Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1873-08-16

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without ? The whisky within was proof
against watery PARTICLES, and detied
them in any shape so, taking another
drink to make sure had not served out
short measure on the previous occasion,
| logged on, sometimes musing on my
past, sometimes specializing as to my
future, refreshing my memory and spur
ring my hopes with spirits of the Elixir,
until in due course j arrived ut the Red
| Dragon, at Chester, full of my usual
spirits and with an empty flask.
BY the time kissing hot rump steak
was ready for absorption into my sys-
TEN, l had duly sent off my dispatches
to our house. Business first, pleasure
afterward; so l sat down to my dinner
pint of sherry, then had n drop of
brandy to assist digestion, and then my
usual forty winks.
/ considered l had now fairly got
through the business of the day, and
Frightening up, l called for my pipe
and iorum of toddy, and, rcsigning my
self to the soothing influence of the
! weed and whisky, | waited patiently for
an arrival to spend the evening with
for | was alone i'll the commercial room,
and the only sounds cognizable to my
senses were those of the rain pelting
away at the window, and the hollow
rumblng of stray vehicles over the
paving stones.
[ did not count never debut l
believe l had arrived at my fifth groe
and pipe, when, feeling chill, / drew
the heavy armchair closer to the fire
this little act occupied several minutes,
for the handy legs of the stupid old
chair would make for themselves Il
place under the hearth-rug. tried to
circumvent the awkward limbs. and
temporized with my toe but the more
| kept on wanting to get them righted,
the more they kept on not
wanting to be righted, and, being
fdgety in all little matters OF
personal comfort, l was positively
obliged, at the risk of rush of blood
to the head, to lift the club-footed old
chair with one hand, and to lay the
refractory corner of the rug with the
other.
When, by this effort of exhausted
nature, had accomplished my object,
1 took stiff pull at my replenished
toddy, filled my pipe and lighted it,
and, with the feelings of man who has
obtained victory, L threw myself into
my late enemy's lap, pinched his
mahogany old arms with my elbows,
stretched out my feet upon the fender,
and laughed outright at my triumph,
with my usual jolly Ha! ha till the
room rang again.
"Ha ha ha! ha p till the room
rang again, followed like an echo the
Ha ha! that originally belonged to
me.
To my surprise and delight, 1 found
an arrival had ensconced himself in the
fellow-chair to mine, had his jorum of
, toddy on the other cornerof the mantel,
his pipe in full blast, his elbows on the
mahogany arms of my late enemy's own
brother, and his toes almost touching
mine on the fender
/ looked at the arrival, and the
arrival looked at me. I bowed to him,
and received courteous bend in
return.
"Wet night" said l.
"Wet night" said he.
"And cold," said /.
"And cold," said he.
'' Nice fire" said I.
i" Nice fire, said he.
He seemed to try to give his words my
exact intonation.
He was mocking me
"Damn it !" said /, and laughed.
"Damn it" said he, and laughed
laughed so much like me that could
not distinguish any difference, either IL
quantity or quality he was right to {
single Ha
took another pull at my toddy, ant
so did he! l smoked my pipe serenely
and made very deliberate survey o.
my friend. He became immediately
engaged in the same interesting occu
patton with me. He was man abou
my own age, and evinced his taste by
adopting IL style of costume closely re
sembling my own. 1 noticed particu
larly that his feet were incased il
French cloth boots, with narrow tips o
patent leather at the toes, like mine
in fact, felt tempted to offer him con
siderable odds that [ could name til,
maker and number of the lasts upol
which they were made. His face, too
seemed to be very like my face there
was the noble brow, the partially bal(
pate, the expressive moath, the mag
nificent teeth, the chiseled nose-the-
no, not the eloquent dark eyes-th,
same sort of eyes, though differing onl.
from mine in one little particular fea
ture. His eyes had red ring rount
each, caused perhaps by cold or grief
nor could he boast of a rosy, fresh com
plexion such as mine his was most de
cidedly choleric-blue as indigo. l con