Solomon or Shebaf 



meals. Not so Solomon. He was not content 

 with his own ever ready banquet or to be in his 

 own cups. He must be in ours. We were re- 

 duced to humble tasters of his fare with no safe 

 social barrier below the salt. Unimpeded by his 

 sweeping length of train, he progressed from 

 plate to plate and course to course. And let 

 there be the pop of cork, the sound of contents 

 flowing, and he was close at elbow before a glass 

 was fiUed. There was a deep intake, a guzzling 

 chuckle, a roisterous head thrown back, and a 

 large bead gathering on his beak. Sheba, too, 

 would no doubt have liked her nip. But this was 

 Solomon who stood his liquor hke a man and 

 guttled down a swig. 



His pastimes, also, were the traditionary ones 

 of the war-lord in exile. A good part of the day 

 he spent in sphtting wood. Clothes-pins, spools, 

 cigar boxes, tribute furnished him in desperation, 

 he regarded as mere child's play. They were 

 reduced to jackstraws before oiu* backs were 

 turned. What suited him exactly as fit material 

 for exercise were window frames and cornices, 

 banisters and doors. Indeed, had he been 



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