In his new school James excelled at lessons and won prizes for the best English compositions. The money helped to buy clothes and food for the needy family and even allowed for little trips to the theater. It was supposed that he would be a priest; so devout was he that he would stay on after Mass to have his private deliberations with God. His mother would boil rice especially for him because of his studiousness. When the family went picnicking to Howth or the Bull Wall at Clontarf he would bring little notebooks with summaries of history or literature, lists of French and Latin words, and while the other children swam he would set himself tests and get his mother to examine him. The priests who taught him recognized that he had a plethora of ideas in his head, one priest predicting that “Gussie” would be a writer.
–Edna O’Brien, James Joyce: A Life
