"I suppose in Ireland the whisky does not do much harm, seeing
that it is a wet country; but here I notice that they cannot drink half as
much as they were accustomed to without feeling it."
"That is true for you, Terence. Half a bottle here goes as far as a bottle
in the old country; and I find with the wounded, spirits have a very bad
effect, even in very small quantities. There is one thing, when the troops
are on the march they not only get small chance of getting drink, but
mighty little time to think of it. When you have been doing your twenty
miles a day, with halts and stoppages on these beastly roads and defiles,
and are on your feet from daylight until late in the evening, and then,
perhaps, a turn at the outposts, a man hasn't got much time for divarshon;
and even if there is liquor to be had, he is glad enough when he has had a
glass or so to wrap himself in his cloak and lie down to sleep. I have
nearly sworn off myself, for I found that my head troubled me in the
morning after a glass or two, more than it did after an all-night's
sitting at Athlone. Ah, Terence, it is lucky for you that you have no
fancy for it!"
"I hope I never shall have, O'Flaherty. If one has got thoroughly wet
through in a long day's fishing, it may be that a glass of punch may keep
away a cold, though even that I doubt.
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