The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-06-09
GEORGE FlTcH,s LATEST BOOK.

or college stores entitled AT Coca
! Old Siwash.@ started smile that
went around the world, has perpetrat-
ed another book of humor that bids
fair To duplicate the performance of
its predecessor. II is published by
Little. Brown & Co. of Boston, and
his experiences with My Demon
Motor Boat The volume is dedicat-
ed to DR.. Wright C. Williams, who, it
| is explained, is my boating partner.
who has borne with me not too pa
tiently. but patiently enough" There
/ IL a further reference presumably to
the same gentleman in the opening
chapter. in this connection he is
called DR. Wright. and he is charged
among other things with having per-
suaded the author to buy a half-inter-
est in motor boat named the Imp.
Fitch says OF him.
DOC Wright, by the way, is absurd
~ named He is human compendium
OF misinformation on everything worth
talking about. He has never been
anything but wrong on everything we
have discussed. This has been our
only disagreement in an otherwise
perfect friendship. like Doc through
and through. | like him so we'll L
would lend him money and dodge him
| il felt that he couldn't afford to pay
it back We agree perfectly on every
thing but the simple fact that he Is
never right on anything. When 1t
comes TO this he is as stubborn as a
mule. He won't admit it. We have
argued 1t for hours. Time and again
l have pointed out to him the utter
pifflishness of his political views, his
taste in art, his opinions on short
stories. and his theory on putting. But
you can't tell a chap OF this sort any
thing that will stick. All the thanks
have ever got from him have been
in the shape of gratuitous insults re-
garding my own opinions. I never saw
such a man."
The fun Is Of the gay, rollicking sort
and Is we'll sustained from start to
finish. Everything is spontaneous and
natural, and one doesn't need to be a
motor boat enthusiast to appreciate
what Mfr. Fitch has written concerning
his own experiences in that line The
author is a real humorist and ranks
among the first in the land.
Among other things a trip was pro-
posed. This was discussed a great
deal. but the two were unable to agree
on the destination. as appears from the
following:
| Doc was for starting for Australia
and Juggling the boat over the right of
way OF the Panama canal. l was more
sensible. wanted modest little
cruise down the Mississippi and round
the gulf, with dash up the Atlantic
coast to New York. a loaf through the
Erie canal and a romp home through
the great lakes. l am a lot more prac-
teal than Doc"
OF motor boat expert mentioned
| in the book this is said:
HE is so expert that he can almost
take an engine apart when 1t is run
ming. l believe that is his ultimate
ambition. Some day he will take q
gasoline engine entirely apart and re
assemble it without making 1t miss a
pop. When he has done this he will
ask death to take him. There can be
no more in life for him.
The book contains much information
useful and otherwise, about motor
boats. We learn, for instance. that
like the panther and the leopard,
the gasoline engine can be homestead
ed to a point where 1t will purr pref
tily and will do a variety of amusing
tricks, but 1t Is a savage for all that,
and there is no telling when it will
We are also told that the next thing
to be done after acquiring a motor
boat is to acquire the old clothes with
which to run it. Many a man starts
fooling with motor boat with only
one or two ex-suits to his name, and
has to stop navigating early in July
because he has run out of old clothes. =
The book abounds in suggestions as
to what to do in certain emergencies
Here Is a case in point: Suppose
I your motor boat has stopped nine
miles from dinner, and you have test
ed the electricity, adjusted the car
bureter, cleaned the gasoline pipe
found the pump in working order
cleaned the spark-piug, ruined two
dollar shlTt-and, in short, have dem
: onstrated to your satisfaction that
: there is nothing the matter with the
engine except the fact that It VIII not
run. This has taken you two hours
: in the course of which you have crank
: ed the engine one hundred and ninety
eight times. Is it then time to give
up and paddle home with seat-bot
= tom, thus disgracing yourself in the
! eyes of all enthusiasts? Hardly. Yot
: have Just begun Fitch suggests tha
you try the following:
/. Remove spark-plug, empty carbu
I reter-and crank the engine
e 2. Sandpaper the f1y-wheel, take of
: the commutator-an crank the en-
: CINE
' 3 Kick the pup, blow cigarett'
o smoke in the printing cocks ant
r crank the engine