substantial extra expenses involved did not deter him, nor was anything likely to, for the Hermitage, in addition to having a pastoral setting, had a connection with Robert Emmet, an Irish martyr and hero of Pearse's. It was on these grounds that Emmet had courted Sarah Curran, who had lived nearby and whose father did not look kindly on young Emmet, forcing them to the grounds of the nearby Hermitage for their trysts. In addition, the school's namesake, St. Enda of Aran, had similarly left his life to teach a devoted group of students in the secluded Aran Islands, much as Pearse was now to do. In 1910 St. Enda's opened its doors at the Hermitage. The Hermitage, while perfect for Pearse's idyllic image of what he hoped to achieve, proved to be a financial disaster. The extra distance made it less practical for the day school boys, forcing many of them to drop out rather than switch to boarding. In addition to this school, Pearse had decided to use Cullenswood House to establish a similar school for girls, St. Ita's. With bankruptcy looming Pearse was forced to look to the United States for further funding. A lecture tour gave him some good contacts among the exiled Fenians who would prove to play a large part in Ireland's near political future, but the money he raised only kept the school barely in solvency. Later years and closure Pearse's involvement in the Irish Volunteers in 1913, and his active participation in the Irish Republican Brotherhood shortly thereafter, left St. Enda's with a less devoted master than it had previously. Pearse's radical politics also made even some moderate supporters question what their children might be exposed to, and some, notably Eoin MacNeill, removed their children from Pearse's influence. As it turned out, a large number of St. Enda's pupils did join the Fianna Éireann, and even the IRB, fifteen of whom later took part in the Easter Rising in 1916. Following the execution of the Pearse brothers after the rising, their mother reopened St. Enda's back at Cullenwood House, facilitated by the closure of St. Ita's. Frank Burke, an ex-pupil who had served in the Rising, was headmaster. The school returned to the Hermitage in 1919. The international fame the rising had given Pearse and his martyrdom made raising funds easier than before, and the following year Margaret Pearse had raised enough