Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1884-12-18

Mr.. Chirrup was glum. Amy one
else, with a less admirable disposition
would have been cross" under the
same ~provocation.
But Mr.. Chirrup was never cross,
and he was seldom "glum."
However, when it comes to the day
before Christmas and you have no mon
ey to buy your wife Christmas gift oil
anything to put in the children's stock
ings, and no prospected turkey, or
mince pie and plum pudding for your
Christmas dinner, you are excusable
for being glum.
So, at least, thought Mr.. Chirrup, as
he sat looking out of the window of
Lawyer Ledgerly's office, where he was
employed at ably no-means e~xtravagant
salary. Lawyer LedgerIy was ill-"too
ID 20 be seen" his mother in law said,
30 there was no hope Of his anticipat-
ing his next quarters salary, as he had
sometimes done on similar pressing &C.
casions.
For Mr.. C~hirrup's salary was so small
and his family so large, it was not much
wonder there was usually some difficult
ty in making the salary stretch from
one quarters end to the other.
All these things Mr., Chirrup pondered
as he sat looking out of the window in
Lawyer Ledgerly's Office, which was on
Fifth street, just opposite Union Mar
ket. And our hero-if little Mr.. CHR
rup can be called auybody's hero-grew
GUNNER han ever, and beat the "Dev-
IFS tattoo" on the window sill IS GUM
people usually do. For the sight OF the
market stalls crowded with Christmas
Injuries, was not exactly calculated to
cheer up a man in Mr.. C~hirrup's cir
cumstances.
He still gazed moodily at the we'll
filled market stalls, at the crowds of
people, jostling and elbowing each
other, when he suddenly started and
peered sharply from under his "
brows, as if he had seen someone he
knew.
That short, sleek-looking gentleman
in the nobby hat and o~yercoat, with a
huge market basket in one hand, and a
gold headed cane in the other. Surely
that was Mr.. Chirrup's elder brother,
Rothschildl
AS he made the discovery, Mr.. CHR
rup-Rothschild Chirrup that was
was evidently pricing a turkey; a mon
ster turkey it was too, the biggest that
Mr.. Ch~irrup--either of the Mr.. CHR
rups-had seen in the market. And the
would-be purchaser held il up, punched
il, turned it arodnd and held it up again
for all the world as il he was exhibit
ing it for the benefit Of his brother, look
ing glumly down from the window OPP
posite.
But in reality he was only deciding In
his own mind that this was really the
biggest, the plumpest, the tenderest
and the most tempting looking fowl he
had seer yet, aud therefore he would
take it. And plump it went forthwith,
into Mr.. Rothschild Chirrup's huge
market basket, which seemed yawning
to receive it,. ~.
Mr.. Cltirrup-our Mr.. Chirrup this
time, came as near sueering as he had
eve done in his life, when the turkey
disappeared in his brothers basket.
For a bitter estrangement had existed
between the two brothers from time inn
memorial-or whereabouts.
mo doubt YOU GER buy turkeys.n
thought Mr.. Chirrup-Caleb his name
a "No doubt he can buy turkeys,
and celery, too" For a big bunch of
celery, large enough for a winter bou-
quet, had followed the mammoth tur-
key to its hiding place.
and if there's one thing / like bet
ter than another it's celery" thought
Air. Caleb Chirrup, trying very hard to
look grabbed and revengeful, but not
succeeding very well. However, he
did manage to look quite savage and re-
sentful for him, which is saving a good
deal.
Mr.. Rothschild, in the meantime.
pursued the even, but pompous, tenor
Of his way through the crowd which los
tied him on every side. Now and then
he stopped at the best filed stalls, and
added relays of vegetables and other
articles to the contents of his roomy
basket.
Bunches OF ripe bananas, dozens of
golden rined oranges and lemons,
ascuds" OF candies and cakes. and other
indigestible compounds, also disap.
peared in the same ample receptacle.
"Humphl L trust the little Roths-
chllds have we'll seasoned stomaels IN
dispose of all that trash thought Mr..
Caleb, sarcastically. Though in reaIi-
BY be could not have told whether his
brother was a bachelor or a Benedict.
50 long had been the feud between
them. And then Mr.. Caleb Chirrup's
humble abode was many, many blocks
removed from the aristGcratic precincts
Of West End" where his brother re-
sided.
The elder Chirrup-for Mr.. Roths.
child was the elder-seemed at last n
have completed lis purchase Of edibles.
and paused in front of a fower-stall
where he selected a pot Of crimson and
white crysaEthemums.
"The very pot" thought Mr.. Caleb
glumly, shat / picked out over month
ago, as a Christmas present for poor
Patty
Poor Patty was Mr., caleb's wife.