Singers and Storytellers Page: 14
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
SINGERS AND STORYTELLERS
living with a young couple. Out a short distance from their
house I camped under the biggest cottonwood tree I've ever
seen. Nat had quit yarning, he said, and had lost all interest
in the Adams Diggings. He said that at the time he lost
interest he wrote high up on an aspen: "The Adams Diggings
is a shadowy naught that lies in the valley of fanciful thought."
Yet he had experienced some fine stories before he came to
that poetical conclusion. While he was telling all he knew and
a little that he didn't know about the Adams Diggings, he kept
bringing in bears, bears, bears. Frequently I had to pull him
off bears back to gold.
After I had pumped him dry on the main subject I
encouraged him to head out on bears. When he got wound up
on Old Susie, the last famous grizzly killed in New Mexico, I
said, "Mr. Straw, I can sell your bear stories to the Saturday
Evening Post. I'll give you 20 per cent of the check."
I spent another day with him getting bear stories and on
the road to Austin composed the piece in my mind; it was
rising like yeast and composed itself. Within two or three
weeks Wesley Stout of the Post had written as warm a reception
as anything of mine sent to an editor ever aroused. Maybe this
was the happiest experience I have had with a storyteller that
I hadn't been looking for. If you are ready, you'll meet them
when you're looking for them, and you'll meet them when
you're not looking for them. They show up as deer show up
to a deer-hunter.
On the way to England in 1945 to teach in the GI University
at Shrivenham I was delayed a few days in New York. About
sundown one evening while I was walking from 42nd Street
up a short block to the Biltmore Hotel on 43rd Street next
to the Grand Central Station and only a block from the Air
Terminal, the street not crowded at all, I saw a Negro man
looking mighty happy. Maybe thirty-eight years old, slenderish,
wearing a smile and a little hat, he came tripping my way.
Under one arm was a bottle-shaped package. There could14
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Related Items
Other items on this site that are directly related to the current book.
Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
Relationship to this item: (Has Format)
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/20/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.