Year: 1875

Dttii, Will Iut LII Hu anu
the five Hurrahs !" at the end of every
verse. You mayn't know the song, but
it is always sung with q full orchestral
mpaniment-poker, shovel and
tongs-teaspoons on the edges of glass
es, and the chairman, of course, beating
time with a hammer upon the mahogany
table.


We had no sooner finished than there
was tapping on the wall on the other
side, which of course meant Encore 7"
SO we sang it again with two extempor-
lied verses composed for the occasion by
Jack Bigley. Directly after this there
was a knock at the door, which opened,
and a man said something about noise;
but as we all with one consent made q
rush at him he fed, and we were allowed
to enjoy our harmony i'll peace for the
rest of the evening.


1t wasn't all singing, you know. We
had game Mt cards, but it was voted
slow; and Tom Burrows did the frog on
the stone in the middle of the table, with
a candle at each corner. Bob Rummins,
too, did his balancing tricks with three
full tumblers of grog on a cane-bottomed
chair-balanced on his chin without
.
his head upen quart decanter, and got
on pretty well till Tom Burrows spirked
him in the ribs with the waxy end of n
pipe-stem, when he went over backward
into the coal scuttle, and then wanted to
fight Tom for half sovereign.


1t was all over, though, directly, bless
you; and they shook hands, and were
the best of friends; when, to keep the
game alive, Jack Bigley went and got a
pint Guinness stout bottle, cleared the
table, and, putting the neck downward,
sat on the bottom, and spun himself
round. Bless you, it was beautiful. l
never saw anything like it. His hands
and legs flew out, and he went out like
teetotum or top, till Tom Burrows must
spoil it by making belieye the bottle was
his peg, and wanting to take him up in a
spoon.


We were all too good-humored to quar-
rel, and we did have the jolliest night
you ever knew. We had more singing,
and when the song..hadn't any chorus we
made one--a good rattling one, too-and
we encOred one another two or three
times over, and then began again.


We never had the slightest idea of
breaking up, and should have gone on
until the milk came round if it had not
been for Tom Burrows, who, from being
the larkiest fellow of the whole lot sud
denly broke down and began to cry.


1t was no use slapping him on the
back and trying to comfort him-he
would keep on crying and talking about
his mother, and saying if she only knew;
till it upset Bob Rummins, who wiped
one of his eyes, and said he hadn't been
to-church for nine Sundays.


That spoiled it, you know, for Bob got
worse than Tom Burrows, and would
keep on saying that he meant to turn
over a new leaf. Then Tom Burrows
came and called him brother, and they
stood and shook one another's hands,
and cried into the same pocket handker-
chief till Dick Wharton said he would
! go home now, and went and laid himself
down under the table amongst the oyster
shells, with big lobster claw under the
small of his back.


I'm not quite sure about which way l
went home, but | remember how nice
and fresh the cool night air felt, and that
all the policemen were walking in pairs.
l mention that last, you know, lest you
should thing that | was i'll the slightest
degree overcome. In fact, when |
dropped my umbrella, and then when
my hat fell off, as l stopped to pick it up,
/ remember what l said TO the pair of
policemen who were civil enough to pick
them up ; and we chatted SO that they
walked home beside me and, as I'd got
thick gloves on, they felt in my waist coat
pocket for me, and got out my latch-key,
and opened the door.


Just to show you that was perfectly
correct. I'll mention what the pair of
policemen said, and that was


"Of course You can find your way up
stairs, sir p


And they wouldn't have said that if
had been in that reprehensible state
i'll which some young men return home
from a bachelors party.


All | recollect everything perfectly.
, How they had left no candlestichs forme
: in the proper place, and how something
was left i'll the passage way for me tc
stumble over, and then the rug ut the
foot of the stairs was rlicked up, and two
stair-rods loose, so that three times ovel
was nearly stumbling up the stairs.
, /" There's light III my room, / re
. member saying.


[ And that accounted, of course, foi
there being no candle left in the passage
/ So / smiled to myself, as L paused for {
= moment on the landing, and tried to hum
( over the chorus of Rambling Dan, jus


to amuse my landlady, and to let hei
. know that l was back safe. But / was
| so out of breath that l forgot it, ant
} turning the handle with my left hand
r my left hand because held my umbrella
? i'll my right walked i'll.


f You see, | am so perspicuous about al
r these little facts that it shows you coult
I not have dreamed or imagined what
e saw. For there, with my camphin,
Y lamp on the table, the bottle of brandy
(, and n jug of hot water, sat two skeletons
: in the easy chairs, one on each side o
] the fire. One of them was sitting looking
: at the fire, and evidently musing hi
t right elbow rested on the table, and will


his left hand he held a long clay pipe he
{ tween his teeth, and pulled out n clou,