Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales and Talk Page: 1
261 p. : ill. ; 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:
J. FRANK DOBIE
The Traveling Anecdote
WHEN TWO JET PLANES become a commonplace in family garages
over the earth, hardly a traveler even then will be as much at home
in as many lands of varying languages and latitudes as many tales
and anecdotes have been for centuries. Any good story travels and
keeps on traveling. As it travels, it both adds and loses, but keeps its
shape. If it brings out the characteristic of some individual, it will
before long find itself attached to another individual, illustrating a
similar characteristic in him. Its point, like that of a proverb, a poem,
or a text from the Bible, has universal applicability. Many a lifeless
and pointless story gets into print, but that is no indication of its
potency. Unless it have potency it cannot travel. After a potent trav-
eler becomes familiar to nearly everybody it will stop for a while and
rest, but it will not die. It will set out again when there are fresh
hearers. The test of a story is not whether it is old, but whether it
has vitality enough to keep from wearing out. Eddie Foy said he'd
stick to the jokes proven by time and let somebody else test out the
new ones.
A quarter of a century or more ago a friend of mine named Gates
Thomas, whose people settled in Texas soon after Texas became a
republic, who was a professor of English in a college and who col-
lected folklore and knew what folklore is, told me a family story
that for more than a hundred years has been considered historical.
Colonel Mason Thomas, grandfather to Gates Thomas, was a
great admirer of Sam Houston. He had a plantation down the Colo-
rado River (for Texas has its own Colorado) and was a member of
the Texas Congress. One election year Sam Houston sent word that
he would be at the Thomas plantation on a certain date. He was
running for the presidency of the republic and had three opponents.
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.
Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales and Talk (Book)
This volume of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society contains popular folklore of Texas and Mexico, including traveling anecdotes, folk ballads, folklore in natural history, as well as information about black and white magic, Western animals, and cattle brands. The index begins on page 259.
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.
Texas Folklore Society. Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales and Talk, book, 1953; Dallas, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38314/m1/7/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.