The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-06
DEPEE As Il story TELLER.

An Attack Upon View Tork-S Pride and Glory.
To THE EDITOR or The sUS-Str: There are story
tsllers and story tellers, and your own Chauncey De-
pew Is ons OF them, and NOS one who Is half bad.
either. as things narrative go. sun Chauncey has hS
drawback As do most of mortal beings Permit me
At this point TO quote this story OF his, exactly a. II
appeared in the Newspaper whence I clipped it:
II waa in PeeksktII last week" says Chauncay De-
pew. e and W nt 70 EAU on two Old friends, q widow
when I was quite young. Ny husband died and I had
him crsmated- In 1huu' two years I married again;
time and lived 10 eremate him. All answered the
Here T'1s lived all shsse years ami ae~sr have been
anls 20 get married to one man. and you've had hus-
bands Ia burn"
Now for . short dissertation on story telling a. an
art and as . fact. Mr.. Depew tells this story - having
occurred to him in Peekskfl Last ~eek-vhAtever
week that was, a. the item Is not dated. though the
paper # WA clipped from bears date OF May 81.
Possibly NJ. Depew was in Peelskin calling on old
friends Of his, for he loves Peekskfl and his old
friends. and there "a no reason why he shouldn't, but
I doubt seriously that he was, though he says so.
$40 hearing the conversation between the two elder
ly ladies, there Is absolutely no doubt that he never
did. Notwithstanding he says so. This Is what may
be called story telling n . fact, because there Il no art
in IL. It cortradtcts itself on its fare, and art doesn't
do that. Anybody KNOWS that no old lady In PeekS-
kill ever cremAtad three husbands, although there
may be a dozen old ladies' in Peeksktll who have
81 roasted /" . dozen husbands, and Mr. Depew should
not have told the story that way. Nor is there, BY
the same token. any old maid in PeeksEtll slAnSy
enough to say what Mr.. Depew says abe said in mis-
hearing. No. there isn't any truth In the story at ali.
the-e never was, and the man who originated It never
intended there should be. It was originally merely 40
tiou in mall. and was probably the conceit OF soma
Newspaper funny man appearing In the columns OF the
Journal he brightena by his wit. entirely without
location Remotely there may have been some sug-
gestion on which the story was builded. Mr.. Dspsw,
- a. IA
something that he could use, works Il over. and we
have IL In the form presented above. IL Ia . good
story, but when told IN its present form It loses its
strength, for those who have heard or read the story
else here az once stamp It ~ q chestnut and feel
that Mr.. Depew IL intending 20 deceive by telling the
| story As happening ~ himself. I heard . Congress
mani hope Mr.. Depsw will pardon the comparison
tell a story in this Depsw style not q weekago. and. a.
IL happened. it wa such . chestnut that four ont OF
his AVE- listeners told him ne " as another when he said
u had happened to him. and they made II so hot for
MIN aud his habit o. telling stories ~ nut OF his own
experiences that he promised 20 reform. He Is q good
story teller. and gr-at things are hoped OF him In hs
reforraed coalition. Mr., Depew has fallen into thIA
same habit Of applying his stories to himself. and
It has dctrasted greatly from them, because tho
listener does not live who can enjoy \ story when
he hears a man tell 1t about himself. so that By
personal application what Is harmless fiction becomes
emoarrLsingly near to an untruth-sni with the
narrator caught In the very act. I am sure Mr.. Depe~
or ANY other story teller wants his stories to be at
their best Always. AMI the best Is to tell !hem for
what they actually are. II Mr.. Depew will originate
his own stories. then he may he permitted to put him
self IN as a character. but surely not otherwise. IN
Justice 70 Tr, D, it may be said that he Is not the only
story teller who has acquired or adopted tho habit OF
making mis- stories appear as happening to himself or
TO his knowledge. It Is q weakness OF . good many
otherwise excellent story tellers. and IL Is really I'm.
fortunate that they allow themselves to doso. when IL
Is 50 much better rot to do It that way. As a rule.
there is some kiui OF q reasonable reason for any
thing good or bad, out this seems to be an exception.
In the mean time will somebody who Is competent
write an article on the True Ths Org and Practice OF
Story Telling? Perhaps THE sUS win undertake to
interview Mr.. Depew on the subject. with this com
mur!cation a. a basis or . teKL VERnAL
BosIos, Ma