Mr. Dooley's Philosophy

Finley Peter Dunne

Jan 1900 · R.H. Russell

Ratings and reviews

Mr. Dooley is an idiosyncratic fount of homespun American wisdom, with a sly and sometimes sarcastic eye to the situation. On medicine: "A mustard plasther, Hinnissy, is th' rale test iv whether a pain is goin' to kill ye or not. If the plasther is onbearable ye can bet th' pain undherneath it is not." On women's suffrage: "What have they done to injye this impeeryal suffrage that we fought an' bled f'r? Whin me forefathers were followin' George Wash'nton an' sufferin' all th' hardships that men endure campin' out in vacation time, what were th' women doin'? They were back in Matsachoosetts milkin' th' cow, mendin' socks, followin' th' plow, plantin' corn, keepin' store, shoein' horses, an' pursooin' th' other frivvlous follies iv th' fair but fickle sect." All his palavers must be placed with the context of the age in which his wisdom was relegated to print; however, even when viewed in retrospect the sharpness of pundacity is worthy of an Andy Rooney fan.