The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1884-12-18
MIR. CHlRRUP'S CHRISTMAS.

NlCs V1lllIDUl y Vu0SN MAN,
Mr.. Chirrup was glum. Any one
else, with less admirable disposition
would have been "cross" Under the
same provocati0n:
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 or
anything to put in the childrens 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 by no-means extravagant
salary. Lawyer Ledgerly was ill-"too
i'll to be seen" his mother in law said,
SO there was no hope of his anticipate
ing his next quarters salary, as he had
sometimes done on similar pressing &C.
casions.
For Mr.. Chirrup's salary was 50 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.
Allthese 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 anybody's hero-grew
GUNNER than ever, and beat the "Dev.
lis tattoo" on the window sill as glum
people usually do. For the sight Of the
market stalls crowded with Christmas
luxuries, was not exactly calculated to
cheer up q man in Mr.. Chirrup's cir
cumstances.
He still gazed modify at the we'll
filed market stalls, at The crowds of
people, jostling and elbowing each
other, when he suddenly started and
peered sharply from under his eys
brows, as if he had seen someone he
knew.
That short, sleek-1ooking gentleman
in the hobby hat and overcoat, with q
huge market basket in one hand, and q
gold-headed cane in the other. Surely
that was MIR. Chirrups elder brother,
Rothschild!
As he made the discovery, Mr.. CHR
rup-Rothschild Chirrup that was
was evidently pricing turkey; q mon
ster turkey it was too. the biggest that
Mr.. Chirrup-either of the Mr.. CHR
rups-had seen in the market. And the
wouldbe purchaser held it up, punched
it, turned it around and held it up again
for all the world as if he was exhibit
ing it for the benefit of his brother, look
ing glumly down from the window op-
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 seen yet, and 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.. Chirrup-our Mr.. Chirrup this
time, came as near sneering as he had
ever done in his life, when the turkey
disappeared in his brothers basket.
For bitter estrangement had existed
~ %l,ok vr,<o
memorial-or thereabouts.
mo doubt you can buy turkeys, !"
thought Mr.. Chirrup-Caleb his name
was. mo doubt he can buy turkeys,
and celery. too" For a big bunch of
celery, large enough for 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
Mr.. Caleb Chirrup, trying very hard to
look grabbed and revengeful, but not
succeeding very we'll. However, he
did manage to look quite savage and re-
sentful for him, which is saying a good
deal.
| Mr.. Rothschild, in the meantime,
pursued the even, but pompous, tenor
Of his way through the crowd which jos.
tied him on every side. Now and then
he stopped at the best filled 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,
"scuds" Of candies and cakes. and other
indigestible compounds, also dlsap-
peared in the same ample receptacle.
"Humph! I trust the little Roths-
childs have we'll seasoned stomachs to
! dispose of all that trash," thought Mr..
Caleb, sarcastically. Though in reali-
ty he could not have told whether his
brother was bachelor or a Benedict,
so long had been the feud between
them. And then Mr.. Caleb Chirrup's
humble abode was many, many blocks
removed from the aristocratic precincts
of "West End" where his brother re-
sided.
The elder Chirrup--for Mr.. Roths-
child was the elder-seemed at last to
have completed his purchase of edibles,
and paused in front of fower-stall,
where he selected pot of crimson and
white crysanthemums.
"The very pot" thought Mr.. Caleb,
glumly, "that I picked out over month
ago, as a Christmas present for poor
Patty"
| "Poor Patty" was Mr.. Calob's wife.