Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-27

C, a
prominent member of New York's exclusive
set.
The evening before sailing Mr. Van Doran
gave a stag dinner to six or his most IN
innate friends.
As his handsome home on 9Th avenue was
practically shut up and enveloped in IFS
annual gauZe draperies and summer silence
| he decided 10 give this dinner at Delmon-
ico's, in one of the private dining rooms
upstairs.
His wife had suggested the Waldorf, but
Van Doran, like a great many other Ne"
YCrkers of his age and set preferred dear
| old Del.'s. where he and his chums had
merrily wined and dined long before an
Astor thought of putting up the Dig rea
hotel.
So DeImonico got the order. which con-
sisted of two words, carte blanche. with
the additional proviso that every luxury;
both in and out of season, should De served
W. to his guests. ~,
! The evening set for this dinner was Fri
day, April "a a 8 o'clock, as the Van Dor
ans sailed on the Campania the following
day at noon
The invitations were limited to SIX Ola
and intimate friends of the host.
There was his lawyer, Mr.. Smythe
Brown, a man about Van Doran s own age,
and a shining luminary in the legal world
of New York For many years he had
transacted all the legal business of the
Van Doran banking house, and was conse-
quently on terms of great intimacy with
its head.
field Hunter who had long had the privl-
lege of exercising his curative power in the
Van Doran household. where he was treat
ed a tried and trusted friend.
Then, there was Rev. Arthur Arcy, pas.
tor of st. Sebastian's Catholic Church. OF
which Mr.. Van Doran was an honored
| member and generous benefactor.
Twenty years have elapsed since that not
August night when we first made father
| d Arcy's acquaintance, and in their passage
they had left more than average trace on
the countenance of this remarkable man
Though still in the prime of manhood MS
hair was almost silver white. But TINS pc
culiarity only served an admirable loli
| to the dark gray eyes with their heaVy
| black brows and lashes. These eyes were
| like two heavily charged magnetic bat
teries, which flashed powerful currents
| through all they touched. But it was only
| on rare occasions that their owner turned
| on the full flow of their magnetism, and
then he swayed mems souls as the wind
sways fields of corn.
| Men said Father darcy looked a dfsap-
pointed man. Women said he looked inter-
| esting, which was certainly true.
Twice every Sunday they flocked to his
| church and sat enthralled beneath the in
| fiuence of intense personality and
superb delivery, as the fearless man of
| God proclaimed from the pulpit his views
on all matters pertaining to church and
state.
These views, if at times declared unor-
thodoX by narrow minds, rang true as they
touched the target Of the hearers mind
with the steel bright arrow of conviction.
1t had been rumored at times that Father
q Arcy was not popular as might be with
| the higher powers of his cloth owing to
the extreme !tberality of his views and the
fearless candor with which he gave voice
to them.
There are certain characters that inspire
intense feelings in all who come in contact
with them. Owing to indefinable some
thing in their nature, one must either hate
or love them. They permit none of that
mawkish middle feeling, which we so gen.
erously bestow ON mankind at large and
which, during the penitential season. actu-
ates benevolent sewing societies to make
chest protectors for the Zulus.
Fr Arcy was one of these lucky or I'M
! lucky individuals. He had bitter enemies
and stanch friends.
People always spoke enthusiastically of
him-one way or the other.
The remaining gentlemen who were in
vited to Mr.: Van Dorans dinner dau re-
Voir We're all the old and intimate friends
whom he had known for years.
AT clock on the evening appointed the
SIX guests assembled in the private room
at Delmonico's. where dinner was to be
served. Their host was not there to receive
them, but, as he was going abroad the next
! day they could readily understand that
some important business had unavodably
detained him.
| The dinner table, which was a round one,
stood in the center of the room.
! 1t presented very dazzling and inviting
appearance, with It's load of silver. crystal
and snOw-whlte damask and it was pro
fusely and tastefully decorated with flow
HaIf-past S arrived. and Mr. Van Doran
had not yet appeared However, as all
| those present We're we'll acquainted, and had
many interests in common, none of them
| seemed bored a the delay.
But when it struck certain yearning
glances toward the door proved that some
| of them had suddenly begun to discover a
| void in certain parts of their anatomy.
Just then Mr.. Smythe Brown, the legal
| light Of the party, proposed that they
| should sit down and begin on the oysters,
as it was evident that some unavoidable
business had detained their host. who would
| probably arrive in the meantime.
| This suggestion was unanimously second
| ed by the other gentlemen and very soon
the fish were being joyously and APP
| preciatvely discussed
Though late in the season, the oysters
| We're delicate and briny. ard with the aid
Of the preparatory cocktail, they gave
funful flip to the conversation, which grew
| brilliant and entertaining.
The ball was wittily tossed from one
| tongue tip to the other, but finally some
| thing led up to the discussion of the rela-
| ton born by the different professions to the
| family.
| The lawyer. Mr.. Smythe Brown. whose
| opinion most matters carried great
| weight, seemed to think that the profession
| which he represented, from the fact of the
| condolences which it necesstated, got near
|
| the others AS a proof of his argument he
| explained how often the husband and ia
| Their is compelled to reveal to his lawyer
| certain matters which he strenuously con-
i ceas from wife and children.
| Some of the gentlemen present were in
| clined to agree with the lawyer when Dr.
| Bloomfield Hunter began to plead the cause
| of the medical profession.
| He said he quite agreed with his legal
| friend that the law, as a profession, was
| very closely interviewer with the interests
| of the family, but at the time he
| thought he was justified in asserting that
| the family doctors position placed him on
| still more intimate footing in the house
| hold.
You see gentlemen said he. your ply
! Stefan is the first person to extend to you
| the hand of welcome, when you kick and
| scream your little person to this gay Old
| earth. And all through your days his So
| licitous care helps you to fight the ills that
| flesh is heir to. Many time, when other
! worlds seem perilously near, when the great
| something which is the beyond seems eager
| to snap that thread called life, the DOCTOR
| single handed, battles its desire and coaxes