Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1846-10-21
From SCOTS Weekly Paper.
Gregory Grumley..Tiie Man who
had 'Other Fish t0 Fry.,'
BY HARRY HAZARD.

BY HARRY HAZARD
~ have other fish to fry" said Gregory Grum-
perly, inreply to his sisters request to give her
his arm to church.
1t was his motto, his simple dogma, his "one
idea his wade mecum, he had imbibed it at
his mothers breast, and strengthened with his
fathers earliest counsel,-it was his favorite
mode of expression by which he excused him
self from comI lance with any of the little
courtesies civilities, and attentions which soci-
ETY. might seem disposed to exact OF him.
OF the little anecdotes which his youthful
mind had treasured up from the lips OF the elder
Grumperly, none seemed gilmore value than an
old story of certain man in Paris, OF Lonaon,
or elsewhere, who made his fortune by attending
to his own business; AID the guientessence oi
that story was embodied in Gregory's beloved
maxim.
Did Mrs. Grumperly desire her son to
"agitate her last responsibility He had"other
fish to fry Was he requested to tell neigh
Dor Twigs to fix his fe ce 10 keep his swine out
of his fathers potatoe diggins? He had ''other
fish to fry" Was he requested to inform his
father that Mr.. Spunge, the lawyer, had gained
the suit against Peter Fleece, and thereby ru-
ined not only the said Peter Flece,but his client
Tom Sheers also Gregory not seeing any
possible relation this matter could have TO his
business, declined to convey the intelligence
and his father was feeced, sheered and spunged
into the bargain, in consequence OF some BUSH
ness transactions with the parties. Iii widow
Friendless ask Gregory to request the Doctor to
visit her sick child! He hadsother fish to fry"
and the child died to the great grief of his Attic
ted mother.
1t must not be supposed that as often as Mr..
Grumperly used his beloved law, that he inten-
ded literally to signify an actual performance
ofthe culinary process suggested, it was mere
metaphor, applicable, alike to the pairing of his
naile or the tonsure of his beard, or to the prep
sration for an aldermans dinner, or wedding
engagement.
But so frequent was his use of it, that many
plain, matter of fact supposed that Gregory's
chief diet was Of the scaly kind; and this i'm
preston was greatly confirmed by COMPARE
son of Mr.. Grumperly's personal appearance
with those Icthyophagi, whose habitations in
cline toward the North Pole. Short, studded,
and thick, every member seemed to have set
itself in Stubborn resistance to the genial I'M
cree ofjuyeniie expansion; and the only por-
ton of the man Of an aspiring nature being a
plentiful, upright, bristy garniture of ash-col-
ored hair, that pointed with undertaking costan-
cy toward the skies.
Mr.. Grumperly had further, twinkling gray
eye, quiet and retiring nose, land on the whole
rather rubicund and self contented yisage. a
long continual practice of his motto had some
what increased the corpulency of his figure.
When Gregory Grumpely was on one one
occasion aroused from his quiet repose in the at
tic of his paternal domicil by the cry of fire, he
evaded the call to active exertion for the gene
raj safety, by saving, IL have other fish to
fry
Mir. Grumperly seldom went to church,--that
was the parsons business and not his,-he had
"other fish to fry"
He belonged to no clique, sect or party, re-
ligious, moral benevolent, or political; 'solitary
and alone he held his own opinions, and lived
breathed, moved, acted entirely ION his own
hook,"-his private, individual responsibility.
Yet was not Gregory Grumperly utterly in
sensible to the charms of society, nor utterly
unconscious of the destinations of the female
sex; he fell in love,and from the moment he saw
Miss Agnella Roseblusb, did he see the neces-
city of modifying and restricting the use Of his
chosen proyerb.
Miss Agnella was wholesome girl to look
upon, and though bloomingly beautiful, was new
ertheless very domestic, industrious,and nota
bic maid; and it may be that the idea OF the
possession of such treasure, would give him
more time to ''fry other fish, quickened the
ardor of Gregory's passion.
How could it be otherwise than his de-
votion should meet with favor, when he had
given evidence of struggling to sacrifice the
talismantic motto of his life upon the altar of
her charms True, he had, found it very diff
cult. More than score of times, had be told
his Agnella, his dearest his elect, that he had
''other fish to fry" and perhaps five score as
many times had he arrested the words as they
were about to rush forbidden from his lips.
But his mistress had resolved upon a radical
cure. She remembered the loss ofthe old man
through Flece,-the death of the widows child
and other mishaps originating in this crude and
selfish saying, and what security had she when
she became Mrs. Grumperly, as she meant to
BE-, that he would not let her die for want of q
doctorbecaase he had s'other fish to fry