The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-08-31
BEST KNOWN MAN
IN ALL kEOKUk
His Name Seldom Appears in the
Paper, But the Most people in
Town are His Acquaint-
ances.
is A MASTER DIPLOMAT
Gets Locked In Cellars and Bit by
Dogs as a Routine Part Of His
Days Work, But Keeps
Cheerful.

II What man has the most scquain'
n ances in Keokuk?
No, you guessed wrong that time.
II 1t is Silas w. Brant, of 1724 Time
II street, better known as 81.
II He has visited every home in Keo
i luk at least twelve times a year TO
II the last fifteen years, and when he Il
| late, some people telephone his hous'
| to find out why.
/ 1t is not candid to say that he /!
Il always welcomed, for he Is the metel
\ reader Of the electric and gas com
H pany. He is sometimes locked out O
i houses, and at more or less regular in
| tervals is chased off the premises BY
dogs.
But everybody knows him. and ev
erybody likes him. He ought to draw
a larger salary than the company
, manager and have the title OF public
pacifist-but neither honor is his. He
is content with his job, and house
holders are more than content to have
him hold the position.
When the Dog Days Come.
If he would talk about his work
which he will not, he could tale un.
fold to harrow young blood and make
the fretf1l porcupine seem like
friendly handclasp.
About twice a year, on an average,
a dog bites him severely, and he con-
siders 1t only part of the years work.
for he has grown accustomed TO it and
expects it. He is an expert on how it
feels to have a doctor cauterise dog
bite.
He saw poetic Justice only once.
vereIy in the leg and laid him up for
awhile. The next day a neighbours bull
| dog sent that biting cur west and to
I the dumping ground where Keokuk
dead dogs go finally.
Learning to Manage Women.
| Occasionally some housewife re-
| fuses him admission to read the me-
| ter Centrally they do 1t just because
/! they don't want him IN the house. He
soon learns this type and exactly how
| tc thrust his foot in the door crack
while he talks the woman out of her
attitude toward meter readers
| One woman nearly bested him. He
retreated several times and returned
/ in hope only to be cast out again. FL
nally preparations to cut off the elect
richly and gas at the curb line brought
| the woman to better friendliness
with the company.
| But these were exceptions that
prove the rule OF kindness shown 81
f; by most Keokuk women. Some of them
stay at home when they want to go
down town, in order to let him into
the house when he Is due.
Custodian Of Key Caches.
| He reads the meter of each house
on the same day of every month. When
nobody is at home and they have not
an arrangement about the cache Of
/ the key, he has to go back before he
/ goes to bed and read that meter.
! Hence 1t is a real favor to him to be
able to get in ON his first visit, and
many housewives take considerable
trouble to enable him do do this.
| He has all sorts of arrangements
about house keys.
| 1t is nothing unusual for a whole
neighborhood to leave the keys Of
| their dcmiciles with one woman who
lis going to stay at home that after
noon and she hands over the whole
bunch to 81, so he can read the meters
with the least trouble.
Penned In Cellar for Two Hours.
! IL
which sometimes seem funny later.
! Once he spoke to a woman as he
entered, but she thought it was the
grocer's boy without at looking at him.
He went down to the cellar, and in a
minute the woman carefully locked
/ the cellar door and went upstairs to
sew on loud toned sewing machine.
81 yelled and banged on the door, and
made all the noise he could for two
mortal hours before he was released.
Every time he started a Commandment
of noise, the sewing machine started
on long seam.
Finally. he attracted the attention of
neighbor who called the woman
away from her sewing to let 81 out Of
the cellar.
A Problem In Conduct
Another time, he entered a small
room in a church containing the meter,
and the door blew shut with a spring
lock that locked him in. The only 9th
er way out was through the minister's
study.
Yes; the minister was there, all
right But when 81 started out that
way he discovered that the minister
was engaged in refusing to marry
prominent citizen who was very anx-
ious to embark again on the matri-
monial sea. To stay and hear it all,
of to walk in on the debate and dis
close hts presence was the very pres
ent problem in conduct
| Now, II is apparent to anybody by
this time, that a meter reader has to
be diplomat of the first water, and
this one proved himself one-by keep
ling quiet until the argument between
the two men closed and then slipping
out with a poker face that excited no
suspicious that he overheard anything.
Knows Address of Everybody.
| After these fifteen years of visiting
houses and writing reports on blanks