The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-24

them and they didn't care who knew it.
Women With disheveled hair and hats
aslIeW wrestled with turkeys bigger
than themselves. Great long rubbery
necks protruded from the bundles be-
meath their arms, pairs of dirty brown
claws stuck up dangerously near their
dainty noses and celery tops waved de-
family from their hand bags, but they
didn't care. Their dinner should be as
good as that Jones woman could get
up, anyhow" and so they struggled
along, an ANAL ganated mass of men,
women and children, turkeys, cram
berries and celery.
From until II o'clock that food
poured up and down the streets of
Worcester, entered every alley and sat
urated every house, until everywhere
the odor of turkey and the good will Of
Thanksgiving ruled supreme.
But the women didn't do all the tur-
key buying; o mol What is hubby for
anyway, If he can't be pressed into the
service on Thanksgiving eve. And the
male portion of that restless moving
throng upheld their end of the turkey
traffic To be sure, some of them car
ried them in an aggravatingly uncer-
! tain sort of way, almost at arms
| length, as though ashamed to be seen
associating with a turkey. Others
Rugged them up close and tried to look
unooncerned as they marched along,
/ all unconscious of the fact that a dus-
/ ky claw waving triumphant from the
mouth of the paper bags behind their
backs, gave the snap away. Then there
were men, a few, & very few, who put
their feelings in their pockets with the
/ change, shouldercd the turkeys, as if
! they had been so much bran, and with
a tight grip on the ankles of his high
ness, the Turk marched off down the
street, the headless neck bobbing
/ gracefully behind
Then Of course there were people,
men and women both who simply
drove up alongside the curbing IN front
of the markets and said they wanted
a turkey. They didn't ask the price; they
did't mention age. These people got
what they wanted; turkey, just plain
turkey, and today most of them Will
wish they had ordered axes Also
A turkey hunting crowd is different
from an ordinary crowd. When you 2p-
peal to the appellate, you appeal to the
man himself and that crowd last night
was terribly in earnest.
What do you think [ paid for this
Jurlley?" asked one small woman, hitch
/ ing tighter under her arm a bird
nearly as large as herself
/ I'm sure ! don't know. How much?'
( asked her companion.
why that man wanted ten cents a
pound for it, and 1 actually beat him
down to eight. It's a good turkey, too.
l wonder what John will say"
The ability of an American at driv-
ing a bargain was displayed to best adj
vantage, however, at the markets where
the great turkey hungry public skill
fully vancouver to get what they
wanted at prices compatible with the
condition of their pocKetbooks.
But the preparations Tor Thanksgiv-
ing did not rest wholly upon the Shout
ders Of the older members of the house
hold. While ma and pa drove bar
gains and lugged turkeys, little john
ME and smaller Mary munched cram
berries and such celery tips as they
could pinch off unnoticed. Urchins a
few years older ran about, up and
down the streets, and lodged here and
there between teams and electric cars,
unmindful of danger, and filled only
with the thought that 'tomorrer Is
Thanksgivin'. Very well dressed
youths, Of slender form and income
bought 50-cent Thanksgiving ties to
wear today, pretty made-up matdens
smiled on the young men and frowned
on the ugly naked turkeys, just as II
thew wouldn't eat their share of them
today. The peanut man offered his
wares at Give cents a quart, three
Quarts for ten cents; the banana man
was on hand, as usual, and the toy bal
loon and rosette man added the rosy
hues of his wares to the valegated COL
or of the scene -,
The street cars crowded surly wei