Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-11-05
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
DR.. chauncey NJ. Deyew's Busy Lif
and Versatile Genius.
His Hours of Work-After Dinner Speeches
New Way of Getting Old Drinks.
Valuable Offal.
Special correspondence of The Chronicle.

!
NEW YORK, November 3. 1891.
1t is strange fact that DR.. Cbauncey
NJ. Depew, man who has been all his
life associated with monopolists and cap
italists should yet remain the idol of the
populace. No hOrny-handed son of toll,
who by his abilities has risen from OBJ
scure youth to prominence and leader
ship is more cherished by the common
| people than is the genial and witty rail
road president. Mr.. Depew does tre-
mendouS amount of varied work. He
lives at Pawling, beautiful suburb of
New York, and two hours ride from the
Grand Central Station. He reaches his
desk usually between 8 and 10 o'clock,
and from that time until 8, he works like
a steam engine. His mail comes from
all parts of the world. He receives an
average of fifty personal letters day,
and his business mail runs up into the
hundreds. Some of his letters of course,
he never sees, they being opened and an
swered by men whose time is in less de-
mand. He dictates a large part of his
correspondence. remember that on one
of the hottest nights of last summer,
when the city was like a huge oven, of
seeing hale man enter restaurant near
the station, followed by youth with
yalise. Marching briskly to to an unoc-
cupied table the valise was opened, and
out of it came big bundle of papers,
and a stenographer's note book. The
elder man opened the papers, the young
er man sat ready with book and pencil,
and for an hour, curious listeners heard
letters dictated on all sorts of subjects.
This was MI. .Depew, who had taken the ad-
vantage of few hours leisure to answer
some neglected correspondence. Nearly
all of his personal letters, however, he
answers in his own hand writing.
The secret of Mr.. Depew's alteration is
his audaeious geniality and brave wit.
He can say things that other speakers
meeting in Brooklyn a few nights ago,
a band came in followed by large club
of marchers. 1--WE are coming, Father
Abraham" shouted Mr. Depew, adding,
"the music might be better, but the spirit
is good" Though 58 years old, and sin
gularly clerical looking, he has a frolie-
some and boyish soul. When the Worlds
Fair site was pending, and New York
seemed likely to lose the prize by differ
ences in their own ranks, a great pacifi-
cation meeting was held in Cooper Union
Mr.. Depew spoke and made an inspired
that settled all disputes, and
unified the discOrdant elements. After
the meeting he went home, and said that
he felt like "giddy young girl" he could
neither read nor sleep, so he put on his
dress suit and went to ball.
As every knows, Mr.. Depew is after
dinner speaker, par e:rcelleTace of Ameri
ca, and is more in demand for such occa-
sions than any other man. He often at
tends and makes addresses at several
dinners in one evening, slipping from one
before the applause has died
a way, and hurrying by cab to another
party. He says that it is sometimes hard
to do it, but he makes it a rule to leave
all business at his office. When he has
speech to make, and his mind needs
changing from one level to another, he
reads few minutes from Maeanlay's Es-
says. This treatment, he says, never fails
to put away from him everyday trivial
ties and business cares, and to turn his
mind to more intellectual channels. He
never writes his after-dinner speeches, |
the occasion to produce the in
spiratiOn, though selecting line of
thought to be pursued. He speaks usu
ally from twenty to thirty minutes.