This Was Called "La Grande Tronciade!" Well In One Of The
Twelve Parts Of This Production, So Very Original, There Were Three
Remarkable Lines.
"Buvons, buvons, amis, de ce bon maccallome,
Venant directement du brasseur qu'il denome!
C'est ca qui vous retape et vous refait un homme?"
The effect was magical. The heart of the brewer was touched. A long
waggon on which we could read the eloquent words "pale ale and porter"
stopped next day before our door. For twenty minutes a man with
burthened step climbed the Jacob's ladder which led to the poet's
attic, and one hundred and forty-four bottles of inviting appearance
ranged themselves around the chamber. I cannot picture the joy of the
happy recipient. In his enthusiasm he offered me a community in his
good fortune - of course under a pledge of inviolable secrecy. But as I
felt the imperious necessity of communicating my emotions I was as
wanting in discretion as he had been, and that evening all the
Bohemians, students and literary friends even to the remotest degree
followed in the wake of McCallum's bottles, and invaded the attic
chamber of poor Arthur (your good-natured cousin, Mr. President.)
There we had French, English, Latin and Greek speeches in prose and in
verse. Arsene Michaud has even prepared a story for the occasion. In
brief, the hecatomb was made; the libation was Olympic, the twelve
dozen disappeared and on the morrow poor Casgrain showed me with a sad
face the Homeric remains of his one day's wealth, and in a lamentable
tone of despair he exclaimed:
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