stag, portraits of his son and his son's wife, and a couple of old
Windsor jugs from Mrs. Buckner's. But his simple trophy was not yet
complete; a device had to be worked and framed and hung below the
engraving; and for this he applied to his daughter-in-law: "I want you to
work me something, Annie. An anchor at each side--an anchor--stands for
an old sailor, you know--stands for hope, you know--an anchor at each
side, and in the middle THANKFUL." It is not easy, on any system of
punctuation, to represent the Captain's speech. Yet I hope there may
shine out of these facts, even as there shone through his own troubled
utterance, some of the charm of that delightful spirit.

In 1881 the time of the golden wedding came round for that sad and
pretty household. It fell on a Good Friday, and its celebration can
scarcely be recalled without both smiles and tears. The drawing-room was
filled with presents and beautiful bouquets; these, to Fleeming and his
family, the golden bride and bridegroom displayed with unspeakable
pride, she so painfully excited that the guests feared every moment to
see her stricken afresh, he guiding and moderating her with his
customary tact and understanding, and doing the honours of the day with
more than his usual delight. Thence they were brought to the
dining-room, where the Captain's idea of a feast awaited them: tea and
champagne, fruit and toast and childish little luxuries, set forth
pell-mell and pressed at random on the guests. And here he must make a
speech for himself and his wife, praising their destiny, their marriage,
their son, their daughter-in-law, their grandchildren, their manifold
causes of gratitude: surely the most innocent speech, the old, sharp
contemner of his innocence now watching him with eyes of admiration.
Then it was time for the guests to depart; and they went away, bathed,
even to the youngest child, in tears of inseparable sorrow and gladness,
and leaving the golden bride and bridegroom to their own society and
that of the hired nurse.

It was a great thing for Fleeming to make, even thus late, the
acquaintance of his father; but the harrowing pathos of such scenes
consumed him. In a life of tense intellectual effort a certain
smoothness of emotional tenor were to be desired; or we burn the candle
at both ends. Dr. Bell perceived the evil that was being done; he
pressed Mrs. Jenkin to restrain her husband from too frequent visits;
but here was one of those clear-cu