The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-10

Town Tales
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saw an amusing yet rather pathetic
sight on the common last night. Two
boys, the elder not over IA, were TAX
ing care of a man who was undoubted-
ly considerably under the influence of
liquor. They were on either side of
him. One had hold of an arm, and
they were doing their best to steer him
toward Park street. He would lurch
first to one side, and the boys would
shove and pull to make him regain his
equilibrium, and then he would go to
the other side, and the performance
would be repeated. Every now and
then he would stop with that indecision
which comes with inebriety. and the
boys would have to work hard to get
him started again. I watched them
across the common, and just as 1 lost
sight of the trio the man was making
strenuous efforts to sit down on one of
the benches along Park street, and the
boys were still urging him along.
A coal bod is the last place that a
| man would go to If he made up his
mind to search for the Klondike, yet
| the particular coal bod that I have in
mind was more productive of wealth
| than the Klondlke has been for many
| poor prospector.
A young man who receives a large
| and substantial salary was paid the
| other day, and he Immediately
'trekked across the veldt to the kraal'
upon which was situated his favorite
| saloon. He stayed there long enough
| to become pretty enthusiastic, and in
| the course of the day, as inclination
| directed. he trekked from place to
| place. Next morning when he awoke
| he was as thirsty as an Arab in the
| heart of the Sahara. He searched his
pockets, but could not find a cent He
was in despair. He had a hazy recol-
| lection of going home with two IS bills
| in his pocket, the wreck Of his salary,
! and his only conclusion, to use a
printers term, was that he had been
| rolled during the night
He remained in bed all day, suffer-
| ing torture for drink. He bewailed
| the loss of his money, and unanimous
| ly agreed with himself, that, in the
words of the immortal SHAKESPEARE, he
| was 'egregiously an ass
| Toward nightfall, a friend called in
| to see him. The sufferer told his
troubles and the other listened sym
| pathetically.
You are" said his friend as he went
over to the coal hod to drop a quid of
tobacco "the genuine, original, all
| round, easy mark. I must say"
AS he spoke his eye was attracted
by something in the coal hod Curl
| osity prompted an investigation. He
picked it up. 1t was the two missing
So bills. Several boarders showed their
heads in through the door to inquire
into the meaning of the glad warwhoop
| that climbed out of the throat of the
man in bed,
1t seemed that when he got home, he
1 h hoV, L., Ii
| and the money came out with 1t and
| fell into the coal bod. He rewarded
| the finder with a commission of 81, and
then both went out and became rory
eyed as one of them said.
That coal bod is now known as the
| Klondike.
| Now that Christmas is approaching
and the Saturday night crowd of shop
pers is becoming larger than the nor
/ NAL, 1t is interesting to watch how
| some people keep the law of the road. .
Fully rs per cent seem to be of the
| opinion that they should meet and pass
another person on the left. This 25
| percent and % per cent more, in com
| ing up behind some one, will attempt
to pass to his right, when everybody
| ought to know that the left is the cor
| rect side in this case. And the result
| is that the so per cent who recognize
| the right of way get hopelessly mud
| died and have to Irvine in and out
| among the crowd to make progress
| Then again, when one is simply walk
| ing, with no intention Of stopping, he
| ought to take the outer edge of the
| sidewalk keeping on the left side of
the street going north, and vice versa.
| This will allow the shoppers to get into
| the stores without having to pass
| through the whole procession of pedes-
| TRANS.
Last night the lack of knowledge on
| this point was painfully evident, when
one tried to go anywhere in a hurry.
Groups of men and women, too, would
STOP on corner, at the edge of the
curb, and compel those who wished to
cross the street to leave the sidewalk
half way down the block in order to
get across at all. Then some women
would stop in the middle of the side
walk itself and carry on a conversa-
| tlon, but that Is a very usual occur
renee, and people are getting used to it.
They simply swear and make detour.
Some people would turn sharp at right
angles when they were about to enter
store, and the man walking along
rapidly on the inner edge of the walk
would have to stop short in order to
prevent a collision.
But what's the use? Everybody
breaks some law or other in the course
OF his or her life, and the law of the
road" cannot hope to be an exception.