Douglas Island news., 1899-04-12

the Juneau lodge and few invited friends a most elegant banquet. The News man was there and cannot refrain from giving this part of the royal en- tertainment the Juneau boys received q somewhat extended description, for surely it is worthy of much praise.
 At the head of the table sat man named r. T. Keeler. He was master of ceremonies or toastmaster, that functionary is sometimes called. MT. Keeler is a big, healthy-looking buck Elk and one of the finest presiding officers that ever held forth at ban uuet table. He is ready taller; knows just what to say and says it just at the right time. He is indeed a noble toast master. On his left sat R. w. Jennings, a polished gentleman and an eloquent talker; while on the right sat John w. Spickett, Juneau's original and only John. Down each side of the table were seated the noble Elks, and there were a large number of them; some were visitors from Eastern lodges but all joined in to make the event pleas ant one.
 Two important things took place. The eating and talking. We will con sider these subjects separately al- though they were all mixed up at the banquet.
 "A toast to our absent brethren," was proposed by Mr. Jennings in neat little speech, aud was responded to with promptness and well-filled glasses.
 The toastmaster tried to, wiring a speech out of MT. Stevens but failed.
 There was "brother" there named Price. from the words spoken by the man at the head of the table, we con- cluded he had just been initiated. He was asked to tell what he thought of the order. He said he thought the or der was a good thing. "I like it and appreciate the kindness of a few of my friends" said Mir. Price and the Elks all laughed and the News man still wonders why. He said he was "im- pressed with the work" and the Elks laughed again. They of course know why, we don't.
 Clancy was the next victim for the toastmaster. He said something about eggs and chicken but we didn't un- derstand the meaning. Clancy was too busy with other things at that time to make speech. P The man up at the head of the table got the laugh on buck named Ma larky. He said this man had requested to be called and got off all kinds ot jokes on him. He was little embar- rassed when he got up but he gave good little talk, although he apolo- gized for not being speaker. He be- longs to a lodge in Portland and has been member of the order for a long time. Ole Hansen objected to talking he wanted to eat. He didn't even want to tell story.
 After the News man took his turn Judge Held, of Juneau, was called on for a speech, and the boys gotwhat they wanted. The Judge spoke of the order and why it was popula2, and eloquently touched upon charity, brotherly love, and good citizenship, few of its eX- cellent teachings. His advice to the members of the newly organized lodge was also good and much appreciated. The Judges speech was received with rounds of applause.
 Bro. White of the Skaguay press told a good story. He kept his eye steadily fixed on the fresh Eastern oysters in front of his plate during the time he was talking.
 The toastmaster finally found a man named Fitzpatrick who gave quite a talk. He said the order of Elks was an American institution-that only Amer ican citizens could belong. He wanted to entertain the boys but he couldn't sing song or tell good story.
 The toastmaster said he would like to hear from man who had not been full for two days and called on Hislop of the White Pass R. R. who entertain ed the boys for while.
 The toastmaster caught sight of Blackett. the Juneau lawyer, and he was promptly called up. He made a good speech, told good story, and got
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