FATHER OF SAVAGE CLUB 137 



The old man, evidently touched by the com- 

 pliment, said in acknowledging it, that whatever 

 service he might have rendered the club in past 

 years, he had done little for it of late, and the 

 splendid reception he had met with was an ample 

 recompense — more than he expected or deserved. 

 Indeed, an obituary notice in one of the papers,* 

 referring to the famous evening, said, " it was 

 significant of the esteem and respect with which 

 they regarded him, that on the occasion of his 

 eighty-ninth birthday he was entertained at 

 dinner with an amount of enthusiasm which 

 would have gratified a victorious general or an 

 Arctic explorer." The same notice spoke of his 

 astonishing speech, of the admirable self-control, 

 and the unexpected fluency with which he enter- 

 tained his hearers with his reminiscences of the 

 days before many of them were born. The 

 speech, which gave his version of the founding 

 of the club, was practically the same which he 

 made at his birthday dinner in 1900, except for 

 his reference to the election of Tom Hood (the 

 younger) and his showing of the original nomina- 

 tion paper, and reading out some of the names 

 of Hood's supporters. The special illustrated 

 menu, which was drawn by W. H. Pike (the 

 Olivier Paque of the Graphic), represented a great 

 gathering of the " Braves " in full war-paint, 

 hailing their old chief, with sketches of pigeons, 



♦The Field of November 23rd, 1912. 



