“Two years ago, when club man George Dewey, then a commodore in the navy, was on the point of leaving Washington to assume command of the Asiatic Squadron, some of his club mates at the Metropolitan Club gave him a farewell dinner. Wines were drunk, toasts were made, the best fellowship prevailed, and the memory of the jolly, happy faces of his friends lingered in the mind of Dewey all through the stirring events of the two years that elapsed before his return to his country.
“Last night at the Metropolitan Club the same coterie of friends gave to Admiral Dewey a dinner of greeting. Upon the menu card was the menu of the dinner held on the evening of November 27, 1897. On another page of the card was identically the same menu, but underneath was yesterday’s date. Five of those who were present at the farewell dinner were absent last night. These were Mr. William H. Emory, Mr. E. A. Garlington, Mr. Thomas Hyde, Mr. Nathan Sargent, and Mr. L. Vogel.
“The feature of the farewell dinner given at the Metropolitan Club late in November, 1897, was a poem by Hon. Archibald Hopkins. The poem was such an excellent one and proved so prophetic that it has been quoted from one end of the country to the other.
“Very naturally, Mr. Hopkins was asked to contribute something for the dinner of last evening, as well as to recite the original poem. Immediately after the victory of Manila Bay, Mr. Hopkins wrote several stanzas as a sequel to his effort of November, 1897. All these were read and received with much enthusiasm by the company last evening. A few of the stanzas are quoted:
‘What mean the crowds, the marching men,
The flags when he appears?
First, welcome to the Admiral; then
There rings through all the cheers
‘Not only praise for victory won;
There is an undertone