The First Day 13 



steward smiles discreetly, but says nothing. Bill grins, turns to 

 me, and asks suddenly, "How do you want your prairie chicken — 

 broiled or roasted?" 



"Broiled." And as the steward departs smiling, I conjecture 

 to myself by what magic have Bill and the steward conjured 

 from out this lonely waste for our epicurean delectation the erst- 

 loved bird 1 had not heard of in years, and which I had supposed 

 was extinct as the passenger pigeon. I understand now the 

 suggestion made at noon that we eat light at luncheon, which we 

 did — Arthur with a discriminating care which I now know not 

 to have been with any regard to Bill's suggestion at the beginning 

 of the journey, as to the advantages of dieting on Mrs. Pratt's 

 account. 



At dinner the talk is of old, and almost forgotten card games ; 

 straight whist — which vanished about the time bicycles began to 

 fade away from the streets — cribbage, nap, and that famous old 

 lower-Mississippi before-the-war game, brag, from which the 

 modern poker was developed. Arthur has never seen cribbage. I 

 undertake to teach him after dinner. Ellicott shows Art what to 

 discard and what to play, while William is deep in war news on 

 a near-by seat. Art is much tickled by the quaint nomenclature 

 of the game — one for his nob and two for his heels — but appears to 

 consider the system of reckoning points, especially when his 

 vis-a-vis tabs up a score of sixteen on a hand of absurdly low cards, 

 as a special development of higher accounting. 



Speaking of early American settlement with Ellicott, whose 

 forbears first planted themselves in New England some time in 

 1665, I remarked that some of those early arrivals brought some 

 interesting coats of arms with them. 



"Most of 'em didn't need anything else," he responds. 



This gives one a new slant on the matter of distinguishing 

 devices. Among the various essayists I have read, I do not 

 recall one who has made any comment on the moral influence 

 toward accomplishment in the face of hardship and privation, 

 that may be contained in the heraldically-shorthanded record of 

 forbears honored. 



Bill and Art commence again to draw and discard, with the 

 other two in cheerful contemplation. It is one of the easiest 

 things we do. Ellicott is one of the best contemplaters I know. 



