Seets i' Paris: Sammywell Grimes's trip with his old chum Billy Baccus, his opinion o' th' French, and th' French opinion o' th' exhibition he made ov hissenHartley, John
General
Seets i' Paris: Sammywell Grimes's trip with his old chum Billy Baccus, his opinion o' th' French, and th' French opinion o' th' exhibition he made ov hissen
Hartley, John
British -- France -- Paris -- Fiction; Dialect literature, English -- England -- Yorkshire; Paris (France) -- Fiction
Billy sed he'd had enough o' walkin' an' he wod'nt stir another peg till
we gat a cab, soa aw put up mi finger an' one coom. Aw tried all
th' French aw knew an' a gooid deeal o' th' English but he could'nt
understand a word, soa aw wrate th' name o' th' place an' th' name o'
th' street on a card an' gave it him an' he grinned like a Cheshire cat
an' started off. It wor then we began to find aght what Payris wor like.
We went throo one big archway at they call Arc de Triomphe de'Etoile,
an' it fairly made us tremmel. Aw lukt at mi guide book, (an' yo can do
th' same if yo have one,) an' gat to know all abaat it, an' what it had
cost; aw cant say'at it seems varry useful but its varry ornamental. We
rattled on throo bustlin streets whear th' shops wor palaces, an' ther
wor soa mich to tak us fancy at we tuk noa noatice o' th' cab chap
wol he pooled up suddenly ith' front ov a arched passage an' coom an'
oppened th' door an' pointin to th' haase he mooationed us to get
aght. But it wom't th' reight shop! 'Café du Nord,' wor printed up an
'Manchester House,' wor on a big sign an' 'English spoken,' wor i' big
gold letters on th' winders but it wor nawther th' same place nor th'
same street at we'd left ith' mornin. Aw gat aght to mak enquiries but
Billy wod'nt stir. "Arnt ta baan to get aght?" aw sed.
"Awst stir nooan wol yo find th' reight shop, awm varry comfortable
here."
Aw did'nt feel varry comfortable, but aw went inside to mak a few
enquiries, but they mud as weel ha been Objibberaway Indians for ony
sense aw could mak on em, they did plenty o' bowin an' scrapin an'
hutchin up o' ther shoolders but that did'nt help me ony, soa aw gate
hold o' one chap bi th' collar an' tuk him an' planted him opposite th'
words 'English Spoken,' an' aw says, "Nah then, can ta read that?" "Wee,
wee," he sed an' off he set, an' aw lukt for th' cab an' Billy but awd
hard wark to find 'it for ther wor a craad o' fowk gethered raand an'
th' driver wor stampin an' ravin away at Billy wol he fair fooamed
at th' maath, an' aw felt thankful just then'at aw did'nt understand
French, for my belief is at he wornt prayin for him to get aght but
swearin at him for stoppin in, but Billy wor lainin back smookin a
cigar an' seemed to be enjoyin it. "Sacrey mon dew!" he shaated at him.
"Sacrey thisen, if tha wants," sed Billy, "awst nooan stir aght o' this
wol tha finds th' reight shop; if tha connot find it awm sewer aw connot
an' aw've trailed abaat wol awm stall'd."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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