Josh Billings on Ice, and Other ThingsBillings, Josh
General
Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things
Billings, Josh
American wit and humor
_Tuesday, 18th._--Look out for rain and yu will be apt tew see it; wind
sow bi sow west; ice discovered in our Rushion purchiss; miners rushing
that way; geese are seen marching in single phile, a sure indicashun ov
the cholera; musketose invented by George Tucker, Esq., 1491; patent
applied for but refused, on the ground that they might bight sumboddy.
_Wensday, 19th._--A mare's nest discovered in Ontary county; a warm and
slightly liquid rain; thousands ov people hav visited the nest; windy;
the old mare is dredfull cross and kickful; hens average an egg a day,
beside several cackels.
_Thursday, 20th._--Appearance ov rain; plant corn for early whiskey;
frogs hold their fust concert--Ole Bullfrog musical direcktor--matinee
every afternoon; snakes are caught wriggling (an old trick ov theirs);
a warm and muggy night; yu can hear the bullheads bark; United States
buys the iland ov Great Brittain.
LXXII.
SUM NATRAL HISTORY.
"THE CLAM."--The claim iz a bulbous plant, and resides on the under
side ov the water. He iz born az the birds are, but don't cum out ov
his shell. He iz deserted by his parents, at a young and tender age,
but don't bekum clamarous on this akount, but sits still, and keeps
watch with hiz mouth, for sumthin tew cum along.
Hiz temper iz sed tew be cold, and clammy, but he must have a relish
for sumthing, for hiz mouth waters aul the time. He iz the life ov the
kompany at a clam-bake, and sumtimes may be seen sunning a half bushell
ov himself, in front ov a grocery, and quite often 13 ov them, under
the temporarious excitement ov salt and peppersas, hav bin known tew
peal, and pitch into a man belo the belt, and kick up-a devil ov a muss
with him.
The clam and the oyster are cuzzins, but the oyster haz the best
edukashun ov the two; their habits are simlar, but thare iz a grate
diffrence in the thickness ov their skulls, and in the softness ov
their brains; the oyster would shine az a poet, in the collums of the
monthly * * * * *, while the clam might do the fish market report for
the New York daily * * * * *.
Thare iz nothing more docile than the clam, and altho they sumtimes git
into a stew, they are az eazy tew lay yure hand on, and ketch, az a
stun, but they are like an injun, not very talky; they hav got an
impediment in their noize; their lips open with too much titeness, and
their mouth iz tew full ov tongue tew be glib.
Thare iz az mutch diffrence in the breed ov clams, az thare iz in the
breed ov christians; sum are so tender; and sum are so tuff,--sum are
good on the half shell, at a minnitt's notis, and sum want az mutch
biling az a hoss shu, and then will stand a good deal ov chawing
besides.
Clams were fust diskovered, az the meazles waz, by being caught. How
long a clam kan live I don't beleaf they kan tell themselfs, probably 5
thousand years, but a large share ov this time iz wasted; a clam's time
aint worth mutch, only tew grow tuff in; it is jiss so with sum other
folks I kno ov.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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