The Old Soldier's Story: Poems and Prose Sketches — John Shaqi
The Old Soldier's Story: Poems and Prose SketchesRiley, James Whitcomb
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The Old Soldier's Story: Poems and Prose Sketches
Riley, James Whitcomb
American poetry; American wit and humor
Ever'body is allus a-givin' it to Dudes. Newspapers makes fun of 'em,
an' artists makes pictures of 'em; an' the on'y ones in the wide world
that stuck on Dudes is me an' the Dudes theirse'f, an' we love an'
cherish 'em with all a parent's fond regards. An' nobody knows much
about Dudes neither, 'cause they hain't been broke out long enough yit
to tell thist what the disease is. Some say it's softinning of the
brains, an' others claim it can't be that, on the groun's they hain't
got material fer the softinning to work on, &c., &c., till even
"Sientests is puzzled," as the good book says. An' ef I wuz a-goin' to
say what ails Dudes I'd have to give it up, er pernounce it a'
aggervated case of Tyfoid blues, which is my 'onnest convictions.
That's what makes me kind o' stand in with 'em--same as ef they wuz
the under-dog. I am willing to aknolege that Dudes has their weakness,
but so has ever'thing. Even Oscar Wild, ef putt to the test; an' I
allus feel sorry fer George Washington 'cause he died 'fore he got to
see Oscar Wild. An' then another reason w'y you oughten't to jump on
to Dudes is, they don't know what's the matter with 'em any more than
us folks in whom they come in daily contack. Dudes all walks an' looks
in the face like they wuz on their way to fill an engagement with a
revolvin' lady wax-figger in some milliner-winder, an' had fergot the
number of her place of bizness. Some folks is mean enough to bitterly
a'sert that Dudes is strained in their manner an' fools from choice;
but they ain't. It's a gift--Dudes is Geenuses--that's what Dudes is!
ON RED HAIR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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