Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-05-21
A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION.

A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION.
Soyle is the capital of one of the small
est counties in England; it is an assize
town, and our funny man % yes, we have
one; he once sent a joke to Pu1cb0 as
serts, on every opportunity, that the per-
sons who conferred that honor upon it
were very bad judges of a size The
population, Indeed, only consists of 1000
inhabitants, and am one Ofthem; as Junior
partner in the bank, open on ordinary &C.
casions from eleven to three, and on mar
ket days from ten to five, [ may add, an
important one of them. Our street is
broad, our shop windows beautiful, the
red bear which squats begging" Gas if for
CUSTOM over the portico Of our principal
inn is OF gigantic size, and, as work,
unique. ct the passing stranger might
think us dull. He would however, be
mistaken; the assizes are followed by a
ball; the withdrawing is followed by a
ball the hunting season is closed BY a
ball, and there is an annual county ball.
Four balls IN the year! On these occasions
the Red Bear, on whose premises the as
. sembly rooms are Situated, is full, over
lowing into beds out; but, generally,
strangers are scarce, unless you except the
bagmen who make themselves at home
everywhere, and are never really strangers
q s. all the worlds their shop, and all the
men and women merely buyers It was
different IN the days of coaches mot so
travellers on their way to the picturesque
country twenty miles further on would
often s0iOurn with Us for a night; pedes
IS trian tourists almost invariably did So
-.s Now they all pass US by in the railway
trains without notice. unless some lover
of architecture cries out: What a fine
old church for such pokey little place"
OF course we have dinner and other pri-
vate parties; but the only public enter
tainment provided for Soyle and its envi-
rons, besides the ball, is a biIliard-room.
also attached to the benefcent Red Bear
Here there is a pool every afternoon, from
three till five or thereabouts In the
evening the room is full of the bagmen
and tradesmen. of the place, SO the gentry
never enter it after dinner. This is no
great disadvantage, for most of them live
from two to five miles off, The doctor,
indeed, has a house in the actual town. the
vicar (Who, however, does not indulge in
pooh resides within a stones throw of the
church, and have to lodge at the bank !;
but we are exceptions ~
/ hope that no one will be shocked:
know that all games of billiards are
looked upon with dread by many an anx
lous mother, and that more than one re-
spectacle gentleman, who would rather
forego his dinner than to allow the balance
at his bankers to sink below three figures
would froWn at the idea of that banker
making a habit of attending at board of
green cloth every afternoon. But really
we are not fast Colonel Rayner, if ever
he had any Wild oats, had sOWn them long
before his crop Of white hairs came; Mr.
Rice, Chairman of the. Board of Magis-
trates, never shows any desire, like Shak
speare's beadle, to do those things for
which he Furnishes others; Captain Wood
wall, r. NJ has lost all bad naval habits,
except an occasional hasty intersection
with his lett leg; Mr.. Long, of model
farm celebrity, is as innocent as one of
his own fat bullocks; DR.. Kane is respect
ed by all except the rabbits and frogs
which come into his experimental hands,
and If he has secret penchant it is mere
ly for manslausg hter; Mr. Ricktus indulg-
es in punning, but that is his only vice
If you observe that it had need be- I do
not contradict you. There are several
others who occasionally drop into the
billiardroom-men generally engaged in
hunting, or shooting, or fishing, or who
only reside in the neighbOrhoOd for por
ton of the year-and some of these may
have reprehensible inclnations, but if So
they repress them, Overawed by the virtue
of the hdbitues. Of these latter | am the
youngest, and used till lately to pass
therefore, as the most frOiicsOme. Yet
was, and am, the slowest of the slow The
school at which [ was educated was con
Quoted son Pestalozzian principles; the
private tutor who had charge of my ado
Iescence, for never went to college, was
mild clergyman. | have had no fiery
C1>tOe'A " 50 CAIAOuSLl, dIlu no 0OG DarG1Cu-
larly regret the fact. 1t seems to me that
all young men who have been wild suf
fer from debt and Indigestion.
One wet afternoon last autumn we had
very full meeting; three dog-carts and
a two-Wheeled omnibus stood under the
shed in the yard of the Red Bear as
passed through it on my way from the bank
and six players were assembled in the
biliard-rOOm, some taking their cues from
the boxes in which they were kept secure.
ly locked, others chalking the tops, all
preparing for the combat in some way or
other, except Mr.. Rice, whose age, trem-
bling hand and equity toe untitled MIN for
playing himself though he took great de-
light in criticising the performances of
others from the raised seat which he oc-
cupied, and at times, when the chances
were considerably in his favor, stalking
sNpence on the division Of this or that
competitor. Joe, the marker, gave out
the balls; he was but lad, and his voice
was cracking; indeed, he had been a