He says,There are boys here who have to mend their shoes whatever
way they can.There are boys in this class with no shoes at all. Its not their
fault and its no shame. Our Lord had no shoes. He died shoeless. Do you
see Him hanging on the cross sporting shoes? Do you, boys?
No, sir.
What is it you dont see Our Lord doing?
Hanging on the cross and sporting shoes, sir.
Now if I hear of one boy in this class jeering and sneering at
McCourt or his brother over their shoes the stick will come out.What
will come out, boys?
The stick, sir.
The stick will sting, boys.The ash plant will whistle through the air,
it will land on the backside of the boy that jeers, the boy that sneers.
Where will it land, boys?
On the boy that jeers, sir.
And?
The boy that sneers, sir.
The boys bother us no more and we wear our shoes with the rub-
ber tires the few weeks to Easter when the St.Vincent de Paul Society
gives us the gift of boots.
If I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee in the bucket I
go to the top of the stairs and look down to see if the angel might be
on the seventh step. Sometimes Im sure theres a light there and if
everyones asleep I sit on the step in case the angel might be bringing
another baby or just coming for a visit.I ask Mam if the angel just brings
the babies and then forgets about them. She says, Of course not. The
angel never forgets the babies and comes back to make sure the baby is
happy.
I could ask the angel all kinds of questions and Im sure hed answer,
unless its a girl angel. But Im sure a girl angel would answer questions,
too. I never heard anyone say they didnt.
I sit on the seventh step a long time and Im sure the angel is there.
I tell him all the things you cant tell your mother or father for fear of
being hit on the head or told go out and play. I tell him all about school
and how Im afraid of the master and his stick when he roars at us in
Irish and I still dont know what hes talking about because I came from
America and the other boys were learning Irish a year before me.
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