240 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



affirmative answer led to good-natured reproaches that he had 

 not at once made known his distinction. The bond of brother- 

 hood was immediately established and there followed an 

 effusive recognition by all the other dazzling sons of Mars of 

 his belonging to a superior order of being. 



Among other agreeable acquaintances made at this primitive, 

 homelike sanitarium was that of a Cuban, who, on the first day 

 of his arrival, presented himself at the door and announced 

 that he had been a student at the Lawrence Scientific School 

 and had come forthwith to welcome with open arms the teacher 

 from Cambridge. He was a distinguished-looking and cultivated 

 gentleman, a great lover of music, and at Vienna, where he 

 finished his engineering education, he had the entree of the 

 most exclusive houses. Since he lived in the "Annex" which we 

 occupied, we saw much of him, and, previously bored almost 

 to death, we now had Sefior N. for our guide, philosopher, and 

 friend, who made known to us the resources of Dresden, the 

 best places to hear music and the plays best worth seeing. Going 

 to the theatre in those days could scarcely be called a dissipa- 

 tion, since the performance began at six and generally ended 

 before ten ; if, however, there was any delay the patients were 

 sore put to it to get back before the gates of the establishment 

 were irrevocably locked. In the effort to reach the goal Mr. 

 Shaler always came out ahead of his companions and until the 

 belated sprinters caught up, he with one yarn and another ca- 

 joled the custodian to postpone the final turn of the key. Since 

 one of the party was not a patient and therefore not bound 

 by the rules of the house, it was her province to have ready 

 as a fit ending to the evening's diversions a modest repast, and 

 no feast, however delicious, was ever more enjoyed than the 

 few delicacies that were smuggled in as an offset to the peculiar 

 dietary prescribed by the Herr Doctor. Many years after these 

 light-hearted escapades, if such they could be called, Mr. Shaler 

 endeavored to look up Sefior N. when in Cuba. He drove to his 

 father's once-flourishing plantation to find there neglect and 





