The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-02
KNOTS FUNNY SPEECH.
1HE KENTUCKY CONGRESSMAN TELLS
THE STORY or HIS INSPIRATION.

THE STORY OF HIS lNSp'hR 'ON'
A Serious Grafton Prepared but Never
DeIivered--A Lobbyists Wonderful Map
of Duluth Leads to Brilliant Display
of Congressional Humor.
The red herdic which runs from the
C,nitol 10 the White House was full the
other day. and stocky, portly, short man
HING ON by the strap. He was cold ana
his round head was well wrapped in
green wooden comforter and ms plug max
was pulled well down over his brow. Ills
face only shone, but it looked Ike piece
of rare china. The color was as rosy aS
the most fiorid Of Rubens' paintings, ana
the eyes shone out through white wlnkers
as blue as midsummer sky. a snort
moustache of silver was the only sign OF
whiskers, and the face was rs round anu
a. full rs that of the moon He smiled as
asked him whether the day was as colu
as those Of Duluth. II was Proctor Knott
of Kentucky, whose funny speech on Du-
lnth some fifteen years ago mace MN
famous, and who is now visiting WASH
rngton and hobnobbing with his old con-
gressional friends. | am told his speech
still sells, and | saw some of these Duiuth
speeches recently at second hand DOCK
store. and was told they were worth
quarter apiece.
Proctor Knott had no idea at the time
that this speech was going TO make his
reputation. and il was an inspiration
which comes only once in a life time. He
told me the story. He said 1t was near
the close of the session, and | was asked
10 speak on the land subsidy bill in the
house. | prepared a sober Grafton, with
no more fun in its points than in the
moral law. and it was nearly as long. |
tried Ia get the speakers eye and when
the bill was about passing Holman was
preferred before me. asked him to gave
lse his right to the floor, or part of his
time. He told me he could not do 1t. At
last spoke to the speaker and he said he
thought he could arrange TO give me u
hearing.
40 IDEA or HUMOR.
.Tbis was several days before the
speech was made. and | had no idea OF
humor rs vet. 4 day or 50 later lobby
lst called upon me and told me that bill
would soon come up 10 improve the har-
Dor of Duluth asked him TO tell mo
where Duluth was | knew, of course,
It's situation, but | wanted him to under
stand that thought but little Of his bill
and be thus able 10 refuse his request.
He did not see my irony, but he put his
Inland in his breast pocket and pulled ont
map. Here was the whole Civilized
world drawn in circles. and these circles
grew smaller and smaller until AZ last
they terminated in dot al the center, and
on that dot was printed the word Duluth.
| These were hundred mile circles, ana the
distances Of all the great cities OF the coun-
try were noticed, and their small dots
looked like hamlcts compared with Duluth,
| TO look at that map you would suppose that
| if YOU wanted 10 20 TO Liverpool, London
or Constantinople you'd have first To 90 to
| Duluth for your start, and on the map Were
printed statistics showing that there were
| , 900 600 square miles about that point
| all tributary 10 Duluth. The bland young
man delivered his eulOgy of this mighty
embryonic city, and | saw rs he did 30
the chance for some fun in the house. |
asked him 10 leave the map, and said that
| [ lived on a little creek in Kentucky, ana
that most of my people had never seen u
ship. He did this, ana he suspected
nothing, saying, Mr. Knott, hope You
will study that map, and 20 for our BILL
IL replied, i will 90 it,, but never saw
him again. As thought more over the
matter the fun grew upon me, and found
that could make my speech on the land
bill and bring in Duluth. | went to the
library and prepared some of the best
parts Of the humor, and intended il only
as an introduction 10 my more sober
speech When got the floor ! found the
house with me, and when my time was
extended i could not 90 up from the
ridiculous To the sublime. | went on with
;he humor and dropped the serious
grafton, and the speech over which ] had
spent days of labor WIS never delivered.
The greater part of the humorous speech
was the result Of the inspiration Of the
moment and whih | made il | never
thought that it would put the country
upon a broad grin | was astonished the
next day to find every one talking about
Il and that all my friends at the Capitol
Congratulated me upon it'-Frank G..
Carpenter in New York World.