Dooley, Mr. (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Irish Americans -- Fiction
"Whin he was a young man, Higgins knowed a fellow that dhruv four
horses f'r a brewery. They paid him well, but he hated his job.
He used to come in at night an' wish his parents had made him a
cooper, an' Higgins pitied him, knowin' he cudden't get out a life
insurance policy an' his wife was scared to death all th' time.
Now that Higgins has got th' money, he's took th' brewery man's
job with worse horses an' him barred fr'm dhrivin' with more thin
wan hand. An' does he get annything f'r it? On th' conth'ry,
Hinnissy, it sets him back a large forchune. An' he says he's
havin' a good time an' if th' brewery man come along an' felt sorry
f'r him, Higgins wudden't exactly know why.
"Higgins has to sail a yacht raymimberin' how he despised th' Swede
sailors that used to loaf in th' saloon near his house dunn' th'
winter; he has to run an autymobill, which is th' same thing as
dhrivin' a throlley car on a windy day without pay; he has to play
golf, which is th' same thing as bein' a letther-carryer without
a dacint uniform; he has to play tennis, which is another wurrud
f'r batin' a carpet; he has to race horses, which is the same thing
as bein' a bookmaker with th' chances again' ye; he has to go
abroad, which is th' same thing as bein' an immigrant; he has to
set up late, which is th' same thing as bein' a dhrug clerk; an'
he has to play cards with a man that knows how, which is th' same
thing as bein' a sucker.
"He takes his good times hard, Hinnissy. A rich man at spoort is
a kind iv non-union laborer. He don't get wages f'r it an' he
don't dhrive as well as a milkman, ride as well as a stable-boy,
shoot as well as a polisman, or autymobill as well as th' man that
runs th' steam-roller. It's a tough life. They'se no rest f'r
th' rich an' weary. We'll be readin' in th' pa-apers wan iv these
days: 'Alonzo Higgins, th' runner up in las' year's champeenship,
showed gr-reat improvement in this year's brick layin' tournymint
at Newport, an' won handily with about tin square feet to spare.
He was nobly assisted be Regynald Van Stinyvant, who acted as his
hod carryer an' displayed all th' agility which won him so much
applause arlier in th' year.
"'Th' Pickaways carrid off all th' honors in th' sewer-diggin'
contest yesterdah, defatin' th' Spadewells be five holes to wan.
Th' shovel wurruk iv Cassidy th' banker was spicially noticeable.
Th' colors iv th' Pickaways was red flannel undhershirts an' dark
brown trousers.
"'Raycreations iv rich men: Jawn W. Grates an' J. Pierpont Morgan
ar-re to have a five days' shinglin' contest at Narragansett
Pier. George Gold is thrainin' f'r th' autumn plumbin' jimkanny.
Mitchigan avnoo is tore up fr'm Van Buren sthreet to th' belt
line in priparation f'r th' contest in sthreet layin'between mimbers
iv th' Assocyation iv More-Thin-Rich Spoorts. Th' sledge teams
is completed but a few good tampers an' wather men is needed.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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