The Wagner leader. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1912-1912, 1912-02-16
The property OF the last man"

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Emotion choked the voice of h old
mar as he slowly spelled the words
from the age worn label which still
chung raggedly to a bottle covered with
the dust OF many years. A mist came
before his eyes as he held the old wine
up to the light and a sigh escaped his
lips as he placed it back on the table.
And this was the end! A long table,
with SO plates, from which no one
would eat; SO chairs, upon which no
one would sit: a lonely old man seated
at the head Of a lonely board, drinking
to the memory of his friends, all of
whom he had survived.
How sad and how different from the
joyous occasion which marked their
organization this night GA years be-
fore! He could see it just as it hap
pened-39 young men. in the first flush
Of their manhood. clinking their glasses
around a festive board, wild songs, gay
pranks, n all joking about the poor
old last man to be. 1t vas youth joking
about time; hot blood and inexperience
ridiculing hating footsteps n wis
DOM.
He recalled how they had gathered
around at the midnight hour, raised
their glasses high in the air and had
drunk to him. And now he was to
drink to them-drink of the old wine,
which they had sealed with solemn
rites-to take from the glass a de-
licious quaff and a sad memory. as he
toasted their James n by one.
He recalled them all, the whole 3S.
beginning with active young manhood
and ending with decrepid old age, as
one by one in the different periods of
their lives they had passed away. For
five years, he remembered. they had
remained intact. Then the first man
died. There was q can chair at
their next anniversary dinner, and q
name was toasted In silence.
Another lapse of time. then a second
went, then a third. One had myster-
iously disappeared, mad been muir
dered, two were drowned. three killed
On the railroad and one had cheated
the aims of h club by taking his own
life. And then came the war of the
rebellion. They were 81 when the great
struggle began, but four years later,
when 1t ended, only 10 men answered
to their names at the following ami
versary dinner and the memory of the
others was toasted in silence
The roll of the living grew smaller
and that of the dead larger as year
after year the survivors met. From
young men they had slipped into mid
die lift and from middle life they had
become Did. An now he was the last
man. The honor was
He stopped. The clock had begun
to strike IL. The hour for d~issolving
the LAST. Mems club had arrived.
He listened reverently until the last
lingering ech died out. Then he broke
the sea of the bottle. With trembling
hand he raised the glass to the taper
ing neck n inclined the bottle so that
the crimson liquid dubbed out. He set
the bottle On the table, held the glass
up to the light and looked at it. Then
he glanced down the length of the table
until his eyes rested on a vacant chair.
For a few seconds he remained silent.
A flush mantled his wrinkled cheeks.
A light kindled his eyes. His bent
form Strengthened up. He brought the
glass down to the level Of his lips,
raised II again and inclined 1t toward
the chair upon which his eyes were
fastened.
Then, in a voice trembling with emo
ton, he called aloud the first mans
name. Ii was the voice of friendship
ringing out across nearly three genera
tions Of time-the voice of the last man
toasting the first.
The second mans name was called
out in the same quavering voice. the
glass inclined toward another vacant
chair. then the third and fourth. Then
two little spots glowed out on the old
mans cheeks as he drank. His eyes
snapped and sparkled under his bushy
white brows. He became Joyous, care
less. He cackled and chuckled in mirth