The New York herald., 1922-08-23


Griffith is always there" silent, hidden
perhaps, but invariable. constant.
Collins. on the other hand. Is comet
He flashes through the skies with a
glowing tail OF gallant tradition In his
wake He makes periodic appearances
| to stir men to battle, TO lead them to
prayer. even to guide them to some new
| Bethlehem His ultimate effect may be
rust as important as that OF Griffith, but
It is of distinctly different kind. IN the
whlrl of things that arc going to make
up the new Irish heavens.
De Valera may be better likened TO a
meteor. He. too. flashed across the
Irish sky. He. too. played his part In
influencing Irish destinles. But when
meteors fall, brilliant ana important as
they may have been. they do not reap
pear. Collins will.
lie is now reaching the perlgec OF his
present manifestation. He is showing
himself fervently kinetic parliament
tartan ana politician. Ho had already
proved himself thinker. organizer, leader
| in The days of the formation of Sim
Fein and its fight for life. He is to-
day beyond compare the darling Of al
| Dark Rosaleen's children.
4 And in appearance. In character and
| IN temperament he is all that the beau
| ideal of Dark Rosaleens darling bcy
/ should be. He's "black Irish" HIS
ancestors probably number among
themselves one or two of those ship
wrecked mariners OF Spain's armada
who have scattered Mediterranean fire
| and Mediterranean pigment among the
| Celtic blonds and reds.
| Collins carries his shock Of black hair
nearly six feet from the ground atop
1 broad frame OF heavy bone and muscle.
| In the old days 1t would have taken
| I. heavyweight mare indeed to carry
MIN to the Irish wars Now he Is a
virtuoso on the three pedals of Ford.
| They say he can make Ford take a
| five bar gate or Galway stone wall
Tordmanship, be It noted has well nigh
| displaced horsemanship in modern Irish
hero liturgy. Every Irishman loves
| still to play with a horse. but he does
his work and his fighting with gasoline.
A few years ago, The Man on Horse
| back might have been literal as we'll
as hgurative description Of Collins, and
/ It is now merely figurativc. But he has
all the attributes that go with the old
cavaliers. He is bold. he Is amusing
he is gallant, he Is charming. he Is gay
and under It all he has a strain OF
steel.
Collins Could Go without sleep.
He popped--despite his size and bulk.
Collins does pop--into a room at the
| Irish headquarters in London fcw
weeks ago. and called something gayly
in Gaelic to Desmond Fitzgerald, the
Sim Fein Minister of Information and
head of the marvellous propaganda that
has meant so much to the cause be-
cause. as a rule. it was honest propa-
ganda. Desmond replied in plain ''Sas-
| senach"
Damn your hide, Mick Collins - and
| them as Collins laughed popped out
again, went down the five front steps In
two jumps and into "A waiting motor car
with another, Fitzgerald walled: &
/ That's another night without sleep
| for me--and I've got to sleep. He doesn't.
when was working In Dublin used TO
see great deal OF Mick In connection
with the Finance Ministry. He knew
every digit In the whole complicated
double system OF Irish finance. He had
II all at his fingers ends. And used
| 20 think honestly 1t was all Dublin
Castle lies TO call him head OF the army.
But when ] got to Ballykinlan intern
| ment camp the boys from the army who
were there used to come to me and say I:
Sure, Desmond. that must be all camou-
| flage, that stuff about Collins being
Minister of Finance. sure. no one who
was out with the boys as many times as
he Is could be monkeying with finance.
| And since ] got 10 London and lived in
the same house with him / know how
both stories are true He works regu-
larly from one morning until the
next"
Energy Chief Characteristics.
Energy is Collins's most striking char
acteristic He Is seldom still. He walks
fast he talks fast, he thinks fast He
seldom sits down. When he does one
never gets the idea that no Is either
stlll or resting His swapping black
eyes dart from one place to another.
He retains the same position for only a
| few moments. Scowl and frown chase
Teach other across his mobile and ex-
pressive countenance. And 1t Is n coun-
tenance not easily forgotten. Quick as
his eyes are. they meet other eyes with
an almost dlsconcerting intensity. unless
| the glance is accompanied by one OF his
wide mouthed smiles. Yet even when
his big mouth spreads into a grin Il
spreads firmly. There is little of the
sinister about his face unless he wants
to make II so. and then eyes and mouth
and chin can combine into veritable
mask of terror.
When Francis feeling was taken out
Of Dublin Jail on the eve OF his cxccu-
tion in a British uniform that had been
boldly smuggled to him after II had been
| stolen with the aid OF three charmingly
innocent little Cumann Bna Baughan
! girls IL was Collins and his copartner
"Red" Mulcahy. who drove to within n
hundred yards Of the prison, where hum
dreds of armed men would have shot
either on sight. the Ford car into which
1 feeling stepped and was hurried off.
\ No job waa too big or too small for
! Collins
IL VII be remembered that he did not
appear in public until after the truce
/ had been actually arranged. And u was
| discretion for him not to. There were
scores OF men in Dublin In those days
4 yearnng to put notch on their gun
and 10000 in the bank for Michael Col.
| lina. dead. Many Of these men are still
\ in Ireland and large part Of their
lust for Michael Colins's hide is due TO
a fighting mans simple Nagerness 10
avenge pal. Most OF these men havo
now probably had a look ut Collins for
\ the first time. It ir the gossip In Dublin
that Collins will live but a very few
| hours after the recommencement OF
hostilities.
SAYS FREE STATE SEEMS
TO CONTROL IRELAND
D R0rr~ff- R0cb nm fhc