The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-22
The Episode of the
Game of Poker

Ter fortef Tor me, II you please! I'm
sick of DISCUSSES. Now that we know
Colonel Clay is here in America, they
serve no good purpose; so I may as
well receive the social consideration
and proper respect to which my rank
and position naturally entitle me-
And which they secure for the most
part Except from hotel clerks), even
in this republican land" I answered
briskly
For in my humble opinion, for sound
copper-bottomed snobbery. registered
A 1 at Lloyd's. give me the free-born
American citizen.
We Travelled through the states, ac-
cordingly, for the next four months,
from Maine to California, and from
Oregon to Florida. chiefly under our
own true names, confirming the
churches" as Charles facetiously put
it-or, in other words, looking into the
management and control of railways
syndicates, mines and cattle ranches
We inquired about everything. And
the re suit of our Investigations appear
ed TO be, as Charles further remarked,
that the Sabeans who so troubled the
sons o. Job seemed to have migrated
in a body to Kansas and Nebraska,
and that several thousand head of cat
tie seemed to mysteriously vanish, a
la Colonel Clay. into the pure air of the
However, we were fortunate in avoid
ing the incursions of the colonel him
self, who must have migrated mean
while on some unchanged carpet to 9TH
er happy hunting grounds.
1t was chill October before We found
ourselves safely back in New York, en-
route for England. So long a term of
freedom from the cOlonel's depredations
(as Charles fOndly imagined-but I viii
M fol had hpn her
in-law's health and spirits a world of
good; he was so lively that he began
TO fancy his tOrmentOr must have sue
cumbed TO yellow fever. then raging
in New Orleans or eaten himself ill
as we nearly did ourselves, on a gem
erOus mixture of clam chOWder. terra
pin, soft shelled crabs, Jersey peaches
canvasback ducks, Catawba wine, win
ter cherries, brandy cocktails, straw
. berry shortcake, ice creams, corn dodg-
er, and a judicious brew commonly
known as a Colorado corpse reviver.
However that may be, Charles re-
turned to New York in excellent trim;
and, dreading in that great city, the
wiles Of his antagonist, he cheerfully
accepted the invitation of his brother
millionaire. Senator WrengoId of Ne
Vada. to spend a few days before sail
ing in the senator's magnificent and
newly finished palace at the upper end
of Fifth avenue.
There at least l shall be safe, Sey,"
he said TO me. plaintively. with a weary
smile. ''WrengOld at any rate won't
try to take me in-exeept. of course.
in the regular way OF business
Boss Nugget hail (as it is popularity
christened) is perhaps the handsomest
brown stone mansion in the Richard-
sonian style on all Fifth avenue. We
spent a delightful week there The
lines had fallen to us in pleasant
places. On the night we arrived Wren
gold gave a small bachelor party in
our honor. He knew Sir Charles was
travelling without Lady Vandrift, and
rightly judged we would prefer on his
first night an informal party, with
cards and cigars, instead of being both
cred with the charming but still some
what hampering addition of female So
ciety.
The guests that evening were no more
than seven all told, ourselves included
making up, Wrengold said, that per-
feet number. an octave. He was a nou-
veau richie himSelf-the newest of the
new-ccmmonIy known in exclusive old
fashioned New York society as the
gilded squatter. for he Struck his
reef" no more than ten years ago; and
he was therefore doubly anxious, after
the American style, to be 'just dizzy
with culture" In this capacity of Mae
cenas he had invited, among Others
the latest Of English literary arrivals
in New York, Mr.. Algernon Coleyard
the famous poet and leader of the
Brian Rose school of west country fic-
ton
You know him in London, of
cOurse?" he observed TO Charles with
a smile, as we waited dinner for our
guests
No Charles answered, stolidly. q
have not had that honor. We move,
you see, I'm different circles"
l observed by a curious shade which
passed over Senator Wrengold's face
that he quite misapprehended my
brother-in-law's meaning. Charles
wished TO convey. of course, that Mr..
Coleyard belonged to a mere literary
and Bohemian set in London, while he
himself moved on a more exalted plane
of peers and politicians. But the SEN
ator, better accustomed to the new rich
point of view, understood Charles to
mean that he had not the entree of that
distinguished coterie in which Mr..
Coleyard posed as a shining luminary
Which naturally made him rate even
higher than before his literary acuui-
siti0n.
At two minutes past the hour the
poet entered. Even if we had not been
dlrfdGY IdIllilidE VIII HIS portrait al
all ages in the Strand Magazine we
should have recognized him at once for
a genuine bard by his impassioned
eyes, his delicate mouth. the artistic
twirl of one gray lock upon his expan-
sive brow, the grizzled mustache, that
gave point and force TO the genial
smile. and the two white rows of per-
feet teeth behind it. Most of our fell
low guests had met Coleyard before,
at a reception given by he Lotus club
sszE- afternoon. for the bard had reach
ed New York but the previous evening;
so Charles and I were the only visitors
who remained TO be introduced to hun.
The lion of the hour was attired in
ordinary evening dress. with no fOppery
of any kind, but he wore in his but
tonhole a dainty blue flower. whose
name ! do not know, and as he bowed
distantly to Charles. whom he sur
veyed through his eyegiass, the CLEAN
of a big diamond in the middle of his
shirt front betrayed the fact that the
Briar Rose school. as it was called
(from his famous epic, had at least
succeeded in making money out of
poetry. He explained TO us a little-1a-
ter, in fact. that he was over in New
York to look after his royalties.
1.-The beggars," he said, only gave
me eight hundred pounds on my last
volume. / couldn't stand that. you
know, for a modern bard, moving with
tho age can only sing when duly