Read last night a series of articles about Michael Collins in the ‘Examiner’. They come out twice a week. This general seems to have been a man of extraordinary energy, and wonderful mimicking powers. His escapes from the Black and Tans and the British soldiers are thrilling; once he helped a party of raiders to search for himself, was often disguised most effectively as a woman, and once he escaped by getting into a coffin and lying in a mortuary with candles burning round him all night. He was one of the chief factors in the construction of the Free State. When the split came it was he who sailed into Cork harbour and took possession of the town on the evacuation of the Republicans. – Was ill-humoured to-day, I don’t know why. Worked and did gardening before dinner, and after Arthur came and together we brought our stretcher [camp bed] to College Road. Aunt Elsa wants it for seaside. After went with Arthur for a swim to Leemount, and it was most enjoyable.
