Vice… is a creature of such heejous mien… that th’ more ye see it th’ betther ye like it.

Cast in Finley Peter Dunne’s Irish-brogue dialect, the line wryly observes how repeated exposure to wrongdoing can dull moral revulsion. “Vice” begins as something hideous, but familiarity breeds tolerance—and even affection—so that what once shocked becomes normal, then attractive. The humor comes from the exaggerated phonetic spelling and the mock-aphoristic tone, which mimic proverbial wisdom while delivering a cynical insight about human adaptability and social corruption. Read as satire, it warns that communities (and individuals) can be slowly habituated to unethical behavior, especially when it is continually encountered, excused, or rewarded.