Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-06-18

50 very patuesIC III lue meg uaI1tY OF
the two sides of the table, or so mel
ancholy IN their crippled number of
eleven.
! Several years had elapsed. and our
eleven friends kept up their double
anniversaries, as they might be called,
with scarcely any perceptable change.
But, alas! there came one dinner
which was darkened by calamity
they never expected TO witness; for
on that day, their friend, companion,
brother almost, was hangedl Yes,
Stephen Rowland. the wit, the oracle,
the life Of their circle, had, on the
morning Of that day forfeited his life
upon a public scaffold, for having
made one single stroke of his pen in a
wrong place. In other words. bill
of exchange which passed into his
hand for e700 passed out CT it for e1,-
700.
1t would be unjust to the ten to say
that even wine, friendship and q mer-
ry season, could disoeI the gloom
which .pervaded this dinner. It was
agreed before hand that they should
not allude to the distressing and mel
ancholy theme; and having thus in
terdictcd the only things which really
occupied all their thoughts, the nat
ural consequence was, that silent con-
temptation took the place of dismal
discourse: and they separated long
before midnight.
Some fifteen years had now glided
away since the fate OF Rowland, and
the ten remained; but the stealing
hand OF time mad written sundry
changes in most legible characters.
| Raven locks had been grizzled, two or
three heads had not as many locks al
together as may be reckoned in walk
of half a mile along the Regents
Canal-one was actually covered with
a brown wig, the crows feet were
visible in the corner of the eYe-good
old port aud warm madeira carried it
against hook, claret and red bur.
gundy, and champagne, stews, hashes,
and ragouts grew into favor-crusts
were rarely called for to relish the
cheese, after dinner conversation grew
less boisterous, and it turned chiefly
On politics and the state of the funds,
| or the value of landed property
| apologies were made for coming in
thick shoes and warm stockings-the
| doors and windows were most care
fully provided with list and sand
bags-the fire more in request-and
a quiet game of whist filled up Inc
hours that were wont to be devoted
to drinking, singing and rlotOus mer-
riment. The rubbers, cup Of coffee,
and at home by eleven o'clock, was
the usual cry, when tho fifth Or sixth
glass had gone round after the re-
moval of the cloth. At parting, too,
there was long ceremony in the hall,
buttoning up great coats, tying on
kerchiefs over the mouth and up to
the ears, grasping sturdy walking
canes to support unsteady feet.
Their tiftleth anniversary came, and
death had indeed been busy.
-Four little old men of witnered APP
pearance and decrepit walk with
cracked voices and dim, rayless eyes,
sat down by the mercy of heaven Gas
they themselves TREMENDOUSLY eleclared)
to celebrate, for the fiftieth time, the
first day Of the year; to observe the
frohc compact which, half q century
before, they had entered into at the
Star and Garter at Richmond Eight
were ia their graves! The four that
remained stood upon its confines. Yet
they chirped cheerily over their glass,
though they could scarcely carry it
to their lips if more than half full
and cracked their jokes, though they
articulated their words with difficulty
and heard each other with still great
er difficulty. They mumbled, thew
chartered, they laughed, if q soft or
strangled wheezlng might be called
laugh, and when the wine sent their
icy blood IN warmer pulses through
their veins, they talked Of the past as :.
if 1t were but yesterday that had
slipped by them-and Of the future as
If it were busy century that lay be-
fore then.
They were just the number for
quiet rubber Of Whist; and for three
successive years they sat down to one.
The fourth came. and then their rub
Der was played with an open dummy;
fifth, and whist was no longer prac
ticable; two could play only at crib
bage. and cribbage was the game. But
it was little more than the mockerv
of play. Their palsied hands could |
hardly hold, or their faded sight dis |
tinguish the cards, while their torpid
faculties made them doze between
each deal.
At length came thelast dinner; and
the survivor of the twelve, upon
whose head four score and ten WIN
| ters had showered their snow. ate his
solitary meal. It SO CHANGED that it
was in his house and at his table they
had celebrated the first. In his cellar,
too, had remained, for eight and fifty
years, the bottle they had uncorked,
recorked and which he was that day
to uncork again. It stood beside him
with feeble and reluctant grasp he
took the frail memorial Of youthful
VOW, and for a moment memory was
| faithful TO her Office. She threw open
her long vista OF buried years; and
his heart travelled through them ali.
Their lusty and blithesome spring,
thoiy. hpi erhf and forvid SIJnorooY III ai1