72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND 



day or two before the 2d of August my wife asked me if 

 I would pay a bill of $30 or about she was about to make. 

 I said I would but I ought to know. She said she could 

 nor would not tell me. You will know after. I want 

 " carte blanche" for every thing, and she had her own 

 way, and I have never had such a day since. We had one 

 of our greenhouses empty that one of our friends dec- 

 orated with palms, etc., where a table had been fixed 

 for fifteen or more persons ; and next to that house 

 another separated from where we sat, that we could 

 not see inside of it. My wife had a band of music 

 that none of us clubbists and others knew nothing about. 

 It was only at desert, when we began to drink cham- 

 pagne that we heard the band of music playing the 

 Marseillaise, Yankee Doodle, etc. And at that time, mo- 

 ment, minute, our friend the Spectalile ! placed in my 

 plate a little box, containing a splendid gold watch, with 

 the names engraved of same of the members of our 

 club. I was so much surprised that for a few seconds 

 I was speechless. I could not say yes ! and yet, as a 

 rule, I talk too much. The hearing of that music and 

 the presentation of that watch galvanized me for many 

 seconds, for I did not expect any such things for a sur- 

 prise ; it was a surprise ! ! that made me feel proud 

 of being seventy years old, although it is the age of the 

 decline of life, when a man is considered no longer a 

 man in the real acceptation of the word man ! But 



