Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-09-03

grew like crescendo OF Rossinrs. In
siduous toasts, swagger and challenges
followed
And they drained the chalice f1iied
up with science, carbonic acid gas,
perfumes, poetry and incredulity.
III the gentlemen will go to the .raw-
ing room, coffee is ready for them, i"
said the major-domo.
Beneath the shining gas lights in a
golden chandelier, round about a table
inlaid with gilded metal, group of
women whose eyes shone like dia-
monds suddenly met the stupefied stare
of the jewellers. Their toilets were
splendid, but less magnificent than
their beauty which eclipsed the other
maryels Of this place. A light shone
from their eyes, bewitching as those
Of sirens, more brilliant and ardent
than the blaze that streamed down
upon the snowy marble, the delicately
carved surfaces of bronze, and lit up
the satin sheen of the tapestry,
1t might have been a fashionable
drawing room where ladies and young
girls offer after dinner the assistance
that coffee. liqueurs and sugar accord
to diners who are struggling in the
tolls Of peryerse digestion. But in a
little while laughter broke out, the
n urmur grew and voices were raised.
The saturnalia, subdued for a moment,
threatened at times to renew ist3lf.
I he alterations of sound and silence
bore a distant resemblance to SYM
phony of Beethoven's.
A moments consideration of the
rooms was like foretaste of Millions
randemonium. The faces Of those still
capable OF drinking were a hideous
blue tint from burning draughts Of
PUNCH. Mad dances were kept UP with
wild energy; cited laughter and out
cries broke out like the explosion of
fireworks. The boudoir and small
adjoining room were strewn like bat
tie field with the insensible and incapa-
BILE Wine, pleasure and dispute had
heated the atmosphere. Wine, deleri-
I'm and Inconsistencies possessed
them, and were written upon all faces,
upon the furniture; were expressed by
the surrounding disorder, and brought
light films over the vision of those as
sembIed. so that the air seemed iull of
Intoxicating vapor. A glittering dust
arose, as in the luminous paths made
, by ray of sunlight the most bizarre
81,
struggles were seen athwart it. Groups
of interlaced figures blended with the
white marbles. the noble masterpieces
of marble that adorned the rooms.
The valet de chambre succeeded after
some little difficulty in drawing his
master into the ante-chamber to whis-
per to him:
THE neighbors are all at their win
dows complaining of the racket, sir"
IF noise alarms them why don't they
lay DOWN straw before their doors?"
was Taillefer's rejoinder.
Raphael's sudden burst of laughter
was 50 unreasonable and abrupt that
his friend demanded the reason of his
unseemly hilarity
You will hardly understand me"
he replied. In the first place, must
admit that you stopped me on the Quai
Voltaire just as | was about to throw
myself into the Seine, and you would
like to know, no doubt, my motives for
DYING
What experience did you loo. to
q
you Jealous Of the hydraulic machine
on the Pont Notre Dame?'
Make your cohesion and no lies! |
don't at all want a historical memoir.
And, above all things, be as concise as
your clouded intellect permits; | am a.
critical as professor and as sleepy as
a woman at her yespers."