Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-01-19
NOTABLE AND UNIQUE
BANQUET TO TAFT
Continued from Page One.

Lee from his place and asked him to
sing that famous coon melody called
Carve Dat Postum to De Heart" This
was followed a few moments later by an
other song from DR.. Landrum describing
the woful adventures of a potato bug that
WAS eaten by a turkey gobbler. Then
Judge Russell rendered de Watermiliun
Arn De Fruit Fer Me-" and Judge Oal-
houn climaxed the fun by preaching a
genuine Hardshell sermon. These inter
spersions of rough and ready humor lift
ed the hour from anything like formal
ity and impaired distinctly southern
touch to the entertainment.
This mellow glimmer of the south was
I'm fact the pervasive light of the en-
tire occasion. Mr.. Gambler struck a key
note when he declared I'VE have no new
south but an awakened south" Every
selection of the orchestra, every dish on
the menu was redolent of the land called
Dixie And how savory these dishes were
The swarthy chef who rules over the
kitchen of the Piedmont hotel seemed to
have hit upon the original open-sesame
of the human palate and to have come
straight from the rudy court of old
King Cole himself
Mr.. Taft Arrives
/
Mr.. Taft arrived Together with the re-
ception committee. he first retired to an
ante room. Meanwhile the armory was
filling rapidly and all eyes turned on the
door that hid him. When he appeared and
led the way to the banquet hall, with
Governor Smith on one side and Mayor
Maddox on the other, he walked between
two thick lines of representative citizens
that extended back to the boundary OF
the walls. Every available foot OF space
was filled. Seldom before has there been
such a silent tribute to any visitor by
Atlanta.
AS soon as Mr.. Taft and those who
were to have seats with him at the
speakers table, which extended the
breadth of the hail. had entered. the
crowd flowed in their wake Mr.. Taft sat
down. the appropriately electric bulbs
with which each table was equipped
ligIrsed up there was shutting of chairs
and the banquet had been begun.
The hall was decorated in very appro-
pirate and attractive fashion. The ar
rangemeht of the tables was such that
the speakers table ran from side to side
of the hall, and the other tables. seven
in number, ran from the speakers table
to the folding doors at the end. Back
of the speakers table rose a great mass
of green palms. ard in front were ported
CdTHdllOIS. @1DOul the Wills udBS were
/, arranged and dropped from the ceiling,
/ and just back of the president-elect was
arranged a large American flag equipped
with. electric bulbs and so contrived that
when Mr.. Taft rose to speak, at the con-
clusion of the banquet the lights glowed
and died out in a way that made the
flag seem to ripple and wave and a part
of it fell back, showing a picture of the
president-elect The arrangement = was
very effective.
'POssum Makes Appearance
At the immediate outset, the banquet
was almost conventional. Each one ate
with quiet stiffness and stole speculative
glances out of the corner of his eye at
, the president-elect. He minced a bit and
! threw remarks, first to Governor Will
son. of Kentucky, who was on his right
then TO Governor Smith, of Georgia, who
was on his left. But the orchestra that
overlooked the banquet hall suddenly
! broke into a dashing, rOllicking air that
put everyone's feet to tapping and his
lips to screwing themselves into a puck
err. At the end of the hall appeared a
walter staggering under the burden of a
mighty Iplatter. Up the hall he came,