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
Bradforth, an' he knew me an' laffed wol aw wor feeard he'd braik his
middle garment, (aw dooant know what they call it, but its that'at they
sew spangles on an' devides ther legs from ther carcase,) an' aw tell'd
him what had takken place, an' he tell'd tother chaps an' then he sed
'he'd made it all right for us and we must wait for him when all was
over,' we promised we wod, an' aw felt a bit easier i' mi mind to
know'at we'd getten another o' awr side. Th' performance went on then,
but ther wor nowt in it different to what awd seen befoor an' we wor
booath pleeased when it wor ovver. Herr L------t wor as gooid as his
word an' wor sooin wi us, an' we walked aght withaat onybody mislestin
us. It seems'at we'd been duped, for th' tickets we'd bowt wor old
ens'at had been done away wi sin th' year befoor, an' when we showed
th' programes he laft harder nor ivver, an' he sed, one on em wor for
a theatre an' tother wor a bill o' fare for a cafe. We gat some
refreshments an' then Herr L----l left us an' we set off agean i' search
o' adventurs. Ther wor a craad raand a shop winder soa we went to see
what it wor. It wor a pictur'at filled th' whole o' th' winder, an' if
yo daat, as some fowk may, th' trewth o' what aw say, ax some o' yor
friends'at's been, an' if that will'nt satisfy, read what th' "Graphic"
correspondent says. It wor th' figure ov a woman, dressed ith' same
fashion'at Adam an' Eve wore befoor they sewed fig leeavs together. It
wor moor nor life size an' shoo wor shown standin on her heead, an' th'
artist had taen gooid care'at yo should'nt mistak it for a man. It
wor surraanded wi dumb-bells, indian clubs, an' different gymnastic
implements, an' aw wor informed after'at it wor an advertisement for a
taicher o' gymnastics an wor intended to show ha a woman's form could
be developed wi folloin his advice an' takkin lessons off him--"But," aw
sed, "dooant yo think its scandalous to have sich a thing exhibited in a
public street whear men, wimmen an' childer have to pass?"
"Oh, you see we have none of that false modesty here, that you English
people have. The very thing you object to has become one of the sights
of Paris and your own countrymen are as anxious to pay it a visit as any
others."
"Awm net gooin to say'at my countrymen are better nor yors, but this
aw will say,'at if yo consider what yo style their false modesty to be
their hypocrisy, aw hooap an' trust they'll continue to be hypocrites
an' to breed em as long as th' world lasts: for awd rayther have a chap
at tried to appear gooid, even if he isnt, nor one at'll flaunt his
brazen sin an wickedness i' yor face!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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