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calculating many of his incur­sions. Sometimes that was influenced, it would appear, by the fact that he had less pocket money at his disposal than most of his associates and that he had to be more cautious in order to pay his way.
    An anecdote helps illustrate this. Many contests the students indulg­ed in ended up in the loser having to stand a treat in Keegans. One such contest was a burst for the old ‘Castle’ gate when it was locked. The last to hit the ground on the far side had to stand the treat. Dev was challeng­ed and the following evening was fixed by the three involved. In the meantime, Dev went along and examined the gate minutely sizing up what portion gave the best leverage on the way up. Needless to add he had not to foot the bill. Dev actually became an expert in climbing the present college gate when locked against his homecomings in later years. When his brother, Thomas Wheelright, visited him in the ‘Castle’ in 1907, in order to impress junior, Dev successfully got over the gate in three moves carrying his bicycle on his shoulder. When he mentioned jokingly to his ‘Castle’ dean in later years that he had been well prepared for pris­on life while in the ‘Castle’ he may not have amused Fr Downey as he soon realised, but he was really referring to no more than his methods of getting in and out of institutions!
    When his second class scholarship in mathematical science in the Royal University examination only netted him £15, to defray the ex­penses of his board and tuition at the ‘Castle’ he volunteered to take part-time class in the college in order to make up the difference. He offered to take all the classes, hitherto taught by Patrick Kelly, later Sir Patrick, Chief of Police, Bombay, who had just qualified for the Indian civil service; but he was instead assigned two students who had failed their solicitor’s preliminary examination and he had to coach them in all five subjects. They were successful this time and as a token of appreciation they pre­sented Dev with a ticket for the Welsh-Irish international match, 1902. He preserved this souvenir from his first students, Florie Green and Donegan, and it is now among his own souvenirs in the college archives.
    He was also asked to stand in for other teachers during periods of absence, notably Johnnie Haugh for long years teacher of mathematics in Blackrock. A class of ‘chicks’, as the youngest juniors were then called, liked to recall in later years their reactions to this youthful and rather over-gentlemanly stand-in for Mr Haugh, whose threats of dire punish­ment invariably ended up in a few ‘biffs’ with a shoe lace. They, too, de­cided to collect to make him a present but when the wags in the ‘Castle’ told him they were going to present him with a needle and a spool of thread he dropped a word to the class indicating that he was not in fa­vour of students making presentations to teachers. However he readily accepted the ebony walking stick they had in fact procured for him!
    At the end of the school year in June he decided that the time had come to accept the first full time teaching post offered. The offer came from Rockwell where the teacher of mathematics, Robert Walker, want­ed to come to the ‘Castle’ in order to study for his degree in mathematics. So Dev moved out of the ‘Castle’ to Rockwell in September 1903, but he was back again at Blackrock from June to October 1904 studying for his BA examination. A snap taken of him during that period with Fr Botrel shows him dressed in knee breeches, already clearly recognisable as the tall distinctive figure that was to appear in so many historic moments for the next seventy years.
    Due to his lack of time and tuition throughout that year de Valera secured only a pass degree in mathematical science. This was a big dis­appointment to him and was to militate against his