The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-07


Him Hard for First Place, but Then
There Is Only One Chauncey After
All.
From the Philadelphia Press.
Everybody knows that Chauncey M
Depew and Horace Porter are the cham
pion after-dinner speakers of the country
There are other men whose talks TO din
ers with the coffee and cigars in process
of consumption may be just as good Jo-
seph H. Choate, Robert G.. Ingersoll,
Henry M. Alexander, Frederick Taylor
and half a dozen more have enviable rep
utations in this line. But DIR. Depew and
General Porter speak twice on postpran-
dial occasions where all the others speak
once. They are in great demand by all
societies when .banquets are to be given.
The College Alumni Associations of New
York, do not consider a dinner complete
unless Depew is on the list of speakers.
The Sons of the Revolution and the Pill
grims would feel like dispensing with
their annual dinners if Porter could not
be present. -
There is one feature about the speeches
of Depew and Porter that not only pleases
but likewise surprises all who hear them
They tell such capital stories and they
are so nearly always fresh. Stale anec-
dotes never fall from the lips of these ora
tors. They are not only mighty funny
stories, but they always apply so nicely to
the occasion. They are full of point DR.
Depew usually talks from Is minutes to
half an hour. His average is about 20
minutes In that time he will tell at least
half dozen stories or perpetrate six Or
seven witticisms that convulse the audi
ence. He has been known to attend three
dinners in one evening, or rather appear
at the right moment during the course of
the after-dinner oratory at three places.
and every story related was entirely diff
ferent. He did not repeat a single tale
Gen. Porter has been heard a hundred
times by New Workers who attend the
various banquets, and not one of them re-
members hearing an old story retold or a
former pun reyamped
HOW THEY GET THEM.
81. This is the way these stories and Jokes
are said to be procured; Depew is always
personally on the watch for witticisms
He undoubtedly hears great many good
stories privately. But the work of get
ting together what is current in the
funny line devolves upon Henry G. Duval,
the private, secretary of DR. Depew. Du-
val has made study of this matter. He
knows more jokes than his chief, and he
isn't at all bad narrator of them him
self. He jOts down every story he hears
He records every joke of worth. He is
said to have big scrap book in his office
at the Grand Central depot, in which he
pastes anecdotes, puns and funny things
of all sorts that he cuts out of papers and
magazines. He reads all the comic pa
pers, domestic and foreign He is partic-
ularly attentive to the odd and laughable
incidents that often interlard descriptions
of news events in the daily journals. The
private secretary also requests his
friends, and he has heap of them in all
lines of business and branches of trade to
look out for good things.
1t is easy to see how such plan could
be systematized and made very complete.
The scrap book becomes rs versatile in its
compilation of wit as DR.. Depew is versa
tile in his treatment Of the subjects on
which he speaks and the toasts to which
he responds on public occasions. In addi-
tion to this vehicle of information, both
Depew and Duval are on the alert when
they travel. They note curious signposts
and catch funny mistakes on posters and
placards. Depew is ubiquitous in his
travels He has the sense of humor fully
developed. His recent trip to Europe,
brief as it was, furnished him with fund
of anecdotes that he will shape and re-
shape, adapt, cOndense and expand for
many a dinner to come.
CODE OF SIGNALS.
Before going to dinner Mr.. Depew al
ways tries to devote a short time to the
preparation of his speech. While he will
depend upon the speakers who preceded
him to a large extent for the points of his
response to the subject allotted him. he
wants to be fully equipped, II is at this
time he turns to Duval's scrap book. He
knows just where TO look for the latest
joke or yarn and under what head to find
them. The book is understood to be thor
oughly and ingeniOusly indeXed. Depew
turns to the page or pages containing
scraps bearing upon the topic under treat
menu. There may be fifty stories under
that head. Those that he has already
used, or has heard some other after din
ner talker avail himself of, have been
checked of by Mr. Duval. The next
morning after dinner, Mr.. Depew tells
Duyal what stories he told and what
jokes he punished the diners with. If the
story is rendered useless by its one nara
ton, it is checked, as mentioned. If it
might be adapted in some particular for
some future date, a cross opposite indi-
Gates that fact. In fact, there is under
stood TO be quite code of signals in con-
ueCJlOu Win tu4S very unique COIAeCIlOn
of tales.
Gen. Porter gets his stock of yarns in
another way. His ONCE is down town in
the Mills building. He is vice president
of the Pullman Car Company He is
brought in daily contact with an army of
railroad men. He also meets scores of
supply agents, purchasing official Of the
road, and the like. These men come from
all parts Of the country, and they are con-
stantiy on the wing They are the great
est story tellers in the world. They pick
up the latest stories, polite and other
wise, from every state and every big
town. While many Of them are provin-
cial, the narrator localizes them. In fact,
the vast majority of the good tales that
pass current can be readily adapted TO
the time and place. Every one Of these
travelling railroad men is anxious to give
Porter a new story. The general is
equally anxious to hear them.
In this manner Porter gets hold of a
tremendous supply Of stories. He knows
the ones he wants TO keep. At the first
opportunity he dictates to his stenog-
rapher. either in skeleton shape or in full.
as he deems the wiser. Whether these
stories are preserved in scrap book shape,
the writer has not heard. Certain il is
IA