The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-08-10
ABOUT ANECDOTES.
Il " " WARGTMENT AGAINST THEN
CSEIS SPE.IHING.
What General Clingman Thinks They
Amuse for the Tlme, but Leave M
Lls5ing I'm ofession.

Amuse for tho Tlms, but Leave no
Ll35ing I'm of5ssion.
Cen. TAom IS L. Clingmrn de-
Tweed the aaua,l allies baforo
the STA lents all alum OF the
University Normal S:nool, at
Clapol Hal, n. G., II short time
ago, upon "NLiural and Mora,
Pnilos)ply." In conclu ling, he
devoted somo minutes to Il con-
silerltion Of tho best modes OF
conveying information, ana in
cident'lly referring to II certain
class Of speakers, said:
''oceips that in many instances
thc fellcitoj.; illustration or anec-
dotc has produced il fine effect, they
I'm 'yine that Gool speaking conssts
lii "!nusin5 aa aul.encs by relating
what arc usually called anecdotes.
These may I've lcgitim .tely usel for
two purposes. In the first place, q
tired audience may he relieved by q
laugh at gool story properly
toll. Secondly, these aneciotes, if
judicinusiy applied to illustrate Il
proposition, or Il hit on IN advcr-
sary, give great effect to speech.
Flowers aAd music are appropriate
adjt,ncts to Il feast, but they Of them
selves do not satisfy hungry guests
In like manner so-called speech
which is mainly made Of jokes pro-
dures no impression on the audi
once that might not be more
str,kingly ctusel by the antics and
ludicrous fall of the clown Fox, in
'Humpty Dumpty.' Though the
audience has been PLEASANTLY cntcr-
tained and will afterwari feel rather
grateful to- the speaker for tho en-.
terta,nment, yet no political M
preston has been made on it.
u recall a striking instance Of
this. In 1914 [ attended Wing
barbecue ut Knoxville, Tenn. The
morning speeches had been made
by Hon. John Bell and myself, and
the large audience had part,hon of
the barbecue. On our return to
the stand gentl, man of high
position spoke for nearly three
hours in such an excellent manner
Us to keep us in excellent humor,
and created almost incess;lnt laugh
ter, and we broke up in tho Jest
spirits. On the next morning
Senator Spencer Jernagan spoke
for two hours to Il very attentive
audience, without, however, Causing
q smile in the vast assembly. After
ho concluded prominent Tennes-
see politician said to mo, referring
to Jevnagan, 'Hc is the man that We
owe the ravolution in East Ten
the gcaan who ~iH'' had Sp%;eanS SpoIcn the IL
evening before did not help also
lie replied, No; he is fine man
for rally, but he never makes us O
vote.
SIN 1860 I was present at
barbecue at which Il young gentle
man occupied most of the day. Ho
possessed good memory. had
learned almost all of the anecdotes
that wore retailed during the CAM
Daign, ard rchearsed them amusing
ly. After he finished in the evo-
ning an intelligent gentleman re-
marked to me: This day has been
completely lost to us. He vas
right in his Wow. Had n good
banu played pleasant airs the as
"cmbly would have been as higdly
en,. tainod, and just as decided a
political impression would have
been made on it.
SIN 1872 I had an amusing illus
tration of the downward tendency
produced by 6the fashion now SO
much in vogue. A young man
whose opportunities to acquire on
education bad been limited, tut
who had commenced tho study of
tho law, said to mo: General, I
wish to learn how you great Soma
tors used to do in the Senate. T
wish particularly to hear about Mr..
Webster, was he not mighty man
on an anecdoto? The question
struck me as 80 ludicrous that +
found it difficult to avoid laughing.
a moments reflection, however,
enabled me to understand how he
came to possess such an idea A
speech abonpding in anecdotes had a
few weeks previously been made in