'Ye'er wet through,' he says.
"Whin I woke up this mornin', th' pothry had all disappeared, an' I
begun to think th' las' hot wan I took had somethin' wrong with it.
Besides, th' lumbago was grippin' me till I cud hardly put wan foot
befure th' other. But I remimbered me promises to mesilf, an' I wint out
on th' sthreet, intindin' to wish ivry wan a 'Happy New Year,' an'
hopin' in me hear-rt that th' first wan I wished it to'd tell me to go
to th' divvle, so I cud hit him in th' eye. I hadn't gone half a block
before I spied Dorsey acrost th' sthreet. I picked up a half a brick an'
put it in me pocket, an' Dorsey done th' same. Thin we wint up to each
other. 'A Happy New Year,' says I. 'Th' same to you,' says he, 'an'
manny iv thim,' he says. 'Ye have a brick in ye'er hand,' says I. 'I was
thinkin' iv givin' ye a New Year's gift,' says he. 'Th' same to you, an'
manny iv thim,' says I, fondlin' me own ammunition. ''Tis even all
around,' says he. 'It is,' says I. 'I was thinkin' las' night I'd give
up me gredge again ye,' says he. 'I had th' same thought mesilf,' says
I. 'But, since I seen ye'er face,' he says, 'I've con-cluded that I'd be
more comfortable hatin' ye thin havin' ye f'r a frind,' says he. 'Ye're
a man iv taste,' says I. An' we backed away fr'm each other. He's a Tip,
an' can throw a stone like a rifleman; an', Hinnissy, I'm somethin' iv
an amachoor shot with a half-brick mesilf.
"Well, I've been thinkin' it over, an' I've argied it out that life'd
not be worth livin' if we didn't keep our inimies. I can have all th'
frinds I need. Anny man can that keeps a liquor sthore. But a rale
sthrong inimy, specially a May-o inimy,--wan that hates ye ha-ard, an'
that ye'd take th' coat off yer back to do a bad tur-rn to,--is a luxury
that I can't go without in me ol' days. Dorsey is th' right sort. I
can't go by his house without bein' in fear he'll spill th' chimbly down
on me head; an', whin he passes my place, he walks in th' middle iv th'
sthreet, an' crosses himsilf. I'll swear off on annything but Dorsey.
He's a good man, an' I despise him. Here's long life to him."
ON GOLD-SEEKING.
"Well, sir," said Mr. Hennessy, "that Alaska's th' gr-reat place. I
thought 'twas nawthin' but an iceberg with a few seals roostin' on it,
an' wan or two hundherd Ohio politicians that can't be killed on account
iv th' threaty iv Pawrs. But here they tell me 'tis fairly smothered in
goold. A man stubs his toe on th' ground, an lifts th' top off iv a
goold mine. Ye go to bed at night, an' wake up with goold fillin' in
ye'er teeth."
"Yes," said Mr. Dooley, "Clancy's son was in here this mornin', an' he
says a frind iv his wint to sleep out in th' open wan night, an' whin he
got up his pants assayed four ounces iv goold to th' pound, an' his
whiskers panned out as much as thirty dollars net."
"If I was a young man an' not tied down here," said Mr. Hennessy, "I'd
go there: I wud so."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account