94 TAYLOR'S LAKE. 



who owned the best part of the surrounding country, 

 kept a host of clamorous fighting retainers, observed 

 no laws or religion except those of his own making, 

 and passed his time in eating, drinking and carousing 

 when he felt good and merry, and in kicking his re- 

 tainers when he happened to be morose and mean. 

 After many years spent in this manner, old Klotz's 

 appetite began to fail him; his palate refused to recog- 

 nize the piquant flavor of those former delicacies of 

 which he had previously been so fond. Sauerkraut no 

 longer, as of yore, tickled his palate with its delicious 

 acidity; the huge blood puddings on which he had been 

 wont to gorge with unpalled appreciation of their 

 lusciousness, became but tasteless matter in his mouth; 

 in fact, to briefly summarize, the old chap no longer 

 enjoyed his victuals. 



Just about this time things began to get extremely 

 unpleasant; for, owing to his fretfulness and irritabil- 

 ity, Klotz was a misery to himself, and a holy terror 

 to all around him. He was stone deaf, partially blind, 

 his sense of smell was all but gone. Things had come 

 to such a pass that instead of eating four square meals 

 a day in his spacious banqueting hall he scarcely ate 

 four meals a month, and then only a little bowl of 

 mush and milk in his daughter's private boudo.ir, sit- 

 uated in a tiny turret stuck away up on a remote 

 point of the castle. This daughter's name was Mary 

 Anne, at least that is the nearest approach to American- 

 ism that I can translate from the old manuscript before 

 me. 



Now, Mary Anne was an extremely good and pretty 

 girl, doting on her old father, and distractedly fond 

 of a good-looking young serf, who used occasionally to 

 call at the backdoor of the castle to peddle fish and 

 bananas; his name was Lym. The maidenly curves 

 of pretty little Mary Anne, when she had some three 

 months previously appeared at the back door of the 

 castle in her morning wrapper with the intention of 

 cheapening a big carp, had settled Lym's hash at first 



