It could not be a wall; but there could be a thin thin line there all [390]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 round everything. It was very big to think about everything and [391]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 everywhere. Only God could do that. He tried to think what a big [392]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 thought that must be; but he could only think of God. God was God’s [393]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 name just as his name was Stephen. DIEU was the French for God and that [394]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 was God’s name too; and when anyone prayed to God and said DIEU then [395]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God knew at once that it was a French person that was praying. But, [396]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 though there were different names for God in all the different [397]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 languages in the world and God understood what all the people who [398]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 prayed said in their different languages, still God remained always the [399]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 same God and God’s real name was God. [400] [401]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It made him very tired to think that way. It made him feel his head [402]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 very big. He turned over the flyleaf and looked wearily at the green [403]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 round earth in the middle of the maroon clouds. He wondered which was [404]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 right, to be for the green or for the maroon, because Dante had ripped [405]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the green velvet back off the brush that was for Parnell one day with [406]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 her scissors and had told him that Parnell was a bad man. He wondered [407]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 if they were arguing at home about that. That was called politics.
\n[408]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were two sides in it: Dante was on one side and his father and Mr
\n[409]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Casey were on the other side but his mother and uncle Charles were on
\n[410]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no side. Every day there was something in the paper about it.
\n[411]
\n[412]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It pained him that he did not know well what politics meant and that he
\n[413]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 did not know where the universe ended. He felt small and weak. When
\n[414]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 would he be like the fellows in poetry and rhetoric? They had big
\n[415]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 voices and big boots and they studied trigonometry. That was very far
\n[416]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 away. First came the vacation and then the next term and then vacation
\n[417]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 again and then again another term and then again the vacation. It was
\n[418]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like a train going in and out of tunnels and that was like the noise of
\n[419]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the boys eating in the refectory when you opened and closed the flaps
\n[420]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of the ears. Term, vacation; tunnel, out; noise, stop. How far away it
\n[421]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 was! It was better to go to bed to sleep. Only prayers in the chapel
\n[422]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and then bed. He shivered and yawned. It would be lovely in bed after
\n[423]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the sheets got a bit hot. First they were so cold to get into. He
\n[424]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 shivered to think how cold they were first. But then they got hot and
\n[425]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 then he could sleep. It was lovely to be tired. He yawned again. Night
\n[426]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 prayers and then bed: he shivered and wanted to yawn. It would be
\n[427]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 lovely in a few minutes. He felt a warm glow creeping up from the cold
\n[428]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 shivering sheets, warmer and warmer till he felt warm all over, ever so
\n[429]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 warm and yet he shivered a little and still wanted to yawn.
\n[430]
\n[431]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The bell rang for night prayers and he filed out of the study hall
\n[432]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 after the others and down the staircase and along the corridors to the
\n[433]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 chapel. The corridors were darkly lit and the chapel was darkly lit.
\n[434]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Soon all would be dark and sleeping. There was cold night air in the
\n[435]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 chapel and the marbles were the colour the sea was at night. The sea
\n[436]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 was cold day and night: but it was colder at night. It was cold and
\n[437]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dark under the seawall beside his father’s house. But the kettle would
\n[438]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 be on the hob to make punch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It could not be a wall; but there could be a thin thin line there all [390]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 round everything. It was very big to think about everything and [391]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 everywhere. Only God could do that. He tried to think what a big [392]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 thought that must be; but he could only think of God. God…<\/p>\n