monstrous but one hall-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack Hesny IV.
The subj t's so various, so many-sided, that in writing of it ong Suffers from a embarvassinest of riches, bewildering, clogging the pen. Lsouzht vainly for a point Of flew from which to regard such events, ud went acundingly to Sturt Ransomme. "Farewell di Ile ald fraud," he said, "ars invempersnee te popalati abominable acned on hin, and he Pips was his nickname in the faraway past of his school days, and he Tathes it bitterly, He told some of us once ther Paps was the realisation in sound "f all that was stupid, absurd, ant "Tabby Ryland a gentle reply. "Yes, Pops!" siid he, and atausomi> forsovk us for three de OF emtese, it is easy to see whut was in his mind when he made his bron tineement on farewell diners. He was thiel only of the Iychelor variety, whereas was eceupie L wir the gentle' valedictions of muitried couples. Lean conceive nothing more wearisome than to be known as the clos: friend of a couple whos departure for home issdrawing near, Farewell dinners are given them, and in every 1st of guests your name lns'a place, "Nothing iv more hnpossible thin to refuse these invita. tions, and the speeding of parting fri-nds Iecumes n clu cape movement" played continually for (say) a for might. At the correct moment you lift your glass and murmur "Bon voyage!" Sriving to work into your smile something of melancholy, something of 1 fine sorrow. I have found this easy +f accomplishment for the first time, but horrid y increasing in ditlieulty. Once—it was the s-venth dinner of a particular series—I was beset with an extraordinary fear that xt the crucial moiment [should remain simply we den, bereft of the required expression, Thus consciously Lyrae ised it through din, Trogarded the sony with " tender smile, the fish I greeted with subdue! regret, and later the arrival of the snips found me on the verge of tears. An oiinons silence brought me te myself, and I looked up to find that [way the object of anxious scrutiny, "EL said my hostess." you have ssid nothing for halt an hour, which is extraordinary, Can we, your fienis, help in' your trouble?" "My dew lily," Isaid, my trouble is that L have no trouble, I sorrow for lick of sorrow, and that have no claim upon your help." At this she laughed, and I plunged tiercely into conversation with my neighbour on the Improp-ity of Exaygeration. And when the moment caus Locked more like the Jo tra! tizwe in the Liecvon than a ght els ome consid—ation ina kindly spirit is ti due the bachibor variety, however. It has beorme, in th passing of years, one of the fixed rales of wy life to eschew the: Ta-y are tos severe tax upon my middle age.
hive no objection to squeezing my way throug' a mixed assemblge crowded j-t'y—though, s range'y enough, esther difficult matter rent to be deafened ed by the irritating noise and shi-c'ionalls smoke of Chinese crackers. T regard such matters as sacrifices laid upon the altar of friendship. But, shade of Lucullus! I must and will dine'in the comfort which my many virtues deserve,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.