Dooley, Mr. (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Irish Americans -- Fiction
"Swearin' belongs to some thrades,--like printin', bricklayin' an'
plumbin'. It is no help at all, at all to tailors, shoemakers,
hair-dressers, dintists or authors. A surgeon needs it but a
doctor niver. It is a great help in unloadin' a ship an' sailor
men always swear--th' cap'n an' mate whin wurruk is goin' on an'
th' men befure th' mast at meals. Sojers mus' swear. They'se no
way out iv it. It's as much th' equipment iv a sojer as catridges.
In vigorous spoort it is niciss'ry but niver at checkers or chess
an' sildom at dominoes. Cowboys are compelled to use it. No wan
cud rope a cow or cinch a pony without swearin'. A sthrick bringin'
up is th' same as havin' a wooden leg on th' plains. Profanity
shud be used sparingly if at all on childher--especially girls--an'
sildom on women, though I've knowed an occasional domestic: 'Damn
ye'er eyes' to wurruk wondhers in reg-latin' a fam'ly. Women can't
swear. They have th' feelin' but not th' means. Westhern men
swear betther thin Eastern men though I mus' say th' mos' lib'ral
swearers I iver knew come fr'm Boston.
"But it don't do to use pro-fanity th' way ye wud ordin'ry wurruds.
No, sir. Ye've got to save it up an' invist it at th' right time
or get nawthin' fr'm it. It's betther thin a doctor f'r a stubbed
toe but it niver cured a broken leg. It's a kind iv a first aid
to th' injured. It seems to deaden th' pain. Women an' childher
cry or faint whin they're hurt. That's because they haven't th'
gift iv swearin'. But as I tell ye, they'se no good wastin' it.
Th' man that swears at ivrything has nawthin' to say when rale
throubles come. I hate to hear annywan spillin' out th' valyable
wurruds that he ought to save to be used whin th' shtove-pipe comes
down. Not that it shocks me. I'm a dimmycrat. But I know th'
foolish man is hurtin' himsilf. Put a little pro-fanity by f'r
rainy days, says I. Ye won't miss it an' at th' end iv th' year
whin ye renew ye'er lease ye'll be surprised to find out how much
ye have on hand. But if ye hurl it broadcast, if ivry time ye
open ye'er mouth a hot wan lapes out, th' time will come whin ye'll
want to say something scorchin' an' ye'll have nawthin' to say
that ye haven't said f'r fun. I'd as soon think iv swearin' f'r
pleasure as iv lindin' money f'r pleasure. They ain't too much
pro-fanity in th' wurruld. A good dale iv it has been used up
since th' coal sthrike begun. Th' govermint ought to presarve it
an' prevint annywan fr'm swearin' more thin was niciss'ry f'r to
support life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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