The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-25
DoCKERTY ON CHRISTMAS.
Relates an Instance of How Il
'LOOsens Up" People.
From the New york Tribune.

''LoOsens Up" People.
From the New York Tribune.
Its muffin, but knock from de
Yuletide Knockers Club-dat's all tbs, ="
said Dockerty soberly, when he heard
that there was a movement on foot by
certain misguided people to abolish
Christmas.
Dockerty perhaps it may be remem-
bered, is a small and to some people
| inconsequential human atom, an blue
uniform. brass buttons and cap some
thing like an inverted COW bell. Dock
ertys lemon in this vale of tears is
not a large or juicy one, but when he
| squeezes hard he manages to extract
! a little juice. Between delivering tele-
graph messages from a Murray Hill
/ station and eating cold 'vittles" after
work, he gets a lot of experience, and
it is of a kind to temper. his enthusi-
| asm and make him judicially minded.
"'Twon't come t. nuttin'." said Dock
erty, with the suggestion of a frown
on his hard little face. Yer can't pull
up Chris mus like pullin' cork outer
bottle an let 1t go at that. It's got
ter box fur de season, an when de
season comes round agin it'll have de
same perpetual cinch on good people
as 1t has now No amount O. knockin'
won't make no difference.
NOW as fer me, wot wild workin' in
all sorts of weduer an bein' de oldes
son of er washin' lady in Secon' ave-
nue., l amt got no time to hand out
costly bouquets to folks wot go to der
Joiman opery, but all de same | know
several things about Chris mus.
Chris mus is de annual loosenin up
time an it don't make much difference
how rich er how poor a man is, he
loosens up some at Chris mus time
Las Christmas Eve takes a message
to a rich OF man up near st. Patrick's
Cathedral, m he's a holy terror to his
folks He's got lame feet an Stun
mick difficulty, an his folks go out an
leave him alone nights because he's oil
and his eyes is red. Well. goes IN an
an leaves de message, an de oil man
yells down de stairs:
Sen dat kid up seq he. Up / goes,
N wen 1 gets in de room the oil man
is eatin' his dinner off of big silver
platter Well, sit down in chair
quite close to de oil gent, an first
he aste me my name, an den he says.
Well Dockerty, I'm lonesome an
I've got bad case er indigestion to-
night sez he, an I'll be under obler-
cations ter you If you'll fall to an help
me eat up dis here lunch, SEE he. An
he sent fur an extry knife an fork an
-
OF everyti ing. 1 kin still taste dem
lam chops and macaroni an cheese
an peach tarts an coffee an figs an
grapes-gee, but it wuz good. Dat wuz
a case O. loosenin up fer fair While
wuz putin it away he watched me-
an den he said:
'Dockerty. dey amt nuttin' in it.
all dis dern nonsense SEE he, pointin'
to de nobby things all around. Dock
erty,' seq he again, If yer folks don't
like yer de worl s no good SEE he.
Here l am, an oil played out oil fel-
Ter, wild more money den ] know how
ter give away, an all my relations is
waitin' for my shoes. Dat wuz lit
tie too deep fur me, till l axed me
mudder later wot he wuZ driVin' at.
Help yerself to anodder tart, Dock
erty,' SEE he, am don't be askeered NV
der figs I'll hev James git some more.
Dockerty,' SEE de oil man again, 1T
does my soul good ter see you. put
away dat fodder. Wen l wuZ a boy
like yuse l had jes' such border ruff
fin appetite. / remember seventy year
ago ter night ez well as eff twas yis-
terdAy,' SEE he. An den de oil gent
reached out an put his han on me
neck an smoothed me hair, an eff he
didn't cry jes' like me brudder Tim
wen he's licked, den I'm a fakir-
'Dockerty,' SEE de oil man. tremhlylike,
'jes' seventy year ago ter-night wuz
up in de Berkshires, an me two brud-
ders an me hung our stockin' aroun'
de O. fireplace in de kitchen. An in
de mornin', Dockerty,' SEE he, i had
de nices' present in dat stockin' I ever
had in me life. 1t wuz pair o red
topped boots Dey wudn't exactly go
in der stockin'. but dey wuz tied to it,
witch wuz jes' de same. An de boots
had high tops, an brass toes, SOS wen
l rode down hill belly bumper on me
sled'-dem wuz his words-'de brass
toes on de boots wudn't let de
boots wear out so fas'.' sed de OF man.
An, Dockerty,' he seZ,' do you know
why l loved de boots more den anyt'n
else / ever had? 1t wuz because 1
foun' out dat very next summer, wen
me mudder died, dat she had knitted
mittens to pay fur dem boots-set up
nights by candle light to knit mittens
ter sell-all fer me. Dockerty, all fer
me- sed de oil man, cryin' agin.
well, l begins ter git little bit
mostly myself by dat time, an de oil
gent seemed ter fergit l wuz there,
fer he shut his eyes, an tn tears dey
jes' streaked out de corners of his
eyes, an run down de cutters of his
wrinkled OF face. / dropped err knife
on er plate an Jared him, an den he
SEE: Well, Dockerty, my boy, wisht
/ wuz youse, an could have an APP
petite like your'n' Ez l was goin out
he SEE. 'Dockerty here's a little pres
emit, and de OF gent give me five dol
lar bill, which helped ter pay a doctor
for me brudder's whoopin cough, an
he made me take all de figs dey wuz
left, an he give me a jacknife to re-
member him by. Dat wuz de grandes
case o. loosenin' cup l ever struck. An
il wuZ all on account er Chris mus An
de wise guys wot want to 'bolish Chris
mus day wants. ter crush out der gran
des' loosenin' up period of der year.
L.. IL