"Patrick had the surgeon from the Boyle Hospital come over to see the child's eyes in the winter, and he said it was a shame that nothing had been done for them before. Since then Mary Ellen has been going to Boyle every market-day, and at the last she was two weeks in the hospital there. "The doctor said it wasn't the smoke of the peat after all, but something else which I don't understand; but he's cured it, praise be! "Mary Ellen wouldn't let me tell you before, because she didn't want you to be disappointed if nothing came of it; but now she's sitting here beside me, looking at the words that will tell you the good news. "We are all well and Patrick has a fine new heifer, but he says he'll not sell it to Tim Keefe if he has to give it away." "It is wonderful news, indeed," said Uncle Tom. "Our eyesight is a blessing we don't appreciate till we miss it." "I wonder if Father knows about it," said Kathleen. "I'd like to be the first one to tell him." "Perhaps you will be," said Columba. "When are you going to meet him?" And then the talking began all over again, because everyone wanted to see Uncle Jerry when he heard the good news; everyone wanted to go to the Giant's Causeway; in fact, everyone wanted to start out and see the whole of Ireland that very morning. "We'd go through Dublin," suggested Columba, "and I could see Trinity College, where I'm going to study some day." "I would like to see the College Library," said Feena. "It is one of the five great libraries of the kingdom, and has a copy of every book that's published in Great Britain and Ireland." "Dublin is a beautiful city," said Aunt Hannah. "There's plenty of fine sights I'd like to show you all. There's the River Liffey, and the canals, and Dublin Bay. Then there is St. Patrick's Cathedral that is named in honor of the good saint, and the Bank of Ireland, and Phœnix Park." "There is O'Connell Street, too," added Captain Conn. "It's one of the widest streets in all Europe. I'd like to do some shopping there." [Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, New York O'CONNELL STREET (FORMERLY CALLED SACKVILLE STREET), DUBLIN Notice the O'Connell Monument and the Nelson Pillar. _Page 102_] "We could see the O'Connell Monument and the Nelson Pillar in O'Connell Street," suggested Deena, "and we'd get a splendid view of the city from the top of the Pillar." "Danny and I could stop at Belfast to see the linen mills," Tara said to his father. "You said only yesterday it was time we were going up there to learn the business." "It is always easy to think of reasons for doing just what we want to be doing," replied his father, "but it is time now to be thinking of going to work. We will talk about the journey later when we have more time for it."