Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-03-19
"SELF OR BEARER. "
BY WALTER BESANT
Author of stAH Sorts and Conditions OF
Men, ''The Captain ROOM etc.
(IoatinaL Il from Last meek
CContinu,1 from last meek. ]

r. His champagne was cut Oft was gone
for good Il He would never again-alas!-
taste of that divine drlffss.~ No wonder tna1
the old man wept heavily and NSas always
di contented For he craved continually al
ter champagne He found some consolation
in ting on his dress clothes every night,
and in talking over the once splendid past he
had a sympathetic listener in his niece, and
he found gin and water a substitute for
champa gne-inadequate, it is true, but bet
ter than nothing.
sit has been brilliant career, Maria, he
said Few men-it has often been said In
nv own preSence-have sat at more or at
nobler banquets. l doubt if any man ex-
cent prince, and he must be prince of
seventy at least has drunk more champagne
than your poor uncle. Yet such a life has
its drawbacks; you can't save money by eat
ing and drinking; the more brilliant it is, the
more champagne you drink; the less chance
| you've got of saving. You can't save cham
payne, and now, you see, nothing but the
memory remains"
"Indeed, Uncle Joseph we are all proud OF
you"
Sand now I'm come down to pension
of hundred year and to gin-and-water.
Give me another glass; Maria. Gin-and-
water4"
'You must think of the banquets, uncle,
and the great company you kept uncle"
s'The highest in the land" he replied, sol
emily sfhave initiated and raised to the
most sublime degrees royal princes and the
noblest of the nobility young and old As
for dukes, marq1iSes, earls and barons they
have been under my hands, meek and obedl-
ent, by the hundred I've lost count OF
baronets. and knights I value not at all.
Yes Maria, it gives man some satisfaction
in his old age to feel he's done so much good
and been so greatly honored. No doubt such
life bestows an air of distinction. put it
on with my evening dress. The jewels are
up stairs. 1t would not be proper to adorn
my breast with those splendid regalia out
side lodge I can leave my jewels to
your children, Maria but not the air of dis
tinction That can't be left to anybody"
'sIt cannot, Uncle Joseph, no more than
smile"
1--WE often thought, Maria" the old man
continued, 'that I should have liked one of
your boys to take up the same line But of
course it is too much to expect of them. 1t
is a gift. Such a man as myself can't be
made. He is born, as they say Of poet.
Either a young man has the genius or he has
not. Lord! most masters whether in the
chair or past it, have got no more real
knowledge of the ritual whatever the de-
cree. than thew have of the Roman mass"
s'Of course : don't know what it i" said
Mrs. Cronan; "but I've always under
stood"
s'You can't understand, Maria. No wo-
man can. It's beyond their intellects to
understand such sublimity and such nitric
acy. More than dozen different rituals
think of that! Every one complete and diff
ferent, and all to be W rked exact and word
for word All those rituals at my fingers
ends without flaw or hitch, and me the man
deputed to work them for instruction, for
raising and advancing; and separate dress
for each, with its own jewels! The aprons
and the scarfs are up stairs. with the Jewels.
But the rituals-they mustn't be written, and
there's no one anywhere who knows them
like me- They've got young man in my
place. l trained him. But as for comparing
him with Newell, I pity the young man!
They will make comparisons, and"
''Oh, good Lordp
This unseemly interruption was due to the
doctor, who suddenly jumped up with this
profane cry. He dropped back, however,
and sat down again, gazing about him with
a look of the blankest amaZement. The start
and the cry might have been forced from
nlm Wy suooemy s,0 d,,nn n !" - ~ Jr,oio
eAaspela'oa oeSonu I'LL n . NV s ",r sharn
Joseph .euious F. 49, 49, 7ooa,,oo.;o1, ~ snn,e
ln.e,nai PAN VI W .no ,1,dor BIT +hat
irlsn'iui onission ,,a4 .,;a 41,o+ ao.,a
look OIL aiiazeiienG-mn s'S III .not
uracious' ~ Nv
CONE 70 you, 10y ny 10 ao.
Noo.ins, saiA ~ I..o .o,,o,' .,,,,;o,, ta bod
ne p,cAeo up VIC :. pape' n "s and
oroi Peo, ioiueu ~ thin~ nh;nh ho had
piaceu ~ ~ LIS p nv a. IN Oil bic life before
hev ,9 oeeh AHo'"n W ~ =. 10 r,ot+o. ;,
b;s ,r;fa I,ersisted SIS II too1hachegn
nIt ;s notbino y he reneated: nothing Of
+lo Loot ;y,-o.t.nce to ms or to anybody
s.Than T. e something y said Norah. s.and
so,,,o+h;no thot concerns Won. at least. mana.
~ - Is SOMETHING that Won read in the
NA- ~