bewildered as to the purpose of earthly existence the should throw aside the veil and cast an inquiring glance at this figure of death as seeking thence the solution otherwise the only reply would be a stare of the vacant eye and a grin of the skeleton jaws such was the response that the dead man had fancied to receive when he asked of death to solve the riddle of his life and it was his desire to repeat it when the guests of his dismal hospitality should themselves perplexed with the same question what means that wreath asked several of the company while the of the table they alluded to a wreath of which was held on high by a skeleton arm from in the black mantle a h� et it is a crown said one of the not for the but for the when he shall prove his claim to it the guest earliest to the festival was a man of soft and gentle character who had not energy to struggle against the heavy despondency to which his temperament rendered him liable and with nothing outwardly to excuse him from happiness he had spent a life of quiet misery that made his blood and weighed upon his breath and sat like a ponderous night upon every throb of his heart his wretchedness seemed as deep as his original nature if not identical with it it was the misfortune of a second guest to cherish within his bosom a heart which had become so sore that the and of the world the v of an enemy the careless of a stranger and even the faithful and loving touch of a friend alike made in it as is the habit of pie thus afflicted he found his chief employment in exhibiting these miserable to any who would give themselves the pain of them a third guest was a whose imagination wrought in his outward and inward world and caused him to see monstrous faces in the household fire and in the clouds of sunset and in the guise of beautiful women and something ugly or wicked beneath all the pleasant of nature his neighbor at table was one who in his early youth had trusted mankind too much and hoped too highly in their behalf and in meeting with many disappointments had become desperately for several years from an old back this had employed himself in motives for and his race � such as murder lust treachery ingratitude ness of trusted friends instinctive vices of children of women hidden guilt in men of aspect � and in short all manner of black realities that sought to themselves with outward grace or glory but at every fact that was added to his catalogue at every increase of the sad knowledge which he spent his life to collect the native impulses of the poor man s loving and confiding heart made him groan with anguish next with his heavy brow bent downward there stole into the hall a man naturally earnest and impassioned who from his infancy had felt the consciousness of a high message to the world but to deliver it had found either no voice or form of speech or else no ears to listen therefore his whole life was a bitter questioning of himself � why have not men acknowledged mission am i not a self fool what business have i on earth where is my grave � throughout the festival he frequent draughts from the urn of wine hoping thus to the celestial fire that tortured his own breast and could not benefit liis race then there entered having flung away a ticket for a ball a gay gallant of yesterday who had found four or five wrinkles in his brow and more gray hairs than he could well number on his head endowed with sense and feeling he had nevertheless spent his youth in folly but had reached at last that dreary point in life re folly us of her own accord leaving us to the make friends with wisdom if we can thus cold and desolate he had come to seek wisdom at the banquet and wondered if the skeleton were she to out the company the had invited a distressed poet from his home in the and a melancholy idiot from the street corner the latter had just the of sense that was sufficient to make him conscious of a which the poor fellow all his life long had sought to fill up with intelligence wandering up and down the streets and groaning miserably because his attempts were ineffectual the only lady in the hall was one who had fallen short of absolute and perfect beauty merely by the trifling defect of a slight cast in her left eye but this minute as it was so shocked the pure ideal of her soul rather than her vanity that she passed her hfe in solitude and veiled her countenance even from her own gaze so the skeleton sat at one end of the table and this poor lady at the other one other guest remains to be described he was a young man of smooth brow fair cheek and fashionable mien so far as his exterior developed him he might much more have found a place at some merry christmas table than have been numbered among the fate stricken fancy tortured set of ill murmurs arose among the guests as they noted the glance of general scrutiny which the intruder threw over his companions what had he to do among them why did not the skeleton of the dead founder of the feast its rattling joints arise and motion the unwelcome stranger from the board shameful said the morbid man while a new f om an old broke out in his heart he comes to mock us � we shall be the jest of his tavern friends � he will make a farce of our miseries 