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 — John Shaqi
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
This wor gooid news an' it made me feel--(not better tempered, becoss
awd nivver been aght o' temper, tho' Billy swears to this day at aw wor
as mad as a wasp, but then he's a poor judge o' human natur is Billy;)
but it made me feel moor,--well, moor,--aw hardly know what to say, but
yo'll know what aw meean, for awve noa daat yo've felt that way yorsen.
When we gate in, he wor as pleeased to see us as we wor to see him,
an' he sooin made th' Frenchman, (who turned aght to be th' maister)
understand ha things stood, an' then he shuk hands wi me an' bowed, an'
sed summat; an' th' mason tell'd me at he wor sayin 'he wor varry sooary
if he'd hurt me, an' hooaped aw should forgie him;' "Ov coorse," aw sed,
"tell him awm one'at nivver bears malice, an' at he mun thank his stars
he met me when he did, for if aw had'nt happened to be i' th' best
humour ith' world, aw should ha fettled his nop for him."
"Eeah, friend, be sewer an' tell him that for it'll happen saand moor
like trewth i' French nor it does i' English--" Th' steaks happenin to
come in just at that time put an' end to th' tawk, an' it wornt long
befoor we put an end to th' steak. Then they browt us a big dish o'
fruits--grapes an' plums an' apples an' peaches, an' we had a reight
tuck in. "Aw dooant think aw've etten as mich crash sin aw wor a lad,"
aw sed, an' Billy sed he wor sewer he had'nt, an' he'd noa idea it wor
as gooid as it wor!
"Well," th' mason sed, "that is owing to the climate, you would'nt enjoy
the same things as well at home--I get fruit for breakfast. I dont think
you drank much claret when you was at home."
"Awm sewer we did'nt," sed Billy, "for aw supt nowt but ale, an' nah aw
hardly feel to care for it. But aw dooant think ale's as gooid here as
it is at hooam."
"It ought to be for it comes from the best English breweries, but look
at these workmen gettin their dinners, they look a fine set of men."
An' they did, an' Billy an' me did watch em, as aw began wonderin
whether or net it wor true, at English fowk had all th' sense ith'
world. Its worth while givin an' accaant o' their dinner, for this book
will noa daat fall into th' hands o' monny a workin' chap at's apt to
grummel even if he has to put up wi a beefsteak at hasnt come off th'
steak booan, an' it may do him noa harm to know ha other fowk live.
One bottle o' claret, for which they paid a franc--a looaf, abaat a
yard long, an' abaat as thick as mi arm, for which they paid half a
franc--a jug o' cold watter an' three tumbler glasses. Aw wonder
what three stooan masons at hooam wod ha made aght o' that for ther
dinner--fifteen pence wor all it cost for three on em. They each hawf
filled ther glass wi wine, then filled it up wi watter, an' then divided
th' looaf into three, an' each takkin a fooit on it, they pooled pieces
off an dipped it into ther wine an' watter an ate it wi a relish.
"Sewerly," aw sed, "tha doesnt mean to say at that's all they'll ha to
ther dinner."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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