that stands up in a pub and insults the King and Queen of England,their two  lovely  daughters  and  the  Queen  Mother  herself.  Insulting  the Queen Mother is going beyond the beyonds.What did she ever do to anyone,that poor old lady? Time after time Malachy drinks away his rent money and winds up sleeping in parks when the landlord throws him out. He’s a regular disgrace, so he is, and Mr. Downes is glad McCourt is not a Limerickman bringing shame to this ancient city.The magistrates in Coventry are losing their patience and if Malachy McCourt doesn’t stop the bloody nonsense he’ll be kicked out of the country entirely. Mam tells Bridey she doesn’t know what she’s going to do with these stories from England, she never felt so desperate in her life. She can see Kathleen O’Connell doesn’t want to give any more credit at the shop  and  her  own  mother  barks  at  her  if  she  asks  for  the  loan  of  a shilling and the St.Vincent de Paul Society want to know when she’ll stop  asking  for  charity  especially  with  a  husband  in  England.  She’s ashamed of the way we look with the dirty old torn shirts, raggedy ganseys, broken shoes, holes in our stockings. She lies awake at night thinking the most merciful thing of all would be to put the four boys in an orphanage so that she could go to England herself and find some type of work where she could bring us all over in a year for the better life. There  might  be  bombs  but  she’d  prefer  bombs  anytime  to  the shame of begging from this one and that one. No, no matter what she can’t bear the thought of putting us in the orphanage.That might be all right if you had the likes of Boys’ Town in America with a nice priest like Spencer Tracy but you could never trust the Christian Brothers out in Glin who get their exercise beating boys and starving the life out of them. Mam says there’s nothing left but the Dispensary and the public assistance, the relief, and she’s ashamed of her life to go and ask for it. It means you’re at the end of your rope and maybe one level above tin- kers, knackers and street beggars in general. It means you have to crawl before Mr. Coffey and Mr. Kane and thank God the Dispensary is at the other end of Limerick so that people in our lane won’t know we’re get- ting the relief. She  knows  from  other  women  it’s  wise  to  be  there  early  in  the morning when Mr. Coffey and Mr. Kane might be in a good mood. If you go late in the morning they’re liable to be cranky after seeing hun- dreds of men women and children sick and asking for help.She will take us with her to prove she has four children to feed. She gets us up early 231