The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-04
FUNNY SIDE OF ZION CITY.
DOWIE HIMSELF HAS 4 MAMIE
 AS 4 HUMORIST.

Fond of Puns and Not Above Using
 The Same One in Many Addresses-- Trouble With His TransIatOrs When
 Abroad-one Who Couldn't Explain g
 Pun.
 There are few places in the world where wit and humor are more highly appreciated than in the stormy city of the nowietites and Volivans. The absence of the theatre, dance hall and other forms of entertainment, the in- terdiction of cards, billiards pool and other games, the disfavor in which newspapers and comic periodicals have been held, and perhaps most of all the natural reaction from frequent and long winded solemn assemblies" seem to have created a humor hunger among these people
 The most successful leaders of these devoted followers have been those who could make them laugh loudest and longest, says the Chicago Tribune As all the world knows, John Alex ander Dowie has a canny Scotch wit that Is sometimes as quick as his Scotch temper. Besides, he has a broad humor and an inimitable drollery that have sometimes brought his audi ences to the verge of mysteries. As for Voliva, many of his partisans think that if he should be busted from his uneasy throne he could forsake the ministry and make good as a comedian. Judge V. V Barnes, almost universally loved and respected in Zion City, and a man whose influence among these peculiar people cannot be overesti- mated, Is charming story teller, and his anecdotes are so popular that ripple of mirthful anticipation sweeps through the audience every time he rises to speak. Overseer Daniel Bryant who made a great record as a Zion leader in South Africa, and who is just now dear to the hearts of zionites at headquarters caught a big audience on his first appearance after his return from South Africa by doubling them up with laughter over humorous descrip- ton of his tussle with nal de mer on his departure from Cape Town.
 Dr. Dowie's favorite form of wit IS the pun. With it he is often quick and sometimes makes double or triple plays on words that are ingenious to say the least. For example, he was once ex- arning one of his witnesses to divine healing" before large audience. The subject told a narrowing story of a surgical operation he had undergone during his illness.
 What doctors operated on you? asked the preacher.
 "Dr. Griffin, Dr. Muchmore and Dr. Hyde" was the response.
 "T1'm," observed the noted scoffer at medical science dryly, "if that Griffin had done Muchmore to you, you wouldn't have had any Hyde left"
 As is well known to those who have heard him frequently, the modern Elijah is one of those who hold that a good joke improves with age and hard usage. He has a stock of time tried and fire tested bonmots that never fail to get their hearty laugh from his audience The naive air of pleased arl- ticipation with which he springs pun for the 7,659th time is much funnier than the quip itself ever was. It is said in Zion Ciyt that there are few sermons of the reverend doctor within the memory of the oldest zlonite in which he has not declared that those who drink champagne at night get real pain in the morning.
 He was preaching in Zurich Switzer- land, in 1904 before an audience of German speaking people, his address being through an interpreter. In the course of his sermon the good old pun about the champagne was trotted out, with all the doctors usual gleefuI re- fish of a good laugh. The interpreter gave literal translation, and, of course, the play on the words was en- tirely lost. The audience sat stolid. The prophets hewildered surprise was worth seeing. He repeated the sen- tence, laying great stress on the words on which the joke turned. Once more the interpreter, none too familiar with English, struggled through the transla- ton. The people, hearing only the em- phatio repetition of commonly ac- cepted fact, added polite mystification to their stolidity. Again the stren- uous founder of Zion City got off his pet pun. This time he fairly shouted it, then turend to the interprter and said, sotio voce, with some irritation: Don't you see? Champagne, sham means not real" Precipitation broke