Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-10-23
STORIES ABOUT MEN.
the PART PLAYED BY ANECDOTES OF
BIG MEN IN HISTORY.


Itself Is Inharmonious because 1t May
Not he Characteristic of the Man About
Whom the Story Is Told
There is a story going tho rounds of
the newspapers to the effect that during
the Siege of Petersburg General Lee
turned aside from the grave duties and
dangers of his position to pick up and
replace ON the limb of a tree a nest full
Of young birds that had been knocked
down by a Federal shell. A similar
story has been told of Lincoln to illus
trate his tenderness Of heart, and the
probability is that tho fable originated
away back in the early dawn of civiliza-
ton. 1t is mostly so with the anecdotes
which figure in the history of great men
and events. When they arc not Dor
rowed from the ancients and handed
down through Successive generations,
they are manufactured by sl1illful writ
ers to suit particular characters and oc-
casions. We may be quite sure that
General Lee never paused in tho course
of battle to look after distressed birds.
He was n man Of fine feeling undoubt-
edly. but it does not follow that he was
in the habit of making himself senti-
mentally absurd.
The story, in short, is not characteris-
tic, and so it has no historical value. A
distinguished mans fame is harmed
rather than helped when he is thus rep
resented as manifesting himself in an il
logical and improbable manner. 1t
would be easy to believe of Lee that he
stopped to ease the pain of n wounded
soldier or that he gave his rations to a
hungry prisoner, but it is not reasonable
to suppose that his instinct of sympathy
betrayed him into the girlish act Wlllch
this story attributes to him. And thus
it is with hundreds of other anecdotes
that are used to impart an enlivening
flavor to the dreariness of history.
The anecdote is desirable thing in
works which are intended to convey q
vivid impression of historical occur
rences or celebrated personalities, but it
needs to be employed judiciously and
with II rational sense of fitness. There
is no advantage gained when such mat
ter is introduced for the mere purpose of
giving variety where there would other
wise be monOtony. The anecdotes pros
perity lies in its adaptability to the char
acter that is being portrayed and its
service as a striking illustration of an in
dividual trait or tendency. We often
get better idea of a man from some
simple story of his denoting tastes OF
caprices than from the labored accounts
of his moro important proceedings, but
the story must be carefully adjusted to
the logic of the mans life and the salient
facts of his career, or its intention will
be defeated.
The best historians and biographers
understand this and are accordingly as
painstaking and solicitous in the case of
an anecdote as in that of a problem of
serious interest. They do not tell stories
of that sort for superficial effect or to
quicken the readers tagging attention,
but to emphasize Il given characteristic
and to fill practical want in the way
of description or analysis. The anecdote
supplements and illuminates the heavier
features of the narrative. 1t is used
with discrimination and not in light
and prolniscuous manner. The picture
would not be complete without it. The
character would be dim and distant in
the absence of such aid 10 the apprecia-
ton of governing motives and peculiari-
ties.
1t is not really essential that anecdotes
thus employed shall be literally true.
Some Of the best of them are pure inven-
tons, which have the rare merit of being
we'll imagined. y story that has a rea-
enable degree of probability and that
can be credited consistently with what
Is known Of the general qualities of
character is useful even when it is not
positively accurate. There are some fic-
tiuns of that kind which are worth moro
III their way than many ponderous and
tiresome facts. All of the great figures
il history owe something to these con-
vcnient fables They are identified with
( .rtain anecdotes that keep them in easy
remembrance and that enable us to make
close acquaintance with them. But the
anecdotes must have the virtue of plau-
sibilty, or they will not answer the pur-
pose.
Unless they represent things which
might have happened without contra
tliCtion of the character to which they
relate there is no justification for them,
and they are reproGch to the writer
who uses them rs well as damage to
the man whom they are designed to
benefit. The philosophy of the matter is
all contained in the statement that great
men, like small ones. are expected to be
true to the laws Of their lives. Anec-
iotes which come within this rule are
Historically valuable, whether strictly
true or only products of fancy. and those
which fall outside of it arc silly and mis-
Chievous. regardless of the reputation of
the author or the purpose of the decep-
iion.-St. Louis Glcbe-Democrat.