Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-12-27
JOHN AUSTIN'S CHRISTMAS.
The advertisement read as follows:

AAO duNCTtlSSM0ut ISdO tS lQl1OWS.
NyANTED-A SHIPPING CLERK, TO RE-
w CEIvE freight and load vessels; references
required. Apply between 10 and II at -.
The man who cut this from news
paper on the morning of the Oath of
December, was an idiot at the age of
fifty to have said:
"There are no Brothers Cheerybles
nowadays The very last of these
good souls died when | was boy. AS
to the Cheeryble fortune, what was
left of livery little in fact, for the
brothers were not thrifty-went to dis
tant relatives who are reported to me
to have been of singularly misery
and uncharitable disposition. Wanted
q shipping clerk"
. Here John Austin put the scrap Of
paper into a lank wallet, and tried
quite decidedly to prevent it from
blooming and Towering there. Some
how or other every advertisement he
had put in his pocket-and they had
been umerable-regularly passed
through some horticultural forcing
process before they shriveled up and
went into impalpable fragments.
Like air plants" the man added,
sdrawing their nourishment from moth
ing IN particular, and poisoning quite
In vacuo."
Though John had a decided tend
ency toward gushing, even allowing
that it was simply internal, it neverthe.
less was to be deprecated. A good
deal of misery and trouble had hard
ened the man externally. Like water
In the rock, his fancies trickled feebly
inside of him, in decidedly useless
kind of way, but were fortunately SO
unobtrusive as scarcely to be ever visi-
BILE. Very possibly had some utilitarian
hydraulic moralist bored into John
Austin, and laid on the pipes and
mains, with the most laudable desire of
benefting parched and thirsty public,
It would all have resulted in most mis-
erable failure
..A shipping clerk /" the man said as
he took from off a shelf a fragment of
bread. GA windy berth on the
wbarves and what under the heavens
do know about it? What do know
is that my crust here is old, hard, and
stale, and not in large quantity, and
that 7 have precisely twenty-five cents
left, or three eight cent loaves of
bread, Just sufficient to carry me over
until Monday next; three whole days,
when if I do not earn dollar, this
room of mine will have to be vacated.
If snow would only fall, might pick
ND some trihe that way by shoveling
il off the sidewalks. In fact, l may be
at this mement just skirmishing
with that terrible wolf, starvation.
His lone howl may be supposed to be
reyerberating in my ears, and [ ought
not TO be eating this bit of bread with
singular zest and appetite, but should
shed tears over it, only that at fifty the
lachrymal ducts if not dried up are
supposed to be frozen over. A shipping
clerk Probability of chances against
me, $4,000 to one. Nothing In the least
prepossessing about me-neither
mirth, sprightliness, nor good looks.
But yet" here John Austin picked a
crnmb from off his sleeve, " there was
once a young man, it was In Venice,
who unloaded q ship coming from
Crete or Gambia, and out of a coarse
package of cast off clothing there tum-
bled round white pearl, which flashed
dainty sphere of lustrous opalescence
In the gutter. 1t was within an ace Of
falling plump into the canal. That
evening when the galleon was unloaded
sne young man carried the pearl to
mis- master, who, of course, embraced
his shipping clerk with JOY. That old
bale of goods, it seemed by strange
luck, contained treasures which had
belonged to the commander Of the OAR
danelles, Moldovangi Bassa, by name,
who, of course, under the circum-
stance, was an accredited foe of the
Republic, and his goods and chattels
were therefore confscable as lawful
prizes. do not think the Council of
Ten or the Doge were particularly IN
. was opened med riches untold were dis
covered, untarnished gems blazing
amid mass of filthy rags. Zone nall
is yours" said the master. 1 vii
have none of them save this pearl" re
piled the clerk; and, Oh my master