The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1886-12-25
ORIGINAL.
A CHRISTMAS TREE
RUMPUS.
BY sPHYNx.

Christmas is on us, and we are
either joycd, overjoyed, or staggered
by the amount of love displayed
toward us. One of the features of
this present making, is that one half
of the stores would have to be shut
up on account of no trade, should
this practice be abolished.
The age we live in is not the age
that ushered in the Nativity neith-
er is it of that age that brought the
Christmas tree factory to light. The
frugality of that era was the harbin-
ger of more pleasant associations
than what we see and hear of now-a-
days, with all its luxury. Then the
the tree was for symbol and the
presents displayed at its erection a
sign but now the lessons taught
are fraught with no other than EMU
lation in display and desire TO out
do-some neighbor who happens to
have more elaborate display.
Mr.. Hagerty lived next door to
Mr.. Sparks, which was nothing un-
common, any more than both Of
these gentlemen were envious of
each other. SO as it was Il few days
before Christmas, they both thought
it would be a capital thing for them
to get up a tree for the occasion, and
as each thought it would be a good
joke to get ahead of the other on
this important question, little Sc
crecy was INDUCED in, and as Mr..
Speaks sneaked out one frosty even
ing before Christmas to secure a tree,
he didn't detect Hagerty in the dim
gas light surveying the height, depth
and breath of Sparks tree, for Mr..
Hagerty had crept out the back gate
to see how for Sparks would go in
Christmas decoration.
After Sparks had purchased twen-
ty-five yards of evergreen, half a
dozen wreaths, and a tree ten feet
high, and was makinghis way home
in contented frame of mind, Hag-
erty walked up to the man of green's
and handed in his order.
He thought it would never do to
let Sparks over-top in Christmas fes-
tivity, so he agreed that if Sparks
had twenty-five yards of evergreen,
he ought to have ten yards more,
and dozen wreaths, and a tree fif-
teen feet high would do something
to counterbalance Sparks populari-
ty.
Such was the state of affairs be-
fore the trimming began.
When the hour arrived for the
decoration to commence, Sparks be-
gan to suspicion Hagerty, and won
dered whether he had tree, and so
he got step-ladder and after he had
raised it against Hagerty's house,
looked into his appointments and
discovered that Hagerty had out
done him in the height of his Christ
mas tree, he fell off the ladder in his
setback, and knocked over the froz-
en- slop-bucket in his precipitous
flight. He then went round the
corner and sought out tree twenty
feet high, came, pitched his first tree
out the back gate, and then had his
new tree erected in his bay window
and had it so arranged that it stuck
out of the windows up about ten
feet. He said he didn't care how il
rained, or showed or hailed or blow
ed, he'd have Il tree that beat Hager-
ty's, and if necessary he'd have two
or three stoves to keep the room
warm.
When Hagerty was awakened by
Sparks knocking out his bay window
he began to grow nervous, and got
up to see what all the noise was
about in Sparks house, thinking
that he might be driving nails in the