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
"Do you see them beans, old man?" and he pinted to a plate before him.
"Do you see 'em?"
"I do. They are a cheerful fruit when used tempritly."
"Well," said he, "I hadn't eat anything since last week. I eat beans
now because I eat beans then. I never mix my vittles!"
"It's quite proper you should eat a little suthin' once in a while," I
said. "It's a good idee to occasionally instruct the stummick that it
mustn't depend excloosively on licker for its sustainance."
"A blessin'," he cried; "a blessin' onto the hed of the man what
invented beans. A blessin' onto his hed!"
"Which his name is GILSON! He's a first family of Bostin," said I.
____________
This is a speciment of how things was goin' in my place of residence.
A few was true blue. The schoolmaster was among 'em. He greeted me
warmly. He said I was welkim to those shores. He said I had a massiv
mind. It was gratifyin', he said, to see the great intelleck stalkin'
in their midst onct more. I have before had occasion to notice this
schoolmaster. He is evidently a young man of far more than ord'nary
talents.
The schoolmaster proposed we should git up a mass meetin'. The meetin'
was largely attended. We held it in the open air round a roarin'
bonfire.
The schoolmaster was the first orator. He's pretty good on the
speak. He also writes well, his composition bein' seldom marred by
ingrammatticisms. He said this inactivity surprised him. "What do you
expect will come of this kind of doin's? Nihil fit--"
"Hooray for Nihil!" I interrupted. "Fellow-citizens, let's giv three
cheers for Nihil, the man who fit!"
The schoolmaster turned a little red, but repeated--Nihil fit.
"Exactly," I said. "Nihil fit. He wasn't a strategy feller."
"Our venerable friend," said the schoolmaster, smilin' pleasantly,
"isn't posted in Virgil."
"No, I don't know him. But if he's a able-bodied man he must stand his
little draft."
The schoolmaster wound up in eloquent style, and the subscriber took the
stand.
I said the crisis had not only cum itself, but it had brought all its
relations. It has cum, I said, with a evident intention of makin' us a
good long visit. It's goin' to take off its things and stop with us.
My wife says so too. This is a good war. For those who like this war,
it's just such a kind of war as they like. I'll bet ye. My wife says
so too. If the Federal army succeeds in takin' Washington, and they
seem to be advancin' that way pretty often, I shall say it is strategy,
and Washington will be safe. And that noble banner, as it were--that
banner, as it were--will be a emblem, or rather, I should say, that
noble banner--as it were. My wife says so too. [I got a little mixed
up here, but they didn't notice it. Keep mum.] Feller citizens, it
will be a proud day for this Republic when Washington is safe. My wife
says so too.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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