A LAUGHING PHILOSOPHER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 28

A LAUGHING PHILOSOPHER

“Mr Dooley’s Philosophy. London: William Heinemanu. Like Y'orick, Mr Dooley may be very truly described as "a fellow of infinite Jest/’ He is a jester first and foremost, but like so many other famous, votaries of the Comic Muse, his quaint foolery often but the covering for biting satire upon the fads, foibles, follies and vices of his day.. America, it is understood, is almost as proud of her Dooley a# t she is of President. McKinley himself, and assuredly in the ranks of his country’s humourists, Mr Dooley must is,kev a first place. Pie is much. funnier than were ever Josh Billings and Bill . Nye; and at the risk of being disloyal 'to the sacred memory of even At tern us /.Ward himself, the immortal showman with ‘his moral bare” and his “amoozin ; little cuss/’ the' Kangaroo, was not so consistently funny as the- clever young , Chicago journalist" who has made the names of Dooley and Hen ess ey so worldfamous. He hits haixl, but never below\ the belt. In his own shrewd, quaint .way, he manages to give not a few follies and abuses to be found in the social and political life of the States some smart blows, but though he is by ■lo means a respecter of persons, and will poke his fun at a Roosevelt or a McKinley with as much zest as he will fire his' arrows of wit and satire at m

Aetor or a “Boss” Croker, he is never malicious, and his jibes leave no sting. Aa a humourist, pui’e and simple he is iaimitable. There ia a rollicking gaiety , in. his deliverances which is most captivat- ■. ia- . and nothing eeemos. to oome amiss .as a subject out of which to create some honest, wholesome mirth. Such a writer ~in positively a benefactor in an age when the general atmosphere of life is so wofully grey and dull, and when Pessim_ iem stalks thro'ugh the world and affect? . even our light literature. To British readers, some of Mr Dooley’s refer moes may be a trifle esoteric, but on the whole , it is wonderful how —a few minor differences allowed for—the political and social world! of England and the colonies, akin t-o that of America as a field for the exercise of a satirist’s talents. With several of the now famous conversations reported in the volume before us, readers of this journal have been made more or less familiar through ex- . tracts, but the vast majority of the chapK tors will be new to a colonial audimve. v For eheer, unadulterated fun we can perj n»on.Mly recommend Mr Dooley On “li e Future of China,” on “Polygamy” (his •pinions on which, by the way are worth oomparing with those of Artemus Ward), on “The Negro Problem,” and on “Mar-

, and Politics," but where, as Mrs , ; .i Betsy Prig says of the “drinks/’ all “is , good," we must follow the advice of anV,; other Pickens character... Mr Jingle, and !/ hot “presume to dictate." One and only ~,,0ne extract we may give—not as repreaentihg Mr .Dooley at his best, but as /> a fairly good -specimen of his, style. The ■ is discoursing to that patient . V ‘Kitehef, his friend, /Mr Hennessy, on . “Alcohol as Food.” .< He says ;

;D<‘No/’ r saidMr-Bobley. ifWliisky /• isrudden’t he so much iv of a luxury if t’was more iir ? of- a. necessity. I

V.b idon’t believe 'us a food, though whin , - tne friend Sohwartameister makes a s pqcktail all it needs is a few noodles r., to look ;like ,-biled ; dinner. No,

whisky ain't foe... I fciunk betther iv ■ r it, thin that, I wudden't be placin' •it; on th’ same low plane as a lobster . /. salad./ - Father Kelly put jit r-right, ‘ and years go by without him lookin’ on Tt even at Hallowe’en., ‘‘Whisky," ' says he, ‘is called the divvle, because,’ .Z <ho says, .’ ‘tis won iv the fallen angels,’ he says. ‘lt has its place,’ he says, but its place is not in a man’s head,’ VV says he. ‘lt ought .to be th’ reward /iv action, not th’ cause ir it / says he. / ‘lt’s £*,r ,th’ end/ir th' day, not th’ be- : beginnin',* he says. / ‘Hot' whisky is / good for a cold heart, an no whisky’s ’ / good • f*r a hot head,’ he says. 'Th’ /; minyit ' a man relieo on it fra crutch be losesth* useivhis legs. ’Tis a bad " thing to stand oh, a good thing to sleep on, a good thing to talk on, a .-/bad thing to think on. If it’s in. th* head in th’ mornin* it ought hot to be

«» th’ mouth at night. If it laughs in ? ye, dhfhik; if it wejeps,. swear off. It makes some men talk like good women, an’ some women talk like bad men. It is a livin’ f'r orators, an’ the death iv bookkeepers. It doesn’t sustain life; hut, when taken hot with ' ’ wither, a lump 'ir sugar,' a piece iv lemonpeel, and just th* dustin’ iv a nutmeg-grater it makes life sustainable.”

“D’yee think ye-ersilf it sustains lifeasked Mr Hennessey. “It has sustained mine f’r many years,” sair Mr Dooley. Mr Dooley’s Philosophy is contained in a handsome volume, printed on excellent paper, and some very clever and amusing illustrations are contributed by Messrs Nicholson, W. Kemble, and F. Opper. A bust portrait of the sage furnishes the frontispiece to a book which is very good value for 3s 6d.