(437.16-439.14) As Shaun's sermon continues, he spends less time offering seemingly random bits of advice and focuses more on developing certain themes. Today's passage begins with Shaun saying, "Be a sportive." Soon after he adds, "Stamp out bad eggs." But then he strikes upon a particular pet subject for him when he brings up the "too friendly friend sort, Mazourikawitch or some other sukinsin of a vitch" after having cautioned the girls to avoid "furnished lodgers paying for their feed on tally with company and piano tunes."
Mazourikawitch is a Shem-type figure who Shaun fears may try to seduce the girls while Shaun is gone. He paints a picture of the girl having gotten "used to basking in his loverslowlap, inordinately clad, moustacheteasing." The man will seduce her, precipitating her downfall. She'll move on to another fling and become a favorite subject of peeping toms and the local gossip. Then, she'll find herself in "a whorable state of affairs altogether" when "the redcolumnists of presswritten epics, Peter Paragraph and Paulus Puff" snap scandalous photos of her, causing her to be no longer marriageable and ending with her bottoming out as a prostitute.
With all this in mind, Shaun says, "I'll have no college swankies . . . trespassing on your danger zone in the dancer years." If he does catch any of the girls deviating from the prescribed course, he says, "I'll tackle you to feel if you have a few devils in you."
We've now reached the conclusion of what looks to be the opening salvo of Shaun's sermon. More to come tomorrow . . . .
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