And no doubt the Republican Volunteers, such of them as were lying out on the bleak hillsides, such of them as frequently had to retreat into caves, turned in thought at Christmas to such gentle things as mothers, lovers, wives, and children and their toys. A few months after this struggle was done, the “murder gang” and “Hamar Greenwood’s assassins” would be living as friends again.
Waste! Waste!
Looking at this woman who sat here so lonely, who once must have been pretty and still was good-looking, with the light from the lamp falling upon her fair hair, which was neither gold nor brown nor red nor auburn, but a blend of those colours, I felt the pity of the fact that she was using her energies against the British nation instead of with it.
She had chosen the thorny instead of the smooth path of life, for I understand she had been reared in easy circumstances; she had borne three children during her difficulties, she had witnessed raid and arrest, she had had her furniture and clothes destroyed, and she had had to do battle for herself and her children while her husband was in prison. She was tireless in helping on the Republic, which was her creed, and she never complained. She was only one of others like herself.
All day long and all night long the lorries and the armoured cars rolled up and down the streets, and the patrols of armed men tramped round the corners—Loyalist energy to meet this Republican energy. What waste that the two energies should be employed against each other!
Or is it that the gods have longer vision than mortal men, and afflict man with an idea that, like rain upon a plant, difficulty shall water his spirit, and it shall sprout and flourish? Is it that men live and live again, the spirit working in matter and mastering it life by life? If this be so there seems a plan in confusion, use in wasted effort, hope in hopelessness.
The acquaintance with Mrs. Fitzgerald grew, though circumstance set limits upon it. Her work kept her to herself. All sorts of people used to call, and I do not doubt some of them were of interest to the British authorities. Once she must have held a meeting of some importance, because a picket, who seemed to have cross eyes, stood outside the house and glared at me when I came home, and I thought he was there to assassinate me.
But though we never shared the secrets of her work, the acquaintance grew, and she gave us peeps into her life.
She was an out-and-out Republican, and contemplated nothing short of the Republic. I was sure she was doomed to disappointment, and hinted this once. She answered:
“If we do not get a Republic at the end of this, there will always be a Republican party, and I shall belong to it. We will never give up the Republic.” A minute later she said an illuminating thing. “We are not in sympathy with England. We would sooner make an alliance with some country like France.”