Irish Americans -- Humor; Irish-American wit and humor
“'Twas a gr-reat day f'r Kentucky, Hinnissy, an' it puts th' gran'
ol' state two or three notches ahead iv anny sim'lar community in th'
wur-ruld. Talk about th' Boer war an' th' campaign in th' Ph'lippeens!
Whin Kentucky begins f'r to shoot up her fav'rite sons they'll be more
blood spilled thin thim two play wars'd spill between now an' th' time
whin Ladysmith's relieved f'r th' las' time an' Agynaldoo is r-run up
a three in th' outermost corner iv Hoar County, state iv Luzon. They'se
rale shootin' in Kentucky, an' whin it begins ivrybody takes a hand.
'Tis th' on'y safe way. If ye thry to be an onlooker an' what they calls
a non-combatant 'tis pretty sure ye'll be taken home to ye'er fam'ly
lookin' like a cribbage-boord. So th' thing f'r ye to do is to be wan iv
th' shooters ye'ersilf, load up ye'er gun an' whale away f'r th' honor
iv ye'er counthry.”
“'Tis a disgrace,” said Mr. Hennessy. “Where were th' polis?”
“This was not th' place f'r a polisman,” said Mr. Dooley. “I suspict
though, fr'm me knowledge iv th' kind iv man that uses firear-rms that
if some wan'd had th' prisence iv mind to sing out 'They'se a man at th'
bar that offers to buy dhrinks f'r th' crowd,' they'd be less casu'lties
fr'm bullets, though they might be enough people kilt in th' r-rush to
even it up. But whin I read about these social affairs in Kentucky, I
sometimes wish some spool cotton salesman fr'm Matsachoosets, who'd
be sure to get kilt whin th' shootin' begun, wud go down there with a
baseball bat an' begin tappin' th' gallant gintlemen on th' head befure
breakfast an' in silf definse. I'll bet ye he'd have thim jumpin'
through thransoms in less thin two minyits, f'r ye can put this down as
thrue fr'm wan that's seen manny a shootin', that a man, barrin' he's a
polisman, on'y dhraws a gun whin he's dhrunk or afraid. Th' gun fighter,
Hinnissy, tin to wan is a cow'rd.”
“That's so,” said Mr. Hennessy. “But it don't do to take anny chances
on.”
“No,” said Mr. Dooley, “he might be dhrunk.”
A SOCIETY SCANDAL
“Well, sir, I guess I'm not up on etiket,” said Mr. Dooley.
“How's that?” demanded Mr. Hennessy.
“I've been readin' about Willum Waldorf Asthor,” replied Mr. Dooley,
“an' th' throuble he had with a la-ad that bummed his way into his
party. Ye see, Hinnissy, Willum Waldorf Asthor give a party at his
large an' commodjious house in London. That's where he lives--in
London--though he r-runs a hotel in New York, where ye can see half th'
state iv Ioway near anny night, they tell me. Well, he give this party
on a gran' scale, an' bought gr-reat slathers iv food an' dhrink,
an' invited th' neighbors an' the neighbors' childher. But wan man he
wudden't have. He's goin' over th' list iv th' people that's to come,
an' he says to his sicrety: 'Scratch that boy. Him an' me bump as we
pass by.' He didn't want this fellow, ye see, Hinnissy. I don't know
why. They was dissatisfaction between thim; annyhow, he says: 'Scratch
him,' an' he was out iv it.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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