^|s0Guiltless he was clearly for so once at least he clearely ^|awith a brave outlander's burr^a| declared himself to be ^|a& we know that it is true^a|. They tell the story that ^|aone fine spring one ^|bwhistling ^|chappy-go-gusty happy-go-blowy^c|b| April^a| morning some years after the alleged misdemeanour whis whilst ^|acrossing ^|bswinging billowing^b| across^a| the fair expanse of the park ^|ain his ^|bbillowy rubberised^b| inverness^a| he met a cad with a pipe. The latter accosted him to ask if he could say what it was O clock that the clock struck^|a, had he any idea^a|. Earwicker ^|arealising ^|bas on fundamental principles^b| the supreme importance of physical life & being unwishful to be plugged by ^|ba leaden the sap's^b| bullet sending him to eternity^a| halting ^|adrew his enamelled hunter quick on the draw produced his shrapnel Waterbury ^|bfrom his gun pocket^b| and hearing ^|babove the skirling of ^|cold sharp^c| Mother East^b| old Fox Goodman working the tenor bell in the speckled church,^a| and told the cad it was ^|atwelve to the minute punctually twelve^a| adding however that the accusation against him had been made as was well known by a creature in human form who was several degrees lower than a snake. In support of his words the ^|ahonest flaxen^a| goliath blank tapped his chronometer and blank pointed ^|aa Berlin gauntlet^a| to the dukes overgrown milestone as he said solemly: ^|acredit me ^|bsir my friend^b|. ^|bI have won ^|cstraight^c|. Hence my nationwide business.^b|a| I am prepared to stand take my stand ^|aon upon^a| the monument any ^|ahygienic^a| day at this hour and to declare ^|abefore upon the open bible before the Great Taskmaster's eye & in the presence of^a| the deity ^|a& my immediate neighbours^a| and my fellows ^|a|bin every corner on this globe in general^b| & to ^|bevery each living^b| soul acquainted with the British tongue^a| that there is ^|ano not one^a| tittle of truth in that purest of fabrications. The cad ^|aperceiving that he had to do with a clear postpuberal hyperpituitary type,^a| thanked him ^|afor the time of day ^|bnot a little surprised, all the same, that that was all the time it was^b|a| and repeated the words that same evening at his fireside where he ^|awas smoking reflectively spat in in museful thought^a| after having eaten some ^|aboiled^a| peas ^|aand with^a| vinegar ^|aa dish a plateful^a| he much fancied. ^|aThe aftertale has it that^a| The next evening but one the cad's wife spoke of the matter after sadalityº meeting to the Revernedº ^|athe^a| director, a fresh complexioned
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clergm clergyman and it was he in all hamanº probability ^|awho, seized of the facts,^a| was overheard ^|aby accident — if indeed it was an accident —^a| to repeat the words ^|sain an undertone^sa| to a layteacher of natural science ^|ain the middle 40's^a| during a priestly flutter ^|afor safe & sane bets^a| on the race course of baldoyle ^|a|bon the day when on a date easily capable of remembrance by all ^|cturfites^c| when^b|a| the portmarnock plate was ^|awon captured ^|bafter a ^|cclean clever^c| getaway^b|a| by a full length ^|afrom Bold Boy Cromwell^a| by Captain Blounts fresh colt drummer coxon at even money at short odds.^s0|
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^|aIt was 2 coves of the name of Treacle Tom ^|b& his blood & milk brother^b| & Frisky Shorty off the hulks what was on the bum for ^|ba an oofbird with good for a^b| jimmygogblin jimmygoblin ^|bor a small thick un^b| as heard this reverend gent make use of the language which he was having a gurgle ^|bon his own^b| along of the bloke in the specs.^a|
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Now, ^|ait was the habit This^a| Treacle Tom ^|ato whom reference has been made^a| had been absent from his usual ^|awild & woolly^a| haunts for some time previously (he was in the habit of frequenting common lodging-houses where he slept in a nude state in strange ^|abeds shakedowns^a|) but returning on Baldoyle night ^|ato ^|bhis house of call at^b| Block Z, Pump Square, The Liberties ^|bhe sought his ^|cwarm^c| bed^b|a| he repeated the tale more than once during uneasy slumber and in the hearing of ^|aa balladmonger and a a discharged^a| drapery executive ^|aout of work for the moment O'Donnell Peter Cloran,^{a| |a}O'Donnell a secretary of no fixed abode who had passed several nights in a doorway^a| and ^|aHosty^a| an illstarred ^|astreetsinger busker^a| who ^|afeeling suicidal,^a| had been tossing on his doss in the hope of soon ^|afinding ways & means for blowing getting a loan of some chap's parabellum to go & find some ^|aquiet^a| dive somewhere off the main tram line & blow^a| the napper off himself ^|ain peace & quietness^a|. ^|aHe having been trying for over a year to get into Jervis Street hospital without having been able to wangle it anyway.^{a| |a}O'Donnell ^|b& Peter Cloran ^|cas an understood thing,^c|b| slept in the ^|bsame bed one bunk^b| with hosty^{a| |a}and the housewife dawn-of-all-work had not been many hours furbishing potlids, doorbrasses, scholars' applecheeks & horny buttons^a| when day dawned ^|athat busker was the busker & his ^|bbedmates bedroom suite^b| were^a| up and afoot ^|acrosstown^a| thrumming his ^|asquare crewth^a| fiddle and after a visit to a public house ^|a|bnear not 1,000 miles from^b| Parnell's statue ^|bin company of two casuals where the trio were joined by another casual & a decent sort who had just pocketed his weekly insult^b| where all had stimulants ^|b|cin the shape of gee and gees stood by the decent sort^c| at the decent sort's expense ^|c& came out of the licensed premises wiping their mouth on their sleeves^c|b|a| the world was the richer for a new halfpenny ballad ^|afirst sung ^|bfrom the under the shadow of the^b| monument of the dead legislator to an ^|baudience overflow meeting fully filling the visional area^b| representative of every section of the Irish people ^|branging from slips of boys ^|cwith pocketed hands, ladychairs, a few old souls obviously under the spell of liquor^{c| |c}& emergency men in search of an honest crust^c| to busy professional gentlemen^b|a|. ^|aWord went round &^a| This on a slip of blue paper headed by a woodcut^|a?^a| soon fluttered ^|aon highway & byway^a| to the rose of the winds from lane to lattice and from mouth to ear throughout ^|athe 5 corners of^a| the land of Ireland. And
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round the land his rann it ran and this is the rann that Hosty made: