1 Lough Derg 5th July 1916. My dear Jim, You'll be glad to see I'm here doing penance for your
sins I'm sure. They must have been fairly numerous if I'm to judge
by the bad time I'm having. Its simply awful. We came here on
Mon. evg. a party of 15 from Belfast. We count such illustrious
personages as Charlie McAuley, Mrs. McEntee, and
two sons younger than John, 5 Bradies & a number of fillers
up. We're fairly lively, or were till this morning. Yesterday
I did Mass in honour of the 4th May & went back to bed
again till 1 o.c. Then we all got up & raced in bare feet
over sharp stones till we had said about 1,000 Hail Marys.
At 6 o.c. we had our 1st & last meal, black tea & dry bread.
Then to Chapel for Benediction. 10 o.c. locked into Chapel
till 12 midnight. Only amusement winking at the boys
in the row behind & betting on the next person to fall
asleep. 12 o.c. interval spent outside in the dark — all sorts of chances
but very few taken. Trouble is at the crucial moment you
might step on a sharp stone! 1 o.c. about a million Paters & Aves
every alternate one standing & kneeling. 4 million of these
with 45 min. interval till 5.30. The intervals are quite
interesting. The last one enlivened by a row bet. me & an
ancient retired German who thinks he owns the island. You'll
be astonished to hear he doubts if I'm a lady. Ch. McA. in
true pilgrim spirit gave him to understand we were in no
doubt as to his (the German's) rank in society. 6 o.c. Mass & now
we have nothing to do for the day, & incidentally have nothing to eat.
I'm sitting on the edge of the island with my feet dangling in the water 2 trying to keep awake enough to write.The last night I was up for was
the ceilid poor Daly* was at. Do you remember the breakfast, or
rather the absence of breakfast? If only I had that humble fare
now & could eat it. The only excitement here is meeting the
boat. We all tear down to see if our 'fate' has arrived. No
luck so far alas! I believe you are not in the best of humour
with me for leaving you so long without a letter. I was busy you
know helping to look after your dependents so you can't blame me
for not having time for letter-writing. I left Dublin a week ago
so I have no news to give you except that Mairín was looking very
happy after getting 2 letters from you in one day. Min came back
very dissatisfied with her visit I think. She went at a bad time.
Nell seems to be thriving on prison life by all accounts. I wish I
could go to Wales for my holidays. I might go yet if things go
well. You are all so well hedged in now that I suppose its
impossible to see you. Keep up your hearts though. You'll all be
out before you know where you are. Don't forget you'll owe
your freedom to us noble Nationalists of Ulster! If we hadn't
agreed to sacrifice ourselves to the Orange wolves you'd probably
be left to rot in gaol! I hope when you come back & Home
Rule is in force you'll lead us all by the hand to Dublin & let
us have the pick of the jobs! Remember we immolated ourselves
solely for you. Its hard to fit in anything in 30 lines isn't it?
Did Mairín tell you of our picnic in Tallaght? It was much
better from our point of view (as we had very little trouble) than the
Scalp & the people enjoyed themselves more. We gave in the
money to the N. Aid & I believe they send on the money to you. Hope
they do, as of course we would have sent parcels
ourselves only for hearing of that. I'm stupid, I can't write
so I had better stop. If I wake up during the day I'll write Cole &
some others. Best of love to all
K *Ned Daly (K.Brady)