There he learned the carpentry trade, which he later practiced in the United States. The elder Dunne's life-style was similar to that of the characters who would later populate Mr. Dooley's world: he was a Catholic, although he did not practice his faith regularly; he was a Democrat and an active political worker; and he was an Irish nationalist, although his personal memories of Ireland were quite dim. The young Dunne's mother had the greatest influence on him, as he would attest in 1886 by adding her maiden name to his own name. Ellen Finley Dunne, who came to America from Kilkenny, Ireland, shared her husband's beliefs in Catholicism, the Democratic party, and Ireland. She differed from her husband in one important aspect, however, for she loved books and, as Dunne biographer Charles Fanning puts it, "encouraged her children in reading and the life of the mind."
Dunne was a precocious child who began to talk at an early age. His mother encouraged his intellectual growth, for she was determined that her son would be more than a laborer when he grew up. Although Dunne was the only boy in the family to attend high school, his father saved him from the most popular career path for educated Irish-American youths--the priesthood--by simply declaring that no son of his would become a priest unless he personally desired that vocation.
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