"I may niver see him. I may go to me grave without gettin' an' eye on
th' wan man besides mesilf that don't know what th' furrin' policy iv
th' United States is goin' to be. An he, poor man, whin some wan asts
him, 'Did ye iver meet Dooley:' 'll have to say, 'No, I had th' chanst
wanst, but me ac-cursed pride kept me from visitin' him.'
"I r-read his speeches, though, an' know what he's doin.' Some iv thim
ar-re gr-reat. He attinded th' banket given be th' Prospurity Brigade at
th' hotel where he's stoppin'. 'Twas a magnificent assimblage iv th'
laborin' classes, costin' fifteen dollars a plate, an' on'y disturbed
whin a well-to-do gintleman in th' dhry-goods business had to be thrun
out f'r takin' a kick at a waiter. I r-read be th' papers that whin Mack
come in he was rayceived be th' gatherin' with shouts iv approval. Th'
proceedin's was opened with a prayer that Providence might r-remain
undher th' protection iv th' administhration. Th' Sicrety iv th'
Treasury followed with a gran' speech, highly commindin' th' action iv
th' threasury department durin' th' late war; 'but,' says he, 'I
cannot,' he says, 'so far forget mesilf,' he says, 'as not to mintion,'
he says, 'that,' he says, 'if it hadn't been f'r the sublime
pathreetism an' courage,' he says, 'iv th' gintleman whom we honor,' he
says, 'in puttin' me on th' foorce,' he says, 'I might not be here
to-night,' he says.
"Th' Sicrety iv th' Threasury was followed be th' Gin'ral Shafter.
'Gintlemen,' says he, 'it gives me,' he says, 'gr-reat pleasure,' he
says, 'to be prisint in th' mist iv so manny an' so various vittles,' he
says. 'Iv coorse,' he says, 'I re-elize me own gr-reat worth,' he says;
'but,' he says, 'I wud have to be more thin human,' he says, 'to
overlook th' debt iv gratichood,' he says, 'th' counthry owes,' he says,
'to th' man whose foresight, wisdom, an' prudence brought me for-ard at
such an opparchune time,' he says. 'Gintlemen,' he says, 'onless ye have
lived in th' buckboard f'r months on th' parched deserts iv Cubia,' he
says, 'ye little know what a pleasure it is,' he says, 'to dhrink,' he
says, 'to th' author iv our bein' here,' he says. An' Gin-ral Miles wint
out an' punched th' bell-boy. Mack r-rose up in a perfect hurcane iv
applause, an' says he, 'Gintlemen,' he says, 'an' fellow-heroes,' he
says, 'ye do me too much honor;' he says. 'I alone shud not have th'
credit iv this gloryous victhry. They ar-re others.' [A voice:
'Shafter.' Another voice: 'Gage.' Another voice: 'Dooley.'] 'But I pass
to a more conganial line iv thought,' he says. 'We have just emerged
fr'm a turrible war,' he says. 'Again,' he says, 'we ar-re a united
union,' he says. 'No north,' he says, 'no south, no east,' he says, 'no
west. No north east a point east,' he says. 'Th' inimies iv our counthry
has been cr-rushed,' he says, 'or is stuck down in Floridy with his
rig'mint talkin',' he says, 'his hellish docthrines to th' allygatars,'
he says.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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