The Irish standard., 1907-05-11

veane with Ethna Carbery, and at
other times she brought Mr.. O'Leary
up to our house, "The Drift" AS
Ethna Carbery was then very busily
engaged with literary work and I was
less occupied, it fell to my lot io ar
company him on his walks. did not
argue so much, but just listened, as
he rambled on with delightful remin-
iscences of his old friends and the old
! times.
| But in the evenings. as he sat at.eas"
in his armchair in the freight, loved
to start him on argumentative su:;-
/, jects on which we sufficiently differed.
strate if she thought / was going too
far. for her heart ever glowed with
veneration for him. and I had much
ado to convince her that he really en-
joyed and rclished IL little contra,lic-
ton.
When he came to our house, my
father insisted on walking back with
him to Lisnaveane, though he objected
to being looked upon as old enough
to require such attention, and from
this time on. when I met him on Sum
day nights at DR.. Sigcrson's. he had
his revenge by insisting OF seeing ,He
home.
Now. 7 had become. in the course Of
Il somewhat wandering life, quite
Americanly independent and accus-
toned to look after myself but in
this matter did not contradict him.
We came by tramcar to the corner
of Rutland Square. and reached the
corner of his street. Mine lay further.
at the other side of quiet. secluded
Mountjoy Square. at this hour of
the night" Mr.. O'Leary always said
'it isn't at all nice for you to cross
the square alone" And ! meelily as
sumed the attitude of a somewhat
tind and unprotected young person,
and thanked him ardently for his COM
panionshir.
The very last time 7 saw him was
on a Sunday night, when had brought
Nora Hopper. the celebrated poet, t.
see DR. Sigerson. The doctor was TIT
fortunately away from home, but John
O'Leary sat in his accustomed seat by
the hearth and Nora Hopper was de-
lighted to meet him. He and de-
parted together as usual. but when we
came to the north side, he had not to
make the usual journey across the
square with mc-1 had changed my
lodgings and lived on this side. Be
sides, I told him the square had lost
something Of its awe-inspiring char
acter. as Mr.. Tim Healy had moved
away from the corner house which he
used to inhabit.
1t was a remarkable fact, which we
used to notice at the time, whe:, 1risn
political parties were much divided
into sections and sub-sections, all the
leading spirits lived within a stones
throw of each other, in streets off nr
near Mountjoy Square. I passed. IN
my walk home. from play. say at
the Rotunda, in a walk of five min
utes, tho houses of Mr.. r. Harrington.
DR.. Kenny. Mr.. John Dillon, Tim
Healy and T. D. Sullivan; and John
O'Leary, in Temple street, was con-
veniently near them all.
The rooms which he inhabited on
the third story of high. old-fash-
Toned house were absolutely full of
books. He always presented me with
a, few, or. in fact, told me to take
my choice out of pile where he hal
gathered together his duplicates, and
I inevitably picked up a. tattercd copy
of John Mitchel's Last Conquest" or
Jail Journal No matter that had
taken it before, l explained. 1t was
the best book I knew to give away
to some one else. with view to turn
Ing nm OF ner INTO a red not NdtlOn-
alist. Going down stairs, on departure
was something of an ordeal to mo. for
L am very nervous about lamps and
lamp explosions, and Mr.. O'Leary in
variahly snatched up his reading lamp,
and coming to the landing held it cut
over my head as I swiftly descended
the stairs, all the time hoping that it
would not come crashing down in
smoke and flame on top of me.
He had moved away from Temple
street some time before he died, but
did not see him quite lately, as was
engaged in lecturlng on Gaelic his
tory and literature in remote parts of
Ireland. / was rarely in Dublin, en-
cept on d. flying visit. bu. I rcco!lcct
that when told of my appointment. he
quite approved. and thought that
had found a suitable sphere Of work
1t was not so much the Gaelic lam
pl1are that he thoupht of i,or,,ri.oco