The Washington times., 1935-07-23
NOW
The Recipe for
A Great Speech
CHILL IN JULY
By HELEN ESSARY

Hanford MacNider, former
American Minister to Canada,
Is telling q joke on himself.
While Minister MacNider was
Assistant Secretary of War be-
fore he left for Canada, it was
his duty to deliver q gradua-
ton address to the cadets at
West Point. This was his first
official appearance at the Mil
itary Academy and he labored
on his speech through many
days and nights. In the end he
knew that it was the best of
his career.
Appearing at the Academy he
was accorded all the honor Of
his high office. Finally he
found himself on the platform
with hundreds of proud fathers,
mothers, sweethearts and others
who, go to make up a West
Point commencement.
| During the preliminaries Mr..
MacNider fingered his manu-.
script nervously. Such is the
habit of commencement orators.
He felt, however, that in a few
minutes he would find himself
electrifying his audience. Their
response would come back to
him in waves of enthusiastic ap-
plause.
! Just before his formal intro
duction, an old Major General
OF the line, sitting nearby,
tapped MacNider on the
shoulder. He said:
young man, let me remind
you Of the greatest commence.
ment speech ever made at West
Point. It was made many years
ago by General Sherman. 1t
consisted of one sentence:
Gentlemen Of the Glass,
you now belong to the ARMY"
Mr.. MacNider did not faint.
Not quite. But he wilted.
The perils Of public speaking
are so sharp. Yet people will
climb on platforms and i'm
prove the world.
This story is from the deep
South. But it was told me by
a Yankee who has not yet re-
ceived the colonelcy promised
him by Governor Laffoon of
Kentucky. So it may be biased.
The Yankee gentleman says
that he was at a meeting at
Lexington, KY, when the dis
tinguished former Surgeon Gen.
eral Hugh S. Cumming was the
speaker.
Governor Laffoon followed
Surgeon General Cumming on
the program. The governor
limped up to the speakers stand
and said something like this:
Ladies and gentlemen, when
] was awakened by your presid.
ing officer and asked to say q
few words, ] was certainly sur
prised. However, to those Of
you, If there are any, who have
stayed awake during the pre-
viOus speech, / should like to
/ say"
7 Reading that Goodbye, Mr..
] Chips continues to be one of
the best sellers in the Washing
ton bookshops reminds me that
douglas Chandor, who recently
made a fine portrait of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, did as his first
portrait a canvas Of Rev. George
Wharton, the original of Mr..
/ Chips.
T Mr.. Chandor has a repertoire
of good yarns. He knows a
beautiful one about the near
sighted old lady at the Art Gal
lery of the British Museum who
stood staring at a huge canvas
Of Adam and Eve.
After a long while the old
lady II said she was near.
sighted looked at her cata.
logue, got her numbers confused,
nudged her husband and said:
Look, dear! Queen Victoria
talking with the Duke of Wei.
lington."
Harry Gilroy, correspondent
of the Newark Evening News,
knows how to get a chill in
Washington while the Their
mometer is practically in a
high jump.
He was inQuiring at the War
! Department about manufac-
turing contracts in the event of
war. Would the Army and
Navy repeat its performance
dur9g the World War and bid
against each other?
Mr.. Gilroy discovered that
one existing contract was with
the largest corset manufacturer
in New Jersey. He said brightly
to dignified colonel:
"Ah, suppose that contract
is made for the generalS!"
It was at this point that Mr..
Gilroy got frostbitten during a
Washington July.
J. Edgar Hoover, the Sher.