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www.adams.ieThe History Sale 19
th
April 2016
78 P.H. PEARSE AS MANAGER & HEADMASTERPearse (P.H.) A good autograph signed letter, in English on St.
Enda’s headed notepaper, 2pp. (single folded sheet), dated 19th
Sept 1912, to ‘ My dear Mr. Reddin, ‘ thanking him for a donation
towards the St. Enda’s fund ‘ Please accept my most grateful
thanks. We have pulled through all right, and though. I realise
that there is still an uphill fight before us I am fairly confident as
to the future.’
He also mentions ‘ the boys’ and says he is answering some
queries of Kenneth’s (separately). ‘ It is not easy to give general
directions as to Irish composition in the way he asks. The Irish
paper (in the Metric examination) is, however, fairly sure to be
easy. The two boys ought to pass, but one can never tell.’ with a
good signature (‘P.H. Pearse’).
One of the two boys mentioned, Kenneth Reddin, became a Dis-
trict Court Justice and a playwright. A poem of his was published
in the St. Enda’s school magazine, ‘ An Macaomh’ in May 1913. His
memories of Pearse appear in ‘Studies,’ in 1945.
* Good letters from Pearse are increasingly scarce. The financial
crisis of 1912 was of course only one in a long series, and St.
Enda’s was never able to clear its debts. (1)
€ 1,500 - 2,500