"Well, sir," said Mr. Dooley, "I ain't much on th' theayter. I niver
wint to wan that I didn't have to stand where I cud see a man in blue
overalls scratchin' his leg just beyant where the heeroyne was prayin'
on th' palace stairs, an' I don't know much about it; but it seemed to
me, an' it seemed to Hartigan, th' plumber, that was with me, that
'twas a good play if they'd been a fire in th' first act. They was a
lot iv people there; an', if it cud 've been arranged f'r to have
injine company fifteen with Cap'n Duffy at th' head iv thim come in
through a window an' carry off th' crowd, 'twud've med a hit with me.
"'Tis not like anny play I iver see before or since. In 'Tur-rble Tom;
or, th' Boys iv Ninety-eight,' that I see wanst, th' man that's th'
main guy iv th' thing he waits till ivry wan has said what he has to
say, an' he has a clean field; an' thin he jumps in as th' man that
plays th' big dhrum gives it an upper cut. But with this here play iv
'Cyrus O'Bergerac' 'tis far diff'rent. Th' curtain goes up an' shows
Bill Delaney an' little Tim Scanlan an' Mark Toolan an' Packy Dugan,
that wurruks in the shoe store, an' Molly Donahue an' th' Casey
sisters, thim that scandalized th' parish be doin' a skirt dance at
th' fair, all walkin' up an' down talkin'. 'Tin to wan on Sharkey,'
says Toolan. 'I go ye, an' make it a hundherd,' says Tim Scanlan. 'Was
ye at th' cake walk?' 'Who stole me hat?' 'Cudden't ye die waltzin'?'
'They say Murphy has gone on th' foorce.' 'Hivins, there goes th' las'
car!' 'Pass th' butther, please: I'm far fr'm home.' All iv thim
talkin' away at once, niver carin' f'r no wan, whin all at wanst up
stheps me bold Hogan with a nose on him,--glory be, such a nose! I
niver see th' like on a man or an illyphant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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