St had a contract to paint the sky. Angela Quinn is back again with her hair up. We made tentative arrangements about classes.”
NLI Call Number: MS, 3582/35
NLI Catalogue Link can be found here
Date Range of Diary: 29th October 1918 – 11th September 1919
WEEK 63: 16th – 22nd December 1918
Monday 16th. – I went to the Tech & worked at Kitty’s
(46)
pendant, & in the afternoon visited Annie & took her the topez ring. She was pleased with it, but it was too big for one finger & too small for another. Her sister Eva, who was staying there, was charmed with it, & Miss White said she always had great love of jewellery, & had a couple of stones that perhaps I could set for her.
Tuesday 17th Dec. – I went to the Tech in the afternoon but it got dark & the gas was very bad, & the little chains on the pendant were absolute hell. I went on to the essay meeting – Rebecca Bell on Some Modern Poetry – tea given by the Clarks. It was great luxury not to be helping with the tea, & Annie & Charlotte were both there. The essay was nearly all specimens of modern English poetry; principally about the war – pacifist impressionist or personal about someone who was killed – but there were a few of what she called “nature poetry” – one very good though very
(47)
melancholy, about an old wild bull, by Ralph Hodgson. Charlotte read most of them, & sometimes you cd tell where the lines ended, but her voice is light, & I wish she would not think it necessary to make such a break between Oh or Ah & the next words. Some of the war poetry was sensible enough, & there were 2 lines in one about a crowd watching with intense interest & eagerness the arrival of a train full of wounded Charing Cross – “By you the Colisseum flourished – you thronged of old round Calvary” – that seemed to me powerful. But Mrs Clark said she had witnessed such a scene & the people were entirely actuated by pity & respect & there were no grounds for such a poem. There was a rather good poem on going in a motor by night too. Tom remarked on various poets (whose names I had never heard) that he was surprised at her leaving out, & on the lack of music in the poems she read – said they were more like cries of pain or horror than poetry, & so they
(48)
were. There was quite a good discussion. The Bells took Dorothea and me home in their covered car, as it was pouring rain.
Wednesday 18th. – I spent the morning at the Tech and the afternoon at my essay mostly – it is a dreadful nuisance. I finished another Sinn Féin ring.
Thursday 19th. – I went to town but there were no tickets. I got a nice teapot for Mrs Kinsella & some cards & a very nice blue-grey tie for Tom for Christmas, and a pair of scissors for Mamma. Then I went to the Tech & found a message that they were having a financial meeting at the club, & had to go there, but of course I couldn’t be much use without my books. I made some guesses about the money & went back to the Tech & got the pendant done. I went again in the afternoon & got most of the other one done, but the chains were still to do. There was a girl scouts meeting at the C. na mb.
(49)
room in the evening; they all came in saying hssh, & occasionally giggling, & sat round the table & admired the room & gossipped [sic] about the election & told stories, especially one crabbed little new one called Maisie Brown who made them laugh almost more than was safe with the class going on next door. They said Redmond was having the Mall beeswaxed for a dance in honour of his victory, & that Nolan of Patrick St had a contract to paint the sky. Angela Quinn is back again with her hair up. We made tentative arrangements about classes.
Friday 20th Dec. – I had a fearful time with the little chains on the second pendant & had to scrap all I had made.
Saturday 21st. – Pouring wet day. I got the little chains done, not perfectly, & was nearly frozen because the pipes were cold, the Tech being technically closed & I only allowed in by Mary’s kindness.
(50)
I went over to St Declan’s in the evening, and again there were no visitors there, & I am thoroughly disgusted. I drew an interlacement Christmas card for Miss Scarlett on a grander & more conventional scale than the others.
Sunday 22nd Dec. – I spent the morning painting Christmas cards while Mamma did most of the cooking. T. & D. came, and T. went down to the Wilson meeting on the Mall in the afternoon. I was very fussy all day, getting things made up into parcels and finishing the cards, Miss Scarlett’s turned out rather nice. D. was talking about the affair of Stephen & Angela Murphy at tea, & Charlie Murphy’s extraordinary behaviour. She said she thought there was something in common between Maud White & Angela – a sort of tendency to gush, along with intellectual cleverness, & she suppose that is what fascinates Stephen. I’m sure Angela would repel me very much, & I do think Ben ought to have told Charlie that he had no
(51)
right to insult Stephen just because he was a Protestant. I didn’t go to the Club, which was great luxury.