Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-09-17
VHOLE NO. $3.50.
AN ACT0n's BANQUE'r
And the strnngc Guest Whona Tacv
aa Entertained.

lfF Courier-Journal.
Some years ago when John Nc.
Cullough was In New Orleans a
complimentary dinner was given
MN, TO which Robson and Crane,
the comedians, were Invited. Rob-
son tells the following story Of an
incident which occurred:
1T was q private affair, 80 that
when l saw, sitting between Crane
and myself, q y-loOkinE old gen
tleinan, my attention was arrested.
and began to eye the Old chan
With suspicion. By-and-hy he he
gan to attract the attention of the
company. He was man of. sav
sixty or thereabonts, unshaven and
very shabby dressed. The night
outside was bitterly cold, and Vet
the old man wore q thin summer
coat buttoned up TO the throat.
What first drew my attention TO
him was his appearance. and after
that his appetite. Heate yOraeious-
ly, and his drinking kept mace with
his eating, Again and ngain did
Crane and myselfreplenishhis plate
and I'LL his glass, and agllin and
again were they emptied. / confess
that a barbarous sense OF the humor
Of the thing came over me, and i
gave way toit. From my tpridc of
place deliberately piled Che an
cient mariner with wine, and made
a point of inviting the attention OF
the whole table to him. They all
went into the joke, and insisted,
one after another, upon drinking
wine with the old man. THE idea.
OF course, was to get him tipsy, but
here we all failed, for the Cld gentle
man had q head as hard as Soera-
ties, and, moreover, seemetl to know
When he had enough. The quiet
whisper and nudge was going round !
the festive board. .''Who's our friendp
Who brought him imp etq. But IL
was quickly suppressed, for at last.
with quiet dignity, but firm courte-
sy, he declined to drink any more.
and no entreaty could move him
rom his resolution. None of our
party seemed to know him, so we
finally concluded that he was a poor
or acquaintance of one of
the givers of the banquet, who had
quietly rung him in for q good feed.
In the meantime speeches were
made, toasts drank, and slightly
lnebriated individual sung out:
Say, mine ancient friend, wont you
please give us a speech? Something
tbout Shakespeare, you know-he's
he fellow Nobody, OF course, inn
lgined that the old man would
nave the nerve to get up and say
.nything, but he did. Well, sir, In
he course of my experience / have
leard a great many clever people
ak about the immortal bard, but
N this occasion I heard ia fifteen
the most intelligent expOsi-
ion of Shakespeare's genius that il
las ever been my fortune to listen
o. And the whole thing was done
0 easily, and with such an entire
bsence of effort, that it was not un-
il he had finihed that 1--WE all began
o realize that we had been under
he spell of a profound critic and an
orator. And those
pho came to scott remained TO pray.
Ohm Mccullough rushed over and
his hand enthusiastic
ally, thanked him for the honor OF
is presence, and begged his name,
hat the company might know TO
'hom they were indebted. For the
rSt time the old man seemed to
)se his self-possession. He articu-
lted few words, but IL was plain
nat his emotions were getting the
etter of him. Crane filled him up
glass of wine, and the old man
rank it, and, after a little pause,
q "A
lis manner had quite changed.
lie no longer looked the keen critic
nd fluent orator, but a weak, in
rm old man, who, in spite of every
lsadvantage of appearance, still re-
lined a certain dignity-an elusive
lt unmistakable something that
him to be a gentleman.
aid friend to me as the old man
)t upon his feet: Bob, this don't
ok like art; this is nature Gen
emen, said the unknown, IN ia
)ice tremulous and full of path0s,
owe an apology to you all.
I'VE no excuse to offer for having
truded on your festivity, but /
n at least make the poor amend
confessing that i am an intruder.
came to this house this evening on
e invitation of a man once knew
ID l stumbled by accident into
'ur banquet. came here hungry
d cold (and / thought / could
ar the wind whistling outside as Il
intoned rather than pronounced
G words hungry and coldD, and
uld not resist the temptation. i
lnted to eat and drink and get
arm"
And the old mans eyes drop-
d upon the table as If overp0wer-
with a sense of his degradation.
81 know this is shameful , he con-
lued, 'but physical weakness
netimes begets mental weakness,
d / have eaten nothing for three
US. For three weeks past / have
[ slept in bed, but stolen n rest
doorways or in chair In the Of
D of some hotel. Sometimes i
We walked the streets till daylight.
ch things, gentlemen, tell heavi-
upon man OF my age. Other
Sc no man with a remnant Of
de left could have acted as
we done tonight. But / thank
d / have at least retained courage
JhBii W tbAl AiiG llullls Anu llUW
ltlemen, said the brave old man,
up with wonderful
nifty OF manner, accept my graf
de for what / have received. /
We eaten and drank with you,
/ am refreshed and grateful.
st you will pardon my infringe
mt Of hospitality and comOn hon
and permit me to depart" e
The dinner party Immediately
sed purse of sixty-eight dollars
their need Ffriend. Robson will
tell his @.ame, but says that
years ago he was Con-
ssman from Ohio, and he wis
.e candidate for the Vice-Pres-
ncy of the United Jtates.
Death OF Lewis &. Williams.