My birthday, and a beautiful sunny day for the occasion. It makes me sad, however, more than anything else to think I am getting so old – 16. Real youth is certainly gone for ever, and now comes the most trying portion of my life, in which I must struggle hard, or else fail completely. It is an absurd idea, but I often watch a flock of doves wheeling to and fro in the air, and imagine that the heights and depths of my life follow this flight. – Went to Ivor and Joe, and they were really nicer to me than ever before, which is saying a lot, for they are always nice, but it is Mr. and Mrs. H who always make me feel as though I was an intruder. ((It is possible that the Horgans may have regarded Aloys as being the instigator of the mischief he and the two Horgan boys got up to during his visits.)) Timmie Leary came after dinner, and I amused him till seven, when he went back to school. Poor Pappie and Mammie were too good and kind to me this birthday, and gave me a lovely new suit, a pair of shoes and socks, apples, oranges and flowers and ‘Lands and Peoples’. I should be supporting them now. ((Many boys in Aloys’ father’s North Cathedral choir had to leave school at 13 and start work, some of them taking on a ten-hour night shift.)) Had a pleasant evening of reading and stamps.
