The Old Folks' Party.

as to face George , " I heard he had been treating your rheumatism lately . Has he seemed to have reached the difficulty ?" " Remarkably , " replied George , tenderly stroking bis knee in an absent manner . " AVhydon ' t you think I walked half the

, way home from my office tbe other day when my carriage Avas late ?" "I wonder you dared A'enture it , " said Jessie Avith a shocked air . " AVhat if yon had met with some accident !"

"Thats what my son said , ' answered George . " He made me promise never to try snob a thing again ; but I like to show them occasionly that I ' m good for something yet . " He said this with a "he , be , " of senile complacency , ending iu an asthmatic cough

, Avhich caused some commotion in the company . Frank got up and slapped him on the back , and Mary sent Annie for a glass of Avater .

George being relieved , and quiet once more restored , Henry said to Frank : " By the Avay , Doctor , I want to congratulate you on your son ' s last book . You must have helped him to the material for so truthful a picture of American manners in the days when we were young . I fear

we have not improved much since then . There was a simplicity , a naturalness in society fifty years ago , that one looks in vain for now . There was , it seems to me , much less regard paid to money , and less of morbid social ambition , Don ' t you

think so , Mrs . Tyrrell ?" "It ' s just what I was saying only the other day , '' replied Nellie . " I ' m sure I don ' tjkuow what we ' re coming to noAvadays . Girls had some modesty when I was young" and she shook her head with its

, rows of Avhite curls with an air of mingled reprobation and despair . "Did j 7 ou attend Prof . Merry weather ' s lecture last evening , Mrs . Hyde ? " asked Frank , adjusting bis eye-glasses and fixing Jessie with that intensity of look by which

old persons have to make up for their failing eyesight . ' ' The hall was so near your house , I did ' nt know but you would feel like venturing out . " "My daughters insisted on my taking advantage of the opportunity , it is so seldom I go anywhere of an evening , " replied Jessie , '' and I was very muck interested , though I lost a good deal owing

to the carrying on of a young couple in front of me . AVhen I was a girl , young folks did ' nt do their courting in public . " Mary had not beard of the lecture , and Frank explained that it Avas one of the tersemi-centennial course on American

society and politics fifty years ago . " By the Avay , " remarked George , "did you observe what difficulty they are having in finding enough survivors of the civil war to make a respectable squad . The papers say that not over a dozen of both armies can probabl y be secured , and some of the cases are thought doubtful at that . "

" Is it possible ! " said Henry . " And yet , too , it must be so ; but it sounds strangely to one who remembers as if it were yesterday , seeing tbe grand review of the Federal armies at AVashington , just after tbe Avar . AVhat a host of strong men

Avas that , and now scarcely a dozen left . My friends , Ave are getting to be old people . AVe are almost through Avith it . " Henry sat gazing into vacancy over tbe top of his spectacles , while the old ladies wiped theirs and sniffed and sihed a little

g . Finally , Jessie said : "Those Avere heroic days . My little granddaughters never tire of hearing stories about them . Tbey are strong partisans , too . Jessie is a fierce little rebel , and Sam

is an uncompromising Unionist , only they both agree in denouncing slavery . " " That reminds me , " said Frank , smiling , " that our little Frankie came to meyestezday with a black eye be got for telling Judge Benson ' s little boy that people of his complexion were once slaves . He had read it in his history , and appealed to me to MIOAV if it was ' nt true . "

" I ' m not a bit surprised that the little Benson boy resented the imputation , " said George . " I really don't believe that more than half the people would be certain that slavery ever existed here , and I ' m sure that it rarel y occurs to those who do know it .

No doubt that company of old slaves at the centennial—that is , if tbey can find enough survivors , will be a valuable historical reminder to many . " " Dr . Hays , " said Nellie , will you settle a question between Mrs . Hyde and myself ? AVere you in C , it Avas then only ' a village , along between 1870 and ' 80 , about forty or fifty years ago ? "