THE WAHPETON TIMES — FEBRUARY 15 1917
HOST HAD REASONED WELL ☆ Couldn’t Afford to Sacrifice Reputation
for Veracity by Backing Up His Guest’s “Tall” Story.
A well-known diplomat told at a dinner in Washington a significant parable.
“They who expect the men in athority to do a great deal for them—they who expect the impossible—should remember the grizzly-bear story.
“A famous grizzly-bear hunter gave a dinner, and one of the guests told of a bear hunt that he had once shared in with his host. It had been a remarkable hunt. The bear had been killed under almost incredible difficulties. Although his auditors looked skeptical, the narrator did not spare them any of those difficulties. He counted on the host, you see, for corroboration.
“Then, when he had finished his strange but perfectly true tale, he said:
“‘There, that’s the story, and, gentlemen, our host will corroborate every word I say.’
“‘No, George,’ he said, ‘I don’t remember anything of this sort at all’
“Tableau!
“Maddened by this tableau, the guest, at the end of the dinner, took his host aside and hissed:
“ ‘Why didn’t you back me up in that bear story? You know every word of it was true.
“‘Yes,’ said the famous hunter; ‘yes, it was all true, but I saw that everybody round the table thought you were lying. If, then, I had supported you, the only result would have been they would have set me down for a liar, too.’ ”
From— The Wahpeton Times. (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]), 15 Feb. 1917. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
