American fiction -- 19th century; American poetry -- 19th century; American wit and humor; Short stories, American
The Memphis Commercial-Appeal, in commenting on errors in grammar made
by magazines, takes exception to an error in construction occurring in
Gode's Magazine in which, in J. H. Connelly's story entitled
"Mr. Pettigrew's Bad Dog," a character is made to say: "You will be
lucky if you escape with only marrying one."
A man says this to another one who is being besieged by two ladies,
and the Commercial-Appeal thinks he intended to say: "You will be
lucky if you escape with marrying only one."
Now, after considering the question, it seems likely that there is
more in Mr. J. H. Connelly's remark than is dreamed of in the
philosophy of the Commercial-Appeal.
The history of matrimony gives color to the belief that, to whichever
one of the ladies the gentleman might unite himself, he would be lucky
if he escaped with only marrying her. Getting married is the easiest
part of the affair. It is what comes afterward that makes a man
sometimes wish a wolf had carried him into the forest when he was a
little boy. It takes only a little nerve, a black coat, from five to
ten dollars, and a girl, for a man to get married. Very few men are
lucky enough to escape with only marrying a woman. Women are sometimes
so capricious and unreasonable that they demand that a man stay around
afterward, and board and clothe them, and build fires, and chop wood,
and rock the chickens out of the garden, and tell the dressmaker when
to send in her bill again.
We would like to read "Mr. Pettigrew's Bad Dog" and find out whether
the man was lucky enough to only marry the lady, or whether she held
on to him afterward and didn't let him escape.
The "Bad Man"
A bold, bad man made a general display of himself in a Texas town a
few days ago. It seems that he'd imbibed a sufficient number of drinks
to become anxious to impress the town with his badness, and when the
officers tried to arrest him he backed up against the side of a
building and defied arrest. A considerable crowd of citizens, among
whom were a number of drummers from a hotel close by, had gathered to
witness the scene.
The bad man was a big, ferocious-looking fellow with long, curling
hair that fell on his shoulders, a broad-brimmed hat, a buckskin coat
with fringe around the bottom, and a picturesque vocabulary. He was
flourishing a big six-shooter and swore by the bones of Davy Crockett
that he would perforate the man who attempted to capture him.
The city marshal stood in the middle of the street and tried to reason
with him, but the bad man gave a whoop and rose up on his toes, and
the whole crowd fell back to the other side of the street. The police
had a conference, but none of them would volunteer to lead the attack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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