Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

Roundabout Papersagonies endured before and during those entertainmentsare renewed, and smart again. What a failure that specialgrand dinner was! How those dreadful occasionalwaiters did break the old china! What a dismal hashpoor Mary, the cook, made of the French dish which shewould try out of Francatelli! How angry Mrs. Pope wasat not going down to dinner before Mrs. Bishop! HowTrimalchio sneered at your absurd attempt to give afeast; and Harpagon cried out at your extravagance andostentation! How Lady Almack bullied the other ladiesin the drawing-room (when no gentlemen were present):never asked you back to dinner again: left her card byher footman: and took not the slightest notice of yourwife and daughters at Lady Hustleby’s assembly! On theother hand, how easy, cozy, merry, comfortable, thoselittle dinners were; got up at one or two days’ notice;when everybody was contented; the soup as clear asamber; the wine as good as Trimalchio’s own; and thepeople kept their carriages waiting, and would not goaway until midnight!Along with the catalogue of bygone pleasures, balls,banquets, and the like, which the pages record, comesa list of much more important occurrences, and remembrancesof graver import. On two days of Dives’s diaryare printed notices that “Dividends are due at the Bank.”Let us hope, dear sir, that this announcement considerablyinterests you; in which case, probably, you haveno need of the almanac-maker’s printed reminder. Ifyou look over poor Jack Reckless’s note-book, amongsthis memoranda of racing odds given and taken, perhapsyou may read:—”Nabbam’s bill, due 29th September,142l. 15s. 6d.” Let us trust, as the day has passed, thatthe little transaction here noted has been satisfactorilyterminated. If you are paterfamilias, and a worthy kindgentleman, no doubt you have marked down on yourregister, 17th December (say), “Boys come home.” Ah,how carefully that blessed day is marked in their littlecalendars! In my time it used to be, Wednesday, 13thNovember, “5 WEEKS FROM THE HOLIDAYS;” Wednesday,20th November, “4 WEEKS FROM THE HOLIDAYS;”until sluggish time sped on, and we came to WEDNES-DAY 18th DECEMBER. O rapture! Do you remember pea-164