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Show 9 UNCLE GEORGE BROMLY. The other night the Bohemian club of San Francisco Fran-cisco gave Uncle George Bromly a reception on his ninetieth birthday. Uncle George is the Nestor of that club. For more than forty years he has been one of its ruling spirits; for twenty years past he has been the pet' and solicitude of all the members. "We do not know what his mental status is now, but twenty-five j'ears ago he could make the most delicious deli-cious speech and weave more humor into it than any other man on earth. And he could say the most mirth-provoking things that anyone ever heard and all the time his face would carry not more trace of a smile upon it than the sphinx or a biscuit wears. Ne roved the sea when young, traveled in many lands, the ludicrous side of everything was what was first presented to him, whether it was a callow Demosthenes making his first speech or the tears of a hired mourner at a foreign funeral, and the fund he drew upon for his speeches was simply inexhaustible. inexhaus-tible. : . " He ought to be growing reserved now for surely the weight of ninety years should bear upon him; then all those who were members of the club in the long ago have fallen asleep and the earthquake and the fire destroyed the club building and all the inestimable ines-timable treasures and souvenirs gathered through half a century. There must be coming upon him a feeling that he is becoming a laggard that his world has passed on and that the old boys in the Beyond are making fun at his expense and saying that the reason Uncle George does not come is because he cannot get the mouoy to redeem his dress suit from Uncle Harris. |