The Irish rebellion of 1916 : $b or, the unbroken traditionO'Brien, Nora Connolly
History
The Irish rebellion of 1916 : $b or, the unbroken tradition
O'Brien, Nora Connolly
Ireland -- History -- Easter Rising, 1916
On Sunday morning I went up on deck expecting to be almost the first
one there; Barney, however, was there before me. He said we would be
in Glasgow shortly. I went below for my suitcase. When I came up on
deck again I saw that we were nearer shore and that we were slowing
up. I asked a steward if we should be off soon.
"No," he said. "We are slowing up here to put some cattle off."
"Will it take long?" I asked.
"About an hour."
"How far are we from Glasgow?" I then asked.
"Two or three miles."
"Can we get off here instead of waiting?"
"Nothing to prevent you," he said.
So Barney and I picked up our traps and, as soon as the gangway was
fixed up for the {55} cattle to disembark, we went down it and on to
the quay.
We walked along as if we had been born there, although as a matter of
fact, neither Barney nor I had been in that place before. After a
few minutes we came to a street with tramway lines on it and decided
to wait for a car. We boarded the first car that came along. After
riding in it for a long time we noticed that instead of approaching
the city we seemed to be going farther away from it. We left the car
at the next stop, and took another going in the opposite direction,
and after riding for three-quarters of an hour arrived in Glasgow.
We were more than pleased to think that if the police had noticed us
when we went on the Glasgow boat at Belfast, and had sent on word for
the Glasgow police to watch out for us, the boat would arrive without
us.
Our next stop was to be Edinburgh. We went to the station and
inquired when the Edinburgh train would be leaving. There was one
leaving at eleven fifteen that would arrive in Edinburgh some time
about one o'clock. We decided to go by it. Then we remembered that
it was Sunday and that we had not been to Mass; also that if we went
by that train {56} it would be too late when we arrived at Edinburgh
to attend. It was not quite ten o'clock then; if we could find a
church nearby, we could go to Mass and still be in time for the
train. But where was there a church? "Look, Barney," I cried
suddenly. "Here's an Irish-looking guard. We'll ask him to direct
us." We asked him and he told us that there was a Catholic church
five minutes' walk away from the station, and directed us to it. It
took us more than five minutes to get there, but we arrived in time
and were back at the station before the Edinburgh train left.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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