I find that here in America it is hard to imagine a successful Irish revolt, but there was more than a fighting chance for us as our plans were laid. Ireland can easily be defended by the population once they are aroused, for the country is well suited to guerilla warfare, and the mountains near the coast form a natural defense from attack by sea. Nor do the people have to go outside for their food. They could easily live for years in the interior on what the soil is capable of producing. And there is plenty of ammunition in Ireland, too. If we had been able to take the British as completely off guard in the country districts as we did in Dublin--had there not been the delay of a day in carrying out concerted action--we could have seized all the arms and ammunition of the British arsenals on the island. To-day it would be harder, for the British are not likely to be again caught unaware of our plans. Besides, they are taking precautions. Drilling of any sort is forbidden; foot-ball games are not allowed; all excursions are prohibited. The people are not allowed to come together in numbers on any occasion. For a long time after the rising, I dreamed every night about it. The dream was not as it actually took place, for the streets were different and the strategic plans changed, while the outcome was always successful. My awakening was a bitter disappointment, yet the memory of our failure is a greater memory than many of us ever dared to hope. In all the literature of the Celtic revival through which Ireland has gained fresh recognition from the world, there is no finer passage nor one that can mean so much to us, than that paragraph of the last proclamation which Padraic Pearse wrote in the ruined Dublin post-office when under shell and shrapnel fire. At a moment when he knew that the rising had been defeated, that the end of his supreme attempt had come, he wrote: "For four days they (the men) have fought and toiled, almost without cessation, almost without sleep; and in the intervals of fighting, they have sung songs of the freedom of Ireland. No man has complained, no man has asked 'why?'. Each individual has spent himself, happy to pour out his strength for Ireland and for freedom. If they do not win this fight, they will at least have deserved to win it. But win it they will, although they may win it in death. Already they have won a great thing. They have redeemed Dublin from many shames, and made her name splendid among the names of cities." [Illustration: Signature] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Margaret Skinnider _Frontispiece_ The Irish Cross Presented to the Author 2 Constance Gore-Booth, Countess de Markievicz 7 Margaret Skinnider wearing Boy's Clothes 21 A Fianna Boy 53 James Connolly 93 The Proclamation of the Irish Republic 107