Since writing that last letter I have been very busy getting in trim for work, and at last I'm "fit."
I have been taking my afternoons to see this wonderful city. I told you, did I not, that because I am in these blessed petticoats, I am obliged to recite "apart"—not apart from the petticoats, but apart from the unpetticoated sort.
My home is in quite a good-looking house, and it is well furnished, but the landlady is away, and the maidens do it up when and how they please. I have a large room "front," and as I study here every morning, and write much of the remainder of the time, my room is "tidied" only when I ask for it, and then, of course, it is an extra.
Will you believe me when I tell you that nowhere in Europe have I seen more lovely or better dressed women than right here on Sackville Street? I have accounted for it, in some degree, by the fact that our Irish cousins follow the American styles more closely than do any of their immediate sisters. The Irish woman is always in good form. One never sees her wearing any sort of jewelry before luncheon. She is usually found in the morning in a short, tailored skirt, a chic blouse and hat; some dainty confection of lace and muslin in the afternoon; and, almost without exception, the middle class, as well as the gentry, "dress" for dinner; then it is one sees the beautiful jewels handed down by their forebears.
The college buildings are delightfully quaint, with multitudes of old-fashioned wee window-panes which stud their faces. Statues of two of Ireland's beloved sons, Burke and Goldsmith, are on either side of the entrance. Opposite is the famous Bank of Ireland, beautiful in design, and the general post-office. Statues of "Hibernia," "Mercury" and "Fidelity" adorn the latter.
For some reason an Irishman, in his native country, will not admit ignorance on any subject. He would rather tell you wrongly than to say, "I don't know."
TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN
Some one asked a "jarvey" what those statues I have just mentioned were. Pat hadn't their names handy in his mind, so he drew on his imagination, and replied: "Thim's the twelve apostles, sur."