A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man : Concordance

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manby James JoyceChapter 1

Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5

This is a hypertextual, self-referential edition ofA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.The text was prepared using the Project Gutenberg edition.

Click on any word to see its occurrences in the text;click on line numbers to go to that line;click on chapter names to go to that chapter;or search using the form below.Search terms can contain spaces and punctuation.

The concordance for A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man orderedalphanumerically,and listed in order of word frequency. Click here for more texts.

search

[1] [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.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man :: Concordance http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rac101/concord/texts/paym/files/paym...

1 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


2 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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.


3 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


4 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


5 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


6 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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]


7 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


8 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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]


9 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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]


10 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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.


11 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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.


12 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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]


13 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


14 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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]


15 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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.


16 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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


17 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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:


18 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[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 Casey had not gone to Dublin by train but a car had come[1345] to the door and he had heard his father say something about the[1346] Cabinteely road.[1347] [1348] He was for Ireland and Parnell and so was his father: and so was Dante[1349] too for one night at the band on the esplanade she had hit a gentleman[1350] on the head with her umbrella because he had taken off his hat when the[1351] band played GOD SAVE THE QUEEN at the end.[1352] [1353] Mr Dedalus gave a snort of contempt.[1354] [1355] --Ah, John, he said. It is true for them. We are an unfortunate[1356] priest-ridden race and always were and always will be till the end of[1357] the chapter.[1358] [1359] Uncle Charles shook his head, saying:[1360] [1361] --A bad business! A bad business![1362] [1363] Mr Dedalus repeated:[1364] [1365] --A priest-ridden Godforsaken race![1366] [1367] He pointed to the portrait of his grandfather on the wall to his right.[1368] [1369] --Do you see that old chap up there, John? he said. He was a good[1370] Irishman when there was no money in the job. He was condemned to death[1371] as a whiteboy. But he had a saying about our clerical friends, that he[1372] would never let one of them put his two feet under his mahogany.[1373] [1374] Dante broke in angrily:[1375] [1376] --If we are a priest-ridden race we ought to be proud of it! They are the[1377] apple of God's eye. TOUCH THEM NOT, says Christ, FOR THEY ARE THE APPLE[1378] OF MY EYE.[1379] [1380] --And can we not love our country then? asked Mr Casey. Are we not to[1381] follow the man that was born to lead us?[1382] [1383] --A traitor to his country! replied Dante. A traitor, an adulterer![1384] The priests were right to abandon him. The priests were always the true[1385] friends of Ireland.[1386] [1387] --Were they, faith? said Mr Casey.[1388] [1389] He threw his fist on the table and, frowning angrily, protruded one[1390] finger after another.[1391] [1392] --Didn't the bishops of Ireland betray us in the time of the union[1393] when Bishop Lanigan presented an address of loyalty to the Marquess[1394] Cornwallis? Didn't the bishops and priests sell the aspirations of[1395] their country in 1829 in return for catholic emancipation? Didn't they[1396] denounce the fenian movement from the pulpit and in the confession box?[1397] And didn't they dishonour the ashes of Terence Bellew MacManus?[1398] [1399] His face was glowing with anger and Stephen felt the glow rise to his[1400] own cheek as the spoken words thrilled him. Mr Dedalus uttered a guffaw[1401] of coarse scorn.[1402] [1403] --O, by God, he cried, I forgot little old Paul Cullen! Another apple[1404] of God's eye![1405] [1406] Dante bent across the table and cried to Mr Casey:[1407] [1408] --Right! Right! They were always right! God and morality and religion


19 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1409] come first.[1410] [1411] Mrs Dedalus, seeing her excitement, said to her:[1412] [1413] --Mrs Riordan, don't excite yourself answering them.[1414] [1415] --God and religion before everything! Dante cried. God and religion[1416] before the world.[1417] [1418] Mr Casey raised his clenched fist and brought it down on the table with[1419] a crash.[1420] [1421] --Very well then, he shouted hoarsely, if it comes to that, no God for[1422] Ireland![1423] [1424] --John! John! cried Mr Dedalus, seizing his guest by the coat sleeve.[1425] [1426] Dante stared across the table, her cheeks shaking. Mr Casey struggled[1427] up from his chair and bent across the table towards her, scraping the[1428] air from before his eyes with one hand as though he were tearing aside[1429] a cobweb.[1430] [1431] --No God for Ireland! he cried. We have had too much God In Ireland.[1432] Away with God![1433] [1434] --Blasphemer! Devil! screamed Dante, starting to her feet and almost[1435] spitting in his face.[1436] [1437] Uncle Charles and Mr Dedalus pulled Mr Casey back into his chair again,[1438] talking to him from both sides reasonably. He stared before him out of[1439] his dark flaming eyes, repeating:[1440] [1441] --Away with God, I say![1442] [1443] Dante shoved her chair violently aside and left the table, upsetting[1444] her napkin-ring which rolled slowly along the carpet and came to rest[1445] against the foot of an easy-chair. Mrs Dedalus rose quickly and[1446] followed her towards the door. At the door Dante turned round violently[1447] and shouted down the room, her cheeks flushed and quivering with rage:[1448] [1449] --Devil out of hell! We won! We crushed him to death! Fiend![1450] [1451] The door slammed behind her.[1452] [1453] Mr Casey, freeing his arms from his holders, suddenly bowed his head on[1454] his hands with a sob of pain.[1455] [1456] --Poor Parnell! he cried loudly. My dead king![1457] [1458] He sobbed loudly and bitterly.[1459] [1460] Stephen, raising his terror-stricken face, saw that his father's eyes[1461] were full of tears.[1462] [1463] [1464] [1465] [1466] [1467] The fellows talked together in little groups.[1468] [1469] One fellow said:[1470] [1471] --They were caught near the Hill of Lyons.[1472] [1473] --Who caught them?[1474] [1475] --Mr Gleeson and the minister. They were on a car. The same fellow[1476] added:[1477] [1478] --A fellow in the higher line told me.[1479] [1480] Fleming asked:[1481] [1482] --But why did they run away, tell us?[1483] [1484] --I know why, Cecil Thunder said. Because they had fecked cash out of


20 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1485] the rector's room.[1486] [1487] --Who fecked it?[1488] [1489] --Kickham's brother. And they all went shares in it.[1490] [1491] --But that was stealing. How could they have done that?[1492] [1493] --A fat lot you know about it, Thunder! Wells said. I know why they[1494] scut.[1495] [1496] --Tell us why.[1497] [1498] --I was told not to, Wells said.[1499] [1500] --O, go on, Wells, all said. You might tell us. We won't let it out.[1501] [1502] Stephen bent forward his head to hear. Wells looked round to see if[1503] anyone was coming. Then he said secretly:[1504] [1505] --You know the altar wine they keep in the press in the sacristy?[1506] [1507] --Yes.[1508] [1509] --Well, they drank that and it was found out who did it by the smell.[1510] And that's why they ran away, if you want to know.[1511] [1512] And the fellow who had spoken first said:[1513] [1514] --Yes, that's what I heard too from the fellow in the higher line.[1515] [1516] The fellows all were silent. Stephen stood among them, afraid to speak,[1517] listening. A faint sickness of awe made him feel weak. How could they[1518] have done that? He thought of the dark silent sacristy. There were dark[1519] wooden presses there where the crimped surplices lay quietly folded. It[1520] was not the chapel but still you had to speak under your breath. It was[1521] a holy place. He remembered the summer evening he had been there to be[1522] dressed as boatbearer, the evening of the Procession to the little[1523] altar in the wood. A strange and holy place. The boy that held the[1524] censer had swung it lifted by the middle chain to keep the coals[1525] lighting. That was called charcoal: and it had burned quietly as the[1526] fellow had swung it gently and had given off a weak sour smell. And[1527] then when all were vested he had stood holding out the boat to the[1528] rector and the rector had put a spoonful of incense in it and it had[1529] hissed on the red coals.[1530] [1531] The fellows were talking together in little groups here and there on[1532] the playground. The fellows seemed to him to have grown smaller: that[1533] was because a sprinter had knocked him down the day before, a fellow[1534] out of second of grammar. He had been thrown by the fellow's machine[1535] lightly on the cinder path and his spectacles had been broken in three[1536] pieces and some of the grit of the cinders had gone into his mouth.[1537] [1538] That was why the fellows seemed to him smaller and farther away and the[1539] goalposts so thin and far and the soft grey sky so high up. But there[1540] was no play on the football grounds for cricket was coming: and some[1541] said that Barnes would be prof and some said it would be Flowers. And[1542] all over the playgrounds they were playing rounders and bowling[1543] twisters and lobs. And from here and from there came the sounds of the[1544] cricket bats through the soft grey air. They said: pick, pack, pock,[1545] puck: little drops of water in a fountain slowly falling in the[1546] brimming bowl.[1547] [1548] Athy, who had been silent, said quietly:[1549] [1550] --You are all wrong.[1551] [1552] All turned towards him eagerly.[1553] [1554] --Why?[1555] [1556] --Do you know?[1557] [1558] --Who told you?[1559] [1560] --Tell us, Athy.


21 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1561] [1562] Athy pointed across the playground to where Simon Moonan was walking by[1563] himself kicking a stone before him.[1564] [1565] --Ask him, he said.[1566] [1567] The fellows looked there and then said:[1568] [1569] --Why him?[1570] [1571] --Is he in it?[1572] [1573] Athy lowered his voice and said:[1574] [1575] --Do you know why those fellows scut? I will tell you but you must not[1576] let on you know.[1577] [1578] --Tell us, Athy. Go on. You might if you know.[1579] [1580] He paused for a moment and then said mysteriously:[1581] [1582] --They were caught with Simon Moonan and Tusker Boyle in the square one[1583] night.[1584] [1585] The fellows looked at him and asked:[1586] [1587] --Caught?[1588] [1589] --What doing?[1590] [1591] Athy said:[1592] [1593] --Smugging.[1594] [1595] All the fellows were silent: and Athy said:[1596] [1597] --And that's why.[1598] [1599] Stephen looked at the faces of the fellows but they were all looking[1600] across the playground. He wanted to ask somebody about it. What did[1601] that mean about the smugging in the square? Why did the five fellows[1602] out of the higher line run away for that? It was a joke, he thought.[1603] Simon Moonan had nice clothes and one night he had shown him a ball of[1604] creamy sweets that the fellows of the football fifteen had rolled down[1605] to him along the carpet in the middle of the refectory when he was at[1606] the door. It was the night of the match against the Bective Rangers;[1607] and the ball was made just like a red and green apple only it opened[1608] and it was full of the creamy sweets. And one day Boyle had said that[1609] an elephant had two tuskers instead of two tusks and that was why he[1610] was called Tusker Boyle but some fellows called him Lady Boyle because[1611] he was always at his nails, paring them.[1612] [1613] Eileen had long thin cool white hands too because she was a girl. They[1614] were like ivory; only soft. That was the meaning of TOWER OF IVORY but[1615] protestants could not understand it and made fun of it. One day he had[1616] stood beside her looking into the hotel grounds. A waiter was running[1617] up a trail of bunting on the flagstaff and a fox terrier was scampering[1618] to and fro on the sunny lawn. She had put her hand into his pocket[1619] where his hand was and he had felt how cool and thin and soft her hand[1620] was. She had said that pockets were funny things to have: and then all[1621] of a sudden she had broken away and had run laughing down the sloping[1622] curve of the path. Her fair hair had streamed out behind her like gold[1623] in the sun. TOWER OF IVORY. HOUSE OF GOLD. By thinking of things you[1624] could understand them.[1625] [1626] But why in the square? You went there when you wanted to do something.[1627] It was all thick slabs of slate and water trickled all day out of tiny[1628] pinholes and there was a queer smell of stale water there. And behind[1629] the door of one of the closets there was a drawing in red pencil of a[1630] bearded man in a Roman dress with a brick in each hand and underneath[1631] was the name of the drawing:[1632] [1633] [1634] Balbus was building a wall.[1635] [1636]


22 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1637] Some fellow had drawn it there for a cod. It had a funny face but it[1638] was very like a man with a beard. And on the wall of another closet[1639] there was written in backhand in beautiful writing:[1640] [1641] [1642] Julius Caesar wrote The Calico Belly.[1643] [1644] [1645] Perhaps that was why they were there because it was a place where some[1646] fellows wrote things for cod. But all the same it was queer what Athy[1647] said and the way he said it. It was not a cod because they had run[1648] away. He looked with the others across the playground and began to feel[1649] afraid.[1650] [1651] At last Fleming said:[1652] [1653] --And we are all to be punished for what other fellows did?[1654] [1655] --I won't come back, see if I do, Cecil Thunder said. Three days' silence[1656] in the refectory and sending us up for six and eight every minute.[1657] [1658] --Yes, said Wells. And old Barrett has a new way of twisting the note[1659] so that you can't open it and fold it again to see how many ferulae you[1660] are to get. I won't come back too.[1661] [1662] --Yes, said Cecil Thunder, and the prefect of studies was in second of[1663] grammar this morning.[1664] [1665] --Let us get up a rebellion, Fleming said. Will we?[1666] [1667] All the fellows were silent. The air was very silent and you could hear[1668] the cricket bats but more slowly than before: pick, pock.[1669] [1670] Wells asked:[1671] [1672] --What is going to be done to them?[1673] [1674] --Simon Moonan and Tusker are going to be flogged, Athy said, and the[1675] fellows in the higher line got their choice of flogging or being[1676] expelled.[1677] [1678] --And which are they taking? asked the fellow who had spoken first.[1679] [1680] --All are taking expulsion except Corrigan, Athy answered. He's going[1681] to be flogged by Mr Gleeson.[1682] [1683] --I know why, Cecil Thunder said. He is right and the other fellows[1684] are wrong because a flogging wears off after a bit but a fellow that[1685] has been expelled from college is known all his life on account of it.[1686] Besides Gleeson won't flog him hard.[1687] [1688] --It's best of his play not to, Fleming said.[1689] [1690] --I wouldn't like to be Simon Moonan and Tusker Cecil Thunder said.[1691] But I don't believe they will be flogged. Perhaps they will be sent up[1692] for twice nine.[1693] [1694] --No, no, said Athy. They'll both get it on the vital spot. Wells[1695] rubbed himself and said in a crying voice:[1696] [1697] --Please, sir, let me off![1698] [1699] Athy grinned and turned up the sleeves of his jacket, saying:[1700] [1701] It can't be helped;[1702] It must be done.[1703] So down with your breeches[1704] And out with your bum.[1705] [1706] The fellows laughed; but he felt that they were a little afraid. In the[1707] silence of the soft grey air he heard the cricket bats from here and[1708] from there: pock. That was a sound to hear but if you were hit then you[1709] would feel a pain. The pandybat made a sound too but not like that. The[1710] fellows said it was made of whalebone and leather with lead inside: and[1711] he wondered what was the pain like. There were different kinds of[1712] sounds. A long thin cane would have a high whistling sound and he


23 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1713] wondered what was that pain like. It made him shivery to think of it[1714] and cold: and what Athy said too. But what was there to laugh at in it?[1715] It made him shivery: but that was because you always felt like a shiver[1716] when you let down your trousers. It was the same in the bath when you[1717] undressed yourself. He wondered who had to let them down, the master or[1718] the boy himself. O how could they laugh about it that way?[1719] [1720] He looked at Athy's rolled-up sleeves and knuckly inky hands. He had[1721] rolled up his sleeves to show how Mr Gleeson would roll up his sleeves.[1722] But Mr Gleeson had round shiny cuffs and clean white wrists and fattish[1723] white hands and the nails of them were long and pointed. Perhaps he[1724] pared them too like Lady Boyle. But they were terribly long and pointed[1725] nails. So long and cruel they were, though the white fattish hands were[1726] not cruel but gentle. And though he trembled with cold and fright to[1727] think of the cruel long nails and of the high whistling sound of the cane[1728] and of the chill you felt at the end of your shirt when you undressed[1729] yourself yet he felt a feeling of queer quiet pleasure inside him to think[1730] of the white fattish hands, clean and strong and gentle. And he thought of[1731] what Cecil Thunder had said: that Mr Gleeson would not flog Corrigan hard.[1732] And Fleming had said he would not because it was best of his play not[1733] to. But that was not why[1734] [1735] A voice from far out on the playground cried:[1736] [1737] --All in![1738] [1739] And other voices cried:[1740] [1741] --All in! All in![1742] [1743] During the writing lesson he sat with his arms folded, listening to the[1744] slow scraping of the pens. Mr Harford went to and fro making little[1745] signs in red pencil and sometimes sitting beside the boy to show him[1746] how to hold his pen. He had tried to spell out the headline for himself[1747] though he knew already what it was for it was the last of the book.[1748] ZEAL WITHOUT PRUDENCE IS LIKE A SHIP ADRIFT. But the lines of the[1749] letters were like fine invisible threads and it was only by closing his[1750] right eye tight and staring out of the left eye that he could make out[1751] the full curves of the capital.[1752] [1753] But Mr Harford was very decent and never got into a wax. All the other[1754] masters got into dreadful waxes. But why were they to suffer for what[1755] fellows in the higher line did? Wells had said that they had drunk some[1756] of the altar wine out of the press in the sacristy and that it had been[1757] found out who had done it by the smell. Perhaps they had stolen a[1758] monstrance to run away with and sell it somewhere. That must have been[1759] a terrible sin, to go in there quietly at night, to open the dark press[1760] and steal the flashing gold thing into which God was put on the altar[1761] in the middle of flowers and candles at benediction while the incense[1762] went up in clouds at both sides as the fellow swung the censer and[1763] Dominic Kelly sang the first part by himself in the choir. But God was[1764] not in it of course when they stole it. But still it was a strange and[1765] a great sin even to touch it. He thought of it with deep awe; a[1766] terrible and strange sin: it thrilled him to think of it in the silence[1767] when the pens scraped lightly. But to drink the altar wine out of the[1768] press and be found out by the smell was a sin too: but it was not[1769] terrible and strange. It only made you feel a little sickish on account[1770] of the smell of the wine. Because on the day when he had made his first[1771] holy communion in the chapel he had shut his eyes and opened his mouth[1772] and put out his tongue a little: and when the rector had stooped down[1773] to give him the holy communion he had smelt a faint winy smell off the[1774] rector's breath after the wine of the mass. The word was beautiful:[1775] wine. It made you think of dark purple because the grapes were dark[1776] purple that grew in Greece outside houses like white temples. But the[1777] faint smell of the rector's breath had made him feel a sick feeling on[1778] the morning of his first communion. The day of your first communion was[1779] the happiest day of your life. And once a lot of generals had asked[1780] Napoleon what was the happiest day of his life. They thought he would[1781] say the day he won some great battle or the day he was made an emperor.[1782] But he said:[1783] [1784] --Gentlemen, the happiest day of my life was the day on which I made[1785] my first holy communion.[1786] [1787] Father Arnall came in and the Latin lesson began and he remained still,[1788] leaning on the desk with his arms folded. Father Arnall gave out the


24 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1789] theme-books and he said that they were scandalous and that they were[1790] all to be written out again with the corrections at once. But the worst[1791] of all was Fleming's theme because the pages were stuck together by a[1792] blot: and Father Arnall held it up by a corner and said it was an[1793] insult to any master to send him up such a theme. Then he asked Jack[1794] Lawton to decline the noun MARE and Jack Lawton stopped at the ablative[1795] singular and could not go on with the plural.[1796] [1797] --You should be ashamed of yourself, said Father Arnall sternly. You,[1798] the leader of the class![1799] [1800] Then he asked the next boy and the next and the next. Nobody knew.[1801] Father Arnall became very quiet, more and more quiet as each boy tried[1802] to answer it and could not. But his face was black-looking and[1803] his eyes were staring though his voice was so quiet. Then he asked[1804] Fleming and Fleming said that the word had no plural. Father Arnall[1805] suddenly shut the book and shouted at him:[1806] [1807] --Kneel out there in the middle of the class. You are one of the[1808] idlest boys I ever met. Copy out your themes again the rest of you.[1809] [1810] Fleming moved heavily out of his place and knelt between the two last[1811] benches. The other boys bent over their theme-books and began to write.[1812] A silence filled the classroom and Stephen, glancing timidly at Father[1813] Arnall's dark face, saw that it was a little red from the wax he was in.[1814] [1815] Was that a sin for Father Arnall to be in a wax or was he allowed to[1816] get into a wax when the boys were idle because that made them study[1817] better or was he only letting on to be in a wax? It was because he was[1818] allowed, because a priest would know what a sin was and would not do[1819] it. But if he did it one time by mistake what would he do to go to[1820] confession? Perhaps he would go to confession to the minister. And if[1821] the minister did it he would go to the rector: and the rector to the[1822] provincial: and the provincial to the general of the jesuits. That was[1823] called the order: and he had heard his father say that they were all[1824] clever men. They could all have become high-up people in the world if[1825] they had not become jesuits. And he wondered what Father Arnall and[1826] Paddy Barrett would have become and what Mr McGlade and Mr Gleeson[1827] would have become if they had not become jesuits. It was hard to think[1828] what because you would have to think of them in a different way with[1829] different coloured coats and trousers and with beards and moustaches[1830] and different kinds of hats.[1831] [1832] The door opened quietly and closed. A quick whisper ran through the[1833] class: the prefect of studies. There was an instant of dead silence and[1834] then the loud crack of a pandybat on the last desk. Stephen's heart[1835] leapt up in fear.[1836] [1837] --Any boys want flogging here, Father Arnall? cried the prefect of[1838] studies. Any lazy idle loafers that want flogging in this class?[1839] [1840] He came to the middle of the class and saw Fleming on his knees.[1841] [1842] --Hoho! he cried. Who is this boy? Why is he on his knees? What is[1843] your name, boy?[1844] [1845] --Fleming, sir.[1846] [1847] --Hoho, Fleming! An idler of course. I can see it in your eye. Why is[1848] he on his knees, Father Arnall?[1849] [1850] --He wrote a bad Latin theme, Father Arnall said, and he missed all[1851] the questions in grammar.[1852] [1853] --Of course he did! cried the prefect of studies, of course he did! A[1854] born idler! I can see it in the corner of his eye.[1855] [1856] He banged his pandybat down on the desk and cried:[1857] [1858] --Up, Fleming! Up, my boy![1859] [1860] Fleming stood up slowly.[1861] [1862] --Hold out! cried the prefect of studies.[1863] [1864] Fleming held out his hand. The pandybat came down on it with a loud


25 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1865] smacking sound: one, two, three, four, five, six.[1866] [1867] --Other hand![1868] [1869] The pandybat came down again in six loud quick smacks.[1870] [1871] --Kneel down! cried the prefect of studies.[1872] [1873] Fleming knelt down, squeezing his hands under his armpits, his face[1874] contorted with pain; but Stephen knew how hard his hands were because[1875] Fleming was always rubbing rosin into them. But perhaps he was in great[1876] pain for the noise of the pandybat was terrible. Stephen's heart was[1877] beating and fluttering.[1878] [1879] --At your work, all of you! shouted the prefect of studies. We want no[1880] lazy idle loafers here, lazy idle little schemers. At your work, I tell[1881] you. Father Dolan will be in to see you every day. Father Dolan will be[1882] in tomorrow.[1883] [1884] He poked one of the boys in the side with his pandybat, saying:[1885] [1886] --You, boy! When will Father Dolan be in again?[1887] [1888] --Tomorrow, sir, said Tom Furlong's voice.[1889] [1890] --Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, said the prefect of studies.[1891] Make up your minds for that. Every day Father Dolan. Write away. You,[1892] boy, who are you?[1893] [1894] Stephen's heart jumped suddenly.[1895] [1896] --Dedalus, sir.[1897] [1898] --Why are you not writing like the others?[1899] [1900] --I...my...[1901] [1902] He could not speak with fright.[1903] [1904] --Why is he not writing, Father Arnall?[1905] [1906] --He broke his glasses, said Father Arnall, and I exempted him from[1907] work.[1908] [1909] --Broke? What is this I hear? What is this your name is! said the[1910] prefect of studies.[1911] [1912] --Dedalus, sir.[1913] [1914] --Out here, Dedalus. Lazy little schemer. I see schemer in your face.[1915] Where did you break your glasses?[1916] [1917] Stephen stumbled into the middle of the class, blinded by fear and haste.[1918] [1919] --Where did you break your glasses? repeated the prefect of studies.[1920] [1921] --The cinder-path, sir.[1922] [1923] --Hoho! The cinder-path! cried the prefect of studies. I know that trick.[1924] [1925] Stephen lifted his eyes in wonder and saw for a moment Father Dolan's[1926] white-grey not young face, his baldy white-grey head with fluff at the[1927] sides of it, the steel rims of his spectacles and his no-coloured eyes[1928] looking through the glasses. Why did he say he knew that trick?[1929] [1930] --Lazy idle little loafer! cried the prefect of studies. Broke my[1931] glasses! An old schoolboy trick! Out with your hand this moment![1932] [1933] Stephen closed his eyes and held out in the air his trembling hand with[1934] the palm upwards. He felt the prefect of studies touch it for a moment[1935] at the fingers to straighten it and then the swish of the sleeve of the[1936] soutane as the pandybat was lifted to strike. A hot burning stinging[1937] tingling blow like the loud crack of a broken stick made his trembling[1938] hand crumple together like a leaf in the fire: and at the sound and the[1939] pain scalding tears were driven into his eyes. His whole body was shaking[1940] with fright, his arm was shaking and his crumpled burning livid hand shook


26 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[1941] like a loose leaf in the air. A cry sprang to his lips, a prayer to be let[1942] off. But though the tears scalded his eyes and his limbs quivered with[1943] pain and fright he held back the hot tears and the cry that scalded his[1944] throat.[1945] [1946] --Other hand! shouted the prefect of studies.[1947] [1948] Stephen drew back his maimed and quivering right arm and held out his[1949] left hand. The soutane sleeve swished again as the pandybat was lifted[1950] and a loud crashing sound and a fierce maddening tingling burning pain[1951] made his hand shrink together with the palms and fingers in a livid[1952] quivering mass. The scalding water burst forth from his eyes and,[1953] burning with shame and agony and fear, he drew back his shaking arm in[1954] terror and burst out into a whine of pain. His body shook with a palsy[1955] of fright and in shame and rage he felt the scalding cry come from his[1956] throat and the scalding tears falling out of his eyes and down his[1957] flaming cheeks.[1958] [1959] --Kneel down, cried the prefect of studies.[1960] [1961] Stephen knelt down quickly pressing his beaten hands to his sides. To[1962] think of them beaten and swollen with pain all in a moment made him[1963] feel so sorry for them as if they were not his own but someone else's[1964] that he felt sorry for. And as he knelt, calming the last sobs in his[1965] throat and feeling the burning tingling pain pressed into his sides, he[1966] thought of the hands which he had held out in the air with the palms up[1967] and of the firm touch of the prefect of studies when he had steadied[1968] the shaking fingers and of the beaten swollen reddened mass of palm and[1969] fingers that shook helplessly in the air.[1970] [1971] --Get at your work, all of you, cried the prefect of studies from the[1972] door. Father Dolan will be in every day to see if any boy, any lazy[1973] idle little loafer wants flogging. Every day. Every day.[1974] [1975] The door closed behind him.[1976] [1977] The hushed class continued to copy out the themes. Father Arnall rose[1978] from his seat and went among them, helping the boys with gentle words[1979] and telling them the mistakes they had made. His voice was very gentle[1980] and soft. Then he returned to his seat and said to Fleming and Stephen:[1981] [1982] --You may return to your places, you two.[1983] [1984] Fleming and Stephen rose and, walking to their seats, sat down.[1985] Stephen, scarlet with shame, opened a book quickly with one weak hand[1986] and bent down upon it, his face close to the page.[1987] [1988] It was unfair and cruel because the doctor had told him not to read[1989] without glasses and he had written home to his father that morning to[1990] send him a new pair. And Father Arnall had said that he need not study[1991] till the new glasses came. Then to be called a schemer before the class[1992] and to be pandied when he always got the card for first or second and[1993] was the leader of the Yorkists! How could the prefect of studies know[1994] that it was a trick? He felt the touch of the prefect's fingers as they[1995] had steadied his hand and at first he had thought he was going to shake[1996] hands with him because the fingers were soft and firm: but then in an[1997] instant he had heard the swish of the soutane sleeve and the crash. It[1998] was cruel and unfair to make him kneel in the middle of the class then:[1999] and Father Arnall had told them both that they might return to their[2000] places without making any difference between them. He listened to[2001] Father Arnall's low and gentle voice as he corrected the themes.[2002] Perhaps he was sorry now and wanted to be decent. But it was unfair and[2003] cruel. The prefect of studies was a priest but that was cruel and[2004] unfair. And his white-grey face and the no-coloured eyes behind the[2005] steel-rimmed spectacles were cruel looking because he had steadied the[2006] hand first with his firm soft fingers and that was to hit it better and[2007] louder.[2008] [2009] --It's a stinking mean thing, that's what it is, said Fleming in the[2010] corridor as the classes were passing out in file to the refectory, to[2011] pandy a fellow for what is not his fault.[2012] [2013] --You really broke your glasses by accident, didn't you? Nasty Roche[2014] asked.[2015] [2016] Stephen felt his heart filled by Fleming's words and did not answer.


27 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[2017] [2018] --Of course he did! said Fleming. I wouldn't stand it. I'd go up and[2019] tell the rector on him.[2020] [2021] --Yes, said Cecil Thunder eagerly, and I saw him lift the pandy-bat[2022] over his shoulder and he's not allowed to do that.[2023] [2024] --Did they hurt you much? Nasty Roche asked.[2025] [2026] --Very much, Stephen said.[2027] [2028] --I wouldn't stand it, Fleming repeated, from Baldyhead or any other[2029] Baldyhead. It's a stinking mean low trick, that's what it is. I'd go[2030] straight up to the rector and tell him about it after dinner.[2031] [2032] --Yes, do. Yes, do, said Cecil Thunder.[2033] [2034] --Yes, do. Yes, go up and tell the rector on him, Dedalus, said Nasty[2035] Roche, because he said that he'd come in tomorrow again and pandy you.[2036] [2037] --Yes, yes. Tell the rector, all said.[2038] [2039] And there were some fellows out of second of grammar listening and one[2040] of them said:[2041] [2042] --The senate and the Roman people declared that Dedalus had been[2043] wrongly punished.[2044] [2045] It was wrong; it was unfair and cruel; and, as he sat in the refectory,[2046] he suffered time after time in memory the same humiliation until he[2047] began to wonder whether it might not really be that there was something[2048] in his face which made him look like a schemer and he wished he had a[2049] little mirror to see. But there could not be; and it was unjust and[2050] cruel and unfair.[2051] [2052] He could not eat the blackish fish fritters they got on Wednesdays in[2053] lent and one of his potatoes had the mark of the spade in it. Yes, he[2054] would do what the fellows had told him. He would go up and tell the[2055] rector that he had been wrongly punished. A thing like that had been[2056] done before by somebody in history, by some great person whose head was[2057] in the books of history. And the rector would declare that he had been[2058] wrongly punished because the senate and the Roman people always[2059] declared that the men who did that had been wrongly punished. Those[2060] were the great men whose names were in Richmal Magnall's Questions.[2061] History was all about those men and what they did and that was what[2062] Peter Parley's Tales about Greece and Rome were all about. Peter Parley[2063] himself was on the first page in a picture. There was a road over a[2064] heath with grass at the side and little bushes: and Peter Parley had a[2065] broad hat like a protestant minister and a big stick and he was walking[2066] fast along the road to Greece and Rome.[2067] [2068] It was easy what he had to do. All he had to do was when the dinner was[2069] over and he came out in his turn to go on walking but not out to the[2070] corridor but up the staircase on the right that led to the castle. He[2071] had nothing to do but that: to turn to the right and walk fast up the[2072] staircase and in half a minute he would be in the low dark narrow[2073] corridor that led through the castle to the rector's room. And every[2074] fellow had said that it was unfair, even the fellow out of second of[2075] grammar who had said that about the senate and the Roman people.[2076] [2077] What would happen?[2078] [2079] He heard the fellows of the higher line stand up at the top of the[2080] refectory and heard their steps as they came down the matting: Paddy[2081] Rath and Jimmy Magee and the Spaniard and the Portuguese and the fifth[2082] was big Corrigan who was going to be flogged by Mr Gleeson. That was[2083] why the prefect of studies had called him a schemer and pandied him for[2084] nothing: and, straining his weak eyes, tired with the tears, he watched[2085] big Corrigan's broad shoulders and big hanging black head passing in the[2086] file. But he had done something and besides Mr Gleeson would not flog him[2087] hard: and he remembered how big Corrigan looked in the bath. He had skin[2088] the same colour as the turf-coloured bogwater in the shallow end of the[2089] bath and when he walked along the side his feet slapped loudly on the wet[2090] tiles and at every step his thighs shook a little because he was fat.[2091] [2092] The refectory was half empty and the fellows were still passing out in


28 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[2093] file. He could go up the staircase because there was never a priest or[2094] a prefect outside the refectory door. But he could not go. The rector[2095] would side with the prefect of studies and think it was a schoolboy[2096] trick and then the prefect of studies would come in every day the same,[2097] only it would be worse because he would be dreadfully waxy at any[2098] fellow going up to the rector about him. The fellows had told him to go[2099] but they would not go themselves. They had forgotten all about it. No,[2100] it was best to forget all about it and perhaps the prefect of studies[2101] had only said he would come in. No, it was best to hide out of the way[2102] because when you were small and young you could often escape that way.[2103] [2104] The fellows at his table stood up. He stood up and passed out among[2105] them in the file. He had to decide. He was coming near the door. If he[2106] went on with the fellows he could never go up to the rector because he[2107] could not leave the playground for that. And if he went and was pandied[2108] all the same all the fellows would make fun and talk about young[2109] Dedalus going up to the rector to tell on the prefect of studies.[2110] [2111] He was walking down along the matting and he saw the door before him.[2112] It was impossible: he could not. He thought of the baldy head of the[2113] prefect of studies with the cruel no-coloured eyes looking at him and[2114] he heard the voice of the prefect of studies asking him twice what his[2115] name was. Why could he not remember the name when he was told the first[2116] time? Was he not listening the first time or was it to make fun out of[2117] the name? The great men in the history had names like that and nobody[2118] made fun of them. It was his own name that he should have made fun of[2119] if he wanted to make fun. Dolan: it was like the name of a woman who[2120] washed clothes.[2121] [2122] He had reached the door and, turning quickly up to the right, walked up[2123] the stairs and, before he could make up his mind to come back, he had[2124] entered the low dark narrow corridor that led to the castle. And as he[2125] crossed the threshold of the door of the corridor he saw, without[2126] turning his head to look, that all the fellows were looking after him[2127] as they went filing by.[2128] [2129] He passed along the narrow dark corridor, passing little doors that[2130] were the doors of the rooms of the community. He peered in front of him[2131] and right and left through the gloom and thought that those must be[2132] portraits. It was dark and silent and his eyes were weak and tired with[2133] tears so that he could not see. But he thought they were the portraits[2134] of the saints and great men of the order who were looking down on him[2135] silently as he passed: saint Ignatius Loyola holding an open book and[2136] pointing to the words AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM in it; saint Francis[2137] Xavier pointing to his chest; Lorenzo Ricci with his berretta on his[2138] head like one of the prefects of the lines, the three patrons of holy[2139] youth--saint Stanislaus Kostka, saint Aloysius Gonzago, and Blessed[2140] John Berchmans, all with young faces because they died when they were[2141] young, and Father Peter Kenny sitting in a chair wrapped in a big[2142] cloak.[2143] [2144] He came out on the landing above the entrance hall and looked about[2145] him. That was where Hamilton Rowan had passed and the marks of the[2146] soldiers' slugs were there. And it was there that the old servants had[2147] seen the ghost in the white cloak of a marshal.[2148] [2149] An old servant was sweeping at the end of the landing. He asked him[2150] where was the rector's room and the old servant pointed to the door at[2151] the far end and looked after him as he went on to it and knocked.[2152] [2153] There was no answer. He knocked again more loudly and his heart jumped[2154] when he heard a muffled voice say:[2155] [2156] --Come in![2157] [2158] He turned the handle and opened the door and fumbled for the handle of[2159] the green baize door inside. He found it and pushed it open and went in.[2160] [2161] He saw the rector sitting at a desk writing. There was a skull on the[2162] desk and a strange solemn smell in the room like the old leather of[2163] chairs.[2164] [2165] His heart was beating fast on account of the solemn place he was in and[2166] the silence of the room: and he looked at the skull and at the rector's[2167] kind-looking face.[2168]


29 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[2169] --Well, my little man, said the rector, what is it?[2170] [2171] Stephen swallowed down the thing in his throat and said:[2172] [2173] --I broke my glasses, sir.[2174] [2175] The rector opened his mouth and said:[2176] [2177] --O![2178] [2179] Then he smiled and said:[2180] [2181] --Well, if we broke our glasses we must write home for a new pair.[2182] [2183] --I wrote home, sir, said Stephen, and Father Arnall said I am not to[2184] study till they come.[2185] [2186] --Quite right! said the rector.[2187] [2188] Stephen swallowed down the thing again and tried to keep his legs and[2189] his voice from shaking.[2190] [2191] --But, sir--[2192] [2193] --Yes?[2194] [2195] --Father Dolan came in today and pandied me because I was not writing[2196] my theme.[2197] [2198] The rector looked at him in silence and he could feel the blood rising[2199] to his face and the tears about to rise to his eyes.[2200] [2201] The rector said:[2202] [2203] --Your name is Dedalus, isn't it?[2204] [2205] --Yes, sir...[2206] [2207] --And where did you break your glasses?[2208] [2209] --On the cinder-path, sir. A fellow was coming out of the bicycle[2210] house and I fell and they got broken. I don't know the fellow's name.[2211] [2212] The rector looked at him again in silence. Then he smiled and said:[2213] [2214] --O, well, it was a mistake; I am sure Father Dolan did not know.[2215] [2216] --But I told him I broke them, sir, and he pandied me.[2217] [2218] --Did you tell him that you had written home for a new pair? the[2219] rector asked.[2220] [2221] --No, sir.[2222] [2223] --O well then, said the rector, Father Dolan did not understand. You can[2224] say that I excuse you from your lessons for a few days.[2225] [2226] Stephen said quickly for fear his trembling would prevent him:[2227] [2228] --Yes, sir, but Father Dolan said he will come in tomorrow to pandy me[2229] again for it.[2230] [2231] --Very well, the rector said, it is a mistake and I shall speak to[2232] Father Dolan myself. Will that do now?[2233] [2234] Stephen felt the tears wetting his eyes and murmured:[2235] [2236] --O yes sir, thanks.[2237] [2238] The rector held his hand across the side of the desk where the skull[2239] was and Stephen, placing his hand in it for a moment, felt a cool moist[2240] palm.[2241] [2242] --Good day now, said the rector, withdrawing his hand and bowing.[2243] [2244] --Good day, sir, said Stephen.


30 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

[2245] [2246] He bowed and walked quietly out of the room, closing the doors[2247] carefully and slowly.[2248] [2249] But when he had passed the old servant on the landing and was again in[2250] the low narrow dark corridor he began to walk faster and faster. Faster[2251] and faster he hurried on through the gloom excitedly. He bumped his[2252] elbow against the door at the end and, hurrying down the staircase,[2253] walked quickly through the two corridors and out into the air.[2254] [2255] He could hear the cries of the fellows on the playgrounds. He broke[2256] into a run and, running quicker and quicker, ran across the cinderpath[2257] and reached the third line playground, panting.[2258] [2259] The fellows had seen him running. They closed round him in a ring,[2260] pushing one against another to hear.[2261] [2262] --Tell us! Tell us![2263] [2264] --What did he say?[2265] [2266] --Did you go in?[2267] [2268] --What did he say?[2269] [2270] --Tell us! Tell us![2271] [2272] He told them what he had said and what the rector had said and, when he[2273] had told them, all the fellows flung their caps spinning up into the[2274] air and cried:[2275] [2276] --Hurroo![2277] [2278] They caught their caps and sent them up again spinning sky-high and[2279] cried again:[2280] [2281] --Hurroo! Hurroo![2282] [2283] They made a cradle of their locked hands and hoisted him up among them[2284] and carried him along till he struggled to get free. And when he had[2285] escaped from them they broke away in all directions, flinging their[2286] caps again into the air and whistling as they went spinning up and[2287] crying:[2288] [2289] --Hurroo![2290] [2291] And they gave three groans for Baldyhead Dolan and three cheers for[2292] Conmee and they said he was the decentest rector that was ever in[2293] Clongowes.[2294] [2295] The cheers died away in the soft grey air. He was alone. He was happy[2296] and free; but he would not be anyway proud with Father Dolan. He would[2297] be very quiet and obedient: and he wished that he could do something[2298] kind for him to show him that he was not proud.[2299] [2300] The air was soft and grey and mild and evening was coming. There was[2301] the smell of evening in the air, the smell of the fields in the country[2302] where they digged up turnips to peel them and eat them when they went[2303] out for a walk to Major Barton's, the smell there was in the little[2304] wood beyond the pavilion where the gallnuts were.[2305] [2306] The fellows were practising long shies and bowling lobs and slow[2307] twisters. In the soft grey silence he could hear the bump of the balls:[2308] and from here and from there through the quiet air the sound of the[2309] cricket bats: pick, pack, pock, puck: like drops of water in a fountain[2310] falling softly in the brimming bowl.[2311] [2312] [2313] [2314]


31 of 31 6/7/12 3:34 PM

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man : Concordance

Documents

Transcript of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man : Concordance