ULYSSES
Proofs
Page proofs, 20-31 January 1922, draft level 9, 9'
MS Texas gatherings (←) 43, 44, 45, 46 Draft details
{u21, 822}
{u22, 690}
Yes because he never did a thing like that before as ask to get his
breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the City Arms hotel when he used to
be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself
interesting for that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he thought he had a great leg
of and she never left us a farthing all for masses for herself and her soul
greatest miser ever was actually afraid to lay out 4d for her methylated spirit
telling me all her ailments she had too much old chat in her about politics and
earthquakes and the end of the world let us have a bit of fun first God help the
world if all the women were her sort down on bathingsuits and lownecks of course
nobody wanted her to wear them I suppose she was pious because no man would look
at her twice I hope Ill never be like her a wonder she didnt want us to cover
our faces but she was a welleducated woman certainly and her gabby talk about Mr
Riordan here and Mr Riordan there I suppose he was glad to get shut of her and
her dog smelling my fur and always edging to get up under my petticoats
especially then still I like that in him polite to old women like that and
waiters and beggars too hes not proud out of nothing but not always if ever he
got anything really serious the matter with him its much better for them to go
into a hospital where everything is clean but I suppose Id have to dring it into
him for a month yes and then wed have a hospital nurse next thing on the carpet
have him staying there till they throw him out or a nun maybe like the smutty
photo he has shes as much a nun as Im not yes because theyre so weak and puling
when theyre sick they want a woman to get well if his nose bleeds
{u21, 823}
youd think it was O tragic and that dyinglooking one off the south circular
when he sprained his foot at the choir party at
|9'lough
Bray the
sugarloafº
Mountain9'| the day I
wore that dress Miss Stack bringing him flowers the worst old ones she could
find at the bottom of the basket
|9'anything
at all to get into a mans bedroom9'| with her old maids voice
{u22, 691}
trying to imagine he was dying on account of her to never see thy face
again though he looked more like a man with his beard a bit grown in the bed
father was the same besides I hate bandaging and dosing when he cut his toe with
the razor paring his corns afraid hed get blood poisoning but if it was a thing
I was sick then wed see what attention only of course the woman hides it not to
give all the trouble they do yes he came somewhere Im sure by his appetite
anyway love its not or hed be off his feed thinking of her so either it was one
of those night women if it was down there he was really and the hotel story he
made up a pack of lies to hide it planning it Hynes kept me who did I meet ah
yes I met do you remember Menton and who else who let me see that big babbyface
I saw him and he not long married flirting with a young girl at Pooles Myriorama
and turned my back on him when he slinked out looking quite conscious what harm
but he had the impudence to make up to me one time well done to him mouth
almighty and his boiled eyes of all the big stupoes I ever met and thats called
a solicitor only for I hate having a long wrangle in bed or else if its not that
its some little bitch or other he got in with somewhere or picked up on the sly
if they only knew him as well as I do yes because the day before yesterday he
was scribbling something a letter when I came into the front room to show him
Dignams death in the paper as if something told me and he covered it up with the
blottingpaper pretending to be thinking about business so very probably that was
it to somebody who thinks she has a softy in him because all men get a bit like
that at his age especially getting on to forty he is now so as to wheedle any
money she can out of him no fool like an old fool and then the usual kissing my
bottom was to hide it not that I care two straws now who he does it with or knew
before that way though Id like to find out so long as I dont have the two of
them under my nose all the time like that slut
{u21, 824}
that Mary we had in Ontario terrace padding out her false bottom to excite
him bad enough to get the smell of those painted women off him once or twice I
had a suspicion by getting him to come near me when I found the long hair on his
coat without that one when I went into the kitchen pretending he was drinking
water 1 woman is not enough for them it was all his fault of course ruining
servants then proposing that she could eat at our table on Christmas day if you
please O no thank you not in my house stealing my potatoes and the oysters 2/6
per doz going out to see her aunt if you please common robbery so it was but I
was sure he had something on with that one it takes me to find out a thing like
that he said you have no proof it was her proof O yes her aunt was very fond
{u22, 692}
of oysters but I told her what I thought of her suggesting me to go out to
be alone with her I wouldnt lower myself to spy on them the garters I found in
her room the Friday she was out that was enough for me a little bit too much her
face swelled up on her with temper when I gave her her weeks notice I saw to
that better do without them altogether do out the rooms myself quicker only for
the damn cooking and throwing out the dirt I gave it to him anyhow either she or
me leaves the house I couldnt even touch him if I thought he was with a dirty
barefaced liar and sloven like that one denying it up to my face and singing
about the place in the W C too because she knew she was too well off yes because
he couldnt possibly do without it that long so he must do it somewhere and the
last time he came on my bottom when was it the night Boylan gave my hand a great
squeeze going along by the Tolka in my hand there steals another I just pressed
the back of his like that with my thumb to squeeze back singing the young May
Moon shes beaming love because he has an idea about him and me hes not such a
fool he said Im dining out and going to the Gaiety though Im not going to give
him the satisfaction in any case God knows hes a change in a way not to be
always and ever wearing the same old hat unless I paid some nicelooking boy to
do it since I cant do it myself a young boy would like me Id confuse him a
little alone with him if we were Id let him see my garters the new ones and make
him turn red looking at him seduce him I know
{u21, 825}
what boys feel with that down on their cheek doing that frigging drawing
out the thing by the hour question and answer would you do this that and the
other with the coalman yes with a bishop yes I would because I told him about
some Dean or Bishop was sitting beside me in the jews Temples gardens when I was
knitting that woollen thing a stranger to Dublin what place was it and so on
about the monuments and he tired me out with statues encouraging him making him
worse than he is who is in your mind now tell me who are you thinking of who is
it tell me his name who tell me who the German Emperor is it yes imagine Im him
think of him can you feel him trying to make a whore of me what he never will he
ought to give it up now at this age of his life simply ruination for any woman
and no satisfaction in it pretending to like it till he comes and then finish it
off myself anyway and it makes your lips pale anyhow its done now once and for
all with all the talk of the world about it people make its only the first time
after that its just the ordinary do it and think no more about it why cant you
kiss a man without going and marrying him first you sometimes love to wildly when you feel that way so nice all
{u22, 693}
over you you cant help yourself I wish some man or other would take me
sometime when hes there and kiss me in his arms theres nothing like a kiss long
and hot down to your soul almost paralyses you then I hate that confession when
I used to go to Father Corrigan he touched me father and what harm if he did
where and I said on the canal bank like a fool but whereabouts on your person my
child on the leg behind high up was it yes rather high up was it where you sit
down yes O Lord couldnt he say bottom right out and have done with it what has
that got to do with it and did you whatever way he put it I forget no father and
I always think of the real father what did he want to know for when I already
confessed it to God he had a nice fat hand the palm moist always I wouldnt mind
feeling it neither would he Id say by the bullneck in his horsecollar I wonder
did he know me in the box I could see his face he couldnt see mine of course hed
never turn or let on
|9still
his eyes were red when his father died theyre lost for a woman of course
must be terrible when
a man cries let
alone them Id like to be
{u21, 826}
embraced by one in his vestments and the smell of incense off him like the
pope9| besides
theres no danger with a
|s9Priest
priests9|
if youre married hes too careful about himself then give something to H H the
pope for a penance I wonder was he satisfied with me one thing I didnt like his
slapping me behind going away so familiarly in the hall though I laughed Im not
a horse or an ass am I I suppose he was thinking of his father I wonder is he
awake thinking of me or dreaming am I in it who gave him that flower he said he
bought he smelt of some kind of drink not whisky or stout or perhaps the sweety
kind of paste they stick their bills up with some liqueur Id like to sip those
richlooking green and yellow expensive drinks those stagedoor johnnies drink
with the opera hats I tasted once with my finger dipped out of that American
that had the squirrel talking stamps with father he had all he could do to keep
himself from falling asleep after the last time after we took the
|9'claret
port9'|
and potted meat it had a fine salty taste yes because I felt lovely and tired
myself and fell asleep as sound as a top the moment I popped straight into bed
till that thunder woke me up God be merciful to us I thought the heavens were
coming down about us to punish us when I blessed myself and said a Hail Mary
like those awful thunderbolts in Gibraltar as if the world was coming to an end
and then they come and tell you theres no God what could you do if it was
running and rushing about nothing only make an act of contrition the candle I
lit that evening in Whitefriars street chapel for the month of May see it
brought its luck though hed scoff if he heard because he never goes to church
{u22, 694}
mass or meeting he says your soul you have no soul inside only grey matter
because he doesnt know what it is to have one yes when I lit the lamp because he
must have come 3 or 4 times with that tremendous big red brute of a thing he has
I thought the vein or whatever the dickens they call it was going to burst
though his nose is not so big after I took off all my things with the blinds
down after my hours dressing and perfuming and combing it like iron or some kind
of a thick crowbar standing all the time he must have eaten oysters I think a
few dozen he was in great singing voice no I never in all my life felt anyone
had one the size of that to make you feel full up he
{u21, 827}
must have
|9eaten9|
a whole sheep after whats the idea making us like that with a big hole in the
middle of us or like a
|9'stallion
Stallion9'|
driving it up into you because thats all they want out of you with that
determined vicious look in his eye I had to halfshut my eyes still he hasnt such
a tremendous amount of spunk in him when I made him pull out and do it on me
considering how big it is so much the better in case any of it wasnt washed out
properly the last time I let him finish it in me nice invention they made for
women for him to get all the pleasure but if someone gave them a touch of it
themselves theyd know what I went through with Milly nobody would believe
cutting her teeth too and Mina Purefoys husband give us a swing out of your
whiskers filling her up with a child or twins once a year as regular as the
clock always with a smell of children off her the one they called budgers or
something like a nigger with a shock of hair on it Jesusjack the child is a
black the last time I was there a squad of them falling over one another and
bawling you couldnt hear your ears supposed to be healthy not satisfied till
they have us swollen out like elephants or I dont know what supposing I risked
having another not off him though still if he was married Im sure hed have a
fine strong child but I dont know Poldy has more spunk in him yes thatd be
awfully jolly I suppose it was meeting Josie Powell and the funeral and thinking
about me and Boylan set him off well he can think what he likes now if thatll do
him any good I know they were spooning a bit when I came on the scene he was
dancing and sitting out with her the night of Georgina Simpsons housewarming and
then he wanted to ram it down my neck on account of not liking to see her a
wallflower that was why we had the standup row over politics he began it not me
when he said about Our Lord being a carpenter at last he made me cry of course a
woman is so sensitive about everything I was fuming with myself after for giving
in only for I knew he was gone on me and the first socialist
|9he said
He was9| he annoyed me
so much I couldnt put him into a temper still he knows a lot of mixedup things
especially about the body and the inside I often wanted to study up that myself
what we have inside us in that family physician I could always hear his voice talking when the room was
{u21, 828}
crowded and watch him after that I pretended I had a coolness on with her over him
{u22, 695}
because he used to be a bit on the jealous side whenever he asked who are
you going to and I said over to Floey and he made me the present of lord Byrons
poems and the three pairs of gloves so that finished that I could quite easily
get him to make it up any time I know how Id even supposing he got in with her
again and was going out to see her somewhere Id know if he refused to eat the
onions I know
|9several
plenty
of9| ways ask him to
tuck down the collar of my blouse or touch him with my veil and gloves on going
out 1 kiss then would send them all spinning however alright well see then let
him go to her she of course would only be too delighted to pretend shes mad in
love with him that I wouldnt so much mind
|9Id just
go to her and ask her
do you love him
and look her square in the eyes she couldnt fool
me9| but he might
imagine he was and make a declaration to her with his plabbery kind of a manner
like he did to me though I had the devils own job to get it out of him though I
liked him for that it showed he could hold in and wasnt to be got for the asking
he was on the pop of asking me too the night in the kitchen I was rolling the
potato cake theres something I want to say to you only for I put him off letting
on I was in a temper with my hands and arms full of pasty flour in any case I
let out too much the night before talking of dreams so I didnt want to let him
know more than was good for him she used to be always embracing me Josie
whenever he was there meaning him of course glauming me over and when I said I
washed up and down as far as possible asking me did you wash possible the women
are always egging on to that putting it on thick when hes there they know by his
sly eye blinking a bit putting on the indifferent when they come out with
something the kind he is what spoils him I dont wonder in the least because he
was very handsome at that time trying to look like lord Byron I said I liked
though he was too beautiful for a man and he was a little before we got engaged
afterwards though she didnt like it so much the day I was in fits of laughing
with the giggles I couldnt stop about all my hairpins falling out one after
another with the mass of hair I had youre always in great humour she said yes because it
{u21, 829}
grigged her because she knew what it meant because I used to tell her a
good bit of what went on between us not all but just enough to make her mouth
water but that wasnt my fault she didnt darken the door much after we were married I wonder what shes got like now
{u22, 696}
after living with that dotty husband of hers she had her face beginning to
look drawn and run down the last time I saw her she must have been just after a
row with him because I saw on the moment she was edging to draw down a
conversation about husbands and talk about him to run him down what was it she
told me O yes that sometimes he used to go to bed with his muddy boots on when
the maggot takes him just imagine having to get into bed with a thing like that
that might murder you any moment what a man well its not the one way everyone
goes mad Poldy anyhow whatever he does always wipes his feet on the mat when he
comes in wet or shine and always blacks his own boots too and he always takes
off his hat when he comes up in the street like then and now hes going about in
his slippers to look for £10000 for a postcard u p up O Sweetheart May
wouldnt a thing like that simply bore you stiff to extinction actually too
stupid even to take his boots off now what could you make of a man like that Id
rather die 20 times over than marry another of their sex of course hed never
find another woman like me to put up with him the way I do know me come sleep
with me yes and he knows that too at the bottom of his heart take that Mrs
Maybrick that poisoned her husband for what I wonder in love with some other man
yes it was found out on her wasnt she the downright villain to go and do a thing
like that of course some men can be dreadfully aggravating drive you mad and
always the worst word in the world what do they ask us to marry them for if were
so bad as all that comes to yes because they cant get on without us white
Arsenic she put in his tea
|9offº
flypaper wasnt it9| I
wonder why they call it that if I asked him hed say its from the Greek leave us
as wise as
|9we
were9| before she must
have been madly in love with the other fellow to run the chance of being hanged
O she didnt care if that was her nature what could she do besides theyre not
brutes enough to go and hang a woman surely are they
{u21, 830}
theyre all so different Boylan talking about the shape of my foot he noticed
at once even before he was introduced when I was in the D B C with Poldy
laughing and trying to listen I was waggling my foot we both ordered 2 teas and
plain bread and butter I saw him looking with his two old maids of sisters when
I stood up and asked the girl where it was what do I care with it dropping out
of me and that black closed breeches he made me buy takes you half an hour to
let them down wetting all myself always with some brandnew fad every other week
such a long one I did I forgot my suede gloves on the seat behind that I never
got after some robber of a woman and he wanted me to put it in the Irish Times
lost in the ladies lavatory D B C Dame street
{u22, 697}
finder return to Mrs Marion Bloom and I saw his eyes on my feet going out
through the turning door he was looking when I looked back and I went there for
tea 2 days after in the hope but he wasnt now how did that excite him because I
was crossing them when we were in the other room first he meant the shoes that
are too tight to walk in my hand is nice like that
|9if I
only had
|athe
aa| ring with the stone for
my monthº a nice
aquamarine
Ill stick him for one
and a gold
bracelet9| I dont
like my foot so much still I made him spend once with my foot the night after
Goodwins botchup of a concert so cold and windy it was well we had that rum in
the house to mull and the fire wasnt black out when he asked to take off my
stockings lying on the hearthrug in Lombard street west and another time it was
my muddy boots hed like me to walk in all the horses dung I could find but of
course hes not natural like the rest of the world that I what did he say I could
give 9 points in 10 to Katty Lanner and beat her what does that mean I asked him
I forget what he said because the stop press edition just passed and the man
with the curly hair in the Lucan dairy thats so polite I think I saw his face
before somewhere I noticed him when I was tasting the butter so I took my time
Bartell dArcy too that he used to make fun of when he commenced kissing me on
the choir stairs after I sang Gounods Ave Maria what are we waiting for O
my heart kiss me straight on the brow and part which is my brown part he was
pretty hot for all his tinny voice too my low notes he was always
{u21, 831}
raving about if you can believe him I liked the way he used his mouth
singing then he said wasnt it terrible to do that there in a place like that I
dont see anything so terrible about it Ill tell him about that some day not now
and surprise him ay and Ill take him there and show him the very place too we
did it so now there you are like it or lump it he thinks nothing can happen
without him knowing
|9he
hadnt an idea about my mother till we were engaged otherwise hed never have got
me so cheap as he
did9| he was 10 times
worse himself
|9anyhow9|
begging me to give him a tiny bit cut off my drawers that was the evening coming
along Kenilworth square he kissed me in the eye of my glove and I had to take it
off asking me questions is it permitted to inquire the shape of my bedroom so I
let him keep it as if I forgot it to think of me when I saw him slip it into his
pocket of course hes mad on the subject of drawers thats plain to be seen always
skeezing at those brazenfaced things on the bicycles with their skirts blowing
up to their navels even when Milly and I were out with him at the open air fete
that one in the cream muslin standing right against the
{u22, 698}
sun so he could see every atom she had on when he saw me from behind
following in the rain I saw him before he saw me however standing at the corner
of the Harolds cross road with a new raincoat on him with the muffler in the
Zingari colours to show off his complexion and the brown hat looking slyboots as
usual what was he doing there where hed no business they can go and get whatever
they like from anything at all with a skirt on it and were not to ask any
questions but they want to know where were you where are you going I could feel
him coming along skulking after me his eyes on my neck
|9he
had been keeping away from the house he felt it was getting too warm for him
so I halfturned and stopped then
he9| pestered me to
say yes till I took off my glove slowly watching him he said my openwork sleeves
were too cold for the rain anything for an excuse to put his hand anear me
drawers drawers the whole blessed time till I promised to give him the pair off
my doll to carry about in his waistcoat pocket O Maria Santisima he did
look a big fool dreeping in the rain splendid set of teeth he had made me hungry
to look at them and beseeched of me to lift the orange
{u21, 832}
petticoat I had on with the sunray pleats that there was nobody he said hed
kneel down in the wet if I didnt so persevering
|s9he
would too and ruin his new
raincoats9| you never
know what freak theyd take alone with you theyre so savage for it if anyone was
passing so I lifted them a bit and touched his trousers outside the way I used
to Gardner after with my ring hand to keep him from doing worse where it was too
public I was dying to find out was he circumcised he was shaking like a jelly
all over they want to do everything too quick take all the pleasure out of it
|9and
father waiting all the time for his dinner
he told me to
say I left my
purse in the butchers and had to go back for it
what a
Deceiver9| then he
wrote me that letter with all those words in it how could he have the face to
any woman after his company manners making it so awkward after when we met
asking me have I offended you with my eyelids down of course he saw I wasnt he
had a few brains not like that other fool Henny Doyle he was always breaking or
tearing something in the charades I hate an unlucky man and if I knew what it
meant of course I had to say no for form sake dont understand you I said and
wasnt it natural so it is of course it used to be written up with a picture of a
womans on that wall in Gibraltar with that word I couldnt find anywhere only for
children seeing it too young then writing every morning a letter sometimes twice
a day I liked the way he made love then he knew the way to take a woman when he sent me the 8 big poppies because mine
{u22, 699}
was the 8th then I wrote the night he kissed my heart at Dolphins barn I
couldnt describe it simply it makes you feel like nothing on earth but he never
knew how to embrace well like Gardner I hope hell come on Monday as he said at
the same time four I hate people who come at all hours answer the door you think
its the vegetables then its somebody and you all undressed or the door of the
filthy sloppy kitchen blows open the day old frostyface Goodwin called about the
concert in Lombard street and I just after dinner all flushed and tossed with
boiling old stew dont look at me professor I had to say Im a fright yes but he
was a real old gent in his way it was impossible to be more respectful nobody to
say youre out you have to peep out through the blind like the messengerboy today I thought it
{u21, 833}
was a putoff first him sending the port and the peaches first and I was
just beginning to yawn with nerves thinking he was trying to make a fool of me
when I knew his tattarrattat at the door he must have been a bit late because it
was ¼ after 3 when I saw the 2 Dedalus girls coming from school I never
know the time even that watch he gave me never seems to go properly Id want to
get it looked after when I threw the penny to that lame sailor for England home
and beauty when I was whistling there is a charming girl I love and I hadnt even
put on my clean shift or powdered myself or a thing then this day week were to
go to Belfast just as well he has to go to Ennis his fathers anniversary the
27th it wouldnt be pleasant if he did suppose our rooms at the hotel were beside
each other and any fooling went on in the new bed I couldnt tell him to stop and
not bother me with him in the next room or perhaps some protestant clergyman
with a cough knocking on the wall then he wouldnt believe the next day we didnt
do something its all very well a husband but you cant fool a lover after me
telling him we never did anything of course he didnt believe me no its better
hes going where he is besides something always happens with him the time going
to the Mallow Concert at Maryborough ordering boiling soup for the two of us
then the bell rang out he walks down the platform with the soup splashing about
taking spoonfuls of it
|9hadnt
he the nerve9| and the
waiter after him making a holy show of us screeching and confusion for the
engine to start but he wouldnt pay till he finished it the two gentlemen in the
3rd class carriage said he was quite right so he was too hes so pigheaded
sometimes when he gets a thing into his head a good job he was able to open the
carriage door with his knife or theyd have taken us on to Cork I suppose that
was done out of revenge on him O I love jaunting in a train or a car with lovely
soft cushions I wonder will he take a 1st class for me he might want to do it
{u22, 700}
in the train by tipping the guard well O I suppose there'll be the
usual idiots of men gaping at us with their eyes as stupid as ever they can
possibly be
|9that
was an exceptional man |athat
common workmana| that left us
alone in the carriage that day going to Howth
Id like to find
out something about
him9|
|9one
19|
or
|9two
29|
tunnels perhaps then you have to look out
{u21, 834}
of the window all the nicer then coming back suppose I never came back what
would they say eloped with him that gets you on on the stage the last concert I
sang at where its over a year ago when was it St Teresas hall Clarendon St
little chits of missies they have now singing Kathleen Kearney and her like on
account of father being in the army and my singing the absentminded beggar and
wearing a brooch for lord Roberts when I had the map of it all and Poldy not
Irish enough was it him managed it this time I wouldnt put it past him like he
got me on to sing in the Stabat Mater by going around saying he was putting Lead
Kindly Light to music I put him up to that till the jesuits found out he was a
freemason thumping the piano lead Thou me on copied from some old opera yes and
he was going about with some of them Sinner Fein lately or whatever they call
themselves talking his usual trash and nonsense he says that little man he
showed me without the neck is very intelligent the coming man
(9Griffiths
Griffithº9)
is he well he doesnt look it thats all I can say still it must have been him he
knew there was a boycott I hate the mention of their politics after the war that
Pretoria and Ladysmith and Bloemfontein where Gardner Lieut Stanley G 8th Bn 2nd
East Lancs Rgt of enteric fever he was a lovely fellow in khaki and just the
right height over me Im sure he was brave too he said I was lovely the evening
we kissed goodbye at the canal lock my Irish beauty he was pale with excitement
about going away or wed be seen from the road he couldnt stand properly and I so
hot as I never felt they could have made their peace in the beginning or old oom
Paul and the rest of the old Krugers go and fight it out between them instead of
dragging on for years killing any finelooking men there were with their fever if
he was even decently shot it wouldnt have been so
|9mad
bad9|
I love to see a regiment pass in review the first time I saw the Spanish cavalry
at La Roque it was lovely after looking across the bay from Algeciras all the
lights of the rock like fireflies or those sham battles on the 15 acres the
Black Watch with their kilts in time at the march past the
|910th9|
hussars
|9the
prince of Wales own9|
or the lancers O the lancers theyre grand or the Dublins that won Tugela his
father made his money over selling the horses for the cavalry well he
{u21, 835}
could buy me a nice present up in Belfast after what I gave him theyve
{u22, 701}
lovely linen up there or one of those nice kimono things I must buy a
mothball like I had before to keep in the drawer with them it would be exciting
going round with him shopping buying those things in a new city better leave
this ring behind want to keep turning and turning to get it over the knuckle
there or they might bell it round the town in their papers or tell the police on
me but theyd think were married O let them all go and smother themselves for the
fat lot I care he has plenty of money and hes not a marrying man so somebody
better get it out of him if I could find out whether he likes me I looked a bit
washy of course when I looked close in the handglass powdering a mirror never
gives you the expression besides scrooching down on me like that all the time
with his big hipbones hes heavy too with his hairy chest for this heat always
having to lie down for them better for him put it into me from behind the way
Mrs Mastiansky told me her husband made her like the dogs do it and stick out
her tongue as far as ever she could and he so quiet and mild with his tingating
cither can you ever be up to men the way it takes them lovely stuff in that blue
suit he had on and stylish tie and socks with the skyblue silk things on them
hes certainly welloff I know by the cut his clothes have and his heavy watch but
he was like a perfect devil for a few minutes after he came back with the stop
press tearing up the tickets and swearing blazes because he lost 20 quid he said
he lost over that outsider that won and half he put on for me on account of
Lenehans tip cursing him to the lowest pits that sponger he was making free with
me after the Glencree dinner coming back that long joult over the featherbed
mountain after the lord Mayor looking at me with his dirty eyes Val Dillon
|9that
big heathen9| I first
noticed him at dessert when I was cracking the nuts with my teeth I wished I
could have picked every morsel of that chicken out of my fingers it was so tasty
and browned and as tender as anything only for I didnt want to eat everything on
my plate those forks and fishslicers were hallmarked silver too I wish I had
some I could easily have slipped a couple into my muff when I was playing with
them then always hanging out of them for money in
{u21, 836}
a restaurant for the bit you put down your throat we have to be thankful
for our mangy cup of tea itself as a great compliment to be noticed the way the
world is divided in any case if its going to go on I want at least two other
good chemises for one thing and but I dont know what kind of drawers he likes
none at all I think didnt he say yes and half the girls in Gibraltar never wore
them either naked as God made them that Andalusian singing her Manola she didnt
make much secret of what she hadnt yes and the
{u22, 702}
second pair of silkette stockings is laddered after one days wear I could
have brought them back to
(9Sparrows
Lewers9)
this morning and kick up a row and made that one change them only not to upset
myself and run the risk of walking into him and ruining the whole thing and one
of those kidfitting corsets Id want advertised cheap in the Gentlewoman with
elastic gores on the hips he saved the one I have but thats no good what did
they say they give a delightful figure line 11/6 obviating that unsightly broad
appearance across the lower back to reduce flesh my belly is a bit too big Ill
have to knock off the stout at dinner or am I getting too fond of it the last
they sent from ORourkes was as flat as a pancake he makes his money easy Larry
they call him the old mangy parcel he sent at Xmas a cottage cake and a bottle
of hogwash he tried to palm off as claret that he couldnt get anyone to drink
God spare his spit for fear hed die of the drouth or I must do a few breathing
exercises I wonder is that antifat any good might overdo it thin ones are not so
much the fashion now garters that much I have the violet pair I wore today thats
all he bought me out of the cheque he got on the first O no there was the face
lotion I finished the last of yesterday that made my skin like new I told him
over and over again get that made up in the same place and dont forget it God
only knows whether he did after all I said to him Ill know by the bottle anyway
if not I suppose Ill only have to wash in my piss like beeftea or chickensoup
with some of that opoponax and violet I thought it was beginning to look coarse
or old a bit the skin underneath is much finer where it peeled off there on my
finger after the burn its a pity it isnt all like that and the four paltry
handkerchiefs about 6/- in all sure you cant get on in this world without style all going in food and rent when
{u21, 837}
I get it Ill lash it around I tell you in fine style I always want to throw
a handful of tea into the pot measuring and mincing if I buy a pair of old
brogues itself do you like those new shoes yes how much were they Ive no clothes
at all the brown costume and the skirt and jacket and the one at the cleaners 3
whats that for any woman cutting up this old hat and patching up the other the
men wont look at you and women try to walk on you because they know youve no man
then with all the things getting dearer every day for the 4 years more I have of
life up to 35 no Im what am I at all Ill be 33 in September will I what O well
look at that Mrs Galbraith shes much older than me I saw her when I was out last
week her beautys on the wane she was a lovely woman magnificent head of hair on
her down to her waist tossing it back like that like Kitty OShea in Grantham street 1st thing I did every morning
{u22, 703}
to look across see her combing it as if she loved it and was full of it
pity I only got to know her the day before we left and that Mrs Langtry the
Jersey Lily the prince of Wales was in love with I suppose hes like the first
man going the roads only for the name of a king theyre all made the one way
|9only a
black mans Id like to
try9| a beauty up to
what was she
|9fortyfive
459|
there was some funny story about the jealous old husband what was it at all and
an oyster knife he went no he made her wear a kind of a tin thing round her and
the prince of Wales yes he had the oyster knife cant be true a thing like that
like some of those books he brings me the works of Master Francois somebody
supposed to be a priest about a child born out of her ear because her bumgut
fell out a nice word for any priest to write and her a—e as if any fool
wouldnt know what that meant I hate that pretending of all things with that old
blackguards face on him anybody can see its not true and that Ruby and Fair
Tyrants he brought me that twice I remember when I came to page 50 the part
about where she hangs him up out of a hook with a cord flagellate sure theres
nothing for a woman in that all invention made up about he drinking the
champagne out of her slipper after the ball was over like the infant Jesus in
the crib at Inchicore in the Blessed Virgins arms sure no woman could have a
child that big taken out of her and I thought first it came out of her side because how could she
{u21, 838}
go to the chamber when she wanted to and she a rich lady
|9of
course she felt honoured
H.R.H. he was in
Gibraltar the year I was born I bet he found lilies there too
where he planted the
tree he planted more than that in his time he might have planted me too if
hed come a bit sooner then I wouldnt be here as I
am9| he ought to chuck
that Freeman with the paltry few shillings he knocks out of it and go into an
office or something where hed get regular pay or a bank where they could put him
up on a throne to count the money all the day of course he prefers plottering
about the house so you cant stir with him any side whats your programme today I
wish hed even smoke a pipe like father to get the smell of a man or pretending
to be mooching about for advertisements when he could have been in Mr Cuffes
still only for what he did then sending me to try and patch it up I could have
got him promoted there to be the manager he gave me a great
|9eye
mirada9|
once or twice first he was as stiff as the mischief really and truly Mrs Bloom
only I felt rotten simply with the old rubbishy dress that I lost the leads out
of the tails with no cut in it but theyre coming into fashion again I bought it
simply to please him I knew it was no good by the finish pity I changed my mind of going to Todd and
{u22, 704}
Burns as I said and not Lees it was just like the shop itself rummage sale
a lot of trash I hate those rich shops get on your nerves nothing kills me
altogether only he thinks he knows a great lot about a womans dress and cooking
mathering everything he can scour off the shelves into it if I went by his
advices every blessed hat I put on does that suit me yes take that thats alright
the one like a weddingcake standing up miles off my head he said suited me or
the dishcover one coming down on my backside on pins and needles about the
shopgirl in that place in Grafton street I had the misfortune to bring him into
and she as insolent as ever she could be with her smirk saying Im afraid were
giving you too much trouble what shes there for but I stared it out of her yes
he was awfully stiff and no wonder but he changed the second time he looked
Poldy pigheaded as usual like the soup but I could see him looking very hard at
my chest when he stood up to open the door for me it was nice of him to show me
out in any case Im extremely sorry Mrs Bloom believe
{u21, 839}
me without making it too marked the first time after him being insulted and
me being supposed to be his wife I just half smiled I know my chest was out that
way at the door when he said Im extremely sorry and Im sure you were
|9yes9|
I think he made them a bit firmer sucking them like that so long he made me
thirsty titties he calls them I had to laugh yes this one anyhow stiff the
nipple gets for the least thing Ill get him to keep that up and Ill take those
eggs beaten up with marsala fatten them out for him what are all those veins and
things curious the way its made 2 the same in case of twins theyre supposed to
represent beauty placed up there like those statues in the museum one of them
pretending to hide it with her hand are they so beautiful of course compared
with what a man looks like with his two bags full and his other thing hanging
down out of him or sticking up at you like a hatrack no wonder they hide it with
a cabbageleaf that disgusting Cameron highlander behind the meat market or that
other wretch with the red head behind the tree
|9where
the statue of the fish used to
be9| when I was
passing pretending he was pissing standing out for me to see it with his babyclothes up to one side the Queens own
{u22, 705}
they were a nice lot its well the Surreys relieved them
|9theyre
always trying to show it to you every time nearly
I passed outside the
mens greenhouse near the Harcourt street station just to try some fellow or
other trying to catch my
eyes eye
asº if it was
one 1 of the 7
wonders of the world O and the stink of those rotten places the night coming
home withº
Poldy after the
Comerfords party oranges and lemonade
|ato
make you feel nice and
waterya|
I went into 1 of
|athose
places thema|
it was so biting cold I couldnt keep it when was that
93 the canal was
frozen yes it was a few months after a
|apity
aa| couple of the Camerons
werent there to see me squatting in the mens place
meadero9| I tried to
draw a picture of it before I tore it up like a sausage or something I wonder
theyre not afraid going about of getting a kick or a bang of something there the
woman is beauty of course thats admitted when he said I could pose for a picture
naked to some rich fellow in Holles street when he lost the job in Helys and I
was selling the clothes and strumming in the coffee palace would I be like that bath of the nymph
{u21, 840}
with my hair down yes only shes younger or Im a little like that dirty
bitch in that Spanish photo he has nymphs used they go about like that I asked
him and that word met something with hoses in it and he came out with some
jawbreakers about the incarnation he never can explain a thing simply the way a
body can understand then he goes and burns the bottom out of the pan all for his
|9kidney
Kidney9|
this one not so much theres the mark of his teeth still where he tried to bite
the nipple I had to scream out arent they fearful trying to hurt you I had a
great breast of milk with Milly enough for two what was the reason of that he
said I could have got a pound a week as a wet nurse all swelled out the morning
that delicate looking student that stopped in no 28 with the Citrons Penrose
nearly caught me washing through the window only for I snapped up the towel to
my face that was his studenting hurt me they used to weaning her till he got
doctor Brady to give me the Belladonna prescription I had to get him to suck
them they were so hard he said it was sweeter and thicker than cows then he
wanted to milk me into the tea well hes beyond everything I declare somebody
ought to put him in the budget if I only could remember the one half of the
things and write a book out of it the works of Master Poldy yes and its so much
smoother the skin much an hour he was at them Im sure by the clock
|9like
some kind of a big infant I had at me they want everything in their
mouth9| all the
pleasure those men get out of a woman I can feel his mouth O Lord I must stretch
myself I wished he was here or somebody to let myself go with and come again
like that I feel all fire inside me or if I could dream it when he made me spend
the 2nd time tickling me behind with his finger I was coming for about 5 minutes
with my legs round him I had to hug him after O Lord I wanted to shout out all
sorts of things fuck or shit or anything at all only not to look ugly or those
lines from the strain who knows the way hed take it you want to feel your way
with a man theyre not all like him thank God some of
{u22, 706}
them want you to be so nice about it I noticed the contrast he does it and
doesnt talk I gave my eyes that look with my hair a bit loose from the tumbling
and my tongue between my lips up to him the savage brute Thursday Friday one Saturday two
{u21, 841}
Sunday three O Lord I cant wait till Monday
frseeeeeeeefronnnng train somewhere whistling the strength those engines
have in them like big giants and the water rolling all over and out of them all
sides like the end of Loves old sweeeetsonnnng the poor men that have to be out
all the night from their wives and families in those roasting engines stifling
it was today Im glad I burned the half of those old Freemans and Photo bits
leaving things like that lying about hes getting very careless and threw the
rest of them up in the W C Ill get him to cut them tomorrow for me instead of
having them there for the next year to get a few pence for them have him asking
wheres last Januarys paper and all those old overcoats I bundled out of the hall
making the place hotter than it is that rain was lovely just after my beauty
sleep I thought it was going to get like Gibraltar my goodness the heat there
before the levanter came on black as night and the glare of the rock standing up
in it like a big giant compared with their 3 Rock mountain they think is so
great with the red sentries here and there the poplars and they all whitehot and
the smell of the rainwater in those tanks watching the sun all the time
weltering down on you faded all that lovely frock fathers friend Mrs Stanhope
sent me from the B Marche paris what a shame my dearest Doggerina she wrote on
it she was very nice whats this her other name was just a P C to tell you I sent
the little present have just had a jolly warm bath and feel a very clean dog now
enjoyed it wogger she called him wogger wd give anything to be back in Gib and
hear you sing in old Madrid or Waiting Concone is the name of those exercises he
bought me one of those new some word I couldnt make out shawls amusing things
but tear for the least thing still there lovely I think dont you will always
think of the lovely teas we had together scrumptious currant scones and
raspberry wafers I adore well now dearest Doggerina be sure and write soon kind
she left out regards to your father also Captain Grove with love yrs affly
Hester x x x x x she didnt look a bit married just like a girl he was years
older than her wogger he was awfully fond of me when he held down the wire with
his foot for me to step over at the bullfight at La Linea when that matador Gomez was given the
{u21, 842}
bulls ear these clothes we have to wear whoever invented them expecting you
to walk up Killiney hill then for example at that picnic all staysed up you cant
do a blessed thing in them in a crowd run or jump out of the way
{u22, 707}
thats why I was afraid when that other ferocious old Bull began to charge
the banderilleros with the sashes and the 2 things in their hats and the brutes
of men shouting bravo toro sure the women were as bad in their nice white
mantillas ripping all the whole insides out of those poor horses I never heard
of such a thing in all my life yes he used to break his heart at me taking off
the dog barking in bell lane
|9poor
brute and it
sick9| what became
of them ever I suppose theyre dead long ago the
|9two
29|
of them its like all through a mist makes you feel so old I made the scones of
course I had everything all to myself then a girl Hester we used to compare our
hair mine was thicker than hers she showed me how to settle it at the back when
I put it up and whats this else how to make a knot on a thread with the one hand
we were like cousins what age was I then the night of the storm I slept in her
bed she had her arms round me then we were fighting in the morning with the
pillow what fun he was watching me whenever he got an opportunity at the band on
the Alameda esplanade when I was with father and Captain Grove I looked up at
the church first and then at the windows then down and our eyes met I felt
something go through me like all needles my eyes were dancing I remember after
when I looked at myself in the glass hardly recognised myself the change
|9I
had a splendid skin from the sun and the excitement like a
rose9| I didnt get a
wink of sleep it wouldnt have been nice on account of her but I could have
stopped it in time she gave me the Moonstone to read that was the first I read
of Wilkie Collins East Lynne I read and the shadow of Ashlydyat Mrs Henry Wood
Henry Dunbar by that other woman I lent him afterwards with Mulveys photo in it
so as he see I wasnt without and Lord Lytton Eugene Aram Molly bawn she gave me
by Mrs Hungerford on account of the name I dont like books with a Molly in them
like that one he brought me about the one from Flanders a whore always
shoplifting anything she could cloth and stuff and yards of it O this blanket is
too heavy on me thats better I havent even one
{u21, 843}
decent nightdress this thing gets all rolled under me besides him and his
fooling thats better I used to be weltering then in the heat my shift drenched
with the sweat stuck in the cheeks of my bottom on the chair when I stood up
they were so fattish and firm when I got up on the sofa cushions to see with my
clothes up and the bugs tons of them at night and the mosquito nets I couldnt
read a line Lord how long ago it seems centuries of course they never came back
and she didnt put her address right on it either she may have noticed her wogger
people were always going away and we never I remember that day with the waves and the boats
{u22, 708}
with their high heads rocking and the smell of ship those Officers uniforms
on shore leave made me seasick he didnt say anything he was very serious I had
the high buttoned boots on and my skirt was blowing she kissed me six or seven
times didnt I cry yes I believe I did or near it my lips were taittering when I
said goodbye she had a Gorgeous wrap of some special kind of blue colour on her
for the voyage made very peculiarly to one side like and it was extremely pretty
it got as dull as the devil after they went I was almost planning to run away
mad out of it somewhere were never easy where we are father or aunt or marriage
waiting always waiting to guiiiide him toooo me waiting nor speeeed his flying
feet their damn guns bursting and booming all over the shop especially the
Queens birthday and throwing everything down in all directions if you didnt open
the windows
|9when
general Ulysses
Grant |awhoever he was or
did supposed to be some great
fellowa| landed off the ship
and old Sprague the
consulº
that was there from
before the flood dressed up poor man and he in mourning for the
son9| then the same
old reveille in the morning and drums rolling and the unfortunate poor devils of
soldiers walking about with messtins smelling the place more than the old
|9longbearded9|
jews in their jellibees and levites assembly and sound clear and gunfire for the
men to cross the lines and the warden marching with his keys to lock the gates
and the bagpipes and only Captain Groves and father talking about Rorkes drift
and Plevna and sir Garnet Wolseley and Gordon at
|9Kartoum
Khartoum9|
lighting their pipes for them everytime they went out drunken old devil with his grog on the windowsill catch him
{u21, 844}
leaving any of it picking his nose trying to think of some other dirty
story to tell up in a corner but he never forgot himself when I was there
sending me out of the room on some blind excuse paying his compliments the
Bushmills whisky talking of course but hed do the same to the next woman that
came along I suppose he died of galloping drink ages ago the days like years not
a letter from a living soul except the odd few I posted to myself with bits of
paper in them so bored sometimes I could fight with my nails listening to that
old Arab with the one eye and his heass of an instrument singing his heah heah
aheah all my
|9compriment
compriments9|
on your hotchapotch of your heass as bad as now with the hands hanging off me
looking out of the window if there was a nice fellow even in the opposite house
that medical in Holles street the nurse was after when I put on my gloves and
hat at the window to show I was going out not a notion what I meant arent they
thick never understand what you say even youd want to print it up on a big poster for them not even if you shake
{u22, 709}
hands twice with the left he didnt recognise me either when I half frowned
at him outside Westland row chapel where does their great intelligence come in
Id like to know grey matter they have it all in their tail if you ask me
|9those
country gougers up in the City Arms intelligence they had a damn sight less than
the bulls and cows they were
selling9| the meat
and the coalmans bell
|9that
noisy bugger
trying to swindle me
with the wrong bill
he took out of his hat what a pair of paws
and9| pots and pans
and kettles to mend any broken bottles for a poor man today and no visitors or
post ever except his cheques or some advertisement like that wonderworker they
sent him addressed dear Madam only his letter and the card from Milly this
morning see she wrote a letter to him who did I get the last letter from O Mrs
Dwenn now what possessed her to write after so many years to know the recipe I
had for pisto madrileno Floey Dillon since she wrote to say she was married to a
very rich architect if Im to believe all I hear with a villa and eight rooms her
father was an awfully nice man he was near seventy always goodhumoured well now
Miss Tweedy or Miss Gillespie theres the pyannyer
|9that
was a solid silver coffee service he had too on the mahogany
sideboard9| then dying so far away
{u21, 845}
I hate people that have always their poor story to tell everybody has their
own troubles that poor Nancy Blake died a month ago of acute neumonia well I
didnt know her so well as all that she was Floeys friend more than mine its a
bother having to answer he always tells me the wrong things and no stops to say
like making a speech your sad bereavement symphathy I always
make that mistake and newphew with 2 double yous in I hope hell
write me a longer letter the next time if its a thing he really likes me O
thanks be to the great God I got somebody to give me what I badly wanted to put
some heart up into me youve no chances at all in this place like you used long
ago I wish somebody would write me a loveletter
|9his
wasnt much and I told him he could write what he liked yours ever
Hugh
Boylan9| in Old Madrid
silly women believe love is sighing I am dying still if he wrote it I suppose
thered be some truth in it true or no it fills up your whole day and life always
something to think about every moment and see it all round you like a new world
I could write the answer in bed to let him imagine me short just a few words not
those long crossed letters Atty Dillon used to write to the fellow that
|9was
something in the four courts
that9| jilted her
|9after9|
out of the ladies letterwriter when I told her to say a few simple words he
could twist how he liked not acting with precipit precipitancy with equal
candour the greatest earthly happiness answer to a gentlemans proposal
affirmatively my goodness theres nothing else its all very fine for them
{u22, 710}
but as for being a woman as soon as youre old they might as well throw you out in the bottom of the ashpit.
Mulveys was the first when I was in bed that morning and Mrs Rubio brought
it in with the coffee she stood there standing when I asked her to hand me and I
pointing at them I couldnt think of the word a hairpin to open it with ah
horquilla disobliging old thing and it staring her in the face with her switch
of false hair on her and vain about her appearance ugly as she was near
|9eighty
80 or a
1009| her face a mass
of wrinkles with all her religion domineering because she never could get over
|s9the
Atlantic fleet coming in half the ships of the world
ands9| the Union Jack
flying with all her carabineros
|9because
4 drunken English
sailors took all the rock from
them9| and because I didnt run
{u21, 846}
into mass often enough in Santa Maria to please her with her shawl up on
her except when there was a marriage on with all her miracles of the saints
|9and
her black blessed
virgin with the silver
dress9| and the
sun dancing 3 times on Easter Sunday morning and when the priest was going by
with the bell bringing the vatican to the dying blessing herself for his
Majestad an admirer he signed it I near jumped out of my skin I wanted to pick
him up when I saw him following me along the Calle Real in the shop window then
he tipped me just in passing but I never thought hed write making an appointment
I had it inside my petticoat bodice all day reading it up in every hole and
corner
|9while
father was
|aout
upa| at the drill
instructing9| to find
out by the handwriting or the language of stamps singing I remember shall I wear
a white rose and I wanted to put on the old stupid clock to near the time he was
the first man kissed me under the Moorish wall my sweetheart when a boy it never
entered my head what kissing meant till he put his tongue in my mouth his mouth
was sweetlike young I put my knee up to him a few times to learn the way what
did I tell him I was engaged for for fun to the son of a Spanish nobleman named
Don Miguel de la Flora and he believed me that I was to be married to him in 3
years time theres many a true word spoken in jest there is a flower that
bloometh a few things I told him true about myself just for him to be imagining
the Spanish girls he didnt like I suppose one of them wouldnt have him I got him
excited he crushed all the flowers on my bosom he brought me he couldnt count
the pesetas
|9and
the perragordas9|
till I taught him Cappoquin he came from he said on the Blackwater but it was
too short then the day before he left may yes it was May when the infant king of
Spain was born
|9Im
always like that in the spring
Id like a new fellow
every year9| up on
the tiptop under the rockgun near OHaras tower I told him it was struck by lightning and all about the old
{u22, 711}
Barbary apes they sent to Clapham without a tail careering all over the
show on each others back Mrs Rubio said she was a regular old rock scorpion
robbing the chickens out of Inces farm and throw stones at you if you went anear
he was looking at me I had that white blouse on open in the front to encourage
him as much as I could without too openly they
{u21, 847}
were just beginning to be plump I said I was tired we lay over the firtree
cove a wild place I suppose it must be the highest rock in existence the
galleries and casemates and those frightful rocks and Saint Michaels cave with
the icicles or whatever they call them hanging down and ladders all the mud
plotching my boots Im sure thats the way down the monkeys go under the sea to
Africa when they die the ships out far like chips
|9that
was the Malta
boat passing yes9|
the sea and the sky you could do what you liked lie there for ever he caressed
them outside they love doing that its the roundness there I was leaning over him
with my white ricestraw hat to take the newness out of it the left side of my
face the best my blouse open for his last day transparent kind of shirt he had I
could see his chest pink he wanted to touch mine with his for a moment but I
wouldnt let him
|9he was
awfully put out
first9| for fear you
never know consumption or leave me with a child embarazada that old servant Ines
told me that one drop even if it got into you at all after I tried with the
Banana but I was afraid it might break and get lost up in me somewhere because
they once took something down out of a woman that was up there for years covered
with limesalts theyre all mad to get in there where they come out of youd think
they could never go far enough up and then theyre done with you in a way till
the next time yes because theres a wonderful feeling there so tender all the
time how did we finish it off yes O yes I pulled him off into my handkerchief
pretending not to be excited but I opened my legs I wouldnt let him touch me
inside my petticoat because I had a skirt opening up the side I tormented the
life out of him first tickling him I loved rousing that dog in the hotel
rrrsssstt awokwokawok his eyes shut and a bird flying below us he was shy all
the same I liked him like that moaning I made him blush a little when I got over
him that way when I unbuttoned him and took his out and drew back the skin it
had a kind of eye in it theyre all Buttons men down the middle on the wrong side
of them Molly darling he called me what was his name Jack Joe Harry Mulvey was
it yes I think a lieutenant he was rather fair he had a laughing kind of a voice
so I went round to the whatyoucallit everything was whatyoucallit
{u21, 848}
moustache had he he said hed come back Lord its just like yesterday to me
and if I was married hed do it to me and I promised him yes faithfully Id let him block
{u22, 712}
me now flying perhaps hes dead or killed or a Captain or admiral its nearly
20 years if I said firtree cove he would if he came up behind me and put his
hands over my eyes to guess who I might recognise him hes young still about
|9forty9|
40 perhaps hes married some girl on the black water and is quite changed they
all do they havent half the character a woman has she little knows what I did
with her beloved husband before he ever dreamt of her in broad daylight too in
the sight of the whole world you might say
|9they
could have put an article about it in
the
Chronicle9| I was
a bit wild after when I blew out the old bag the biscuits were in from Benady
Bros and exploded it Lord what a bang all the woodcocks and pigeons screaming
coming back the same way that we went over middle hill round by the old
guardhouse and
|9the9|
jews burialplace pretending to read out the Hebrew on them I wanted to fire his
pistol he said he hadnt one he didnt know what to make of me with his peak cap
on that he always wore crooked
|9as
often as I settled it
straight9| H M S
Calypso swinging my hat that old Bishop that spoke off the altar his long preach
about womans higher functions about girls now riding the bicycle and wearing
peak caps and the new woman bloomers God send him sense and me more money I
suppose theyre called after him I never thought that would be my name Bloom when
I used to write it in print to see how it looked on a visiting card or
practising for the butcher and oblige M Bloom youre looking blooming Josie used
to say after I married him well its better than Breen
|9or
Briggs does
brig9| or those
awful names with bottom in them Mrs Ramsbottom or some other kind of a bottom
Mulvey I wouldnt go mad about either or suppose I divorced him Mrs Boylan
|9my
mother whoeverº she was might have given
me a nicer name the Lord knows after the lovely one she had
Luna Lunita
Laredo9| the fun we
had running along Williss road to Europa point twisting in and out all round the
other side of Jersey they were shaking and dancing about in my blouse like
Millys little ones now when she runs up the stairs I loved looking down at them I was jumping up at the pepper trees and
{u21, 849}
the white poplars pulling the leaves off and throwing them at him he went
to India he was to write the voyages those men have to make to the ends of the
world and back its the least they might get a squeeze or two at a woman while
they can going out to be drowned or blown up somewhere I went up windmill hill
to the flats that Sunday morning with Captain Rubios that was dead spyglass like
the sentry had he said hed have one or two from on board I wore that frock from
the B Marche paris and the coral necklace the straits shining I could see over to Morocco almost the bay of Tangier
{u22, 713}
white and the Atlas mountain with snow on it and the straits like a river
so clear Harry Molly Darling I was thinking of him on the sea all the time after
at mass when my petticoat began to slip down at the elevation weeks and weeks I
kept the handkerchief under my pillow for the smell of him there was no decent
perfume to be got in that Gibraltar only that cheap peau dEspagne that faded and
left a stink on you more than anything else I wanted to give him a memento he
gave me that clumsy Claddagh ring for luck that I gave Gardner going to south
Africa where those Boers killed him with their war and fever but they were well
beaten all the same as if it brought its bad luck with it like an opal or pearl
it must have been pure 18 carrot gold because it was very heavy I can see his
face cleanshaven Frseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefrong that train again weeping tone once
in the dear deaead days beyondre call close my eyes breath my lips forward kiss
sad look eyes open piano ere oer the world the mists began I hate that istsbeg
comes loves sweet sooooooooooong Ill let that out full when I get in front of
the footlights again Kathleen Kearney and her lot of squealers Miss This Miss
That Miss Theother
|9lot of
sparrowfarts9|
skitting around talking about politics they know as much about as my backside
anything in the world to make themselves someway interesting Irish
|9homemadeº9|
beauties soldiers daughter am I ay and whose are you bootmakers and publicans I
beg your pardon coach I thought you were a wheelbarrow theyd die down dead off
their feet if ever they got a chance of walking down the Alameda on an officers
arm like me on the bandnight my eyes flash my bust that they havent passion God help their poor head I knew
{u21, 850}
more about men and life when I was 15 than theyll all know at 50 they dont
know how to sing a song like that Gardner said no man could look at my mouth and
teeth smiling like that and not think of it I was afraid he mightnt like my
accent first he so English
|9all
father left me in
spite of his
stamps Ive my
mothers eyes and figure anyhow he always said
there theyre so
snotty about themselves some of those cads he wasnt a bit like that he was dead
gone on my lips9| let
them get a husband first thats fit to be looked at and a daughter like mine or
see if they can excite a swell with money that can pick and choose whoever he
wants like Boylan to do it 4 or 5 times locked in each others arms or the voice
either
|9I could
have been a prima donna only I married
him9| comes looooves
old deep down chin back not too much make it double My Ladys Bower is too long
for an encore about the moated grange at twilight and vaunted rooms yes Ill sing
Winds that blow from the south that he gave after the choirstairs performance
Ill change that lace on my black dress to show off my bubs and Ill yes by
{u22, 714}
God Ill get that big fan mended make them burst with envy my hole is
itching me always when I think of him I feel I want to I feel some wind in me
better go easy not wake him have him at it again slobbering after washing every
bit of myself back belly and sides if we had even a bath itself
|9or
my own room
anyway9| I wish
hed sleep in some bed by himself with his cold feet on me give us room even to
let a fart God or do the least thing better yes hold them like that a bit on my
side piano quietly sweeeee theres that train far away pianissimo eeeeeeee one more tsong
that was a relief wherever you be let your wind go free who knows if that
pork chop I took with my cup of tea after was quite good with the heat I couldnt
smell anything off it Im sure that queerlooking man in the porkbutchers is a
great rogue I hope that lamp is not smoking fill my nose up with smuts better
than having him leaving the gas on all night I couldnt rest easy in my bed in
Gibraltar even getting up to see why am I so damned nervous about that though I
like it in the winter its more company O Lord it was rotten cold too that winter
when I was only about ten was I yes I had the big doll with all the funny
clothes dressing her up and undressing that icy wind skeeting
{u21, 851}
across from those mountains the something Nevada sierra nevada standing at
the fire with the little bit of a short shift I had up to heat myself I loved
dancing about in it then make a race back into bed Im sure that fellow opposite
used to be there the whole time watching with the lights out in the summer and I
in my skin hopping around I used to love myself then stripped at the washstand
dabbing and creaming only when it came to the chamber performance I put out the
light too so then there were 2 of us goodbye to my sleep for this night anyhow I
hope hes not going to get in with those medicals leading him astray to imagine
hes young again coming in at 4 in the morning it must be if not more still he
had the manners not to wake me what do they find to gabber about all night
squandering money and getting drunker and drunker couldnt they drink water then
he starts giving us his orders for eggs and tea and Findon haddy and hot
buttered toast I suppose well have him sitting up like the king of the country
pumping the wrong end of the spoon up and down in his egg wherever he learned
that from and I love to hear him falling up the stairs of a morning with the
cups rattling on the tray and then play with the cat she rubs up against you for
her own sake I wonder has she fleas shes as bad as a woman always licking and
lecking but I hate their claws I wonder do they see anything that we cant
staring like that
|9when
she sits at the top of the stairs so long and listening as I
wait9| always
{u22, 715}
what a robber too that lovely fresh place I bought I think Ill get a bit of
fish tomorrow or today is it Friday yes I will with some blancmange with black
currant jam like long ago not those 2 lb pots of mixed plum and apple from the
London and Newcastle Williams and Woods goes twice as far only for the bones I
hate those eels cod yes Ill get a nice piece of cod Im always getting enough for
3 forgetting anyway Im sick of that everlasting butchers meat from Buckleys loin
chops and leg beef and rib steak and scrag of mutton
|9and
calfs
pluck9| the very
name is enough or a picnic suppose we all gave 5/- each and or let him pay it
and invite some other woman for him who Mrs Fleming and drove out to the furry
glen or the strawberry beds wed have him examining all the horses toenails first like he does with the letters no
{u21, 852}
not with Boylan there yes with some cold veal and ham mixed sandwiches
there are little houses down at the bottom of the banks there on purpose but its
as hot as blazes he says not a bank holiday anyhow I hate those ruck
|9of Mary
Ann
coalboxes9|
out for the day Whit Monday is a cursed day too no wonder that bee bit him
better the seaside but Id never again in this life get into a boat with him
after him at Bray telling the boatman he knew how to row if anyone asked could
he ride the steeplechase for the gold cup hed say yes then it came on to get
rough the old thing crookeding about and the weight all down my side telling me
pull the right reins now pull the left and the tide all swamping in floods in
through the bottom and his oar slipping out of the stirrup its a mercy we werent
all drowned he can swim of course me no theres no danger whatsoever keep
yourself calm in his flannel trousers Id like to have tattered them down off him
before all the people and give him what that one calls flagellate till he was
black and blue do him all the good in the world only for that longnosed chap I
dont know who he is with that other beauty Burke out of the City Arms hotel was
there spying around as usual on the slip always where he wasnt wanted if there
was a row on youd vomit a better face there was no love lost between us thats 1
consolation I wonder what kind is that book he brought me Sweets of Sin by a
gentleman of fashion some other Mr de Kock I suppose the people gave him that
nickname going about with his tube from one woman to another I couldnt even
change my new white shoes all ruined with the saltwater and the hat I had with
that feather all blowy and tossed on me how annoying and provoking because the
smell of the sea excited me of course the sardines and the bream in Catalan bay
round the back of the rock they were fine all silver in the fishermens baskets
old Luigi near a hundred they said came from Genoa and the tall old chap with
{u22, 716}
the earrings I dont like a man you have to climb up to to get at I suppose
theyre all dead and rotten long ago besides I dont like being alone in this big
barracks of a place at night I suppose Ill have to put up with it I never
brought a bit of salt in even when we moved in the confusion musical academy he
was going to make on the first floor drawingroom with a
{u21, 853}
brassplate or Blooms private hotel he suggested
|9go and
ruin himself altogether the way his father did
|adowna|
in Ennis9| like all
the things he told father he was going to do and me but I saw through him
telling me all the lovely places we could go for the honeymoon Venice by
moonlight with the gondolas and the lake of Como he had a picture cut out of
some paper of and mandolines and lanterns O how nice I said whatever I liked he
was going to do immediately if not sooner will you be my man will you carry my
can he ought to get a leather medal with a putty rim for all the plans he
invents then leaving us here all day youd never know what old beggar at the door
for a crust with his long story might be a tramp and put his foot in the way to
prevent me shutting it like that picture of that hardened criminal he was called
in Lloyds Weekly news 20 years in jail then he comes out and murders an old
woman for her money imagine his poor wife or mother or whoever she is such a
face youd run miles away from I couldnt rest easy till I bolted all the doors
and windows to make sure but its worse again being locked up like in a prison or
a madhouse they ought to be all shot or the cat of nine tails a big brute like
that that would attack a poor old woman to murder her in her bed Id cut them off
him so I would not that hed be much use still better than nothing the night I
was sure I heard burglars in the kitchen and he went down in his shirt with a
candle and a poker
|9as if
he was looking for a
mouse9| as white as a
sheet frightened out of his wits making as much noise as he possibly could for
the burglars benefit there isnt much to steal indeed the Lord knows still its
the feeling especially now with Milly away such an idea for him to send the girl
down there to learn to take photographs on account of his grandfather instead of
sending her to Skerrys academy where shed have to learn not like me getting all
1s at school only hed do a thing like that all the same on account of me and
Boylan thats why he did it Im certain the way he plots and plans everything out
I couldnt turn round with her in the place lately unless I bolted the door first
gave me the fidgets coming in without knocking first when I put the chair
against the door just as I was washing myself there below with the glove get on
your nerves then doing the loglady all day put
{u21, 854}
her in a glasscase with two at a time to look at her if he knew she broke
off the hand off that little gimcrack statue with her roughness and carelessness
before she left that I got that little Italian
{u22, 717}
boy to mend so that you cant see the join for
|9two
29|
shillings wouldnt even teem the potatoes for you of course shes right not to
ruin her hands I noticed he was always talking to her lately at the table
explaining things in the paper and she pretending to understand sly of course
that comes from his side of the house he cant say I pretend things can he Im too
honest as a matter of fact and helping her into her coat but if there was
anything wrong with her its me shed tell not him I suppose he thinks Im finished
out and laid on the shelf well Im not no nor anything like it well see well see
now shes well on for flirting too with Tom Devans two sons imitating me
whistling with those romps of Murray girls calling for her can Milly come out
please shes in great demand to pick what they can out of her round in Nelson
street riding Harry Devans bicycle at night its as well he sent her where she is
she was just getting out of bounds wanting to go on the skatingrink and smoking
their cigarettes through their nose I smelt it off her dress when I was biting
off the thread of the button I sewed on to the bottom of her jacket she couldnt
hide much from me I tell you only I oughtnt to have stitched it and it on her it
brings a parting and the last plumpudding too split in 2 halves see it comes out
no matter what they say her tongue is a bit too long for my taste your blouse is
open too low she says to me the pan calling the kettle blackbottom and I had to
tell her not to cock her legs up like that on show on the windowsill before all
the people passing they all look at her like me when I was her age of course any
old rag looks well on you then a great touchmenot too in her own way at the Only
Way in the Theatre royal take your foot away out of that I hate people touching
me afraid of her life Id crush her skirt with the pleats a lot of that touching
must go on in theatres in the crush in the dark theyre always trying to wiggle
up to you that fellow in the pit at the Gaiety for Beerbohm Tree in Trilby the
last time Ill ever go there to be squashed like that for any Trilby or her
barebum every two minutes tipping me there and looking away hes a bit daft I think I saw him
{u21, 855}
after trying to get near two stylishdressed ladies outside Switzers window
at the same little game I recognised him on the moment the face and everything
but he didnt remember me and she didnt even want me to kiss her at the
Broadstone going away well I hope shell get someone to dance attendance on her
the way I did when she was down with the mumps and her glands swollen wheres
this and wheres that of course she cant feel anything deep yet I never came
properly till I was what 22 or so it went into the wrong place always only the
usual girls nonsense and giggling that Conny Connolly writing to her in white
ink on black paper sealed with sealingwax though she clapped
{u22, 718}
when the curtain came down because he looked so handsome then we had Martin
Harvey for breakfast dinner and supper I thought to myself afterwards it must be
real love if a man gives up his life for her that way for nothing I suppose
there are a few men like that left its hard to believe in it though unless it
really happened to me the majority of them with not a particle of love in their
natures to find two people like that nowadays full up of each other that would
|9feel9|
the same way as you do theyre usually a bit foolish in the head
|9his
father must have been a bit queer to go and poison himself after her still poor
old man I suppose he felt
lost9| shes always
making love to my things too the few old rags I have wanting to put her hair up
at 15 my powder too only ruin her skin on her shes time enough for that all her
life after of course shes restless knowing shes pretty
|9with
her lips so red a pity they wont stay that
way9| I was too but
theres no use going to the fair with the thing answering me like a fishwoman
when I asked to go for a half a stone of potatoes the day we met Mrs Joe
Gallaher at the trottingmatches and she pretended not to see us in her trap with
Friery the solicitor we werent grand enough till I gave her 2 damn fine cracks
across the ear for herself take that now for answering me like that and that for
your impudence she had me that exasperated of course contradicting I was
badtempered too because how was it there was a weed in the tea or I didnt sleep
the night before cheese I ate was it and I told her over and over again not to
leave knives crossed like that because she has nobody to command her as she said herself well if he
{u21, 856}
doesnt correct her faith I will that was the last time she turned on the
teartap I was just like that myself they darent order me about the place its his
fault of course having the two of us slaving here instead of getting in a woman
long ago am I ever going to have a proper servant again of course then shed see
him coming Id have to let her know or shed revenge it arent they a nuisance that
old Mrs Fleming you have to be walking round after her putting the things into
her hands sneezing and farting into the pots well of course shes old she cant
help it a good job I found that rotten old smelly dishcloth that got lost behind
the dresser I knew there was something and opened the window to let out the
smell bringing in his friends to entertain them
|9like
the night he walked home with a dog
if you please
that might have been
mad9| especially Simon
Dedalus son his father such a criticiser with his glasses up with his tall hat
on him at the cricket match and a great big hole in his sock one thing laughing
at the other and his son that got all those prizes for whatever he won them in
the intermediate imagine climbing over the railings if
{u22, 719}
anybody saw him that knew us I wonder he didnt tear a big hole in his grand
funeral trousers as if the one nature gave wasnt enough for anybody hawking him
down into the dirty old kitchen now is he right in his head I ask
|9pity it
wasnt washing
day9| my old pair
of drawers might have been hanging up too on the line on exhibition for all hed
ever care with the ironmould mark the stupid old bundle burned on them he might
think was something else and she never even rendered down the fat I told her and
now shes going such as she was on account of her paralysed husband getting worse
theres always something wrong with them disease or they have to go under an
operation or if its not that its drink and he beats her Ill have to hunt around
again for someone every day I get up theres some new thing on sweet God sweet
God well when Im stretched out dead in my grave I suppose Ill have some peace I
want to get up a minute if Im let wait O Jesus wait yes that thing has come on
me yes now wouldnt that afflict you of course all the poking and rooting
|9and
ploughing9| he had up
in me now what am I to do Friday Saturday Sunday wouldnt that pester the soul out of a body unless he likes it
{u21, 857}
some men do God knows theres always something wrong with us 5 days every 3
or 4 weeks usual monthly auction isnt it simply sickening that night it came on
me like that the one and only time we were in a box that Michael Gunn gave him
to see Mrs Kendal and her husband at the Gaiety something he did about insurance
for him in Drimmies I was fit to be tied though I wouldnt give in with that
gentleman of fashion staring down at me with his glasses and him the other side
of me talking about Spinoza and his soul thats dead I suppose millions of years
ago I smiled the best I could all in a swamp leaning forward as if I was
interested having to sit it out then to the last tag I wont forget that wife of
Scarli in a hurry supposed to be a fast play about adultery that idiot in the
gallery hissing the woman adulteress he shouted I suppose he went and had a
woman in the next lane running round all the back ways after to make up for it I
wish he had what I had then hed boo I bet the cat itself is better off than us
have we too much blood up in us or what O patience above its pouring out of me
like the sea anyhow he didnt make me pregnant as big as he is I dont want to
ruin the clean sheets the clean linen I wore brought it on too damn it damn it
and they always want to see a stain on the bed to know youre a virgin for them
all thats troubling them theyre such fools too you could be a widow or divorced
40 times over a daub of red ink would do or blackberry juice no thats too purply
O Jamesy let me up out of this pooh sweets of sin whoever suggested that
business for women what between clothes and cooking and children this
{u22, 720}
damned old bed too jingling like the dickens I suppose they could hear us
away over the other side of the park till I suggested to put the quilt on the
floor with the pillow under my bottom I wonder is it nicer in the day I think it
is easy I think Ill cut all this hair off me there scalding me I might look like
a young girl wouldnt he get the great suckin the next time he turned up my
clothes on me Id give anything to see his face wheres the chamber gone easy Ive
a holy horror of its breaking under me after that old commode I wonder was I too
heavy sitting on his knee
|9I
made him sit on the easychair
purposely9| when I
took off only my blouse and skirt first in the other room he was so busy where he oughtnt to be he
{u21, 858}
never felt me
|9I hope
my breath was sweet after those
kissing
comfits9| easy God
I remember one time I could scout it out straight whistling like a man almost
easy O Lord how noisy I hope theyre bubbles on it for a wad of money from some
fellow Ill have to perfume it in the morning dont forget I bet he never saw a
better pair of thighs than that look how white they are the smoothest place is
right there between this bit here how soft like a peach easy God I wouldnt mind
being a man and get up on a lovely woman O Lord what a row youre making like the
jersey lily easy easy O how the waters come down at Lahore
who knows is there anything the matter with my insides
|9or have
I something growing in
me9| getting that
thing like that every week when was it last I Whit Monday yes its only about 3
weeks I ought to go to the doctor only it would be like before I married him
when I had that white thing coming from me and Floey made me go to that dry old
stick Dr Collins for womens diseases on Pembroke road your vagina he called it I
suppose thats how he got all the gilt mirrors and carpets getting round those
rich ones off Stephens green running up to him for every little fiddlefaddle her
vagina and her cochinchina theyve money of course so theyre all right I wouldnt
marry him not if he was the last man in the world
|9besides
theres something queer about
doct their children
always9| smelling
around those filthy bitches all sides asking me if what I did had an offensive
odour what did he want me to do but the one thing gold maybe what a question if
I smathered it all over his wrinkly old face for him
|9with
all my
comprimentsº9|
I suppose hed know then and could you pass it easily pass what I thought he was
talking about the rock of Gibraltar the way he put it thats a very nice
invention too by the way only I like letting myself down after in the hole as
far as I can squeeze and pull the chain then to flush it nice cool pins and
needles still theres something in it I suppose I always used to know by Millys
when she was a child whether she had worms or not still all the same paying him for that how much
{u22, 721}
is that doctor one guinea please and asking me had I frequent omissions
where do those old fellows get all the words they have omissions with his
shortsighted eyes on me cocked sideways I wouldnt trust him too far to give me
{u21, 859}
chloroform or God knows what else still I liked him when he sat down to
write the thing out frowning so severe his nose intelligent like that you be
damned you lying strap O anything no matter who except an idiot he was clever
enough to spot that of course that was all thinking of him and his mad crazy
letters my Precious one everything connected with your glorious Body everything
underlined that comes from it is a thing of beauty and of joy for ever something
he got out of some nonsensical book that he had me always at myself 4 and 5
times a day sometimes and I said I hadnt are you sure O yes I said I am quite
sure in a way that shut him up I knew what was coming next only natural weakness
it was he excited me I dont know how the first night ever we met when I was
living in Rehoboth terrace we stood staring at one another for about 10 minutes
as if we met somewhere
|9I
suppose on account of my being jewess looking after my
mother9| he used to
amuse me the things he said with the half sloothering smile on him and all the
Doyles said he was going to stand for a member of Parliament O wasnt I the
|9born9|
fool to believe all his blather about home rule and the land league sending me
that long strool of a song out of the Huguenots to sing in French to be more
classy O beau pays de la Touraine that I never even sang once explaining and
rigmaroling about religion and persecution he wont let you enjoy anything
naturally then might he as a great favour the very 1st opportunity he got a
chance in Brighton square running into my bedroom pretending the ink got on his
hands to wash it off with the Albion milk and sulphur soap I used to use and the
gelatine still round it O I laughed myself sick at him that day I better not
make an alnight sitting on this affair they ought to make chambers a natural
size so that a woman could sit on it properly he kneels down to do it I suppose
there isnt in all creation another man with the habits he has look at the way
hes sleeping at the foot of the bed how can he without a hard bolster its well
he doesnt kick or he might knock out all my teeth breathing with his hand on his
nose like that Indian god he took me to show one wet Sunday in the museum in
Kildare street all yellow in a pinafore lying on his side on his hand with his
ten toes sticking out that he said was a bigger religion than
{u21, 860}
the jews and Our Lords both put together all over Asia imitating him as hes
always imitating everybody I suppose he used to sleep at the foot of the bed too
with his big square feet up in his wifes mouth damn this stinking thing anyway wheres this those napkins
{u22, 722}
are ah yes I know I hope the old press doesnt creak ah I knew it would hes
sleeping hard had a good time somewhere still she must have given him great
value for his money of course he has to pay for it from her O this nuisance of a
thing I hope theyll have something better for us in the other world tying
ourselves up God help us thats all right for tonight now the lumpy old jingly
bed always reminds me of old Cohen I suppose he scratched himself in it often
enough
|9and he
thinks father bought it fromº Lord Napier
|athat I used to admire when
I was a little girla| because
I told him9| easy
piano O I like my bed God here we are as bad as ever after 16 years how many
houses were we in at all Raymond terrace and Ontario terrace and Lombard street
and Holles street and he goes about whistling every time were on the run again
his huguenots or the frogs march pretending to help the men with our 4 sticks of
furniture and then the City Arms hotel worse and worse says Warden Daly that
charming place on the landing always somebody inside praying then leaving all
their stinks after them always know who was in there last every time were just
getting on right something happens or he puts his big foot in it Thoms and Helys
and Mr Cuffes and Drimmies either hes going to be run into prison over his old
lottery tickets that was to be all our salvations or he goes and gives impudence
well have him coming home with the sack soon out of the Freeman too like the
rest on account of those Sinner Fein or the freemasons then well see if the
little man he showed me dribbling along in the wet all by himself round by
Coadys lane will give him much consolation that he says is so capable and
sincerely Irish he is indeed judging by the sincerity of the trousers I saw on
him wait theres Georges church bells wait 3 quarters the hour 1 wait 2 oclock
well thats a nice hour of the night for him to be coming home at to anybody
climbing down into the area if anybody saw him Ill knock him off that little
habit tomorrow first Ill look at his shirt to see or Ill see if he has that French letter still in his pocketbook
{u21, 861}
I suppose he thinks I dont know deceitful men all their 20 pockets arent
enough for their lies then why should we tell them even if its the truth they
dont believe you then tucked up in bed like those babies in the Aristocrats
Masterpiece he brought me another time as if we hadnt enough of that in real
life without some old Aristocrat or whatever his name is disgusting you more
with those rotten pictures children with two heads and no legs thats the kind of
villainy theyre always dreaming about with not another thing in their empty
heads they ought to get slow poison the half of them then tea and toast for him
buttered on both sides and newlaid eggs I suppose Im nothing any
{u22, 723}
more when I wouldnt let him lick me in Holles street one night man man
tyrant as ever for the one thing he slept on the floor half the night naked the
way the jews used when somebody dies belonged to them and wouldnt eat any
breakfast or speak a word wanting to be petted so I thought I stood out enough
for one time and let him he does it all wrong too thinking only of his own
pleasure his tongue is too flat or I dont know what he forgets that wethen I
dont Ill make him do it again if he doesnt mind himself and
|9sleep
down lock him down to
sleep9| in the
coalcellar with the blackbeetles I wonder was it her Josie off her head with my
castoffs hes such a born liar too no hed never have the courage with a married
woman thats why he wants me and Boylan though as for her Denis as she calls him
that forlornlooking spectacle you couldnt call him a husband yes its some little
bitch hes got in with even when I was with him with Milly at the College races
that Hornblower with the childs bonnet on the top of his nob let us into by the
back way he was throwing his sheeps eyes at those two doing skirt duty up and
down I tried to wink at him first no use of course and thats the way his money
goes this is the fruits of Mr Paddy Dignam yes they were all in great style at
the grand funeral in the paper Boylan brought in
|9if they
saw a real officers
funeral thatd be something reversed arms muffled drums the poor horse
walking behind in
black9| L Boom and Tom
Kernan that drunken little barrelly man that bit his tongue off falling down the
mens W C drunk in some place or other and Martin Cunningham and the two
Dedaluses and Fanny MCoys husband white head of cabbage
{u21, 862}
skinny thing with a turn in her eye trying to sing my songs shed want to be
born all over again and her old green dress with the lowneck as she cant attract
them any other way like dabbling on a rainy day I see it all now plainly and
they call that friendship killing and then burying one another and they all with
their wives and families at home more especially Jack Power keeping that barmaid
he does of course his wife is always sick or going to be sick or just getting
better of it and hes a goodlooking man still though hes getting a bit grey over
the ears theyre a nice lot all of them well theyre not going to get my husband
again into their clutches if I can help it making fun of him then behind his
back I know well when he goes on with his idiotics because he has sense enough
not to squander every penny piece he earns down their gullets and looks after
his wife and family goodfornothings poor Paddy Dignam all the same Im sorry in a
way for him what are his wife and 5 children going to do unless he was insured
comical little teetotum always stuck up in some pub corner and her or her son waiting Bill
{u22, 724}
Bailey wont you please come home
|9her
widows weeds wont improve her appearance theyre awfully becoming though if youre
goodlooking9| what
men wasnt he yes he was at the Glencree dinner and Ben Dollard base barreltone
the night he borrowed the swallowtail to sing out of in Holles street squeezed
and squashed into them and grinning all over his big Dolly face
|9like a
wellwhipped childs
botty9| didnt he look
a balmy ballocks sure enough that must have been a spectacle on the stage
imagine paying 5/- in the preserved seats for that
|9to see
him
|~trotting
off in his
trowlers~|º9|
and Simon Dedalus too he was always turning up half screwed singing the second
verse first the old love is the new was one of his so sweetly sang the maiden on
the hawthorn bough he was always on for flirtyfying too when I sang Maritana
with him at Freddy Mayers private opera he had a delicious glorious voice Phoebe
dearest goodbye sweetheart sweetheart he always sang it not like Bartell
D'Arcy sweet tart goodbye of course he had the gift of the voice so
there was no art in it all over you like a warm showerbath O Maritana wildwood
flower we sang splendidly though it was a bit too high for my register even
transposed and he was married at the time to May Goulding but then hed say or
{u21, 863}
do something to knock the good out of it hes a widower now I wonder what
sort is his son he says hes an author and going to be a university professor of
Italian and Im to take lessons what is he driving at now showing him my photo
its not good of me I ought to have got it taken in drapery that never looks out
of fashion still I look young in it I wonder he didnt make him a present of it
altogether and me too after all why not I saw him driving down to the
Kingsbridge station with his father and mother I was in mourning thats 11 years
ago now yes hed be 11 though what was the good in going into mourning for what
was neither one thing nor the other of course he insisted hed go into mourning
for the cat I suppose hes a man now by this time he was an innocent boy then and
a darling little fellow in his lord Fauntleroy suit and curly hair like a prince
on the stage when I saw him at Mat Dillons he liked me too I remember they all
do wait by God yes wait yes
|9hold
on9| he was on the
cards this morning when I laid out the deck union with a young stranger neither
dark nor fair you met before I thought it meant him but hes no chicken nor a
stranger either besides my face was turned the other way what was the 7th card
after that the 10 of spades for a journey by land then there was a letter on its
way and scandals too the 3 queens and the 8 of diamonds for a rise in society
yes wait it all came out and 2 red 8s for new garments look at that and didnt I
dream something too yes there was something about poetry in it I hope he hasnt
long greasy hair |9hanging
{u22, 725}
into his eyes or standing up like a red
Indian9| what do they
go about like that for only getting themselves and their poetry laughed at I
always liked poetry when I was a girl first I thought he was a poet like Byron
and not an ounce of it in his composition I thought he was quite different I
wonder is he too young hes about wait 88 I was married 88 Milly is 15 yesterday
89 what age was he then at Dillons 5 or 6 about 88 I suppose hes 20 or more Im
not too old for him if hes 23 or 24 I hope hes not that stuck up university
student sort no otherwise he wouldnt go sitting down in the old kitchen with him
taking Eppss cocoa and talking of course he pretended to understand it all
probably he told him he was out of Trinity college hes very young to be a professor I hope hes not a
{u21, 864}
professor like Goodwin was he was a patent professor of John Jameson they
all write about some woman in their poetry well I suppose he wont find many like
me where softly sighs of love the light guitar where poetry is in the air the
blue sea and the moon shining so beautifully coming back on the nightboat from
Tarifa the lighthouse at Europa point the guitar that fellow played was so
expressive will I ever go back there again all new faces two glancing eyes a
lattice hid Ill sing that for him theyre my eyes if hes anything of a poet two
eyes as darkly bright as loves own star arent those beautiful words as loves
young star itll be a change the Lord knows to have an intelligent person to talk
to about yourself not always listening to him and Billy Prescotts ad and Keyess
ad and Tom the Devils ad then if anything goes wrong in their business we have
to suffer Im sure hes very distinguished Id like to meet a man like that God not
those other ruck besides hes young those fine young men I could see down in
Margate strand bathingplace from the side of the rock standing up in the sun
naked like a God or something and then plunging into the sea with them why arent
all men like that thered be some consolation for a woman like that lovely little
statue he bought I could look at him all day long curly head and his shoulders
his finger up for you to listen theres real beauty and poetry for you I often
felt I wanted to kiss him all over also his lovely young cock there so simple I
wouldnt mind taking him in my mouth if nobody was looking as if it was asking
you to suck it so clean and white he looks with his boyish face I would too in
½ a minute even if some of it went down what
|9is
it9| its only
like
|9gruelwater
gruelº9|
or the dew theres no danger besides hed be so clean compared with
|9those
pigs of9| men I
suppose never dream of washing it from 1 years end to the other the most of them
only thats what gives the women the moustaches Im sure itll be grand if I can
only get in with a handsome young poet at my age Ill throw them the
{u22, 726}
1st thing in the morning till I see if the wishcard comes out or Ill try
pairing the lady herself and see if he comes out Ill read and study all I can
find or learn a bit off by heart if I knew who he likes so he wont think me
stupid if he thinks all women are the same and I can teach him the other part Ill make him feel all over him till
{u21, 865}
he half faints under me then hell write about me lover and mistress
publicly too with our 2 photographs in all the papers when he becomes famous O
but then what am I going to do about him though
no thats no way for him has he no manners nor no refinement nor no nothing
in his nature slapping us behind like that on my bottom
|9because
I didnt call him
Hugh9|
the ignoramus that doesnt know poetry from a cabbage thats what you get for not
keeping them in their proper place
|9pulling
off his shoes and trousers there on the chair before me so barefaced without
even asking
permission9| and
standing out that vulgar way in the half of a shirt they wear to be admired like
a priest or a butcher or those old hypocrites in the time of Julius Caesar of
course hes right enough in his way to pass the time as a joke sure you might as
well be in bed with what with a lion God Im sure hed have something better to
say for himself an old
|9lion
Lion9|
would O well I suppose its because they were so plump and tempting in my short
petticoat he couldnt resist they excite myself sometimes its well for men all
the amount of pleasure they get off a womans body were so round and white for
them always I wished I was one myself for a change just to try with that thing
they have swelling up on you so hard and at the same time so soft when you touch
it my uncle John has a thing long I heard those cornerboys saying passing the
corner of Marrowbone lane my aunt Mary has a thing hairy because it was dark and
they knew a girl was passing it didnt make me blush why should it either its
only nature and he puts his thing long into my aunt Marys hairy etcetera and
turns out to be you put the handle in a sweepingbrush men again all over they
can pick and choose what they please a married woman or a fast widow or a girl
for their different tastes like those houses round behind Irish street no but
were to be always chained up theyre not going to be chaining me up no
|9damn9|
fear once I start I tell you for their stupid husbands jealousy why cant we all
remain friends over it instead of quarrelling her husband found it out what they
did together well naturally and if he did can he undo it hes coronado anyway
whatever he does and then he going to the other mad extreme about the wife in
Fair Tyrants of course the man never even casts a 2nd
{u21, 866}
thought on the husband or wife either its the woman he wants and he gets her what else were we given
{u22, 727}
all those desires for Id like to know I cant help it if Im young still can
I its a wonder Im not an old shrivelled hag before my time living with him so
cold never embracing me except sometimes when hes asleep the wrong end of me not
knowing I suppose who he has any man thatd kiss a womans bottom Id throw my hat
at him after that hed kiss anything unnatural where we havent 1 atom of any kind
of expression in us all of us the same 2 lumps of lard before ever Id do that to
a man pfooh the dirty brutes the mere thought is enough I kiss the feet of you
senorita theres some sense in that didnt he kiss our halldoor yes he did what a
madman nobody understands his cracked ideas but me still of course a woman wants
to be embraced 20 times a day almost to make her look young no matter by who so
long as to be in love or loved by somebody if the fellow you want isnt there
sometimes by the Lord God I was thinking would I go around by the quays there
some dark evening where nobodyd know me and pick up a sailor off the sea thatd
be hot on for it and not care a pin whose I was only do it off up in a gate
somewhere or one of those wildlooking gipsies in Rathfarnham had their camp
pitched near the Bloomfield laundry to try and steal our things if they could I
only sent mine there a few times for the name model laundry sending me back over
and over some old ones odd stockings that blackguardlooking fellow with the fine
eyes peeling a switch attack me in the dark and ride me up against the wall
without a word
|9or a
murderer anybody9|
what they do themselves the fine gentlemen in their silk hats that K. C. lives
up somewhere this way coming out of Hardwicke lane the night he gave us the fish
supper on account of winning over the boxing match of course it was for me he
gave it I knew him by his gaiters and the walk and when I turned round a minute
after just to see there was a woman after coming out of it too some filthy
prostitute then he goes home to his wife after that only I suppose the half of
those sailors are rotten again with disease O move over your big carcass out of
that for the love of Mike listen to him the winds that waft my sighs to thee so
well he may sleep and sigh the great Suggester
|9Don
{u21, 867}
Poldo de la
Flora9| if he knew how
he came out on the cards this morning hed have something to sigh for a dark man
in some perplexity between 2 7s too in prison for Lord knows what he does that I
dont know and Im to be slooching around down in the kitchen to get his lordship
his breakfast while hes rolled up like a mummy will I indeed did you ever see me
running Id just like to see myself at it show them attention and they treat you
like dirt I dont care what anybody says itd be much better for the world to be
governed by the women in it you wouldnt see women going and
{u22, 728}
killing one another and slaughtering when do you ever see women rolling
around drunk like they do or gambling every penny they have and losing it on
horses yes because a woman whatever she does she knows where to stop sure they
wouldnt be in the world at all only for us they dont know what it is to be a
woman and a mother how could they where would they all of them be if they hadnt
all a mother to look after them
|s9what I
never hads9| thats why
I suppose hes running wild now out at night away from his books and studies and
not living at home on account of the usual rowy house I suppose well its a poor
case that those that have a fine son like that theyre not satisfied and I none
was he not able to make one it wasnt my fault we came together when I was
watching the two dogs up in her behind in the middle of the naked street that
disheartened me altogether I suppose I oughtnt to have buried him in that little
woolly jacket I knitted crying as I was but give it to some poor child but I
knew well Id never have another our 1st death too it was we were never the same
since O Im not going to think myself into the glooms about that any more I
wonder why he wouldnt stay the night I felt all the time it was somebody strange
he brought in instead of roving around the city meeting God knows who
nightwalkers and pickpockets his poor mother wouldnt like that if she was alive
ruining himself for life perhaps still its a lovely hour so silent I used to
love coming home after dances the air of the night they have friends they can
talk to weve none either he wants what he wont get or its some woman ready to
stick her knife in you I hate that in women no wonder they treat us the way they
do |9we
are a dreadful lot of bitches9| I suppose its all the
{u21, 868}
troubles we have makes us so snappy Im not like that he could easy have
slept in there on the sofa in the other room I suppose he was as shy as a boy he
being so young hardly 20 of me in the next room hed have heard me on the chamber
arrah what harm Dedalus I wonder its like those names in Gibraltar Delapaz
Delagracia they had the devils queer names there father Vilaplana of Santa Maria
that gave me the rosary Rosales y O'Reilly in the Calle las Siete Revueltas
and Pisimbo and Mrs Opisso in Governor street O what a name Id go and drown
myself in the first river if I had a name like her O my and all the bits of
streets Paradise ramp and Bedlam ramp and Rodgers ramp and Crutchetts ramp and
the devils gap steps well small blame to me if I am a harumscarum I know I am a
bit I declare to God I dont feel a day older than then I wonder could I get my
tongue round any of the Spanish como esta usted muy bien gracias y usted see I
havent forgotten it all I thought I had only for the grammar a noun is the name of any person place
{u22, 729}
or thing pity I never tried to read that novel cantankerous Mrs Rubio lent
me by Valera with the questions in it all upside down the two ways I always knew
wed go away in the end I can tell him the Spanish and he tell me the Italian
then hell see Im not so ignorant what a pity he didnt stay Im sure the poor
fellow
|9was
dead tired and9|
wanted a good sleep badly I could have brought him in his breakfast in bed with
a bit of toast so long as I didnt do it on the knife for bad luck or if the
woman was going her rounds with the watercress and
|9ground
ivy9| something
nice and tasty
|9there
are a few olives in the kitchen he might like I never could bear the look of
them in
|aBenadys
Abrinesa|9|
I could do the criada the room looks all right since I changed it the other way
you see something was telling me all the time Id have to introduce myself not
knowing me from Adam very funny wouldnt it Im his wife or pretend we were in
Spain with him half awake without a Gods notion where he is dos huevos
estrellados senor Lord the cracked things come into my head sometimes itd be
great fun supposing he stayed with us why not theres the room upstairs empty and
Millys bed in the back room
|9he
could do his writing and studies at the table in there for all the scribbling he
does at it and if he wants to read in bed in the morning like me
as hes
{u21, 869}
making the breakfast for 1 he can make it for
29| Im sure Im not
going to take in lodgers off the street for him if he takes a gesabo of a house
like this Id love to have a long talk with an intelligent welleducated person Id
have to get a nice pair of red slippers like those Turks with the fez used to
sell or yellow and a nice semitransparent morning gown that I badly want or a
peachblossom dressing jacket
|9like
the one long ago in Walpoles
|aonlya|
8/6 or 18/69| Ill just
give him one more chance Ill get up early in the morning Im sick of Cohens old
bed in any case I might go over to the markets to see all the vegetables and
cabbages and tomatoes and carrots and all kinds of splendid fruits all coming in
lovely and fresh who knows whod be the 1st man Id meet theyre out looking for it
in the morning Mamy Dillon used to say they are and the night too that was her
massgoing Id love a big juicy pear now to melt in your mouth like when I used to
be in the longing way then Ill throw him up his eggs and tea in the moustachecup
she gave him to make his mouth bigger I suppose hed like my nice cream too I
know what Ill do Ill go about rather gay not too much singing a bit now and then
mi fa pieta Masetto then Ill start dressing myself to go out presto non son
più forte Ill put on my best shift and drawers let him have a good eyeful
out of that to make his micky stand for him Ill let him know if thats what he wanted that his wife is fucked
{u22, 730}
yes and damn well fucked too up to my neck nearly not by him 5 or 6 times
handrunning theres the mark of his spunk on the clean sheet I wouldnt bother to
even iron it out that ought to satisfy him if you dont believe me feel my belly
unless I made him stand there and put him into me Ive a mind to tell him every
scrap and make him do it out in front of me serve him right its all his own
fault if I am an adulteress as the thing in the gallery said O much about it if
thats all the harm ever we did in this vale of tears God knows its not much
doesnt everybody only they hide it I suppose thats what a woman is supposed to
be there for or He wouldn't have made us the way He did so attractive to
men then if he wants to kiss my bottom Ill drag open my drawers and bulge it
right out in his face as large as life he can stick his tongue 7 miles up my
hole as hes there my brown part then Ill tell him I want £1 or perhaps
{u21, 870}
30/- Ill tell him I want to buy underclothes then if he gives me that well
he wont be too bad I dont want to soak it all out of him like other women do I
could often have written out a fine cheque for myself and write his name on it
for a couple of pounds a few times he forgot to lock it up besides he wont spend
it Ill let him do it off on me behind provided he doesnt smear all my good
drawers O I suppose that cant be helped Ill do the indifferent
|9one
19|
or
|9two
29|
questions Ill know by the answers when hes like that he cant keep a thing back I
know every turn in him Ill tighten my bottom well and let out a few smutty words
smellrump or lick my shit or the first mad thing comes into my head then Ill
suggest about yes O wait now sonny my turn is coming Ill be quite gay and
friendly over it O but I was forgetting this bloody pest of a thing pfooh you
wouldnt know which to laugh or cry were such a mixture of plum and apple no Ill
have to wear the old things so much the better itll be more pointed hell never
know whether he did it or not there thats good enough for you any old thing at
all then Ill wipe him off me just like a business his omission then Ill go out
Ill have him eying up at the ceiling where is she gone now make him want me
thats the only way a quarter after what an unearthly hour I suppose theyre just
getting up in China now combing out their pigtails for the day well soon have
the nuns ringing the angelus theyve nobody coming in to spoil their sleep except
an odd priest or two for his night office or the alarmclock next door at
cockshout clattering the brains out of itself let me see if I can doze off 1 2 3
4 5 what kind of flowers are those they invented like the stars the wallpaper in
Lombard street was much nicer the apron he gave me was like that something only
I only wore it twice
|9better
lower this lamp and try again so as I can get up
early9| Ill go to Lambes there beside
{u22, 731}
Findlaters and get them to send us some flowers to put about the place in
case he brings him home tomorrow today I mean no no Fridays an unlucky day first
I want to do the place up someway the dust grows in it I think while Im asleep
then we can have music and cigarettes I can accompany him first I must clean the
keys of the piano with milk whatll I wear shall I wear a white rose
|9or9|
those fairy cakes in Liptons
|9I love the smell of a rich
{u21, 871}
|abiga|
shop9| at 7½d a
lb or the other ones with the cherries in them and the pinky sugar 11d a couple
of lbs of those a nice plant for the middle of the table Id get that cheaper in
wait wheres this I saw them not long ago I love flowers Id love to have the
whole place swimming in roses God of heaven theres nothing like nature the wild
mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with the
fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going
about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowers all
sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches
primroses and violets nature it is as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt
give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why dont they go and create
something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and
wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and
they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad
conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe
before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do
I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising
|9tomorrow9|
the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on
Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose
to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was
leapyear like now yes
|9sixteen
169|
years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said I was a
flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one
true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why
I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I
could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him
on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over
the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and
Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing
all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier
and the sentry in front of the governors
|9house9|
with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the
{u21, 872}
Spanish
{u22, 732}
girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the
morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from
all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside
Larby Sharons and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in
the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of
the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors
all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their
|9little9|
bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas 2 glancing eyes a
lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron
|9and
the wineshops half
open at night and the
castanets9| and the
night we
|9stayed
missed the boat at
Algeciras9|
the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent
O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and
the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and
|9theº9|
pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and
geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the
mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or
shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought
well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes
and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put
my arms around him
|9yes9|
and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his
heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.
Trieste-Zurich-Paris,
1914-1921.