greeen grow the shamrock.

Part 1.

Kathleen 0 Sullivan. lay wide eyed on her bed listening to the dawn chorus, this first day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty, promised to be one she would never forget. ITer shapely young body, newly blossomed into womanhood, rebelled against the heat as she perspired profusely, clothed as she was in a long sleeved flanellette nightgown. She shared a loft bedroom of the small farm cottage with her younger sisters. Ten year old Pileen and Sheelagh aged eight lay together fast asleep at the other side of the room,, three year old Molly slept beside her. James,, her thirteen year old brother shared the other loft bedroom with her T)arents. ITer father, Daniel 0 Sullivant a man of his word, had promised to take James and herself to see the s,ea for the first time in their lives. Kathleen was looking forward with joyful anticipation to the long journey, twenty miles it would be, over the mountains from their home village of Tilgarvan to Bantry Bay, that glorious part of God's earth in the remote south west corner of Ireland. Kathleen had never been more than, six miles away from er ome an her young heart leapt with excitement as she thought of seeing her C,'randmother 0 Sullivan for the first time since her Grandaddy had died seven, years ago. It was then that her Grandmother had gone to live with her widowed sister at Ballylickey on the shores of Pantry Bay. Gently lifting herself to a sitting position,, careful lest she should disturb Tvlolly,, she leaned over and deftly lifted a lock of hair from her sister's forehead. 'lill my children be beautiful like Molly she mused. I'll be sixteen in October, I wonder if I'll be married when I'm eighteen like my Mammy ideas?' The shrill of the first cock crowing disturbed her musings. G'etting out of bed she stood up and removed the offensive nightgown glad to be rid of it. Quickly she reached for the new brown cotton dress she had 'so painstakingly and skilfully made herself. It had a plain bodice, a neckline that was not too high like her other dress, short puff sleeves and a long full skirt. She vias justly proud of her needlework. Quietly she crossed the room, passed through the door to the small landing and descended the wooden steps with nimble bare feet to the kitchen below. Unlike the divided loft., the ground floor of the cottage was all one room. The back door was near to the bottom of the steps,, the front door directly opposite. The two small windows allowed very little light to penetrate beyond the thick stone walls.-n open fireplace with arched chimney breast almost filled one side of the room and blocks of peat and logs were piled high at each side of the hearth. A,,s Kathleen came down the steps her first thought was for the nine bonhams lying in the corner with the sow. Were they all alive? Yes they were. "You.lve been a good mammy not lying on any of your babies in the night" she commended the sow with a sigh of relief. Recause the weather was so hot the top half of the back door had been left open all night, she picked up a pail and a milking stool and pushed o-Qen. the bottom half of the door. Walking outside all her senses drank in the beauty of the familiar scene. The rock strewn rugged Kerry mountains, silhouetted against the advancing golden sunlight rose up like brown,. green and grey sentinels into the cloudless blue sky and formed the lush green valley through which flowed the clear sparkling waters of the river Roughty. A white exist lying low across the valley induced, in the early morning stillness,, a sense of unreality. Delighting in the softness beneath her feet of the dew laden shar.r.rock with the tiny bright green leaves she walked,to the small field where a black and white cow stared at her with a solemn long face "You can't be sad to-day Dolly" she said to the cow mischievously as she placed the pail beneath the udders. The beast shook her head to remove the fly pests from around her eyes. "Yo Dolly,. you mustn't be sad to-day" she repeated as she positioned the stool and started the milking. She began@to think of the things she was going to take for the journey, the oat cakes, she must not forget those and the bastable bread and some for Grandma, and the crochet mat she had made. Tt seemed impossible to believe that she was going to stay the night at Ballylickey, it would be the first time in her life that she had slept away from home. She stared at the milk rising in the pail i,@ihilst resting her head against the belly of the cow, in her happiness she stroked her forehead affectionately along the warm soft hide. She watched her brother James as he came out of the cottage to fetch some water from the well, he was a handsome boy with dark curly hair who worked hard orr the farm being keen to learn all the skills his father was able to teach. ITe walked over to the donkey and car to examine the harness as if wondering whether it would stand the strain of the long hard journey. VIT do hope Daddy will be more happy to-day' Kathleen thought, times are so hard and he has been worrying so much lately. She finished the milking and lifting the heavy -pail full of creamy milk she returned to her exuberant mood and kissed the cow on the side of

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