ip.

"Of course the eggs spoil it a little," said John.

"It's very good," said my aunt, as she took another sip.

Then she put down her glass, but only when it was empty. "John," she
said, "you are a rogue. You would like to get me tipsy." And at this
she moved out of danger. Little Red Ridinghood escaped the wolf as
narrowly. But did Little Red Ridinghood escape? Dear me, how one
forgets!

But in closing I must not fail to mention an old lady and gentleman,
both beyond eighty, who have always attended these parties. They have
met old age with such trust and cheerfulness, and they are so eager at
a jest, that no one of all the gathering fits the occasion half so
well. And to exchange a word with them is to feel a pleasant contact
with all the gentleness and mirth that have lodged with them during
the space of their eighty years. The old gentleman is an astronomer
and until lately, when he moved to a newer quarter of the town, he had
behind his house in a proper tower a telescope, through which he
showed his friends the moon. But in these last few years his work has
been entirely mathematical and his telescope has fallen into disorder.
His work finds a quicker comment among scientists of foreign lands
than on his own street.

It is likely that tonight he has been busy with the computation of the
orbit of a distant star up to the very minute when his wife brought in
his tie and collar. And then arm and arm they have set out for the
party, where they will sit until the last guest has gone.

Alas, when the party comes this Christmas, only one of these old
people will be present, for the other with a smile lately fell
asleep.

[Illustration]

On a Pair of Leather Suspenders.

Not long since I paid a visit to New Haven before daylight of a winter
morning. I had hoped that my sleeper from Washington might be late and
I was encouraged in this by the trainman who said that the dear old
thing commonly went through New Haven at breakfast time. But it was
barely three o'clock when the porter plucked at me in my upper berth.
He intruded, happily, on a dream in which the train came rocking
across the comforter.

Three o'clock, if you approach it properly through the evening, is
said to have its compensations. There are persons (with a hiccough)
who pronounce it the shank of the evening, but as an hour of morning
it has few apologists. It is the early bird that catches the worm; but
this should merely set one th