CELLARERS YOUNG, CELLARERS OLD 



comer's health, they had better part with the utmost 

 celerity, the veteran assented resignedly with the husky 

 gasp peculiar to him. 



"You know/ 7 said the Master of the 

 House, mildly, " you are not quite what 

 you represented yourself to be. YOU 

 said you were forty-five ! " 

 "I think/' wheezed the Ancient 

 Cellarer/ " I think I said forty-seven, 

 sir/' 



"Oh, forty-seven!" The Master 

 of the House was a little 

 satiric. "Even if you had 

 said forty-seven, you are a 

 great, great deal more than that ! 

 " Sir/' said the delinquent, with a beery 

 twinkle, "no butler can ever be more 

 than forty-seven." 



This, we understand, is a maxim of life 

 in the profession. 



A thirdhe was young and beautifulhad 

 a fondness for a brew called gin-and-ginger, 

 which had so cheering and immediate effect 

 upon him that, having left the drawing- 

 room after tea the very pink and perfection 

 of propriety, he would announce dinner 

 in an advanced condition of jocular elevation, and when 

 the plates slid out of his hands he would survey them 

 with a waggish smile, as one who would say: "Bless 

 their little hearts, see how playful they are ! " 



