ens of Babylon should
be hung on the top of the tower of Babel--with a vested remainder to his
son, and a contingent one to all descendants. Yet this man, although
his hands were generally in his pockets, had not enough sense of their
linings to feel that continuance, usage, institution, orderly sequence,
heredity, and such like, were the buttons of his coat and the texture of
his breeches, and the warmth of his body inside them. Therefore he never
could hold aloof from the Free and Frisky gatherings, and accepted the
chair upon Bumper-nights, when it was a sinecure benefice.

This was a Bumper-night, and in the chair sat Mr. Swipes, discharging
gracefully the arduous duties of the office, which consisted mainly
in calling upon members for a speech, a sentiment, or a song, and in
default of mental satisfaction, bodily amendment by a pint all round.
But as soon as Dan Tugwell entered the room, the Free and Friskies with
one accord returned to loftier business. Mr. Swipes, the gay Liber of
the genial hour, retired from the chair, and his place was taken by a
Liberal--though the name was not yet invented--estranged from his own
godfather. This was a hard man, who made salt herrings, and longed to
cure everything fresh in the world.

Dan, being still a very tender youth, and quite unaccustomed to public
speaking, was abashed by these tokens of his own importance, and
heartily wished that he had stopped at home. It never occurred to
his simple mind that his value was not political, but commercial; not
"anthropological," but fishy, the main ambition of the Free and Frisky
Club having long been the capture of his father. If once Zeb Tugwell
could be brought to treat, a golden era would dawn upon them, and a
boundless vision of free-trade, when a man might be paid for refusing to
sell fish, as he now is for keeping to himself his screws. Dan knew not
these things, and his heart misgave him, and he wished that he had never
heard of the twenty-eight questions set down in his name for solution.

However, his disturbance of mind was needless, concerning those great
issues. All the members, except the chairman, had forgotten all about
them; and the only matter they cared about was to make a new member of
Daniel. A little flourish went on about large things (which nobody knew,
or cared to know), then the table was hammered with the heel of a pipe,
and Dan was made a Free and Frisky. An honorary member, with nothing to
pay, and the