The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-22
TOWN TALES.

A more cosmopolitan crowd would be
hard to find than that which thronged
Front street last evening. Union de-
pot was fairly crowded during the lat
ter part of the afternoon and early In
the evening. The crowd was composed
of all sorts and kinds of people. Ethio-
plans, Swedes, Norwegians and other
nationalities touched elbows, while the
French, irish and Americans were plen-
tifully in evidence. Every town within
radius of 20 miles was represented,
and the crowd came to buy And they
bought largely, as bundle after bundle
gave ample proof. The Hebrew stores
on Front street were a big attraction
for many of the strangers and bar
gain" counters were simply crow ded,
All these stores did a land Office busi-
ness. The standard stores further~up
the street were also well .patrorized,
and a nlid-Ootober Saturday evening
demonstrated beyond peradHenture the
prosperity which is now a part OF old
Worcester county. VIA
Here is story that sounds improb-
able, but as 1t was told by the man
himself, it certainly must be true.
The man who tells this joke on him.
self is married, and consequently
somewhat absent minded, The other
evening he started home with a bundle
of laundry he had forgotten to leave at
! One Lungs, and he stopped on the
way to purchase a few sausageS to
take home for supper. Now he had
gone but block or so after the pur-
chase of his meat before he noticed an
odor that convinced him he was car
rying something that was a trife passe.
He cautiously smelled of the bundle,
and then holding his nose tightly with
| one hand, threw the supposed sau-
ages over fence. Next he stopped at
the Chinaman's and left the other
bundle, getting a check for the same.
Saturday night came and he went
into, the laundry to get his two shirts.
He presented the bit of red paper, with
a portion of a Chinese love story in
scrfbed thereon and waited for his
laundry. The Chinaman, after exam
lining the scroll, nearly went into a fit
| and became SO excited that he forgot
his Sunday school English, and burst
into a torrent Of Chinese invective.
Give me my laundry" exclaimed the
man. mo leundlee, no washee; alice
Shame heap long bittee meat" walled
the celestial. IT want my washing, you
slant-eyed, gibbering, poll parrot!''
yelled the man. You no bling washee,
you bling meatee, heap fine, we eat 'em
all up" replied One Lung. with a con-
ciliatory smile. The man by this time
was pretty mad and he threatened to
clean out the whole place If the laun-
dry was not forthcoming. At last the
truth dawned upon him, and the Fepe-
tition of the Tat meatee all done I'D
in lettee long bundle reminded him Of
the two bundles he had with him the
night he had left the supposed laundry
at the Chinamanis and he said not an
| n her NUOrd hut III,
and never told soul, until yesterday
he thought it selfish to keepit longer to
| himself
man well known to the Worcester
newspaper fraternity has lately devel-
oped a passion for Oriental rugs. The
start Of his craze was when his wife
sent him out to purchase modest
square for one Of the rooms in his
home but at present he is barely able
to spare time for business, so infatu-
ated is he with the auction sale Of rugs
| conducted in one of the big department
stores.
The man never imagined that his
appearance indicated anything out Of
the usual so far as prosperity is con-
cerned, but couple of afternoons at
the sale has Convinced him that there
must be something in his appearance
indicative of the connoisseur.
HIS first appearance resulted in a SO
purchase, but the display cast a CLAM
our over him, and hs returned the next
| day and the next. Finally the auc-
tioneer singled him out and wanted to
| sell him rugs varying in price from
| $3.50 upward. The erstwhile humble
manipulation of the pencil and type
writer expanded his chest a few inches,
| threw back the lapels of his coat, to
| give better effect to a shimmertng
| diamond that graces his shirt front,
and complacently waited for the adj
mirtng throng to imagine what he
| knew about the products of the Orient.
Nor was this all. The auctioneer
saw his chance and proceeded to make
our friend party to an innocent little
| conspiracy to start the bidding. A
| beautiful rug would be displayed. and
| while the people were examining its
texture the auctioneer would draw our
friend to one side and after Whfsp-
cred conversation announce that the
! gentleman had offered $3.50. OF course
the newspaper man was the centre of
attraction, although the sum total of
his purchase was confined to the mod.
est purchase remarked above
1t makes man feel cheap when he
knows the exact feelings supposed
| friends have for him. The opportunity
came few nights ago, for me, when
| got seated in the midst of some braWny
armed swingers of the omnipresert
hammer II was at meeting of work.
ingmen IN labor headquarters and the
! organization of political club was On.
| 'All Worklngmen welcome was the
| greeting in the doorway, so 1 entered.
More than few of the champions of
organized labor know me, and ii seemed
rare treat to get seated in q, meeting
| where all the shining lights had been
| chasing night after night, until they
vanished, were seated. No one seemed
to recognize me, so l squatted down at
little table in the front of the hall and
turned my back to the debaters One
| man, carpenter by trade, whose bon
| net occasionally gets filled with sparks,
| arose and got his hammers out. He
| never noticed me, and there was nc let.
up In the giant swing that controlled
the revolutions Of the flying hammers.
They all lighted on me- His nrst SEN
tence was: Fellow workingmen,
think it our duty to bar reporters from
our meeting Sunday afternoon" Then
MS gaze met mine, and he was le,.ient.
or course we will not do any business
or Importance tonight, so reporters can
stay through the session. These meet
ings are for workingmen, and not for
reporters
Wow, but wasn't that a poser. Re,
porters not Workingmen, Ell? Maybe
that same fellow wouldn't think he had
been working when he saw the feeble
footsteps of the ghost in his weekly
walks after running his feet off chasing
labor leaders. That meeting where well
se \