The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-07-21

Chrfsmus. Yer know he won't take .
dufn cent from Us, n never has. Nv
course he has taken o few thousand
hom time TO time to send 10 orfings %
things nv that kind, but not red foi
tissek or pard, n 1 move that we make
him little present on Christmas day,
n It needn't be so - little either.
Gents in favor II say so n gents woi
amt kin keep mum. Carried, n that
settles it. Five Ace N me1l take In con
tributions, n we won't take any less
than fifty cases
"That wuz two days afore Chrrs'muf
day, n when 1t cum Pete n Five Acc
he'd about five thousand in dust n mug
gets fer the parsons present. Pete as
sessed All Foo q months pay, n hG
kicked hard accordin, but 'twer'n't nc
use.
1.-THE day was bright n clear, n al
1even O'Clock every man in camp wuz al
church. The little buildin looked mighty
tasty--all fxed off with pine tassels 4
red berries we'd got in the woods, 4
every man wuz dressed out In hi
best duds. At 1even exact the par
son n the kid. who he'd bin standin al
the door shalxin hands n wishin every
body what cum in Merry Christmas
cum in "A took their seats on the plat
form. Pete n Five Ace n Bill Jones I
Alabam n me sot on o bench jest il
front o the platform. We wuz al
logged out in our best fixin's, n Pete 4
Five Ace they sported diamons till yei
couldn't rest. WAL, ez usual, the per
ceedin's opened up with err prayer from
the parson, n then we he'd singin, n i
seemed ter me ez il | never he'd heere
SIGH singin in my life afore ez tibet kit
let out O. him tibet day.
"Then the parson he started in ter
jaw, n must elbow he Civ us a great
discourse. | never see him SO Ions
winded afore. tho, n Pete was begin
min to get mighty restless n Uneasy
when all Nv a suddint we herd the
door open n shet quick n sharp. I
every one turned around to find great
big black bearded cuss at the door 9
coverin the hull gang NV MS with 9
double bar'led shotgun. n jest stand
in thar cool n silent. Face around
here, yer - FOOLS yelled some
body in sharp, quick, biznus meanir
vice, n all hands faced around to find
tho parson holding EN- up Wa another
shotgun-own brother to the one the
other cuss he'd.
81 don't want word out er YER he
sed. Yer see my game now. don't YER
Thar amt q gun in the house 'cept the
ones you see, n if any gent makes any
row in this yer meetin Ill fill his hide sc
plum full o. holes t won't hold his bones.
The kid will now take up tho collection,
n ez it's the first one we ever hev taken
up yer must make it liber'l one, see?
The kid started out with gunnysack,
n went through the very last man in
the crowd. He took everything, even
to the rings on oul fingers. The parson
he'd the drop, N we knew 1t II never
kicked, but jest Civ up our stuff like
lambs.
"After the kid he'd finished, he took
the sack outside, n that's the last we
ever seed O. him. Then the parson he
SEE: N now, gents, must say adoo, e2
must be travelin, for | hev another
meetin to attend this eve. [ want to
say tho afore ! go thet you're the orner.
lest gang OF - - fools ever played
for suckers. A few friends of mine hey
taken the liberty, while yer'vo been tc
mectin this blessed Christmas day, NV
goin through yer cabins II diggin up yer
little caches Nv dust n other valables,
Yer stock hez all been stampeded, n yer
guns yer'll find somewhat at the bottom
of the crick. My friend at the door will
hold yer level while walk out, n we
will then keep yer quiet fer few min.
utes longer through Their winder Jest SC
8 we can git nice cnmftable START n
so they did. What c'u'd we do? The
parson walked out, grinning all oven
himself, n he n his pals they nailed nj
the door n the winders thar wuz only
two), n very soon after they he'd finished
we heerd the chatter o. huffs N knowed
they wuz gone,
81 must draw veil over the rest OF
that days proceedin's, stranger. The
langwidge used by Their boys wuz too
awful to repeat, but twas jest ez this
parson sed, when we got out O. tibet
meetin house we found every animal on
the location gone, n the only arms left
wuz knives III clubs, yet we'd hev gone
after EN- with nothin but our hands,
but we couldn't follow afoot How
much did they get2 don't rightly
know, but not fur from fifty thousand.
The hull camp WIZ stone broke, all excep'
All Foo. n he WIZ the only one nv us us
he'd sense enuif not to tell tibet burned
parson whar he cached his stuff. Pete
n Five Ace wuz so eyerlast hurt at the
hull biznus that they shut up the Bird
o Prey, borrowed All Foo's sack n left
for the bay to try n find tibet parson,
but they never did find him, n no
one ever heard nv him again. Cali
fornian.