Patrick MacGill
Patrick MacGill
Patrick MacGillwas an Irish journalist, poet and novelist, known as "The Navvy Poet" because he had worked as a navvy before he began writing...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionJournalist
CountryIreland
across catching conversation float
I have come to like the place and do most of my writing there, catching snatches of conversation and reminiscence as they float across to me.
caste common engaged estate full rewarded seem similar
Caste and estate seem to have been forgotten; all are engaged in a common business, full of similar risks, and rewarded by a similar wage.
skills soldier luck
To the soldier, luck is merely another word for skill.
soldier meals afternoon
The soldiers' last meal is generally served out about five o'clock in the afternoon, sometimes earlier; and a stretch of fourteen hours intervenes between then and breakfast.
party provision sympathetic
Even the distribution of rations leaves much to be desired; the fatigue party, well-intentioned and sympathetic though it be, often finds itself short of provisions.