Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-10-16
CHATTER Ill.
AN ARGUMENT AND Az ApRIy 4

On the night when the down tram carried
the Solden-headcd child 10 Breakdown, tho
Talberts had diEed at home without com
plny. The two men Wee still at the table
slipping their clare; AMI smoking cigarettes.
They were neither greaS drinking men nor
great smoking men. II such habits are sins,
the Talberts might have gone on as they weGo
going for many years and then made atone
mnnt very easily. 1t is needless to state tina!
the two brothers were faultleSSlv dressed in
the evening garb of the nineteenth century.
1t will also be guessed that the dinner table
was most taStefully laid out. In spite of the
season being midwinter, it was gay with
flowers. Quaint antique silver spoons and
forks did the duty which is exacted from tho
tlorid kings pattern and the ugly fiddle pat
tern denominations Of our dav. The napery
was of the whiteSt and finest description
the polish on the glass such rs to make the
most careful housewife or conscientious ser
want wonder and envy. There is tale con
/ nected with the glass.
Once upon time lady who was dining at
Lakewood House asked her hosts, with par
donahle curiosity, how they were able to in
duce their servants to send the decanterS and
wine glasses to the table III such glorious
state of refulgency. Horace Talbert smiled,
and answered with exquisite simplicity:
I'VE should never think of trusting our
glass to the hands of servants. Ny brother
and | see to it ourselves.
Thereupon the lady. who he'd maIriageabs
sisters, aud was no doubt keenly alive to the
fact that her hosts were eligible bachelors,
said: ''tr was very sweet of them to take so
much trouble" but her husband, who heard
the question and the answer, burst into fit
| of uncomfortable laughter. His was a low,
coarse commonplace mind, utterly unable to
divest the ideal from the material To such
n Eroveling nature the picture of these two
siX-feet, hrawny men washing and rubbing
their rare and costly glass seemed intensely
conlical
The Talberts showed no signs of annoy
ance; they even smiled gravely in response to
his vulgar mirth; but Hazlewood House knew
that person no more.
But the wretch took lis revenge after the
manner of his kind Tnluckily, in spite Of
his faults his position in the county was not
t. BE- dcspiscd and more unluckily he pos
sessed a certain amount OF humor of the low
class. He was brutal enough to nickname
our friends the Tables" and appropriate
or not, the name chung to them, and will
cling for ever and ever This is but another
proof Of low careful man should be in the
selection of his friends.
Although tonight the glass was as radiant
Cs ever, there was at present no one to admire
it save its owners and caretakerS. BY virtue
of his year of seniority, Horace Talbert sat
at the head of the table. Herbert was at biz
right hand. The two brothers We're strangely
alike both i'll figure and face. They were
brown haired men with long. Straight noses,
calm serious eyes, rather arChci eyebrows,
and average foreheads. Each wore a we'll
kept beard and mustache, the beard clipped
close, and terminating in point at the chin
"a fashion which suited their long, oval faces
remarkably well. and, perhaps, added kind
| of old-woild courtlineSs to their general ap-
pcarance. Their looks may I've summed up
! by saving that the Talberts were men who
one felt ought to possess picture gallery If
| distinguished ancestors. The absence of such
desirable possession seemed q heartles5
freak of LatuIe.
The room in which the brothers were sitting
was furnished with bold mixture of modern
and antique. Where comfort and utility were
the first consideration, the modern prevailed;
where ornament or decoration had to be sup
piled, the antique, often the grotesque antique,
was called into requisition. On the high,
carved mautelpiece stood Oriental bronze
vases with bideous dragons creeping round
them, and gaping, grinning kylins, VIC
| Looked ulOck1IlgiS ara I6dj1eSSly al Tue EefCe
metal monsters. They knew-Old china
| f cures know more than people suspect-that
the dragons were welded to their vases more
irTefIagibly than Prometheus to his rock
Here and there was plate of rich-colored
doi$Sonae enamel, q piece of Nankin china, a
specimen of cid brass work, bracket of real
old carved oak, an antique lamp, or some
| other article dear TO the collector. Some half
a dozen Inedum-sized but valuable paintings
hung upon the walls The floor was covered
by sober-hued Persian carpet. and of course
a roaring ere filed the crate.
The Taiberts looked very grave-as grave
end solemn Is Roman fathers in high debate
I They wcrn. indeed, discussing weighty mat
ter After an interval Of silence, Herbert
rose and walked 10 his brothers side. The
two looked critically down the table They
went to the bottom and looked up the table
They went to the sides ana looked across the
table; they even sent glances dia2onally from
corner TO corner.
at IS certainly great improvement said
Horace, with quiet triumph.