"Now what I want to know is where th' jury gets off. What has that
collection iv pure-minded pathrites to larn fr'm this here polite
discussion, where no wan is so crool as to ask what anny wan else
means? Thank th' Lord, whin th' case is all over, the jury'll pitch th'
tistimony out iv th' window, an' consider three questions: 'Did Lootgert
look as though he'd kill his wife? Did his wife look as though she ought
to be kilt? Isn't it time we wint to supper?' An', howiver they answer,
they'll be right, an' it'll make little difference wan way or th' other.
Th' German vote is too large an' ignorant, annyhow."
ON THE POPULARITY OF FIREMEN.
"I knowed a man be th' name iv Clancy wanst, Jawn. He was fr'm th'
County May-o, but a good man f'r all that; an', whin he'd growed to be a
big, sthrappin' fellow, he wint on to th' fire departmint. They'se an
Irishman 'r two on th' fire departmint an' in th' army, too, Jawn,
though ye'd think be hearin' some talk they was all runnin' prim'ries
an' thryin' to be cinthral comitymen. So ye wud. Ye niver hear iv thim
on'y whin they die; an' thin, murther, what funerals they have!
"Well, this Clancy wint on th' fire departmint, an' they give him a
place in thruck twinty-three. All th' r-road was proud iv him, an' faith
he was proud iv himsilf. He r-rode free on th' sthreet ca-ars, an' was
th' champeen hand-ball player f'r miles around. Ye shud see him goin'
down th' sthreet, with his blue shirt an' his blue coat with th' buttons
on it, an' his cap on his ear. But ne'er a cap or coat'd he wear whin
they was a fire. He might be shiv'rin' be th' stove in th' ingine house
with a buffalo robe over his head; but, whin th' gong sthruck, 'twas off
with coat an' cap an' buffalo robe, an' out come me brave Clancy,
bare-headed an' bare hand, dhrivin' with wan line an' spillin' th' hose
cart on wan wheel at ivry jump iv th' horse. Did anny wan iver see a
fireman with his coat on or a polisman with his off? Why, wanst, whin
Clancy was standin' up f'r Grogan's eighth, his son come runnin' in to
tell him they was a fire in Vogel's packin' house. He dhropped th' kid
at Father Kelly's feet, an' whipped off his long coat an' wint tearin'
f'r th' dure, kickin' over th' poorbox an' buttin' ol' Mis' O'Neill
that'd come in to say th' stations. 'Twas lucky 'twas wan iv th'
Grogans. They're a fine family f'r falls. Jawn Grogan was wurrukin' on
th' top iv Metzri an' O'Connell's brewery wanst, with a man be th' name
iv Dorsey. He slipped an' fell wan hundherd feet. Whin they come to see
if he was dead, he got up, an' says he: 'Lave me at him.' 'At who?'
says they. 'He's deliryous,' they says. 'At Dorsey,' says Grogan. 'He
thripped me.' So it didn't hurt Grogan's eighth to fall four 'r five
feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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