The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-03-24
4 MARX TWAIN STORY
showing What May Be Achieved
by Nerve and Reiteration.
4 LESSON IN PERSEVERANCE.
song to Prove That Repetition Will
work Wonders If Man Has Only
tne Necessary Amount of Cheek to
stand Up and Keep on TaIkina.

the Necessary Amount of Cheek to
stand Up and Keep on Talking.
marx Twain once told a reporter
mat II man says the same thing Of
Ten enough people will begin to listen
to him.
now said the great humorist,
tnere was that story about Hank
Monk. That was the Oldest, stalest,
or1est, deadest bit Of alleged humor
tnat any man ever heard. 1t had been
circulated around Nevada and Cali
1ornia until there wasn't a man left
VINO would even listen to it. l had
heard 1t SO many times that knew it
by heart. 1t told how Hank Monk got
Horace Greeley over the Glennbrook
grade to Placerville.
Il was about to deliver my second
lecture at Platt's hall in San Fran
cisco-the second one l had ever de-
Hvered. 1t occurred to me that l
might begin thai lecture with the
worst story 1 had ever heard and by
telling 1t often enough start the lee
ture with big laugh. | took that
story and memorized it so that it
would not vary in the telling, and |
made it just as pointless and just as
dull and just as dry as | could.
when it came time for me to talk
j stood up and with a few introduc-
tory remarks began that story. If |
remember it went something like this:
Horace Greeley once went over
the Glennbrooi grade to Placerville.
When he was leaving Carson City be
told the driver. Hank Monk. that he
had an engagement to lecture at
Piacerville and was very anxious to
go through quick Hank Monk crack
ed his whip and started off at an aw
full pace. The stage bounced up and
down In such terrific way that it
5olted the buttons all off Horaces coat
and finally shot his head clean through
the roof of the stage, and then he yell
ed to Hank Monk and begged him to
60 easier-said he warn't in as much
Of a hurry as he had been awhile
ago. But Hank Monk said. Keep
your seat. Horace. and I'll get you
there on timer And he did, too-what
was left Of him.
"Now, that was all there was to the
story. 1t was bad enough to begin
with, but / made it worse in the tell |
ing. l droned it out in fiat, monoto- |
nous tone. without gesture to mar its
depressing effect. The people received |
It in dead silence. had insulted every |
man in the audience had 'graveled |
them with a story that was not only !
stale and pointless, but one which they |
had heard at least thousand times. |
] waited a few seconds for the laugh |
ter, and then began to hem and haw |
and shift my feet. | tried to appear |
just as embarrassed as | could and |
after foundering about helplessly for |
few sentences 1 cheered up little and |
said that I would tell a funny anec-
dote which might be new to them. 1t
began:
"'Horace Greeley went over the
Glennbrook grade to Placerville'-
IL told it in exactly the same miser-
able, pointless way that l had told it |
before, and when l got through l wait |
ed longer time for the applause, but |
there wasn't any applause. could see /
that several men in the house were
growing quite indignant. They had
paid money to hear humorous lee
ture. / took long breath and plunged |
In third time, more embarrassed and
Mustered and worried than ever, and
by and by / worked around again to
the time when Horace Greeley went
over Glennbrook grade to Placerville.
This time some of the smarter ones
began to laugh, and this encouraged
me so much that l thanked them and
started right in 10 tell the story over
again, never varying the delivery so
much as a pause to take breath. The
fourth time fetched 'em, and at the
end of the story they stood up and
whooped and yelled and cheered for
some time.
"You see, l thought that If a man
had sand enough to stand up before an
audience and tell the oldest, stalest
and most tninteresting story in the
work. he could make people laugh If
be mad the nerve to tell the story often
enough. The rest of my lecture went
very well. They were willing to laugh
sf 10y anecdotes the first time l told
them. Maybe they were afraid | would
tell them 0 second time.
II felt so sure that had discovered
4 new phase In human character that
l tried the same thing in New York
years afterward. There was an au-
thors' reading bee one afternoon, and
most Of the authors read selections
from their works. sat on the plat
form beside James Russell Lowell.
he asked me what ! was going to
read. / said that l wasn't going to
read anything. ! intended to tell an
anecdote.
ais 1t a funny oneT he asked.
Il said it would be If lasted long
enough.
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