The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1908-12-17
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IN
AFRICA.

One of the skits at the recent Grid
devoted to President Roosevelt's Afri
can trip. The President arrived at the
dinner at 1920 o'clock. Shortly after
ward the lights were switched off and
the room left in complete darkness.
the president of the Gridiron club an
nounced: I'VE are now iii darkest AT
RIGA" and the room resoundsd with
roars and growls of wild animals
Presently the light came UP with the
lively announcement from the dark:
Sudden sunrise in southern Senegam-
bia,' and the guests at the dinner
found tent on which was the sign
The Lookout"
tropical jungle. In front there were
discovered an orderly in khaki and
with helmet, Zulu chief, who stood
guard with spear, and mysterious
person who wore a label, Auditor,
and carried a bell punch.
The rattle of {. typewriter was heard
within the tent and then voice say
ing: Here, secretary, take this Then
followed: "Scribbler's Magazine, New
York, Victoria Nyanza, April 1st The
lion is a wild and ferocious animal"
AT that moment it was discovered
why the auditor was in the party. He
registered each word with bell punch
and totaled the amount at dollar a
word after each sentence. Thus, the
dictation which was going on furious
ly in the tent sounded about like this:
! The lion is wild and ferocious
animal Eight dollars, shouted the
auditor. 1t has a soft body and a
hard face" Seventeen dollars 1T
is the king of beasts and its daughter
1 is a princess TWENTY mine dollars. :
The lion roars like distant thun-
der "Thirty-fye dollars But it is
nobody's business what its religion is =
! 'Forty-four dollars
/ This dictation by the man in the
/ tent of a story for a magazine and the
I thrifty spirit which prompted the
I placing OF an auditor to keep track OF
all the words use1, at dollar word,
caused tremendous laughter. Presi-
I dent Roosevelt took the joke with
great delight He laughed all through
( the skit
Dictation OF the story was stopped
by the shout from within, Wait a
minute, I will kill something. follow
ed by shot in the tent The Zulu
chief. who had been standing rigidly
outside. came suddenly to life and
dashed .eway, returning almost instant
~ with a small skin, which he held
up and which was photographed with
elaborate ceremonies. It was identi-
fed as bongo' by the man in the
tent, and Immediately a story about
the bongo was dictated for the maya
zine. while the audito~ kept accurate
track of all words used
Another shot brought in whiffle-
buff, which was described for the
magazine. after a new typewriter had
been procured, the strenuous descrip
ton of the bongo having broken the
other Two shots were fired after the
story of the whifflebuff was completed
and the Zulu brought in large ele
Hi4dliL anu a i6ll Sc IOilhNF- liSsS
strange animals shot in the junglt
were described in an Illuminating man
ner by the man in the tent, after they
had been photographed and mounted
Meantime the auditor had kept ac
curate accounts OF the words used
Later a dispatch TO The Lookout
was begun. and the auditor started II
count the words in that at dollai
word, but was told to stop "KeeI
out. said the man in the tent; yol
have nothing TO do with this Thi
is my salary The dispatch to "Th'
Lookout was much enjoyed. Its teno
was that, while the writer had gon
10 Africa to avoid any semblance 0
interfering in the Taft administra
ton. still, he had few ideas to e2
press and perhaps it would be vel
for Mr. Taft TO heed.