Now tell me, Clohessy, is that master of yours talking to you about
Euclid?
He is, sir.
And what is he saying?
Hes saying hes a Greek.
Of course he is, you diddering omadhaun.What else is he saying?
Hes saying there would be no school without Euclid.
Ah. Now is he drawing anything on the board?
Hes drawing lines side by side that will never meet even if they land
on Gods shoulders.
Mother o God.
No, sir. Gods shoulders.
I know, you idiot. Go home.
The next day theres a great noise at our classroom door and Mr.
ODea is yelling,Come out,ONeill,you chancer,you poltroon.We can
hear everything hes saying because of the broken glass over the door.
The new headmaster, Mr. OHalloran, is saying, Now, now, Mr.
ODea. Control yourself. No quarreling in front of our pupils.
Well, then, Mr. OHalloran, tell him stop teaching the geometry.
The geometry is for the fifth form and not the fourth.The geometry is
mine.Tell him to teach the long division and leave Euclid to me. Long
division will stretch his intellect such as it is, God help us. I dont want
the minds of these boys destroyed by that chancer up there on the plat-
form, him handing out apple skins and causing diarrhea right and left.
Tell him Euclid is mine, Mr. OHalloran, or Ill put a stop to his gallop.
Mr. OHalloran tells Mr. ODea to return to his classroom and asks
Mr. ONeill to step into the hall. Mr. OHalloran says, Now, Mr.
ONeill, I have asked you before to stay away from Euclid.
You have,Mr.OHalloran,but you might as well ask me to stop eat-
ing my daily apple.
Ill have to insist, Mr. ONeill. No more Euclid.
Mr. ONeill comes back to the room and his eyes are watery again.
He says little has changed since the time of the Greeks for the barbar-
ians are within the gates and their names are legion.What has changed
since the time of the Greeks, boys?
It is torture to watch Mr. ONeill peel the apple every day, to see the
length of it, red or green, and if youre up near him to catch the fresh-
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