"BANQUET HALL deserted:' 47 



was boy Andrew. He was a boy in the old 

 stage time when my father kept the house, and 

 he has been boy ever since, and always will be. 

 Supper will be ready soon. I'm right glad to 

 see you. You're welcome to the best weVe 

 got if you'llset down with the family. We 

 don't use the big room any more." And then 

 to show it, he opened a door on which " Din- 

 ing-room " in faded characters often scrubbed 

 over, was still plain enough. That banquet 

 hall too, was long since deserted and used now 

 but occasionally for a country ball to which 

 sleighing parties sometimes come from the 

 neighboring villages and farm-houses. The 

 long table and the chairs had disappeared and 

 all the indications of former occupancy were 

 the worn floors, with here and there the pine 

 knots which refused to wear down. 



As I paced up and down the cheerless apart- 

 ment, a sadness again came upon me such as 

 all men must feel in the reflection that sentient 

 beings like ourselves with throbbing pulses, 

 animal spirits, and thinking brains, once living 

 on God's beautiful earth were now mouldering 

 beneath its ground, and that v/e who occupy 

 their places must soon follow them, to be fol- 

 lowed turn after turn, in the ceaseless round of 



