1895

In a previous issue of this MAGAZINE I recalled certain incidents in connection with eating clubs of fifty years ago. I wrote about the Crosby Club cats dragging a tail now and then across the gravy platter on the table, just as club patrons were about to sit down to eat. At least this was hinted at by Craven Laycock as a reason why he resigned in disgust from this swanky club. This started the memory of "H. Dan" Watson to vibrate thus:

"What you said touching the Crosby Club set me recalling. I fed there a while, and the white-haired proprietress had her seat quite close to my elbow. She told us many times of the wonders of Dr. Crosby—how he had to stamp vigorously to break the ice in his bathtub when he took his winter morning plunge before dressing; also that he could stand flatfooted and easily reach to wind the tall clock, there in our dining room, whose key holes must have been some nine feet above the floor. She sat at a tiny table and brewed our tea, adding cream (?) and sugar as per her acquired understanding of the boy's individual tastes. Not infrequently would she be observed inadvertently to sip a spoonful from someone's cup.

"One day when on my way to dinner there I fell in with 'Chuck,' who, you will recall, lived up that way. He asked if I boarded at Mrs. Crosby's. On being assured that I did, he exclaimed: 'What a charming old lady she is, and what must she have been when she wasyoung!' I have thought that these reminiscences might give you a smile."

Before this column comes to the view of subscribers our 50th Reunion will have come and gone. Then what? Shall publication of The Reunionist continue?

Secretary, White River Junction, Vt. Treasurer, Hanover, N. H.