"So ye say," said Mr. Dooley. "An' that's because ye're a young man, a
kid. If ye was my age, ye'd know betther. How d'ye do, Mrs. Murphy? Go
in, an' fill it ye'ersilf. Ye'll find th' funnel undher th' see-gar
case.--Ye'd know betther thin that. Th' Siptimber iv th' year eighteen
sixty-eight was so much hotter thin this that, if ye wint fr'm wan to
th' other, ye'd take noomoney iv th' lungs,--ye wud so. 'Twas a
remarkable summer, takin' it all in all. On th' Foorth iv July they
was a fut iv ice in Haley's slough, an' I was near flooded out be th'
wather pipe bustin'. A man be th' name iv Maloney froze his hand
settin' off a Roman candle near Main Sthreet, an'--Tin cints, please,
ma'am. Thank ye kindly. How's th' good man?--As I said, it was a
remarkable summer. It rained all August, an' th' boys wint about on
rafts; an' a sthreet-car got lost fr'm th' road, an' I dhrove into th'
canal, an' all on boord--'Avnin', Mike. Ah-ha, 'twas a great fight.
An' Buck got his eye, did he? A good man.
"Well, Jawn, along come Siptimber. It begun fairly warrum, wan
hundherd or so in th' shade; but no wan minded that. Thin it got
hotter an' hotter, an' people begun to complain a little. They was
sthrong in thim days,--not like th' joods they raise now,--an' a
little heat more or less didn't kill thim. But afther a while it was
more thin most iv thim wanted. The sthreet-car thracks got so soft
they spread all over th' sthreet, an' th' river run dhry. Afther
boilin' f'r five days like a--How are ye, Dempsey? Ye don't tell me?
Now th' likes iv him runnin' f'r aldherman! I'd as lave vote f'r th'
tillygraph pole. Well, be good to ye'ersilf. Folks all well? Thanks
be.--They shut off th' furnaces out at th' mills, an' melted th' iron
be puttin' it out in th' sun. Th' puddlers wurruked in iron cases, an'
was kept alive be men playin' a hose on thim fr'm th' packin' house
refrigerator. Wan iv thim poked his head out to light his pipe, an' he
was--Well, well, Timothy, ye are quite a sthranger. Ah, dear oh me,
that's too ba-ad, too ba-ad. I'll tell ye what ye do. Ye rub th' hand
in half iv a potato, an' say tin pather an' avy's over it ivry day f'r
tin days. 'Tis a sure cure. I had wan wanst. Th' kids are thrivin', I
dinnaw? That's good. Betther to hear thim yellin' in th' sthreet thin
th' sound iv th' docthor's gig at th' dure.
"Well, Jawn, things wint fr'm bad to worse. All th' beer in th' house
was mulled; an' Mrs. Dinny Hogan--her that was Odelia O'Brien--burned
her face atin' ice-crame down be th' Italyan man's place, on Halsthed
Sthreet. 'Twas no sthrange sight to see an ice-wagon goin' along th'
sthreet on fire--McCarthy! McCarthy! come over here! Sure, ye're
gettin' proud, passin' by ye'er ol' frinds. How's thricks in th'
Ninth? D'ye think he will? Well, I've heerd that, too; but they was a
man in here to-day that says the Boohemians is out f'r him with axes.
Good-night. Don't forget th' number.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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