"That's th' way Jawn D. felt about it an' he didn't settle. I wondher
will they put him away if he don't pay ivinchooly? 'Twill be a long
sentence. A frind iv mine wanst got full iv kerosene an' attempted to
juggle a polisman. They thried him whin he come out iv th' emergency
hospital an' fined him a hundhred dollars. He didn't happen to have that
amount with him at th' moment or at anny moment since th' day he was
born. But the judge was very lenient with him. He said he needn't pay it
if he cuddent. Th' coort wud give him a letther of inthroduction to th'
bridewell an' he cud stay there f'r two hundhred days. At that rate
it'll be a long time befure Jawn D. an' me meet again on the
goluf-links. Hogan has it figured out that if Jawn D. refuses to go back
on his Puritan principles an' separate himsilf fr'm his money he'll be
wan hundhred an' fifty-eight thousand years in cold storage. A man ought
to be pretty good at th' lock step in a hundhred an' fifty-eight
thousand years.
"Well, sir, glory be but times has changed whin they land me gr-reat an'
good frind with a fine that's about akel to three millyon dhrunk an'
disorderly cases. 'Twud've been cheaper if he'd took to dhrink arly in
life. I've made a vow, Hinnissy, niver to be very rich. I'd like to be
a little rich, but not rich enough f'r anny wan to notice that me
pockets bulged. Time was whin I dhreamed iv havin' money an' lots iv it.
'Tis thrue I begun me dhreams at th' wrong end, spent th' money befure I
got it. I was always clear about th' way to spend it but oncertain about
th' way to get it. If th' Lord had intinded me to be a rich man He'd've
turned me dhreams around an' made me clear about makin' th' money but
very awkward an' shy about gettin' rid iv it. There are two halves to
ivry dollar. Wan is knowin' how to make it an' th' other is not knowin'
how to spend it comfortably. Whin I hear iv a man with gr-reat business
capacity I know he's got an akel amount iv spending incapacity. No
matter how much he knew about business he wuddent be rich if he wasn't
totally ignorant iv a science that we have developed as far as our means
will allow. But now, I tell ye, I don't dhream iv bein' rich. I'm afraid
iv it. In th' good old days th' polis coorts were crowded with th'
poor. They weren't charged with poverty, iv coorse, but with the results
iv poverty, d'ye mind. Now, be Hivens, th' rich have invaded even th'
coorts an' the bridewell. Manny a face wearin' side whiskers an' gold
rimmed specs peers fr'm th' windows iv th' black Maria. 'What's this man
charged with?' says th' coort. 'He was found in possession iv tin
millyon dollars,' says th' polisman. An' th' judge puts on th' black
cap."
"Well," said Mr. Hennessy, "'tis time they got what was comin' to thim."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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