A STUDY OF CHARACTER. 1 95 



put up his hand and draw the fork down to his 

 mouth as gracefully as a grown person. Unless 

 necessity compelled, he would not eat in the 

 kitchen, but insisted upon his meals in the 

 dining-room, and would wait patiently, unless a 

 stranger were present ; and then he was sure to 

 importune the visitor, hoping that the latter was 

 ignorant of the rule of the house, and would give 

 him something. They used to say that he pre- 

 ferred as his table-cloth on the floor a certain 

 well-known church journal ; but this was said by 

 an Episcopalian. So far as I know, he had no 

 religious prejudices, except that he did not like 

 the association with Romanists. He tolerated 

 the servants, because they belonged to the house, 

 and would sometimes linger by the kitchen stove ; 

 but the moment visitors came in he arose, opened 

 the door, and marched into the drawing-room. 

 Yet he enjoyed the company of his equals, and 

 never withdrew, no matter how many callers 



