A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by
James Joyce
Chapter 1
Chapter 1Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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[2] Chapter 1
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6] Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming
[7] down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road
[8] met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...
[9]
[10] His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a
[11] glass: he had a hairy face.
[12]
[13] He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne
[14] lived: she sold lemon platt.
[15]
[16] O, the wild rose blossoms
[17] On the little green place.
[18]
[19] He sang that song. That was his song.
[20]
[21] O, the green wothe botheth.
[22]
[23] When you wet the bed first it is warm then it gets cold. His mother put
[24] on the oilsheet. That had the queer smell.
[25]
[26] His mother had a nicer smell than his father. She played on the piano
[27] the sailor's hornpipe for him to dance. He danced:
[28]
[29] Tralala lala,
[30] Tralala tralaladdy,
[31] Tralala lala,
[32] Tralala lala.
[33]
[34] Uncle Charles and Dante clapped. They were older than his father and
[35] mother but uncle Charles was older than Dante.
[36]
[37] Dante had two brushes in her press. The brush with the maroon velvet
[38] back was for Michael Davitt and the brush with the green velvet back
[39] was for Parnell. Dante gave him a cachou every time he brought her a
[40] piece of tissue paper.
[41]
[42] The Vances lived in number seven. They had a different father and
[43] mother. They were Eileen's father and mother. When they were grown up
[44] he was going to marry Eileen. He hid under the table. His mother said:
[45]
[46] --O, Stephen will apologize.
[47]
[48] Dante said:
[49]
[50] --O, if not, the eagles will come and pull out his eyes.--
[51]
[52]
[53] Pull out his eyes,
[54] Apologize,
[55] Apologize,
[56] Pull out his eyes.
[57] Apologize,
[58] Pull out his eyes,
[59] Pull out his eyes,
[60] Apologize.
[61]
[62]
[63]
[64] The wide playgrounds were swarming with boys. All were shouting and the
[65] prefects urged them on with strong cries. The evening air was pale and
[66] chilly and after every charge and thud of the footballers the greasy
[67] leather orb flew like a heavy bird through the grey light. He kept on
[68] the fringe of his line, out of sight of his prefect, out of the reach
[69] of the rude feet, feigning to run now and then. He felt his body small
[70] and weak amid the throng of the players and his eyes were weak and
[71] watery. Rody Kickham was not like that: he would be captain of the
[72] third line all the fellows said.
[73]
[74] Rody Kickham was a decent fellow but Nasty Roche was a stink. Rody
[75] Kickham had greaves in his number and a hamper in the refectory. Nasty
[76] Roche had big hands. He called the Friday pudding dog-in-the-blanket.
[77] And one day he had asked:
[78]
[79] --What is your name?
[80]
[81] Stephen had answered: Stephen Dedalus.
[82]
[83] Then Nasty Roche had said:
[84]
[85] --What kind of a name is that?
[86]
[87] And when Stephen had not been able to answer Nasty Roche had asked:
[88]
[89] --What is your father?
[90]
[91] Stephen had answered:
[92]
[93] --A gentleman.
[94]
[95] Then Nasty Roche had asked:
[96]
[97] --Is he a magistrate?
[98]
[99] He crept about from point to point on the fringe of his line, making
[100] little runs now and then. But his hands were bluish with cold. He kept
[101] his hands in the side pockets of his belted grey suit. That was a belt
[102] round his pocket. And belt was also to give a fellow a belt. One day a
[103] fellow said to Cantwell:
[104]
[105] --I'd give you such a belt in a second.
[106]
[107] Cantwell had answered:
[108]
[109] --Go and fight your match. Give Cecil Thunder a belt. I'd like to see
[110] you. He'd give you a toe in the rump for yourself.
[111]
[112] That was not a nice expression. His mother had told him not to speak
[113] with the rough boys in the college. Nice mother! The first day in the
[114] hall of the castle when she had said goodbye she had put up her veil
[115] double to her nose to kiss him: and her nose and eyes were red. But he
[116] had pretended not to see that she was going to cry. She was a nice
[117] mother but she was not so nice when she cried. And his father had given
[118] him two five-shilling pieces for pocket money. And his father had told
[119] him if he wanted anything to write home to him and, whatever he did,
[120] never to peach on a fellow. Then at the door of the castle the rector
[121] had shaken hands with his father and mother, his soutane fluttering in
[122] the breeze, and the car had driven off with his father and mother on
[123] it. They had cried to him from the car, waving their hands:
[124]
[125] --Goodbye, Stephen, goodbye!
[126]
[127] --Goodbye, Stephen, goodbye!
[128]
[129] He was caught in the whirl of a scrimmage and, fearful of the flashing
[130] eyes and muddy boots, bent down to look through the legs. The fellows
[131] were struggling and groaning and their legs were rubbing and kicking
[132] and stamping. Then Jack Lawton's yellow boots dodged out the ball and
[133] all the other boots and legs ran after. He ran after them a little way
[134] and then stopped. It was useless to run on. Soon they would be going
[135] home for the holidays. After supper in the study hall he would change
[136] the number pasted up inside his desk from seventy-seven to seventy-six.
[137]
[138] It would be better to be in the study hall than out there in the cold.
[139] The sky was pale and cold but there were lights in the castle. He
[140] wondered from which window Hamilton Rowan had thrown his hat on the
[141] ha-ha and had there been flowerbeds at that time under the windows. One
[142] day when he had been called to the castle the butler had shown him the
[143] marks of the soldiers' slugs in the wood of the door and had given him
[144] a piece of shortbread that the community ate. It was nice and warm to
[145] see the lights in the castle. It was like something in a book. Perhaps
[146] Leicester Abbey was like that. And there were nice sentences in Doctor
[147] Cornwell's Spelling Book. They were like poetry but they were only
[148] sentences to learn the spelling from.
[149]
[150]
[151] Wolsey died in Leicester Abbey
[152] Where the abbots buried him.
[153] Canker is a disease of plants,
[154] Cancer one of animals.
[155]
[156]
[157] It would be nice to lie on the hearthrug before the fire, leaning his
[158] head upon his hands, and think on those sentences. He shivered as if he
[159] had cold slimy water next his skin. That was mean of Wells to shoulder
[160] him into the square ditch because he would not swop his little snuff
[161] box for Wells's seasoned hacking chestnut, the conqueror of forty. How
[162] cold and slimy the water had been! A fellow had once seen a big rat
[163] jump into the scum. Mother was sitting at the fire with Dante waiting
[164] for Brigid to bring in the tea. She had her feet on the fender and her
[165] jewelly slippers were so hot and they had such a lovely warm smell!
[166] Dante knew a lot of things. She had taught him where the Mozambique
[167] Channel was and what was the longest river in America and what was the
[168] name of the highest mountain in the moon. Father Arnall knew more than
[169] Dante because he was a priest but both his father and uncle Charles
[170] said that Dante was a clever woman and a well-read woman. And when
[171] Dante made that noise after dinner and then put up her hand to her
[172] mouth: that was heartburn.
[173]
[174] A voice cried far out on the playground:
[175]
[176] --All in!
[177]
[178] Then other voices cried from the lower and third lines:
[179]
[180] --All in! All in!
[181]
[182] The players closed around, flushed and muddy, and he went among them,
[183] glad to go in. Rody Kickham held the ball by its greasy lace. A fellow
[184] asked him to give it one last: but he walked on without even answering
[185] the fellow. Simon Moonan told him not to because the prefect was
[186] looking. The fellow turned to Simon Moonan and said:
[187]
[188] --We all know why you speak. You are McGlade's suck.
[189]
[190] Suck was a queer word. The fellow called Simon Moonan that name because
[191] Simon Moonan used to tie the prefect's false sleeves behind his back
[192] and the prefect used to let on to be angry. But the sound was ugly.
[193] Once he had washed his hands in the lavatory of the Wicklow Hotel and
[194] his father pulled the stopper up by the chain after and the dirty water
[195] went down through the hole in the basin. And when it had all gone down
[196] slowly the hole in the basin had made a sound like that: suck. Only
[197] louder.
[198]
[199] To remember that and the white look of the lavatory made him feel cold
[200] and then hot. There were two cocks that you turned and water came out:
[201] cold and hot. He felt cold and then a little hot: and he could see the
[202] names printed on the cocks. That was a very queer thing.
[203]
[204] And the air in the corridor chilled him too. It was queer and wettish.
[205] But soon the gas would be lit and in burning it made a light noise like
[206] a little song. Always the same: and when the fellows stopped talking in
[207] the playroom you could hear it.
[208]
[209] It was the hour for sums. Father Arnall wrote a hard sum on the board
[210] and then said:
[211]
[212] --Now then, who will win? Go ahead, York! Go ahead, Lancaster!
[213]
[214] Stephen tried his best, but the sum was too hard and he felt confused.
[215] The little silk badge with the white rose on it that was pinned on the
[216] breast of his jacket began to flutter. He was no good at sums, but he
[217] tried his best so that York might not lose. Father Arnall's face looked
[218] very black, but he was not in a wax: he was laughing. Then Jack Lawton
[219] cracked his fingers and Father Arnall looked at his copybook and said:
[220]
[221] --Right. Bravo Lancaster! The red rose wins. Come on now, York! Forge
[222] ahead!
[223]
[224] Jack Lawton looked over from his side. The little silk badge with the
[225] red rose on it looked very rich because he had a blue sailor top on.
[226] Stephen felt his own face red too, thinking of all the bets about who
[227] would get first place in elements, Jack Lawton or he. Some weeks Jack
[228] Lawton got the card for first and some weeks he got the card for first.
[229] His white silk badge fluttered and fluttered as he worked at the next
[230] sum and heard Father Arnall's voice. Then all his eagerness passed away
[231] and he felt his face quite cool. He thought his face must be white
[232] because it felt so cool. He could not get out the answer for the sum
[233] but it did not matter. White roses and red roses: those were beautiful
[234] colours to think of. And the cards for first place and second place and
[235] third place were beautiful colours too: pink and cream and lavender.
[236] Lavender and cream and pink roses were beautiful to think of. Perhaps a
[237] wild rose might be like those colours and he remembered the song about
[238] the wild rose blossoms on the little green place. But you could not
[239] have a green rose. But perhaps somewhere in the world you could.
[240]
[241] The bell rang and then the classes began to file out of the rooms and
[242] along the corridors towards the refectory. He sat looking at the two
[243] prints of butter on his plate but could not eat the damp bread. The
[244] tablecloth was damp and limp. But he drank off the hot weak tea which
[245] the clumsy scullion, girt with a white apron, poured into his cup. He
[246] wondered whether the scullion's apron was damp too or whether all white
[247] things were cold and damp. Nasty Roche and Saurin drank cocoa that
[248] their people sent them in tins. They said they could not drink the tea;
[249] that it was hogwash. Their fathers were magistrates, the fellows said.
[250]
[251] All the boys seemed to him very strange. They had all fathers and
[252] mothers and different clothes and voices. He longed to be at home and
[253] lay his head on his mother's lap. But he could not: and so he longed
[254] for the play and study and prayers to be over and to be in bed.
[255]
[256] He drank another cup of hot tea and Fleming said:
[257]
[258] --What's up? Have you a pain or what's up with you?
[259]
[260] --I don't know, Stephen said.
[261]
[262] --Sick in your breadbasket, Fleming said, because your face looks
[263] white. It will go away.
[264]
[265] --O yes, Stephen said.
[266]
[267] But he was not sick there. He thought that he was sick in his heart if
[268] you could be sick in that place. Fleming was very decent to ask him. He
[269] wanted to cry. He leaned his elbows on the table and shut and opened
[270] the flaps of his ears. Then he heard the noise of the refectory every
[271] time he opened the flaps of his ears. It made a roar like a train at
[272] night. And when he closed the flaps the roar was shut off like a train
[273] going into a tunnel. That night at Dalkey the train had roared like
[274] that and then, when it went into the tunnel, the roar stopped. He
[275] closed his eyes and the train went on, roaring and then stopping;
[276] roaring again, stopping. It was nice to hear it roar and stop and then
[277] roar out of the tunnel again and then stop.
[278]
[279] Then the higher line fellows began to come down along the matting in
[280] the middle of the refectory, Paddy Rath and Jimmy Magee and the
[281] Spaniard who was allowed to smoke cigars and the little Portuguese who
[282] wore the woolly cap. And then the lower line tables and the tables of
[283] the third line. And every single fellow had a different way of walking.
[284]
[285] He sat in a corner of the playroom pretending to watch a game of
[286] dominoes and once or twice he was able to hear for an instant the
[287] little song of the gas. The prefect was at the door with some boys and
[288] Simon Moonan was knotting his false sleeves. He was telling them
[289] something about Tullabeg.
[290]
[291] Then he went away from the door and Wells came over to Stephen and
[292] said:
[293]
[294] --Tell us, Dedalus, do you kiss your mother before you go to bed?
[295]
[296] Stephen answered:
[297]
[298] --I do.
[299]
[300] Wells turned to the other fellows and said:
[301]
[302] --O, I say, here's a fellow says he kisses his mother every night
[303] before he goes to bed.
[304]
[305] The other fellows stopped their game and turned round, laughing.
[306] Stephen blushed under their eyes and said:
[307]
[308] --I do not.
[309]
[310] Wells said:
[311]
[312] --O, I say, here's a fellow says he doesn't kiss his mother before he
[313] goes to bed.
[314]
[315] They all laughed again. Stephen tried to laugh with them. He felt his
[316] whole body hot and confused in a moment. What was the right answer to
[317] the question? He had given two and still Wells laughed. But Wells must
[318] know the right answer for he was in third of grammar. He tried to think
[319] of Wells's mother but he did not dare to raise his eyes to Wells's
[320] face. He did not like Wells's face. It was Wells who had shouldered him
[321] into the square ditch the day before because he would not swop his
[322] little snuff box for Wells's seasoned hacking chestnut, the conqueror
[323] of forty. It was a mean thing to do; all the fellows said it was. And
[324] how cold and slimy the water had been! And a fellow had once seen a big
[325] rat jump plop into the scum.
[326]
[327] The cold slime of the ditch covered his whole body; and, when the bell
[328] rang for study and the lines filed out of the playrooms, he felt the
[329] cold air of the corridor and staircase inside his clothes. He still
[330] tried to think what was the right answer. Was it right to kiss his
[331] mother or wrong to kiss his mother? What did that mean, to kiss? You
[332] put your face up like that to say good night and then his mother put
[333] her face down. That was to kiss. His mother put her lips on his cheek;
[334] her lips were soft and they wetted his cheek; and they made a tiny
[335] little noise: kiss. Why did people do that with their two faces?
[336]
[337] Sitting in the study hall he opened the lid of his desk and changed the
[338] number pasted up inside from seventy-seven to seventy-six. But the
[339] Christmas vacation was very far away: but one time it would come
[340] because the earth moved round always.
[341]
[342] There was a picture of the earth on the first page of his geography: a
[343] big ball in the middle of clouds. Fleming had a box of crayons and one
[344] night during free study he had coloured the earth green and the clouds
[345] maroon. That was like the two brushes in Dante's press, the brush with
[346] the green velvet back for Parnell and the brush with the maroon velvet
[347] back for Michael Davitt. But he had not told Fleming to colour them
[348] those colours. Fleming had done it himself.
[349]
[350] He opened the geography to study the lesson; but he could not learn the
[351] names of places in America. Still they were all different places that
[352] had different names. They were all in different countries and the
[353] countries were in continents and the continents were in the world and
[354] the world was in the universe.
[355]
[356] He turned to the flyleaf of the geography and read what he had written
[357] there: himself, his name and where he was.
[358]
[359]
[360] Stephen Dedalus
[361] Class of Elements
[362] Clongowes Wood College
[363] Sallins
[364] County Kildare
[365] Ireland
[366] Europe
[367] The World
[368] The Universe
[369]
[370]
[371] That was in his writing: and Fleming one night for a cod had written on
[372] the opposite page:
[373]
[374]
[375] Stephen Dedalus is my name,
[376] Ireland is my nation.
[377] Clongowes is my dwellingplace
[378] And heaven my expectation.
[379]
[380]
[381] He read the verses backwards but then they were not poetry. Then he
[382] read the flyleaf from the bottom to the top till he came to his own
[383] name. That was he: and he read down the page again. What was after the
[384] universe?
[385]
[386] Nothing. But was there anything round the universe to show where it
[387] stopped before the nothing place began?
[388]
[389] It could not be a wall; but there could be a thin thin line there all
[390] round everything. It was very big to think about everything and
[391] everywhere. Only God could do that. He tried to think what a big
[392] thought that must be; but he could only think of God. God was God's
[393] name just as his name was Stephen. DIEU was the French for God and that
[394] was God's name too; and when anyone prayed to God and said DIEU then
[395] God knew at once that it was a French person that was praying. But,
[396] though there were different names for God in all the different
[397] languages in the world and God understood what all the people who
[398] prayed said in their different languages, still God remained always the
[399] same God and God's real name was God.
[400]
[401] It made him very tired to think that way. It made him feel his head
[402] very big. He turned over the flyleaf and looked wearily at the green
[403] round earth in the middle of the maroon clouds. He wondered which was
[404] right, to be for the green or for the maroon, because Dante had ripped
[405] the green velvet back off the brush that was for Parnell one day with
[406] her scissors and had told him that Parnell was a bad man. He wondered
[407] if they were arguing at home about that. That was called politics.
[408] There were two sides in it: Dante was on one side and his father and Mr
[409] Casey were on the other side but his mother and uncle Charles were on
[410] no side. Every day there was something in the paper about it.
[411]
[412] It pained him that he did not know well what politics meant and that he
[413] did not know where the universe ended. He felt small and weak. When
[414] would he be like the fellows in poetry and rhetoric? They had big
[415] voices and big boots and they studied trigonometry. That was very far
[416] away. First came the vacation and then the next term and then vacation
[417] again and then again another term and then again the vacation. It was
[418] like a train going in and out of tunnels and that was like the noise of
[419] the boys eating in the refectory when you opened and closed the flaps
[420] of the ears. Term, vacation; tunnel, out; noise, stop. How far away it
[421] was! It was better to go to bed to sleep. Only prayers in the chapel
[422] and then bed. He shivered and yawned. It would be lovely in bed after
[423] the sheets got a bit hot. First they were so cold to get into. He
[424] shivered to think how cold they were first. But then they got hot and
[425] then he could sleep. It was lovely to be tired. He yawned again. Night
[426] prayers and then bed: he shivered and wanted to yawn. It would be
[427] lovely in a few minutes. He felt a warm glow creeping up from the cold
[428] shivering sheets, warmer and warmer till he felt warm all over, ever so
[429] warm and yet he shivered a little and still wanted to yawn.
[430]
[431] The bell rang for night prayers and he filed out of the study hall
[432] after the others and down the staircase and along the corridors to the
[433] chapel. The corridors were darkly lit and the chapel was darkly lit.
[434] Soon all would be dark and sleeping. There was cold night air in the
[435] chapel and the marbles were the colour the sea was at night. The sea
[436] was cold day and night: but it was colder at night. It was cold and
[437] dark under the seawall beside his father's house. But the kettle would
[438] be on the hob to make punch.
[439]
[440] The prefect of the chapel prayed above his head and his memory knew the
[441] responses:
[442]
[443]
[444] O Lord open our lips
[445] And our mouths shall announce Thy praise.
[446] Incline unto our aid, O God!
[447] O Lord make haste to help us!
[448]
[449]
[450] There was a cold night smell in the chapel. But it was a holy smell. It
[451] was not like the smell of the old peasants who knelt at the back of the
[452] chapel at Sunday mass. That was a smell of air and rain and turf and
[453] corduroy. But they were very holy peasants. They breathed behind him on
[454] his neck and sighed as they prayed. They lived in Clane, a fellow said:
[455] there were little cottages there and he had seen a
[456] woman standing at the half-door of a cottage with a child in her arms
[457] as the cars had come past from Sallins. It would be lovely to sleep for
[458] one night in that cottage before the fire of smoking turf, in the dark
[459] lit by the fire, in the warm dark, breathing the smell of the peasants,
[460] air and rain and turf and corduroy. But O, the road there between the
[461] trees was dark! You would be lost in the dark. It made him afraid to
[462] think of how it was.
[463]
[464] He heard the voice of the prefect of the chapel saying the last
[465] prayers. He prayed it too against the dark outside under the trees.
[466]
[467]
[468] VISIT, WE BESEECH THEE, O LORD, THIS HABITATION AND DRIVE
[469] AWAY FROM IT ALL THE SNARES OF THE ENEMY. MAY THY HOLY
[470] ANGELS DWELL HEREIN TO PRESERVE US IN PEACE AND MAY THY
[471] BLESSINGS BE ALWAYS UPON US THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD.
[472] AMEN.
[473]
[474]
[475] His fingers trembled as he undressed himself in the dormitory. He told
[476] his fingers to hurry up. He had to undress and then kneel and say his
[477] own prayers and be in bed before the gas was lowered so that he might
[478] not go to hell when he died. He rolled his stockings off and put on his
[479] nightshirt quickly and knelt trembling at his bedside and repeated his
[480] prayers quickly, fearing that the gas would go down. He felt his
[481] shoulders shaking as he murmured:
[482]
[483]
[484] God bless my father and my mother and spare them to me!
[485] God bless my little brothers and sisters and spare them to me!
[486] God bless Dante and Uncle Charles and spare them to me!
[487]
[488]
[489] He blessed himself and climbed quickly into bed and, tucking the end of
[490] the nightshirt under his feet, curled himself together under the cold
[491] white sheets, shaking and trembling. But he would not go to hell when
[492] he died; and the shaking would stop. A voice bade the boys in the
[493] dormitory good night. He peered out for an instant over the coverlet
[494] and saw the yellow curtains round and before his bed that shut him off
[495] on all sides. The light was lowered quietly.
[496]
[497] The prefect's shoes went away. Where? Down the staircase and along the
[498] corridors or to his room at the end? He saw the dark. Was it true about
[499] the black dog that walked there at night with eyes as big as
[500] carriage-lamps? They said it was the ghost of a murderer. A long shiver
[501] of fear flowed over his body. He saw the dark entrance hall of the
[502] castle. Old servants in old dress were in the ironing-room above the
[503] staircase. It was long ago. The old servants were quiet. There was a
[504] fire there, but the hall was still dark. A figure came up the staircase
[505] from the hall. He wore the white cloak of a marshal; his face was pale
[506] and strange; he held his hand pressed to his side. He looked out of
[507] strange eyes at the old servants. They looked at him and saw their
[508] master's face and cloak and knew that he had received his death-wound.
[509] But only the dark was where they looked: only dark silent air. Their
[510] master had received his death-wound on the battlefield of Prague far
[511] away over the sea. He was standing on the field; his hand was pressed
[512] to his side; his face was pale and strange and he wore the white cloak
[513] of a marshal.
[514]
[515] O how cold and strange it was to think of that! All the dark was cold
[516] and strange. There were pale strange faces there, great eyes like
[517] carriage-lamps. They were the ghosts of murderers, the figures of
[518] marshals who had received their death-wound on battlefields far away
[519] over the sea. What did they wish to say that their faces were so
[520] strange?
[521]
[522]
[523] VISIT, WE BESEECH THEE, O LORD, THIS HABITATION AND DRIVE AWAY FROM IT
[524] ALL...
[525]
[526]
[527] Going home for the holidays! That would be lovely: the fellows had told
[528] him. Getting up on the cars in the early wintry morning outside the
[529] door of the castle. The cars were rolling on the gravel. Cheers for the
[530] rector!
[531]
[532] Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
[533]
[534] The cars drove past the chapel and all caps were raised. They drove
[535] merrily along the country roads. The drivers pointed with their whips
[536] to Bodenstown. The fellows cheered. They passed the farmhouse
[537] of the Jolly Farmer. Cheer after cheer after cheer. Through Clane they
[538] drove, cheering and cheered. The peasant women stood at the half-doors,
[539] the men stood here and there. The lovely smell there was in the wintry
[540] air: the smell of Clane: rain and wintry air and turf smouldering and
[541] corduroy.
[542]
[543] The train was full of fellows: a long long chocolate train with cream
[544] facings. The guards went to and fro opening, closing, locking,
[545] unlocking the doors. They were men in dark blue and silver; they had
[546] silvery whistles and their keys made a quick music: click, click:
[547] click, click.
[548]
[549] And the train raced on over the flat lands and past the Hill of Allen.
[550] The telegraph poles were passing, passing. The train went on and on. It
[551] knew. There were lanterns in the hall of his father's house and ropes
[552] of green branches. There were holly and ivy round the pierglass and
[553] holly and ivy, green and red, twined round the chandeliers. There were
[554] red holly and green ivy round the old portraits on the walls. Holly and
[555] ivy for him and for Christmas.
[556]
[557] Lovely...
[558]
[559] All the people. Welcome home, Stephen! Noises of welcome. His mother
[560] kissed him. Was that right? His father was a marshal now: higher than a
[561] magistrate. Welcome home, Stephen!
[562]
[563] Noises...
[564]
[565] There was a noise of curtain-rings running back along the rods, of
[566] water being splashed in the basins. There was a noise of rising and
[567] dressing and washing in the dormitory: a noise of clapping of hands as
[568] the prefect went up and down telling the fellows to look sharp. A pale
[569] sunlight showed the yellow curtains drawn back, the tossed beds. His
[570] bed was very hot and his face and body were very hot.
[571]
[572] He got up and sat on the side of his bed. He was weak. He tried to pull
[573] on his stocking. It had a horrid rough feel. The sunlight was queer and
[574] cold.
[575]
[576] Fleming said:
[577]
[578] --Are you not well?
[579]
[580] He did not know; and Fleming said:
[581]
[582] --Get back into bed. I'll tell McGlade you're not well.
[583]
[584] --He's sick.
[585]
[586] --Who is?
[587]
[588] --Tell McGlade.
[589]
[590] --Get back into bed.
[591]
[592] --Is he sick?
[593]
[594] A fellow held his arms while he loosened the stocking clinging to his
[595] foot and climbed back into the hot bed.
[596]
[597] He crouched down between the sheets, glad of their tepid glow. He heard
[598] the fellows talk among themselves about him as they dressed for mass.
[599] It was a mean thing to do, to shoulder him into the square ditch, they
[600] were saying.
[601]
[602] Then their voices ceased; they had gone. A voice at his bed said:
[603]
[604] --Dedalus, don't spy on us, sure you won't?
[605]
[606] Wells's face was there. He looked at it and saw that Wells was afraid.
[607]
[608] --I didn't mean to. Sure you won't?
[609]
[610] His father had told him, whatever he did, never to peach on a fellow.
[611] He shook his head and answered no and felt glad.
[612]
[613] Wells said:
[614]
[615] --I didn't mean to, honour bright. It was only for cod. I'm sorry.
[616]
[617] The face and the voice went away. Sorry because he was afraid. Afraid
[618] that it was some disease. Canker was a disease of plants and cancer one
[619] of animals: or another different. That was a long time ago then out on
[620] the playgrounds in the evening light, creeping from point to point on
[621] the fringe of his line, a heavy bird flying low through the grey light.
[622] Leicester Abbey lit up. Wolsey died there. The abbots buried him
[623] themselves.
[624]
[625] It was not Wells's face, it was the prefect's. He was not foxing. No,
[626] no: he was sick really. He was not foxing. And he felt the prefect's
[627] hand on his forehead; and he felt his forehead warm and damp against
[628] the prefect's cold damp hand. That was the way a rat felt, slimy and
[629] damp and cold. Every rat had two eyes to look out of. Sleek slimy
[630] coats, little little feet tucked up to jump, black slimy eyes to look
[631] out of. They could understand how to jump. But the minds of rats could
[632] not understand trigonometry. When they were dead they lay on their
[633] sides. Their coats dried then. They were only dead things.
[634]
[635] The prefect was there again and it was his voice that was saying that
[636] he was to get up, that Father Minister had said he was to get up and
[637] dress and go to the infirmary. And while he was dressing himself as
[638] quickly as he could the prefect said:
[639]
[640] --We must pack off to Brother Michael because we have the
[641] collywobbles!
[642]
[643] He was very decent to say that. That was all to make him laugh. But he
[644] could not laugh because his cheeks and lips were all shivery: and then
[645] the prefect had to laugh by himself.
[646]
[647] The prefect cried:
[648]
[649] --Quick march! Hayfoot! Strawfoot!
[650]
[651] They went together down the staircase and along the corridor and past
[652] the bath. As he passed the door he remembered with a vague fear the
[653] warm turf-coloured bogwater, the warm moist air, the noise of plunges,
[654] the smell of the towels, like medicine.
[655]
[656] Brother Michael was standing at the door of the infirmary and from the
[657] door of the dark cabinet on his right came a smell like medicine. That
[658] came from the bottles on the shelves. The prefect spoke to Brother
[659] Michael and Brother Michael answered and called the prefect sir. He had
[660] reddish hair mixed with grey and a queer look. It was queer that he
[661] would always be a brother. It was queer too that you could not call him
[662] sir because he was a brother and had a different kind of look. Was he
[663] not holy enough or why could he not catch up on the others?
[664]
[665] There were two beds in the room and in one bed there was a fellow: and
[666] when they went in he called out:
[667]
[668] --Hello! It's young Dedalus! What's up?
[669]
[670] --The sky is up, Brother Michael said.
[671]
[672] He was a fellow out of the third of grammar and, while Stephen was
[673] undressing, he asked Brother Michael to bring him a round of buttered
[674] toast.
[675]
[676] --Ah, do! he said.
[677]
[678] --Butter you up! said Brother Michael. You'll get your walking papers
[679] in the morning when the doctor comes.
[680]
[681] --Will I? the fellow said. I'm not well yet.
[682]
[683] Brother Michael repeated:
[684]
[685] --You'll get your walking papers. I tell you.
[686]
[687] He bent down to rake the fire. He had a long back like the long back of
[688] a tramhorse. He shook the poker gravely and nodded his head at the
[689] fellow out of third of grammar.
[690]
[691] Then Brother Michael went away and after a while the fellow out of
[692] third of grammar turned in towards the wall and fell asleep.
[693]
[694] That was the infirmary. He was sick then. Had they written home to tell
[695] his mother and father? But it would be quicker for one of the priests
[696] to go himself to tell them. Or he would write a letter for the priest
[697] to bring.
[698]
[699]
[700] Dear Mother,
[701]
[702] I am sick. I want to go home. Please come and take me home.
[703] I am in the infirmary.
[704]
[705] Your fond son,
[706] Stephen
[707]
[708]
[709] How far away they were! There was cold sunlight outside the window. He
[710] wondered if he would die. You could die just the same on a sunny day.
[711] He might die before his mother came. Then he would have a dead mass in
[712] the chapel like the way the fellows had told him it was when Little had
[713] died. All the fellows would be at the mass, dressed in black, all with
[714] sad faces. Wells too would be there but no fellow would look at him.
[715] The rector would be there in a cope of black and gold and there would
[716] be tall yellow candles on the altar and round the catafalque. And they
[717] would carry the coffin out of the chapel slowly and he would be buried
[718] in the little graveyard of the community off the main avenue of limes.
[719] And Wells would be sorry then for what he had done. And the bell would
[720] toll slowly.
[721]
[722] He could hear the tolling. He said over to himself the song that Brigid
[723] had taught him.
[724]
[725]
[726] Dingdong! The castle bell!
[727] Farewell, my mother!
[728] Bury me in the old churchyard
[729] Beside my eldest brother.
[730] My coffin shall be black,
[731] Six angels at my back,
[732] Two to sing and two to pray
[733] And two to carry my soul away.
[734]
[735]
[736] How beautiful and sad that was! How beautiful the words were where they
[737] said BURY ME IN THE OLD CHURCHYARD! A tremor passed over his body. How
[738] sad and how beautiful! He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself:
[739] for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music. The bell! The bell!
[740] Farewell! O farewell!
[741]
[742] The cold sunlight was weaker and Brother Michael was standing at his
[743] bedside with a bowl of beef-tea. He was glad for his mouth was hot and
[744] dry. He could hear them playing in the playgrounds. And the day was
[745] going on in the college just as if he were there.
[746]
[747] Then Brother Michael was going away and the fellow out of the third of
[748] grammar told him to be sure and come back and tell him all the news in
[749] the paper. He told Stephen that his name was Athy and that his father
[750] kept a lot of racehorses that were spiffing jumpers and that his father
[751] would give a good tip to Brother Michael any time he wanted it because
[752] Brother Michael was very decent and always told him the news out of the
[753] paper they got every day up in the castle. There was every kind of news
[754] in the paper: accidents, shipwrecks, sports, and politics.
[755]
[756] --Now it is all about politics in the papers, he said. Do your people
[757] talk about that too?
[758]
[759] --Yes, Stephen said.
[760]
[761] --Mine too, he said.
[762]
[763] Then he thought for a moment and said:
[764]
[765] --You have a queer name, Dedalus, and I have a queer name too, Athy.
[766] My name is the name of a town. Your name is like Latin.
[767]
[768] Then he asked:
[769]
[770] --Are you good at riddles?
[771]
[772] Stephen answered:
[773]
[774] --Not very good.
[775]
[776] Then he said:
[777]
[778] --Can you answer me this one? Why is the county of Kildare like the
[779] leg of a fellow's breeches?
[780]
[781] Stephen thought what could be the answer and then said:
[782]
[783] --I give it up.
[784]
[785] --Because there is a thigh in it, he said. Do you see the joke? Athy
[786] is the town in the county Kildare and a thigh is the other thigh.
[787]
[788] --Oh, I see, Stephen said.
[789]
[790] --That's an old riddle, he said.
[791]
[792] After a moment he said:
[793]
[794] --I say!
[795]
[796] --What? asked Stephen.
[797]
[798] --You know, he said, you can ask that riddle another way.
[799]
[800] --Can you? said Stephen.
[801]
[802] --The same riddle, he said. Do you know the other way to ask it?
[803]
[804] --No, said Stephen.
[805]
[806] --Can you not think of the other way? he said.
[807]
[808] He looked at Stephen over the bedclothes as he spoke. Then he lay back
[809] on the pillow and said:
[810]
[811] --There is another way but I won't tell you what it is.
[812]
[813] Why did he not tell it? His father, who kept the racehorses, must be a
[814] magistrate too like Saurin's father and Nasty Roche's father. He
[815] thought of his own father, of how he sang songs while his mother played
[816] and of how he always gave him a shilling when he asked for sixpence and
[817] he felt sorry for him that he was not a magistrate like the other boys'
[818] fathers. Then why was he sent to that place with them? But
[819] his father had told him that he would be no stranger there because his
[820] granduncle had presented an address to the liberator there fifty years
[821] before. You could know the people of that time by their old dress. It
[822] seemed to him a solemn time: and he wondered if that was the time when
[823] the fellows in Clongowes wore blue coats with brass buttons and yellow
[824] waistcoats and caps of rabbitskin and drank beer like grown-up people
[825] and kept greyhounds of their own to course the hares with.
[826]
[827] He looked at the window and saw that the daylight had grown weaker.
[828] There would be cloudy grey light over the playgrounds. There was no
[829] noise on the playgrounds. The class must be doing the themes or perhaps
[830] Father Arnall was reading out of the book.
[831]
[832] It was queer that they had not given him any medicine. Perhaps Brother
[833] Michael would bring it back when he came. They said you got stinking
[834] stuff to drink when you were in the infirmary. But he felt better now
[835] than before. It would be nice getting better slowly. You could get a
[836] book then. There was a book in the library about Holland. There were
[837] lovely foreign names in it and pictures of strange looking cities and
[838] ships. It made you feel so happy.
[839]
[840] How pale the light was at the window! But that was nice. The fire rose
[841] and fell on the wall. It was like waves. Someone had put coal on and he
[842] heard voices. They were talking. It was the noise of the waves. Or the
[843] waves were talking among themselves as they rose and fell.
[844]
[845] He saw the sea of waves, long dark waves rising and falling, dark under
[846] the moonless night. A tiny light twinkled at the pierhead where the
[847] ship was entering: and he saw a multitude of people gathered by the
[848] waters' edge to see the ship that was entering their harbour. A tall
[849] man stood on the deck, looking out towards the flat dark land: and by
[850] the light at the pierhead he saw his face, the sorrowful face of
[851] Brother Michael.
[852]
[853] He saw him lift his hand towards the people and heard him say in a loud
[854] voice of sorrow over the waters:
[855]
[856] --He is dead. We saw him lying upon the catafalque. A wail of sorrow
[857] went up from the people.
[858]
[859] --Parnell! Parnell! He is dead!
[860]
[861] They fell upon their knees, moaning in sorrow.
[862]
[863] And he saw Dante in a maroon velvet dress and with a green velvet
[864] mantle hanging from her shoulders walking proudly and silently past the
[865] people who knelt by the water's edge.
[866]
[867]
[868]
[869]
[870]
[871] A great fire, banked high and red, flamed in the grate and under the
[872] ivy-twined branches of the chandelier the Christmas table was spread.
[873] They had come home a little late and still dinner was not ready: but it
[874] would be ready in a jiffy his mother had said. They were waiting for
[875] the door to open and for the servants to come in, holding the big
[876] dishes covered with their heavy metal covers.
[877]
[878] All were waiting: uncle Charles, who sat far away in the shadow of the
[879] window, Dante and Mr Casey, who sat in the easy-chairs at either side
[880] of the hearth, Stephen, seated on a chair between them, his feet
[881] resting on the toasted boss. Mr Dedalus looked at himself in the
[882] pierglass above the mantelpiece, waxed out his moustache ends and then,
[883] parting his coat-tails, stood with his back to the glowing fire: and
[884] still from time to time he withdrew a hand from his coat-tail to wax
[885] out one of his moustache ends. Mr Casey leaned his head to one side
[886] and, smiling, tapped the gland of his neck with his fingers. And
[887] Stephen smiled too for he knew now that it was not true that Mr Casey
[888] had a purse of silver in his throat. He smiled to think how the silvery
[889] noise which Mr Casey used to make had deceived him. And when he had
[890] tried to open Mr Casey's hand to see if the purse of silver was hidden
[891] there he had seen that the fingers could not be straightened out: and
[892] Mr Casey had told him that he had got those three cramped fingers
[893] making a birthday present for Queen Victoria. Mr Casey tapped the gland
[894] of his neck and smiled at Stephen with sleepy eyes: and Mr Dedalus said
[895] to him:
[896]
[897] --Yes. Well now, that's all right. O, we had a good walk, hadn't we,
[898] John? Yes... I wonder if there's any likelihood of dinner this evening.
[899] Yes... O, well now, we got a good breath of ozone round the Head today. Ay,
[900] bedad.
[901]
[902] He turned to Dante and said:
[903]
[904] --You didn't stir out at all, Mrs Riordan?
[905]
[906] Dante frowned and said shortly:
[907]
[908] --No.
[909]
[910] Mr Dedalus dropped his coat-tails and went over to the sideboard. He
[911] brought forth a great stone jar of whisky from the locker and filled
[912] the decanter slowly, bending now and then to see how much he had poured
[913] in. Then replacing the jar in the locker he poured a little of the
[914] whisky into two glasses, added a little water and came back with them
[915] to the fireplace.
[916]
[917] --A thimbleful, John, he said, just to whet your appetite.
[918]
[919] Mr Casey took the glass, drank, and placed it near him on the
[920] mantelpiece. Then he said:
[921]
[922] --Well, I can't help thinking of our friend Christopher manufacturing...
[923]
[924] He broke into a fit of laughter and coughing and added:
[925]
[926] --...manufacturing that champagne for those fellows.
[927]
[928] Mr Dedalus laughed loudly.
[929]
[930] --Is it Christy? he said. There's more cunning in one of those warts
[931] on his bald head than in a pack of jack foxes.
[932]
[933] He inclined his head, closed his eyes, and, licking his lips profusely,
[934] began to speak with the voice of the hotel keeper.
[935]
[936] --And he has such a soft mouth when he's speaking to you, don't you
[937] know. He's very moist and watery about the dewlaps, God bless him.
[938]
[939] Mr Casey was still struggling through his fit of coughing and laughter.
[940] Stephen, seeing and hearing the hotel keeper through his father's face
[941] and voice, laughed.
[942]
[943] Mr Dedalus put up his eyeglass and, staring down at him, said quietly
[944] and kindly:
[945]
[946] --What are you laughing at, you little puppy, you?
[947]
[948] The servants entered and placed the dishes on the table. Mrs Dedalus
[949] followed and the places were arranged.
[950]
[951] --Sit over, she said.
[952]
[953] Mr Dedalus went to the end of the table and said:
[954]
[955] --Now, Mrs Riordan, sit over. John, sit you down, my hearty.
[956]
[957] He looked round to where uncle Charles sat and said:
[958]
[959] --Now then, sir, there's a bird here waiting for you.
[960]
[961] When all had taken their seats he laid his hand on the cover and then
[962] said quickly, withdrawing it:
[963]
[964] --Now, Stephen.
[965]
[966] Stephen stood up in his place to say the grace before meals:
[967]
[968]
[969] Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which through
[970] Thy bounty we are about to receive through Christ our
[971] Lord. Amen.
[972]
[973]
[974] All blessed themselves and Mr Dedalus with a sigh of pleasure lifted
[975] from the dish the heavy cover pearled around the edge with glistening
[976] drops.
[977]
[978] Stephen looked at the plump turkey which had lain, trussed and
[979] skewered, on the kitchen table. He knew that his father had paid a
[980] guinea for it in Dunn's of D'Olier Street and that the man had prodded
[981] it often at the breastbone to show how good it was: and he remembered
[982] the man's voice when he had said:
[983]
[984] --Take that one, sir. That's the real Ally Daly.
[985]
[986] Why did Mr Barrett in Clongowes call his pandybat a turkey? But
[987] Clongowes was far away: and the warm heavy smell of turkey and ham and
[988] celery rose from the plates and dishes and the great fire was banked
[989] high and red in the grate and the green ivy and red holly made you feel
[990] so happy and when dinner was ended the big plum pudding would be
[991] carried in, studded with peeled almonds and sprigs of holly, with
[992] bluish fire running around it and a little green flag flying from the
[993] top.
[994]
[995] It was his first Christmas dinner and he thought of his little brothers
[996] and sisters who were waiting in the nursery, as he had often waited,
[997] till the pudding came. The deep low collar and the Eton jacket made him
[998] feel queer and oldish: and that morning when his mother had brought him
[999] down to the parlour, dressed for mass, his father had cried. That was
[1000] because he was thinking of his own father. And uncle Charles had said
[1001] so too.
[1002]
[1003] Mr Dedalus covered the dish and began to eat hungrily. Then he said:
[1004]
[1005] --Poor old Christy, he's nearly lopsided now with roguery.
[1006]
[1007] --Simon, said Mrs Dedalus, you haven't given Mrs Riordan any sauce.
[1008]
[1009] Mr Dedalus seized the sauceboat.
[1010]
[1011] --Haven't I? he cried. Mrs Riordan, pity the poor blind. Dante covered
[1012] her plate with her hands and said:
[1013]
[1014] --No, thanks.
[1015]
[1016] Mr Dedalus turned to uncle Charles.
[1017]
[1018] --How are you off, sir?
[1019]
[1020] --Right as the mail, Simon.
[1021]
[1022] --You, John?
[1023]
[1024] --I'm all right. Go on yourself.
[1025]
[1026] --Mary? Here, Stephen, here's something to make your hair curl.
[1027]
[1028] He poured sauce freely over Stephen's plate and set the boat again on
[1029] the table. Then he asked uncle Charles was it tender. Uncle Charles
[1030] could not speak because his mouth was full; but he nodded that it was.
[1031]
[1032] --That was a good answer our friend made to the canon. What? said Mr
[1033] Dedalus.
[1034]
[1035] --I didn't think he had that much in him, said Mr Casey.
[1036]
[1037] --I'LL PAY YOUR DUES, FATHER, WHEN YOU CEASE TURNING THE HOUSE OF GOD
[1038] INTO A POLLING-BOOTH.
[1039]
[1040] --A nice answer, said Dante, for any man calling himself a catholic to
[1041] give to his priest.
[1042]
[1043] --They have only themselves to blame, said Mr Dedalus suavely. If they
[1044] took a fool's advice they would confine their attention to religion.
[1045]
[1046] --It is religion, Dante said. They are doing their duty in warning the
[1047] people.
[1048]
[1049] --We go to the house of God, Mr Casey said, in all humility to pray to
[1050] our Maker and not to hear election addresses.
[1051]
[1052] --It is religion, Dante said again. They are right. They must direct
[1053] their flocks.
[1054]
[1055] --And preach politics from the altar, is it? asked Mr Dedalus.
[1056]
[1057] --Certainly, said Dante. It is a question of public morality. A priest
[1058] would not be a priest if he did not tell his flock what is right and
[1059] what is wrong.
[1060]
[1061] Mrs Dedalus laid down her knife and fork, saying:
[1062]
[1063] --For pity sake and for pity sake let us have no political discussion
[1064] on this day of all days in the year.
[1065]
[1066] --Quite right, ma'am, said uncle Charles. Now, Simon, that's quite
[1067] enough now. Not another word now.
[1068]
[1069] --Yes, yes, said Mr Dedalus quickly.
[1070]
[1071] He uncovered the dish boldly and said:
[1072]
[1073] --Now then, who's for more turkey?
[1074]
[1075] Nobody answered. Dante said:
[1076]
[1077] --Nice language for any catholic to use!
[1078]
[1079] --Mrs Riordan, I appeal to you, said Mrs Dedalus, to let the matter
[1080] drop now.
[1081]
[1082] Dante turned on her and said:
[1083]
[1084] --And am I to sit here and listen to the pastors of my church being
[1085] flouted?
[1086]
[1087] --Nobody is saying a word against them, said Mr Dedalus, so long as
[1088] they don't meddle in politics.
[1089]
[1090] --The bishops and priests of Ireland have spoken, said Dante, and they
[1091] must be obeyed.
[1092]
[1093] --Let them leave politics alone, said Mr Casey, or the people may
[1094] leave their church alone.
[1095]
[1096] --You hear? said Dante, turning to Mrs Dedalus.
[1097]
[1098] --Mr Casey! Simon! said Mrs Dedalus, let it end now.
[1099]
[1100] --Too bad! Too bad! said uncle Charles.
[1101]
[1102] --What? cried Mr Dedalus. Were we to desert him at the bidding of the
[1103] English people?
[1104]
[1105] --He was no longer worthy to lead, said Dante. He was a public sinner.
[1106]
[1107] --We are all sinners and black sinners, said Mr Casey coldly.
[1108]
[1109] --WOE BE TO THE MAN BY WHOM THE SCANDAL COMETH! said Mrs Riordan. IT
[1110] WOULD BE BETTER FOR HIM THAT A MILLSTONE WERE TIED ABOUT HIS NECK AND
[1111] THAT HE WERE CAST INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA RATHER THAN THAT HE SHOULD
[1112] SCANDALIZE ONE OF THESE, MY LEAST LITTLE ONES. That is the language of
[1113] the Holy Ghost.
[1114]
[1115] --And very bad language if you ask me, said Mr Dedalus coolly.
[1116]
[1117] --Simon! Simon! said uncle Charles. The boy.
[1118]
[1119] --Yes, yes, said Mr Dedalus. I meant about the... I was thinking about the
[1120] bad language of the railway porter. Well now, that's all right. Here,
[1121] Stephen, show me your plate, old chap. Eat away now. Here.
[1122]
[1123] He heaped up the food on Stephen's plate and served uncle Charles and
[1124] Mr Casey to large pieces of turkey and splashes of sauce. Mrs Dedalus
[1125] was eating little and Dante sat with her hands in her lap. She was red
[1126] in the face. Mr Dedalus rooted with the carvers at the end of the dish
[1127] and said:
[1128]
[1129] --There's a tasty bit here we call the pope's nose. If any lady or
[1130] gentleman...
[1131]
[1132] He held a piece of fowl up on the prong of the carving fork. Nobody
[1133] spoke. He put it on his own plate, saying:
[1134]
[1135] --Well, you can't say but you were asked. I think I had better eat it
[1136] myself because I'm not well in my health lately.
[1137]
[1138] He winked at Stephen and, replacing the dish-cover, began to eat again.
[1139]
[1140] There was a silence while he ate. Then he said:
[1141]
[1142] --Well now, the day kept up fine after all. There were plenty of
[1143] strangers down too.
[1144]
[1145] Nobody spoke. He said again:
[1146]
[1147] --I think there were more strangers down than last Christmas.
[1148]
[1149] He looked round at the others whose faces were bent towards their
[1150] plates and, receiving no reply, waited for a moment and said bitterly:
[1151]
[1152] --Well, my Christmas dinner has been spoiled anyhow.
[1153]
[1154] --There could be neither luck nor grace, Dante said, in a house where
[1155] there is no respect for the pastors of the church.
[1156]
[1157] Mr Dedalus threw his knife and fork noisily on his plate.
[1158]
[1159] --Respect! he said. Is it for Billy with the lip or for the tub of
[1160] guts up in Armagh? Respect!
[1161]
[1162] --Princes of the church, said Mr Casey with slow scorn.
[1163]
[1164] --Lord Leitrim's coachman, yes, said Mr Dedalus.
[1165]
[1166] --They are the Lord's anointed, Dante said. They are an honour to their
[1167] country.
[1168]
[1169] --Tub of guts, said Mr Dedalus coarsely. He has a handsome face, mind
[1170] you, in repose. You should see that fellow lapping up his bacon and
[1171] cabbage of a cold winter's day. O Johnny!
[1172]
[1173] He twisted his features into a grimace of heavy bestiality and made a
[1174] lapping noise with his lips.
[1175]
[1176] --Really, Simon, you should not speak that way before Stephen. It's
[1177] not right.
[1178]
[1179] --O, he'll remember all this when he grows up, said Dante hotly--the
[1180] language he heard against God and religion and priests in his own home.
[1181]
[1182] --Let him remember too, cried Mr Casey to her from across the table,
[1183] the language with which the priests and the priests' pawns broke
[1184] Parnell's heart and hounded him into his grave. Let him remember that
[1185] too when he grows up.
[1186]
[1187] --Sons of bitches! cried Mr Dedalus. When he was down they turned on
[1188] him to betray him and rend him like rats in a sewer. Low-lived dogs!
[1189] And they look it! By Christ, they look it!
[1190]
[1191] --They behaved rightly, cried Dante. They obeyed their bishops and
[1192] their priests. Honour to them!
[1193]
[1194] --Well, it is perfectly dreadful to say that not even for one day in
[1195] the year, said Mrs Dedalus, can we be free from these dreadful
[1196] disputes!
[1197]
[1198] Uncle Charles raised his hands mildly and said:
[1199]
[1200] --Come now, come now, come now! Can we not have our opinions whatever
[1201] they are without this bad temper and this bad language? It is too bad
[1202] surely.
[1203]
[1204] Mrs Dedalus spoke to Dante in a low voice but Dante said loudly:
[1205]
[1206] --I will not say nothing. I will defend my church and my religion when
[1207] it is insulted and spit on by renegade catholics.
[1208]
[1209] Mr Casey pushed his plate rudely into the middle of the table and,
[1210] resting his elbows before him, said in a hoarse voice to his host:
[1211]
[1212] --Tell me, did I tell you that story about a very famous spit?
[1213]
[1214] --You did not, John, said Mr Dedalus.
[1215]
[1216] --Why then, said Mr Casey, it is a most instructive story. It happened
[1217] not long ago in the county Wicklow where we are now.
[1218]
[1219] He broke off and, turning towards Dante, said with quiet indignation:
[1220]
[1221] --And I may tell you, ma'am, that I, if you mean me, am no renegade
[1222] catholic. I am a catholic as my father was and his father before him
[1223] and his father before him again, when we gave up our lives rather than
[1224] sell our faith.
[1225]
[1226] --The more shame to you now, Dante said, to speak as you do.
[1227]
[1228] --The story, John, said Mr Dedalus smiling. Let us have the story
[1229] anyhow.
[1230]
[1231] --Catholic indeed! repeated Dante ironically. The blackest protestant
[1232] in the land would not speak the language I have heard this evening.
[1233]
[1234] Mr Dedalus began to sway his head to and fro, crooning like a country
[1235] singer.
[1236]
[1237] --I am no protestant, I tell you again, said Mr Casey, flushing.
[1238]
[1239] Mr Dedalus, still crooning and swaying his head, began to sing in a
[1240] grunting nasal tone:
[1241]
[1242]
[1243] O, come all you Roman catholics
[1244] That never went to mass.
[1245]
[1246]
[1247] He took up his knife and fork again in good humour and set to eating,
[1248] saying to Mr Casey:
[1249]
[1250] --Let us have the story, John. It will help us to digest.
[1251]
[1252] Stephen looked with affection at Mr Casey's face which stared across
[1253] the table over his joined hands. He liked to sit near him at the fire,
[1254] looking up at his dark fierce face. But his dark eyes were never fierce
[1255] and his slow voice was good to listen to. But why was he then against
[1256] the priests? Because Dante must be right then. But he had heard his
[1257] father say that she was a spoiled nun and that she had come out of the
[1258] convent in the Alleghanies when her brother had got the money from the
[1259] savages for the trinkets and the chainies. Perhaps that made her severe
[1260] against Parnell. And she did not like him to play with Eileen because
[1261] Eileen was a protestant and when she was young she knew children that
[1262] used to play with protestants and the protestants used to make fun of
[1263] the litany of the Blessed Virgin. TOWER OF IVORY, they used to say,
[1264] HOUSE OF GOLD! How could a woman be a tower of ivory or a house of
[1265] gold? Who was right then? And he remembered the evening in the
[1266] infirmary in Clongowes, the dark waters, the light at the pierhead and
[1267] the moan of sorrow from the people when they had heard.
[1268]
[1269] Eileen had long white hands. One evening when playing tig she had put
[1270] her hands over his eyes: long and white and thin and cold and soft.
[1271] That was ivory: a cold white thing. That was the meaning of TOWER OF
[1272] IVORY.
[1273]
[1274] --The story is very short and sweet, Mr Casey said. It was one day
[1275] down in Arklow, a cold bitter day, not long before the chief died. May
[1276] God have mercy on him!
[1277]
[1278] He closed his eyes wearily and paused. Mr Dedalus took a bone from his
[1279] plate and tore some meat from it with his teeth, saying:
[1280]
[1281] --Before he was killed, you mean.
[1282]
[1283] Mr Casey opened his eyes, sighed and went on:
[1284]
[1285] --It was down in Arklow one day. We were down there at a meeting and
[1286] after the meeting was over we had to make our way to the railway
[1287] station through the crowd. Such booing and baaing, man, you never
[1288] heard. They called us all the names in the world. Well there was one
[1289] old lady, and a drunken old harridan she was surely, that paid all her
[1290] attention to me. She kept dancing along beside me in the mud bawling
[1291] and screaming into my face: PRIEST-HUNTER! THE PARIS FUNDS! MR FOX!
[1292] KITTY O'SHEA!
[1293]
[1294] --And what did you do, John? asked Mr Dedalus.
[1295]
[1296] --I let her bawl away, said Mr Casey. It was a cold day and to keep up
[1297] my heart I had (saving your presence, ma'am) a quid of Tullamore in my
[1298] mouth and sure I couldn't say a word in any case because my mouth was
[1299] full of tobacco juice.
[1300]
[1301] --Well, John?
[1302]
[1303] --Well. I let her bawl away, to her heart's content, KITTY O'SHEA and
[1304] the rest of it till at last she called that lady a name that I won't
[1305] sully this Christmas board nor your ears, ma'am, nor my own lips by
[1306] repeating.
[1307]
[1308] He paused. Mr Dedalus, lifting his head from the bone, asked:
[1309]
[1310] --And what did you do, John?
[1311]
[1312] --Do! said Mr Casey. She stuck her ugly old face up at me when she
[1313] said it and I had my mouth full of tobacco juice. I bent down to her
[1314] and PHTH! says I to her like that.
[1315]
[1316] He turned aside and made the act of spitting.
[1317]
[1318] --PHTH! says I to her like that, right into her eye.
[1319]
[1320] He clapped his hand to his eye and gave a hoarse scream of pain.
[1321]
[1322] --O JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH! says she. I'M BLINDED! I'M BLINDED AND
[1323] DROWNDED!
[1324]
[1325] He stopped in a fit of coughing and laughter, repeating:
[1326]
[1327] --I'M BLINDED ENTIRELY.
[1328]
[1329] Mr Dedalus laughed loudly and lay back in his chair while uncle Charles
[1330] swayed his head to and fro.
[1331]
[1332] Dante looked terribly angry and repeated while they laughed:
[1333]
[1334] --Very nice! Ha! Very nice!
[1335]
[1336] It was not nice about the spit in the woman's eye.
[1337]
[1338] But what was the name the woman had called Kitty O'Shea that Mr Casey
[1339] would not repeat? He thought of Mr Casey walking through the crowds of
[1340] people and making speeches from a wagonette. That was what he had been
[1341] in prison for and he remembered that one night Sergeant O'Neill had
[1342] come to the house and had stood in the hall, talking in a low voice
[1343] with his father and chewing nervously at the chinstrap of his cap. And
[1344] that night Mr