The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-05

MAKE a Nlt-ft'fAs itlHA bA az my 500 100
IL was known that although my father
and an his brothers were bitter pro-slavery
Democrats ] had recently declared my
self an aboitionist and that life had for
that reason been made decidedly I'M
pleasant for me az home.
The plan was TO make me commit my
self. and / was asked 20 tell my neighbors
why ! was Republican. l started out to
do this entirely informally and without
special preparation. When I had finished
1 imagined had been talking a few min
utes only: 1 had really spoken an hour
and a half.
Next day ] was asked by The RepubH-
can state committee. a body which l had
never heard of before, to go on the stump.
/ accepted the invitation and l have been
on the stump ever since.
Depew as Soldier.
1t was nine years after that first speech
before Chauncey NJ. Depew entered The
employ of the Vanderbilt railroads. In the
meantime he had worked hard both at
politics and the law. In 1861 he was elected
TO the state legislature as an assembly
man and reelected in 1862, in the fan of
1863 he was elected secretary of state
Earlier in the latter year he served his
country as a soldier, though his military
career was not sanguinary' and shat IS
how he comes TO be a Grand Army man.
He ndu JDtntQ blt Eldl' iAiittAH |DA''N
time before. and held the post of adjutant
of the Eighteenth Regiment His military
duties were not exactiug, but even If they
had been he would have had time enough
to atteud 10 them. for his Peekskil law
practice was not extensive. But one IN
tensely hot day early in July there came
a summons which made him about the
busiest man in all Peekskin. This sum
mons was caused by Lees historic inva-
.f nj MI turned
back at Gettysburg. The militia of that
dav was designed for home guard serY-
ice chiefly. but here was a chance that
the Confederate forces might reach the
confines of the state of New York, and
the Eighteenth, like some other state regi-
ments, was at once called out TO mdrch
to the South and help combat the advanc-
ing hosts. Depew received the call as ad-
jutant, and as adjutant he was expected
to notify his comrades in the organization.
Inside of twenty-four hours after the re-
ception of the call the entire regiment
embarked on a string of springless "lum-
py" freight cars on the way to Baltimore.
There the soldiers of the Eighteenth Regi-
ment remained until after the battle OF
Gettysburg, when they were instructed TO
garrison Fort Marshall, some three miles
from the city. That was as near actual
fighting as the Eighteenth New York mi
litia regiment and its adjutant ever got.
They defended the fort against nobody at
all for two or three months, and then
were ordered North again.
Later Depew was a colonel in the New
York National Guard, and in 1873 was at
tached to the staff of Gen. James w. Hus-
ted.
Depew's Jokes and Stories.
No man in public life to-day has been
more criticised than Mr. Depew by those
not in sympathy with him, because of his
lighter uttcrances. Concerning this he
said to the writer recently;
Il have always been under a good deal
of pressure; l have for many years been
subject daily to all sorts of worries. When
young man ] saw that l must forget
these things at night if / wished to be
fresh and rested the next day Experiment
showed that / could force them from my
mind by substitution and in no other way.
| Hence my jokes and stories. Something 10
| laugh about as the best thing to drive the
cobWebs out of the brain. And that re-
minds me of what two men, each Pres
ident of the United States said to me on
| this point. The first was Abraham Lin
coin:
'I have been found fauft with a good
deal because of my jokes and my anec-
dotes, said Mr.. Lincoln but l have always
found that the plain people, take them as
they run, are more easily influenced when
the truth is driven home by a story and
illustrated by some bit of broad humor
than when any other method is used. The
only ones who object to my stories are
the hypercritical, and I care nothing for
their opinions.
Garfield was the other, and he took an
| entirely different view. l was spending a
| day with him. Near its close he said:
You are cut out for public man. You
| might reach my level in the public service
! but for one thing, and that Is your repu-
tation as a wit. 1t is fatal and win surely
bar your progress unless you give it up.
| 1 have studied the American public closely
and carefully and l have come to the con-
clusion that it will not place confidence
in the man who says humorous things.
advise you from this day to stop telling
| stories; TO stop cracking jokes. "
Depew's work and Speeches.
Chauncey Mitchell Depew's immense
personal industry is proverbial among
! all who know him. His working day he
gins al his house at $50 in the morning,
as a rule. and lasts TIL 6. unless an ad-
! dress is TO be delivered in the evening, the
latter part of the day being divided be-
| tween his Office in the Grand Central sta
| ton and downtown. When there is an adj
| dress in prospect, which there is on an
| average four times a week, he cuts his
| dlNaIilOOtl sNOfh bN an ilOuis DuA even ttttn
| his daily service is much longer than that
/ OF many men active in affairs both great
| and small. And, besides, nearly every one
| of his after-diuner speeches is hammered
into shape between the time he leaves the
/ Office and the time of delivery
| 1t is his general custom, when speech
! is delivered TO walk home go TO his
| room, undress and go to bed. In FIVE
| minutes he fails asleep. For five, ten or
| fifteen uaiputpg he &
soundly as If he never had public ad-
| dress TO deliver. Thren he gets up gets
| inside his evening suit. and goes down
| stairs TO his library. which is composed
| entirely of books of reference, hstori-
cal, economic, scientific and the like and
| gives up whatever time is necessary TO the
| getting together of such data as the oc-
| casion demands. Sometimes, but not al
ways he dictates the address as he for
| mulates il: he never writes it.
Dcpew and Vanderbilt.
Mr. Depew does not remember when
he first met Commodore Vanderbilt II
| must have been early in the Cos aud the