midnight
We would tell you how Mr. Addison drew more than ever to Mr. Conway , and how the latter gentleman agreed to correspond regularly with the former thenceforth , in order that their interest in the great work each had in hand for the _ same _ Master might be increased and kept up ; how , in a spirit of recklessness -LRB- afterwards deeply repented of -RRB- , a bashful young man was induced to sing a song which in the present mirthful state of the company ought to have been a humorous song , or a patriotic song , or a good , loud , inspiriting song , or _ anything _ , in short , but what it was -- a slow , dull , sentimental song , about wasting gradually away in a sort of melancholy decay , on account of disappointed love , or some such trash , which was a false sentiment in itself , and certainly did not derive any additional tinge of truthfulness from a thin , weak voice , that was afflicted with chronic flatness , and _ edged _ all its notes . Were we courageous enough to go on , we would further relate to you how during supper Mr. Kennedy senior , tried to make a speech , and broke down amid uproarious applause ; how Mr. Kennedy , junior , got up thereafter -- being urged thereto by his father , who said , with a convulsion of the cheek , `` Get me out of the scrape , Charley , my boy '' -- and delivered an oration which did not display much power of concise elucidation , but was replete , nevertheless , with consummate impudence ; how during this point in the proceedings the gray cat made a last desperate effort to purloin a cold chicken , which it had watched anxiously the whole evening , and was caught in the very act , nearly strangled , and flung out of the window , where it alighted in safety on the snow , and fled , a wiser , and , we trust , a better cat . We would recount all this to you , reader , and a great deal more besides ; but we fear to try your patience , and we tremble violently , much more so , indeed , than you will believe , at the bare idea of waxing prosy . Suffice it to say that the party separated at an early hour -- a good , sober , reasonable hour for such an occasion -- somewhere before midnight . The horses were harnessed ; the ladies were packed in the sleighs with furs so thick and plentiful as to defy the cold ; the gentlemen seized their reins and cracked their whips ; the horses snorted , plunged , and dashed away over the white plains in different directions , while the merry sleigh-bells sounded fainter and fainter in the frosty air . In half-an-hour the stars twinkled down on the still , cold scene , and threw a pale light on the now silent dwelling of the old fur-trader . * * * * * * * Ere dropping the curtain over a picture in which we have sought faithfully to portray the prominent features of those wild regions that lie to the north of the Canadas , and in which we have endeavoured to describe some of the peculiarities of a class of men whose histories seldom meet the public eye , we feel tempted to add a few more touches to the sketch ; we would fain trace a little farther the fortunes of one or two of the chief factors in our book .