The times., 1899-01-16
A MODERN INSTANCE.
Chaunccy Mitchell Depew and His
Boswell.


There are some historical characters of
such rare and intense individuality that.
like altar of roses, very little of their
concentrated soul-essence goes q long way.
One feels that it is almost a pity that such
men should be wasted on the common IN
tercoursef of everyday life; it would be
better If they could be cut into bits and
distributed over the entire civilized world.
where they would do the most good. To
live with Wilhelm Tell, for example. must
have been rather overpowering to a per-
son of only an ordinary amount of patriot
ism. No schoolboy, however intense his
admiration for warriors, would feel that
he could endure daily intercourse with
Julius Caesar. The continual slaughter of
the Suevi, and the Bellovaci. and the Ner-
vii, and the Aduatuci, and the daily re-
ceiving of hostages and building of bridges
would in time have become wearisome
No; to be the lieutenant of Caius julius
Caesar. and perhaps obliged to write the
accounts of his battles from dictation.
would be too great an honor for the aver
age man. 1t is therefore well that Caesar
and Wilhelm Tell, and Solomon, and
Shakespeare, and George Washington may
be taken in homeopathic doses by means
of books. And if there be any great man
in our own time whose influence is as rare
and as precious as theirs. let us look to 1t
that his words be preserved in the printed
page, like mosquito in a piece of amber.
This seems to have been the reasoning
of the man who, with reverent and pains
oil hnC ilpDpw
Story Book There have been other story
books. he knows, in other years. Homer.
and Virgil, and Goldsmith. and Thack-
cray, and great men of that sort, have tried
their hands at telling stories, but nothing
like this story book has appeared in litera-
ture before One might suppose, after
reading, that the task of being Boswell
to this modern Johnson would oyerpower
any man, but one Mr. w. NJ Clemens has
stood up under it long enough to put his
material together. 1t may be remarked in
passing that Mr.. Clemens has made books
before this, his latest achievement being
called Famous Funny Fellows" but the
''Depew Story Book is his masterpiece
undoubtedly. Mr.. Clemens ought never to
attempt another book. He should rest on
his mountain laurels and cover himself
with bouquets because of this one. 1t is
not the lot Of every man to write reyer-
ent. artistic and Photographic life OF
Chauncey Mitchell Depew, much less TO
portray the genial doctor to the public in
all his peach-like curves and golden
cleaning hues of mental comeliness. Mr..
Clemens offers us not only biographical
life. but a detailed anatomical vitascopic
view of Chauncey Mitchell Depew's mind.
and the book, as whole, is an absolutely
perfect and authorized reflection of that
marvellous personality. And DR.. Depew
has read the book and ndorses it.
Here is the prologue:
Chauncey Mitchell Depew was born on Shake
spearcs birthday. April q. 1884 at PeekskiIl,
n. Y. The Immortal Bard, it appears has writ
ten for April % this in AS You Like It,
Gentle, never schOoled, and vet learned, fall
Of noble device, OF all sorts enchantngly be
loved"
Now, that paragraph is a gem in itself.
In the first place. it points out the re-
markable sagacity of DR.. Depew in arrang-
ing to be born on Shakespeare's birthday.
Second, it gives us 10 understand that
Shakespeare, anticipating the compilation
of birthday books, got up quotation es
pecially for his own birthday-and DR..
Depew's. 1t must have bothered Shakes
peare TO contrive a quotation which would
suit them both, but there is no reason to
suppose that the Immortal Bard was an es-
pecially modest man, and so he naturally
had not the scruples that others might
| have in describing himself and DR.. De-
pew with the same adjectives. On the
whole Shakespeare succeeded quite well.
Enchantingly beloved what a pretty
phrase that is! How it slips off the tongue
like soft liquid Latin, and how well it
describes the feeling which the derizens
of the Bowery entertain for Chauncey de
Peach, This is bit of Shakespeareana
which will be a godsend TO the students
of the poet.
1t further appears that DR.. Depew ar
ranged, with his customary foresight TO
| have some respectable family connections.
Among his cousins We're George Frisbe
/ Hoar, William NJ. Evarts and the Sher-
man boys. John and William T.''-as Mr.
| Clemens calls them. But We pass rapidly
over these things as being really unim
portant 1t is quite proper that a great
man should have great relatives. Strange
| to say-and yet it is an experience com
| mon to the great-those who knew the
| boy Chauncey had no suspicion of his real
nature. They did not know what was
| growing up among them. This seems to
| be a blindness affecting most of the ordi-
| nary people who surround great men in
their boyhood.
| Ii was not until the age of thirty that
| the qualities of Chauncey Mitchell Depew
| really began to attract attention; and as
| soon as they did. it appears that the au-
! thorities wanted TO send him out of the
country. They wanted to send him as
minister to Japan. What would have
happened if he had accepted this mission
| one shudders to contemplate. Perhaps
| the Japanese enlightened and reviyifiad
| by Depew might have become the leading
nation of the world. Perhaps they would
| have had a war with Spain, captured Ma
Mia. freed Cuba. and annexed Hawaii.
Fortunately for America, however. Depew
refused. He said that instead. he would
accept the attorneyship of the New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad. And
so Japan lost her chance OF greatness. 1t
appears that through his: whole life DR.
| Depew has always known not only what
he wanted but what his country needed.
i For example. we told that he has
again and again refused a possible nOmi-
nation for the Presidency. Mr.. Clemens
remarks gently but firmly on this point:
It is hardly supposabe that he would rrlin-
quiSh a salary of 500 600 year TO go back to
politics ut $4,000 year.
Hardly.
1t appears from this that if DR.. Depew
had never done anything else but serve
the Vanderbilts in the capacity OF rail-
road attorney. he would have achieved
high place in the history Of his country
Nowadays we do not ask of a boy that he
should aim to be President of the United
but he should learn how tn