The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-22


20 ask The king for the small favor Of
the head Of John the Baptist, she danced
before him When the sons OF Atlanta
wished to ask the League of American
municipalities. in convention at syracuse,
to take the scalp of Charleston and send
the next annual meeting to the Gate (Re-
ceipts) City. they danced before the voters
Of the league; and not only did they that,
but they executed a cake walk the ike
of which was never witnessed even by
Herod. the connoisseur in fancy steps. o.
that some master of the brush and Of high
colors would lay upon canvas that his
toric scene at SYRACUSE Such a work Of
art would be worthy the place OF honor
in the new union depot of the capital
city.
The occasion for the terpschorean III
vertissement, between sessions of The
league, occurred at the Yates hotel, some
time previous to the taking of the bal
lot. The sons of Atlanta discovered that the
Charleston delegation had been putting in
some exceptionally fine work in favor of
the old Cradle of Secession as the place OF
meeting of the next annual session, and
stood a good show Of winning. With the
prospects of gate receipts gradually bat
surely vanishing before their very eyes,
the Atiantians realized that something
must be done. and done at once, or the
game would be lost. Hastily humping
their heads together, they determined 10
ring in a novelty on the delegates; one
that for Its brilliancy, audacity and grace
could not fail to charm and captivate all
beholders.
The opportunity came at the Yates hotel
reception. Those in attendance were feel
ing pretty good, but the ordinary routine
of such affairs was beginning to get just
a bit dun; something to put life and
sparkle into the programme was in order.
Councilman Parks of Atlanta approached
the leader of the band. play Georgia
Camp Meeting, he requested The band
played. Then Mayor PROTEIN Mitchell
and Cap" Joyner of the fire department,
took the floor. The Cap" 'hoed EN-
down fine; he cut the pigeon wing; did
the double-back-shufiie; wired in and wired
out; "sashayed" up and down, and across
and back again; famed the atmosphere
with his toes, and cracked his heels to-
gether three times in the air by way of a
climax. Then cap" and the Mayor Pro
Tenn lit in for the cake walk; and the
way they walked it was a marker for
Georgia darkies. There was nothing in
the coon show In the Midway at the ex-
position that could hold a candle to It.
Up and down the ballroom they went,
arms akimbo, backs bumped and toes
a-twinkling.. They walked gambits. and
| caroms, and bullseyes, and starboard
tacks, and base hits, and long shots, and
| high-low-jack, and 4-11-44-in short they
walked every sort of a sporty thing that
there is or that there ever was The audi
ence howled with delight; all but the
Charlestonians. The spectators, except
those from Charleston, wept wet and salt
tears of mirth, and encored the perform
ers from the Gate (Receipts) City. And.
like the patriots they are, they kept it
| agoing. They knew that while they were
keeping the audience, except the Charles
ton part, in a roaring good humor, other
workers were buttonholing the delegates
| telling them that there was no other CITY
in the world that had a mayor protein
and a chief of fire department who could
dance and walk like that, and therefore
the next meeting of the League of Ameri-
can Municipalities ought by all manner
of means to be held in Atlanta.
| But alas, for the ingrautude of audi
| ences as well as of republics! The voters
of the league laughed at and enjoyed the
| jigs, the cake-walk and monkey shines OF
the Atlanta spoilers, and then forthwith
went away and voted for Charleston as the
place of the next meeting Loves labor
and an amount of good sole-leather were
lost. The delegates We're unappreciative
of real merit, and Charleston walked off
| with the cake!