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Slote, Mamigonian, and Turner aptly observe that "All serene" was a cherished saying of Joyce's relative William O'Connell, the model for Uncle Charles in A Portrait of the Artist. (They mischaracterize him as a "maternal uncle." He was James's paternal great-uncle.) In A Portrait Stephen enjoys walks of ten or twelve miles with his father and "granduncle," listening avidly to their talk: "Words which he did not understand he said over and over to himself till he had learnt them by heart: and through them he had glimpses of the real world about them." In My Brother's Keeper, Stanislaus Joyce remembers this genial old bankrupt living in the family house as "a large, white-haired old man, imperturbable and quietly religious" (15). "Whatever happened, nothing could ever upset him; he had his magic formula at all sticky points: 'All serene, ma'am, all serene'" (16). As Stanislaus knew, his brother used this distinctive phrase in A Portrait:

     Uncle Charles smoked such black twist that at last his nephew suggested to him to enjoy his morning smoke in a little outhouse at the end of the garden.
      —Very good, Simon. All serene, Simon, said the old man tranquilly. Anywhere you like. The outhouse will do me nicely: it will be more salubrious.
      —Damn me, said Mr Dedalus frankly, if I know how you can smoke such villainous awful tobacco. It’s like gunpowder, by God.
      —It’s very nice, Simon, replied the old man. Very cool and mollifying.

The Slote team claim unpersuasively that the phrase in Oxen comes "From" the second of American writer Bret Harte's Tales of the West (T. Nelson, n.d.), "The Luck of Roaring Camp." This story tells of a baby who is adopted by all the men in a California gold-mining camp after his mother dies giving birth to him. A prospector named Stumpy takes charge, and another miner called Kentuck finds himself deeply touched by the way the baby grabs his finger. He visits Stumpy's tent at night to share the warm feeling and asks Stumpy how he is. "All serene," replies Stumpy. "Anything up?" asks Kentuck. "Nothing," says Stumpy (50).

There is nothing much to this exchange, and little reason to suppose that Joyce even read it, though another work by Harte does surface in Lotus Eaters when Bloom thinks of the "heathen Chinee." "All serene" is a recognized colloquialism that could have reached Harte and William O'Connell independently. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable gives the definition "All right, all is well" and connects it to the Spanish word sereno, "the sentinel's countersign." Molly recalls that expression in Penelope: "the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp." If Stephen, or Punch, is aware of the Spanish sereno, then he may be adding a military touch to this paragraph in Oxen where the students "March" down Holles Street singing martial anthems. In that case, "All serene" would mean not simply "All is well," but also "Reporting for duty. Let's march the dark street together."