unearths some literary gems.
From "Taken from the French," by John Maddison Morton:
***
ARTHUR. If you had the slightest particle of regard for me, you’d let me hand you up the hammer and tin-tacks! [....] Stop, Myrtle! Do let me come and hand you up the hammer and tin-tacks! So! I’m to do something energetic, am I? Drown myself in the duck-pond? Yes!—no. I have it! I’ll say good-by to Fritterly, and cut this place at once! And then, Miss Vane, perhaps you’ll be sorry—perhaps you’ll regret that you didn’t let me hand you up the hammer and tin-tacks!
***
LADY FRITTERLY. Spare me your absurd similes.
***
COLONEL COSEY. He’s a pleasant fellow enough in his way, but I prefer being out of his way! To be within the sound of his voice is like living over a printing-office—one continual clatter!
***
[A Parrot Always Makes It Funnier dept.]
LADY FRITTERLY. Give me but time to pack up my jewels, a dozen or two dresses, and a sprinkling of hats, and I’ll be with you, my Arthur! (Going—stops.) You won’t mind my bringing my favorite little pug-dog, of course you won’t—(going—stops again)—and a couple of kittens—a thousand thanks—and you won’t object to putting the parrot cage under your arm? I thought not.
***
