"We'd bate thim in a fight," said Mr. Hennessy. "They cudden't stand up
befure a gr-reat, sthrong nation like ours."
"We think we're gr-reat an' sthrong," said Mr. Dooley. "But maybe we
on'y look fat to thim. Annyhow, we might roll on thim. Wudden't it be
th' grand thing, though, if they licked us an' we signed a threaty iv
peace with thim an' with tears iv humilyation in our eyes handed thim
th' Ph'lippeens!"
THE ARMY CANTEEN
"I seen big Doherty runnin' in a sojer to-day an' 'twas a fine sight.
Th' sojer was fr'm th' County Kerry an' had a thrip an' Doherty is th'
champeen catch-as-catch-can rassler iv Camp Twinty-eight. He had a
little th' worst iv it, f'r he cud on'y get a neck holt, th' warryor
havin' no slack to his pants, but he landed him at last. 'Twas gr-reat
to see thim doin' a cart-wheel down th' sthreet."
"Was th' sojer under th' influence?" asked Mr. Hennessy.
"Ye might say he was," said Mr. Dooley. "That is, ye might say so if ye
didn't know that th' dhrinkin' habits iv' th' army have been rayformed.
Didn't ye know they were? They ar-re. Yes, sir. Th' motto iv our brave
fellows is now 'Away, away, th' bowl,' 'Tis 'Wine f'r th' thremblin'
debauchee, but water, pure water, f'r me,' 'Tis 'Father, dear father,
come home with me now.' An' who did it? Who is it that improves men an'
makes thim more ladylike, an' thin quits thim, but th' ladies? This here
reform was carried out be th' Young Ladies' Christyan Tim'prance Union,
no less. Ye see, 'twas this way. F'r manny years it's been th' theery
that dhrink an' fightin' wint arm-in-arm. If ye dhrank ye fought; if ye
fought ye drank to fight again. As Hogan says, Mars, who was th' gawd iv
war, was no good onless he was pushed into throuble be Backis, the gawd
iv dhrink. About th' time Mars was r-ready to quit an' go home to do th'
Spring plowin', Backis handed him a jigger iv kerosene an' says: 'That
fellow over there is leerin' at ye. Ar-re ye goin' to stand that?' an'
Mars bustled in. Th' barkeeper an' th' banker ar-re behind ivry war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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