ary
of State, a farewell dinner was given him by prominent lawyers
of New York. The appointments, viands, etc., it is needless to
observe were all after the most approved style. Somewhat out of
wont, however, a magnificent goose with all its appurtenances
and suitably dished was placed immediately in front of the guest
of honor.

The grosser part of the feast concluded, the toast was proposed:
"The Sage of the Bar." Slowly arising, Mr. Evarts surveyed for
a moment the dish before him, and began: "What a wonderful
transition! An hour ago you beheld a goose stuffed with sage; _you
now behold a sage stuffed with goose!"_

It is not entirely forgotten that during the administration of
which Mr. Evarts was a part, total abstinence was faithfully enforced
in the great dining-room of the Executive Mansion upon all occasions.
To those who knew the Secretary of State, it is hardly necessary
to say that he had little sympathy with this arrangement, that
to him it was a custom "more honored in the breach than the
observance."

Now it so happened that at a state dinner, upon a time, a mild
punch in thimbleful instalments was served to the guests in lieu
of more generous beverages. Raising the tiny vessel and bowing to
the Austrian Ambassador at his side, Mr. Evarts in undertone significantly
observed, "Life-saving station!"

To a "candid friend"--from whom God preserve us--who once took him
to task for his lengthy and somewhat involved sentences, Evarts
replied, "Oh, you are not the first man I ever encountered _who
objected to a long sentence."_

During his official term above mentioned, Mr. Evarts accompanied
a prominent member of the British Parliament to Mount Vernon.
Standing in front of the old mansion, so dear to all American
hearts, the distinguished visitor, looking across to the opposite shore,
remarked: "I read in a history that when Washington was a boy
he threw a dollar across the Potomac; remarkable indeed that he
could have thrown a dollar so far, a mile away across the Potomac;
very remarkable indeed, I declare." "Yes," replied Evarts, "but you
must remember that _a dollar would go a great deal farther then
than it does now."_

This incident being told to a member of Congress of Hibernian
antecedents, he immediately replied: "Yes, he might have told the
Britisher that when Washington was a boy he sure enough threw a
dollar across the Potomac, and when he got to be a grown-up man,
_he threw a sove