And Limerick town has no happier hearth Than mine has been with my man from the North. If he comes back early and sees Bridey in the kitchen the man from the North says, Gossip, gossip, gossip, and stands there with his cap on till she leaves. Bridey’s mother and other people in our lane and lanes beyond will come to the door to ask Dad if he’ll write a letter to the government or a relation in a distant place. He sits at the table with his pen and bot- tle of ink and when the people tell him what to write he says, Och, no, that’s not what you want to say, and he writes what he feels like writ- ing.The people tell him that’s what they wanted to say in the first place, that he has a lovely way with the English language and a fine fist for the writing.They offer him sixpence for his trouble but he waves it away and they hand it to Mam because he’s too grand to be taking sixpence. When the people leave he takes the sixpence and sends me to Kathleen O’Connell’s shop for cigarettes. Grandma sleeps in a big bed upstairs with a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus over her head and a statue of the Sacred Heart on the mantel- piece. She wants to switch from gaslight to electric light someday so that she’ll have a little red light under the statue forever. Her devotion to  the  Sacred  Heart  is  known  up  and  down  the  lane  and  in  lanes beyond. Uncle  Pat  sleeps  in  a  small  bed  in  a  corner  of  the  same  room where Grandma can make sure he comes in at a proper hour and kneels by the bed to say his prayers. He might have been dropped on his head, he may not know how to read and write, he may drink one pint too many, but there’s no excuse for not saying his prayers before he goes to sleep. Uncle Pat tells Grandma he met a man who is looking for a place to stay that will let him wash himself morning and night and give him two meals a day, dinner and tea. His name is Bill Galvin and he has a good job down at the lime kiln. He’s covered all the time with white lime dust but surely that’s better than coal dust. Grandma will have to give up her bed and move into the small room. She’ll take the Sacred Heart picture and leave the statue to watch 135