The Complete Works of Artemus Ward (HTML edition) — John Shaqi
The Complete Works of Artemus Ward (HTML edition)Ward, Artemus
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The Complete Works of Artemus Ward (HTML edition)
Ward, Artemus
American wit and humor
The time hevin arove fur me to take my departer I rose up & sed: "Albert
Edard, I must go, but previs to doin so I will obsarve that you soot
me. Yure a good feller, Albert Edard, & tho I'm agin Princes as a
gineral thing, I must say I like the cut of your Gib. When you git to
be King try and be as good a man as yure muther has bin! Be just & be
Jenerus, espeshully to showmen, who hav allers bin aboozed sins the dase
of Noah, who was the fust man to go into the Menagery bizniss, & ef the
daily papers of his time air to be beleeved Noah's colleckshun of livin
wild beests beet ennything ever seen sins, tho I make bold to dowt ef
his snaiks was ahead of mine. Albert Edard, adoo!" I tuk his hand
which he shook warmly, & givin him a perpetooal free pars to my show, &
also parses to take hum for the Queen & old Albert, I put on my hat and
walkt away.
"Mrs. Ward," I solilerquized, as I walkt along, "Mrs. Ward, ef you could
see your husband now, just as he prowdly emerjis from the presunts of
the futur King of Ingland, you'd be sorry you called him a Beest jest
becaws he cum home tired 1 nite and wantid to go to bed without takin
orf his boots. You'd be sorry for tryin to deprive yure husband of the
priceliss Boon of liberty, Betsy Jane!"
Jest then I met a long perseshun of men with gownds onto 'em. The
leader was on horseback, & ridin up to me he sed, "Air you Orange?"
Sez I, "Which?"
"Air you a Orangeman?" he repeated, sternly.
"I used to peddle lemins," sed I, "but I never delt in oranges. They
are apt to spile on yure hands. What particler Loonatic Asylum hev you
& yure frends escaped frum, ef I may be so bold?" Just then a suddent
thawt struck me & I sed, "Oh yure the fellers who air worryin the Prince
so & givin the Juke of Noocastle cold sweats at nite, by yure infernal
catawalins, air you? Wall, take the advice of a Amerykin sitterzen,
take orf them gownds & don't try to get up a religious fite, which is 40
times wuss nor a prize fite, over Albert Edard, who wants to receive you
all on a ekal footin, not keerin a tinker's cuss what meetin house you
sleep in Sundays. Go home & mind yure bisness & not make noosenses of
yourselves." With which observashuns I left 'em.
I shall leeve British sile 4thwith.
____________________
OSSAWATOMIE BROWN.
I don't portend to be a cricket & consekently the reader will not regard
this 'ere peace as a Cricketcism. I cimply desine givin the pints
& Plot of a play I saw actid out at the theater t'other nite, called
Ossywattermy Brown or the Hero of Harper's Ferry. Ossywattermy had
varis failins, one of which was a idee that he cood conker Virginny with
a few duzzen loonatics which he had pickt up sumwhares, mercy only nose
wher. He didn't cum it, as the sekel showed. This play was jerkt by a
admirer of Old Ossywattermy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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