The Complete Works of Artemus Ward — Part 1: Essays, Sketches, and LettersWard, Artemus
General
The Complete Works of Artemus Ward — Part 1: Essays, Sketches, and Letters
Ward, Artemus
American wit and humor
"Why this jumpin up and singin? This long weskit bizniss, and
this anty-matrimony idee? My frends, you air neat and tidy.
Your lands is flowin with milk and honey. Your brooms is fine,
and your apple sass is honest. When a man buys a keg of apple
sass of you he don't find a grate many shavins under a few layers
of sass--a little Game I'm sorry to say sum of my New Englan
ancesters used to practiss. Your garding seeds is fine, and if I
should sow 'em on the rock of Gibralter probly I should raise a
good mess of garding sass. You air honest in your dealins. You
air quiet and don't distarb nobody. For all this I givs you
credit. But your religion is small pertaters, I must say. You
mope away your lives here in single retchidness, and as you air
all by yourselves nothing ever conflicks with your pecooler
idees, except when Human Nater busts out among you, as I
understan she sumtimes do. [I giv Uriah a sly wink here, which
made the old feller squirm like a speared Eel.] You wear long
weskits and long faces, and lead a gloomy life indeed. No
children's prattle is ever hearn around your harthstuns--you air
in a dreary fog all the time, and you treat the jolly sunshine of
life as tho' it was a thief, drivin it from your doors by them
weskits, and meal bags, and pecooler noshuns of yourn. The gals
among you, sum of which air as slick pieces of caliker as I ever
sot eyes on, air syin to place their heds agin weskits which
kiver honest, manly harts, while you old heds fool yerselves with
the idee that they air fulfillin their mishun here, and air
contented. Here you air all pend up by yerselves, talkin about
the sins of a world you don't know nothin of. Meanwhile said
world continners to resolve round on her own axletree onct in
every 24 hours, subjeck to the Constitution of the United States,
and is a very plesant place of residence. It's a unnatral,
onreasonable and dismal life you're leadin here. So it strikes
me. My Shaker frends, I now bid you a welcome adoo. You hav
treated me exceedin well. Thank you kindly, one and all.
"A base exhibiter of depraved monkeys and onprincipled wax
works!" sed Uriah.
"Hello, Uriah," sez I, "I'd most forgot you. Wall, look out for
them fits of yourn, and don't catch cold and die in the flour of
your youth and beauty."
And I resoomed my jerney.
1.4. HIGH-HANDED OUTRAGE AT UTICA.
In the Faul of 1856, I showed my show in Uticky, a trooly grate
sitty in the State of New York.
The people gave me a cordyal recepshun. The press was loud in
her prases.
1 day as I was givin a descripshun of my Beests and Snaiks in my
usual flowry stile what was my skorn disgust to see a big burly
feller walk up to the cage containin my wax figgers of the Lord's
Last Supper, and cease Judas Iscarrot by the feet and drag him
out on the ground. He then commenced fur to pound him as hard as
he cood.
"What under the son are you abowt?" cried I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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