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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892., by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892.
+       A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Henry Hills
+        Robert Luce
+
+Release Date: July 25, 2008 [EBook #26128]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITER, VOLUME VI, APRIL 1892. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Annie McGuire and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE WRITER:
+
+  A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.
+
+
+  VOL. VI.     BOSTON, APRIL, 1892.     No. 4.
+
+
+  Copyright, 1892, by WILLIAM H. HILLS. All rights reserved.
+  ENTERED AT THE BOSTON POST-OFFICE AS SECOND-CLASS MAIL MATTER.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS:                                                           PAGE
+
+  WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE. _Roman I Zubof_                             63
+
+  SHALL WRITERS COMBINE? _John Braincraft_                            65
+
+  NEWSPAPER COOKERY. _Anna Borrows_                                   67
+
+  DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE? _Gertrude F. Lynch_                      70
+
+  FASHIONS IN LITERATURE. _Pamela McArthur Cole_                      71
+
+  SNEAK REPORTING. _Herbert Corey_                                    72
+
+  A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME. _Persis E. Darrow_                     73
+
+  TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE. _Susan Andrews Rice_                      74
+
+  THE DELUGE OF VERSE. _Douglas Dane_                                 75
+
+  CONCERNING SONNETS. _F. D. Stickney_                                76
+
+  EDITORIAL.                                                          78
+
+    Dr. Hale's Rules for Writing.                                     78
+
+  THE SCRAP BASKET.                                                   78
+
+  THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.                                        78
+
+    "Cenotaph."                                                       78
+
+  BOOK REVIEWS.                                                       79
+
+  HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.                                      81
+
+    Envelope Pigeon-holes.                                            81
+
+  LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS.                                   81
+
+  NEWS AND NOTES.                                                     82
+
+
+
+
+WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE.
+
+
+With the death and burial of Walt Whitman passes away the most
+picturesque figure of contemporary literature.
+
+It is true that in England the name of the poet is more familiar than
+his poetry, and that students of literature are more conversant with the
+nature of his writings than are the mass of general readers; yet the
+character of the man and the spirit of his compositions were rapidly
+beginning to be appreciated by, and to sway an influence over, the whole
+higher intelligence of the country.
+
+Considering the man and his works, it is almost surprising to find how
+easily he did conquer for himself an audience, and even admirers, in
+England. He was _par excellence_ a contemporary American. Not that
+American who clings to the Puritanic traditions of his English
+ancestors, but that characteristic product of the New World who looks
+more with eagerness to the future than with satisfaction on the past,
+and whose pre-eminent optimism is inspired by his ardent appreciation of
+the living present. Walt Whitman stood forth as an innovator into such
+realms, where the rigor of conditions demanded an abstract compliance
+with rules which were based on absolute truths, and where a swerving
+from them was evidence of impotence. His unconventional forms, the
+rhymeless rhythm of his verses, which, in appearance, resembled more a
+careless prosody than a delicately attuned poesy,--this alone was enough
+to provoke, at first, an incredulous smile, even among those whose
+tastes were endowed with more penetration. But Walt Whitman stood forth,
+besides, as the representative of a principle which, as yet, is looked
+upon with suspicion by the old world,--of the principle of a broad,
+grand, all-embracing democracy, which elevates manhood above all forms,
+all conditions, and all limitations.
+
+The question where metre comes in in poetry, whether it is simply a
+means of accentuating rhythm, and is not the rhythm itself, and whether
+it is legitimate to do as Whitman did, to prolong the rhythmic phrase at
+the expense of metre, until the sense is completed,--all this was a
+problem for the professors and the critics to decide, and they might
+wrangle as they pleased. But here was Walt Whitman, recognizing no
+beauty higher than creative nature, recognizing no law greater than the
+spontaneous dictates of the moral personality; here was Walt Whitman, a
+pagan, a pantheist, who recognized more divinity in an outcast human
+being than in a grandly ordained king, who acknowledged nothing higher
+than the dignity of the human individuality,--all this was enough to
+make sober people pause and think, if not shudder.
+
+'Tis true that some, almost all the representative men of literature in
+England, recognized in Walt Whitman, from the first, a beauty, a
+grandeur, which appealed to and captivated their higher susceptibilities
+and mental appreciation. Such critics as George Eliot, Dowden, and even
+Matthew Arnold, and such poets as Tennyson, Swinburne, and even William
+Morris, have uttered expressions of the warmest appreciation of his
+great talent; but the class of general readers are not endowed with such
+discrimination, and his works, till very recently, were excluded from
+the shelves of libraries which were catholic enough to embrace the
+writings of the earliest saints and the latest productions of Zola--on
+the ground that his poetry was too demoralizing for the general public.
+
+This is not a general statement. I have a specific instance in view,
+when, in 1886, I went to the Leinster House in Dublin--the public
+library of the place--and asked for Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." On
+being informed that they had no copy of it in the library, I put down
+the book in the suggestion list. A number of Trinity students did the
+same. The matter was brought before the directors at their monthly
+meeting, and it appears it was strenuously objected to by the librarian,
+who pleaded the exclusion of the book on the ground of its being
+immoral, indecent! We carried the fight from private discussion to
+correspondence in the press; the editor of the _Dublin University
+Review_ put the pages of the magazine at our disposal, and it was not
+until a year afterwards, and until considerable pressure was brought on
+the directors, that "Leaves of Grass" was admitted into the catalogues
+of the Dublin library.
+
+But the genuine merit of Walt Whitman's works, as the true inspiration
+of individualistic genius is always destined to do, is rapidly
+conquering the opposition and prejudice even of those whose obtuse minds
+seldom discover the intrinsic good motive frequently underlying an
+indifferent form. Those whose objections rested on their incapacity of
+penetrating further than the surface of the headline are rapidly
+beginning to discern in Walt Whitman's writings a force, a sentiment, a
+moral passion, and a natural grandeur that is amply compensating for the
+occasional roughness or looseness of the expressions he mirrors them in.
+Before his death the good old poet had not only the satisfaction of
+knowing that his writings have been widely read and universally
+commented on, but he had the pleasure of seeing his "Leaves of Grass"
+translated into German by T. W. Rolleston, of Dublin, and Professor
+Schwartz, of Dresden, of having parts of it translated into French, and
+a few years ago Mr. Lee consulted me as to the advisability of rendering
+them into Russian, parts of the book having already been published in
+the periodicals of the Russian emigrés in Switzerland. Not only this,
+but his innovations, his genius, have even founded a school, and has a
+following. The little volume published some time ago in England, under
+the title "Toward Democracy," by Ed. Carpenter, written in the same
+style as "The Leaves of Grass," is also gradually finding its way to the
+surface of the highest consideration. And such passages as this, when
+Nature is calling to man:--
+
+"I, Nature, stand and call to you, though you heed not:
+
+"Have courage, come forth, O child of mine, that you may see me."
+
+"As a nymph of the invisible air before her mortal beloved, so I glance
+before you. I dart and stand in your path, and turn away from your
+heedless eyes like one in pain. I am the ground; I listen to the sound
+of your feet. They come nearer. I shut my eyes and feel their tread over
+my face," etc. etc.; or such an outburst as this: "Ireland--liberty's
+deathless flame leaping on her Atlantic shore,"--are enough to convince
+the human mind that men who write them can be actuated only by impulses
+of which genius alone is capable!
+
+It is this impulse--this sober, solemn love pervading the writings of
+Walt Whitman which has invested his compositions with a property far
+transcending in genuine beauty the effusions of those poets whose object
+in writing is more the display of a capacity for finished manipulation
+of delicate form, than the manifestation of a free conception of a grand
+spirit. Walt Whitman is spontaneous without being careless. His style is
+unhesitating, his diction is flowing, smooth, without being searching or
+verbose! It seems as if his soul were responsive--not plaintively, but
+appreciatively responsive--to all the chords, influences, and objects of
+nature; and that his imagination were absorptive enough to embrace and
+love, and reflect all changes and transitions of light and shadow in
+nature and life, particularly in the inner human life,--for Walt
+Whitman's love for humanity, permeating all his writings, has more
+grandeur than the most heroic of classic epics!
+
+  _Roman I. Zubof._
+
+  BOSTON, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+SHALL WRITERS COMBINE?
+
+
+Things in this world are often the precise opposite of what we should
+expect. The shoemaker's wife and the blacksmith's horse frequently go
+poorly shod. The man who makes his sole living from the product of his
+brains does not use them in disposing of his wares. He remains the slave
+of publishers who have enriched themselves from his labor, while he
+thoughtlessly plods on, apparently content with a few crumbs from the
+feast which he has provided for them.
+
+One striking difference between the two halves of the nineteenth century
+is the gigantic combination which the shuttle of these latter years is
+weaving. The wealth of no single man was found sufficient to place a
+railroad across the continent. Men combined their capital, and to-day we
+can ride from New York to San Francisco in a car as luxuriously
+furnished as a drawing-room. Had it not been for this union of dollars,
+we should to-day be forced to use the stage coach or to walk. When the
+railroads were once built, their owners found combination necessary to
+keep them from cutting each other's throats and to maintain a good rate
+of profit.
+
+By combination the working man has reduced his hours of toil, obtained a
+fairer share of the profits coming to capital from his labor, and made
+his own life better worth the living. These concessions did not come
+voluntarily: combination wrung them from capital, and then stood guard
+over them.
+
+The author stands almost alone with no union among his craft. The
+refiners of sugar and coal oil, the makers of matches, lead-pencils,
+screws,--in short, almost all other interests,--have some sort of
+combination. The brewers stand by each other in fixing the price of
+beer, and if a saloon keeper fails to pay one brewer, the others will
+not furnish him with the product of their vats.
+
+There is plenty of freemasonry among publishers. Their contracts read
+very much alike. They resort to the same subterfuges to get the lion's
+share of the profits. They care nothing for the logic of the situation.
+What did a grasping palm ever care for logic which told against itself?
+An American author has just shown by indisputable figures that many of
+our publishers treat the writers of books as badly as the worst Hebrew
+sweating shops do their employees. An author in one instance worked for
+years upon a book which had every prospect of not being ephemeral. He
+signed a contract with a firm of publishers to receive a ten-percent.
+royalty only after the first thousand copies were sold. The work had
+much free advertising and sold well, as many booksellers testified. More
+than two years have elapsed since it appeared, and though clerks in book
+stores still say it sells well, the author has never received a cent for
+those weary years of labor. He knows there is an Indian lurking
+somewhere in the forest, but one author is not powerful enough to enter
+and dislodge the enemy.
+
+It may do us good to know that the English Society of Authors protects
+writers from dishonest publishers; but why should not our authors form a
+union of their own and enjoy the same advantages? It has been shown that
+our literary men have been repeatedly imposed upon; that the publisher
+in many cases takes all the profits; that his accounts are not open to
+the verifiable inspection of authors; and that this is one of the few
+exceptions of the kind in all business, that one of two interested
+partners is alone allowed to audit the accounts.
+
+Mr. Besant has shown that in England the perfectly honest publisher is a
+rare exception. Are Englishmen less honest than Americans? Or is it true
+that human nature is very much alike everywhere and easily warped to
+look at things only in the line of its own advantage, wherever that can
+be done without coming to the knowledge of the world?
+
+There will, of course, be strong opposition on the part of publishers to
+the formation of any protective authors' association, which would insist
+that the writer know the exact facts in those cases in which he is to be
+a partner in the share of the profits from his own work. If only a few
+authors joined the movement, publishers would undoubtedly combine to
+boycott them; but here, as in England, safety will be found in numbers.
+There is not a railroad in the United States that dares select any
+special engineer and treat him unjustly. The Brotherhood of Locomotive
+Engineers is too strong to admit that for one week.
+
+Some hysterical publisher may exclaim, "If you think we are rascals, you
+had better not deal with us." Ask him what he would think of the
+president and the cashier of a national bank if they said to the
+examiner, "You have come here to insult us by implying that we would
+steal the depositors' money. We resent such treatment; we are honest."
+
+"Why, then, do you object to a careful inspection of your methods?" asks
+the examiner.
+
+"Because it throws suspicion on us," is the reply.
+
+"Are you aware that officials with reputations quite as good as yours
+are now embezzlers in foreign lands? I want to remove from you the
+temptation of making money in that way, so that nothing may rest heavily
+on your consciences in the great hereafter."
+
+"Nevertheless, we object to an examination."
+
+"Then I had better at once go over your accounts thoroughly. I shall
+probably be here several days."
+
+History tells us that for a long time the English Parliament forbade any
+newspaper to publish a line of what was said there. A disobedient editor
+was speedily imprisoned. The members desired to receive bribes for their
+votes in as many cases as possible. If a member could keep his
+constituents in ignorance of the way he voted, he could often make money
+by voting in opposition to their interests. Of course, he dreaded to
+have the newspapers turn the light on his record, and he developed many
+remarkable arguments against such privileges on the part of the press.
+When more light streams in on certain publishers' methods, authors may
+then be able to select better men to represent them.
+
+It has been said that the jealousy of authors is such as to keep them
+from working in harmony; that authors who have won their spurs have a
+supreme contempt for one who has not; that they omit no opportunity of
+indulging in sarcasm at his expense; that they would not throw him a
+plank if he were drowning, unless they could so throw it as to strike
+him on the head. If this were so, they would not differ much from the
+world in general, for it will not give quarter to any man who cannot
+claim it by his own might. But the case of Mr. Besant, the president of
+the English Society, disproves these sweeping statements against
+authors. He stands among the foremost of living novelists, and yet he is
+willing to spend a great deal of his valuable time to assist a writer
+just beginning to climb the tiresome ladder. This pure and undefiled
+religion of being willing to help a fellow-toiler is far more common
+than cynics will allow. It prevails among engineers, factory hands, and
+miners. With the exception of a few cads, it is doubtful if authors have
+sunk so low in the scale of humanity as to be unwilling to assist each
+other, when by so doing they will help themselves.
+
+Some authors have been dreaming of a time when they could control the
+entire literary output of the United States in the same way that the
+Standard Oil Company controls kerosene, or the chief of the Brotherhood
+of Locomotive Engineers directs his men. He can tie up any railroad with
+a snap of his finger if his men are not treated squarely. In such a
+literary dreamland an author might do one-third of his present work and
+get far more pay than now. Publishers and editors would not then have a
+superfluity of matter. They would then have to bow to the authors' trust
+before the desired material could be obtained.
+
+It might be claimed that if writers would pool their issues, put their
+manuscripts into a common stock, allow the publisher to select from them
+at a good round figure, and after a certain lapse of time burn all the
+rejected ones,--there would be less work and more money for all authors.
+Of course, it would be necessary to have a committee to decide when an
+author wrote well enough to be admitted to the pool, and also to
+determine what greater portion of the common fund the authors of
+specially meritorious work should receive.
+
+Such a scheme certainly does work with sugar, kerosene, starch, and
+numberless other articles; but it is more than doubtful if it would
+prevail in literature. Some authors would be too desirous of seeing
+themselves constantly before the public. They could not be prevailed
+upon to limit the output of their brain, and they would be conceited
+enough to demand that everything appear in print.
+
+It is well to lay aside thoughts of such a Utopia until we have secured
+an authors' protective association of wide membership, with permanent
+headquarters, legal counsel, and agents to learn the publishing business
+and expose unfair methods.
+
+Let writers remember that Greece, in spite of her Æschylus, Sophocles,
+Xenophon, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Plato, and Aristotle, perished
+because her independent states would not combine against a common foe.
+
+  _John Braincraft._
+
+  LOUISVILLE, Ky.
+
+
+
+
+NEWSPAPER COOKERY.
+
+
+In a late number of a popular periodical, Mrs. Amelia E. Barr, while
+telling of her childhood a half-century ago, incidentally remarks: "I
+should have as soon thought of smoking my father's pipe as of reading
+his newspaper. There were no papers at all for women and children, if I
+except the _Court Journal_ for women of rank."
+
+Just when cookery and household affairs became a part of the newspaper's
+province, I do not know, nor is it my purpose to give its history. My
+earliest recollection of anything in this line is connected with _Hearth
+and Home_, an illustrated paper, the forerunner of the many household
+periodicals of to-day. A leading feature was "Mrs. Hunnibee's Diary,"
+furnished by Mrs. Lyman, afterward on the staff of the _New York
+Tribune_. Her work was a worthy model for us to follow. Let us look at
+the work as it is, and as it ought to be.
+
+Count Rumford--one of the pioneers in the study of foods--has said: "The
+number of inhabitants who may be supported in any country upon its
+internal produce depends about as much upon the state of the art of
+cookery as upon that of agriculture--these are the arts of civilized
+nations; savages understand neither of them." Naturally, therefore, the
+agricultural papers were the first to give space to cookery, and have
+ever been generous in that way.
+
+Newspaper cookery is not an inappropriate phrase, since too often the
+"Home Column" in half our papers is simply a rehash of what has
+appeared in the other papers of the country. The results of warming over
+in the kitchen are very diverse, and they are equally so in newspaper
+cookery; a rechauffé may be very sloppy or very dry, and give no hint of
+its original components, when it should be a savory combination, the
+ingredients of which have suffered no loss of flavor.
+
+This does not include the class of articles which are made by careful
+study of books of reference and form a new setting for fragmentary
+information, such as is often lost if not rearranged; but what can be
+said in favor of the sort of work where a standard recipe forms the
+basis for a wishy-washy story?
+
+Another variety of newspaper cookery to be avoided is the reporting of
+demonstration lectures by those who know nothing of the subject and have
+no conception of the lecturer's methods, or by those having a
+superficial knowledge who attempt to interlard their own opinions
+throughout the report.
+
+Reporters having little or no knowledge of the literature of the kitchen
+are apt to make rash claims for their favorite lecturers or for
+themselves. In a recent paper an evident neophyte--in cookery at
+least--claims to set right in a new and original way the curdling of a
+mayonnaise dressing. She claims that none of the directions given in the
+cook-books tell what should be done if it goes wrong, yet in at least
+two standard works the whole thing is fully explained.
+
+There are undoubtedly many recipes which belong to the whole world, and
+have been in use for generations, yet some teachers may claim original
+methods of combining these ingredients. Has a reporter any right to make
+such ideas appear as her own, without due credit to the authors? Whether
+this sort of work is done in newspapers, or appears in book form, or
+whether it is in direct violation of copyright laws or not, it is at
+least discourteous. Poems are sometimes stolen, but the literature of
+the kitchen oftener suffers.
+
+In these days of specialties, when one man devotes himself to politics,
+another to finance, or music, or art, it would not seem that a woman,
+because she is a woman, is therefore fitted to care for the household
+department of a paper; yet this is usually the first work given into her
+hands. Probably there are many teachers of cookery who could not write a
+catchy newspaper article, but it may be questioned whether such writing
+is desirable upon this subject.
+
+The time is coming when the cooking-school graduate will be called for
+to teach this art and science through the columns of the newspaper, as
+well as in the schoolroom.
+
+The religious papers choose graduates of the theological seminaries for
+their editors, and medical journalism is conducted by physicians. If a
+sporting editor is essential, why should not special training be
+required for the cooking department?
+
+Under present conditions, the best teachers can afford to do little
+newspaper work; a demonstration requires little more time and effort
+than the preparation of a newspaper column, and the compensation is
+double or quadruple, and is promptly paid.
+
+Some of the advertising agents of patent medicines have been wiser in
+their generation than the newspaper men, and from the days of Mrs.
+----'s Soothing Syrup until now their cook-books have been passports for
+their medicines into many a home, not that a call for medicine was the
+natural result of the use of these recipes, but that the name of the
+medicine became a household word through the use of the cookbook, and
+hence was the first thought when any panacea was required. Such good
+prices have been paid by manufacturers that they have been able to
+obtain the best writers, and the books distributed by various salves,
+sarsaparillas, meat choppers, baking powders, etc., contain many
+valuable recipes and suggestions. As a whole, they are far safer guides
+than the average newspaper column of recipes.
+
+Furnished by untrained hands, the newspaper recipe has become a synonym
+for something utterly unreliable, and, therefore, a byword among those
+so old-fashioned as to believe that a woman who holds a pen is, of
+course, a poor housekeeper.
+
+True, much of the blame for the uncertainty of the newspaper recipe must
+be laid at the door of the typesetter and proof-reader--who else would
+make a demonstrator whose programme included a "Frozen Rice Pudding"
+responsible for a "Dozen Nice Puddings" in a single lecture.
+
+Often the column headed "Dainty Dishes," "Hints for the Cuisine," etc.,
+appears to be made up from recipes taken at random from the clippings of
+the year before--so we have strawberry shortcake and asparagus omelet in
+October, cauliflower in August, and blueberries in December. Without a
+hint concerning the proper method of combining the ingredients, a string
+of recipes are worthless, and mean as little as a column from the
+dictionary.
+
+So accustomed has the public vision become to this artificial,
+improbable, housekeeping that it fails to recognize veritable facts and
+pronounces them impossible.
+
+Food is a subject which demands the careful consideration of every human
+being daily, and therefore claims ample space in the newspapers. The
+wise man of the Old Testament has said: "All the labor of man is for his
+mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled."
+
+We are not all interested in the success of either political party, nor
+are we all thirsty for items of society gossip, nor are the details of
+every murder or railroad accident more important than our daily bread.
+
+Our physical natures and our food are not so ignoble as some would have
+us think. We need only look at the thousand allusions to food in classic
+writings to realize that it is our attitude toward an object, not the
+thing itself, which makes it common and unclean.
+
+Does it not seem strange that the art of cookery, which first
+distinguished man from beasts, has been so underrated and neglected?
+
+  "The art of cookery drew us gently forth
+   From the ferocious light, when, void of faith,
+   The Anthropophaginian ate his brother;
+   To cookery we owe well-ordered states,
+   Assembling men in dear society."
+
+Surely no one better than a newspaper reporter, who must snatch a bite
+here and there of whatever is at hand, can appreciate the force of the
+words of an old physician: "The faculty the stomach has of communicating
+the impressions made by the various substances that are put into it is
+such that it seems more like a nervous expansion of the brain, than a
+mere receptacle for food."
+
+Many a newspaper woman has found a safety-valve in doing her
+housekeeping with her own hands, the needed reaction after prolonged
+mental effort, and by the divine law of compensation has thus worked out
+with her hands something of which the brain alone was not capable.
+Michelet says that "A man always clears his head by doing something with
+his hands." Can we not all bear testimony that some of our brightest
+ideas have come when our hands were busy with rolling-pin or dish-pan?
+
+The newspaper woman is expected to act as leader in many directions.
+Though not always competent to do special newspaper cookery in the best
+way, she may help mould public opinion in the right way on the great
+questions of temperance, domestic economy, coöperative housekeeping,
+and, above all, help to change the prevailing belief that work with the
+hands is degrading.
+
+The great social questions of the day are largely dependent upon the
+food supply. Show the working men and women how to obtain attractive,
+palatable, and nourishing food at less cost than that which is
+unsatisfying, and their wages will really be doubled.
+
+The temperance question is so closely connected with the food supply
+that it is astonishing that more attention has not been given to this
+side of it. We often ascribe the intemperance of the poor man to poor
+food; but are not the excesses of the rich also due to food, poor
+because it is too highly seasoned and improperly cooked?
+
+Rev. T. De Witt Talmage has said: "The kitchen is the most important end
+of the household. If that goes wrong, the whole establishment is wrong.
+It decides the health of the household, and health settles almost
+everything."
+
+May we all live to see the day when every town shall have a food
+experiment station, which shall do for the cook and the kitchen what the
+agricultural stations do for the farmer and farm. The cooking schools
+are a step in the right direction, but their work should be broadened
+and put upon a more scientific basis.
+
+Such an experimental kitchen should analyze and test food products as to
+best methods of preparation; it should try new utensils; it should fit
+young women for their own home life. Perhaps something in this line will
+grow out of the New England Kitchen, so successfully started in Boston.
+
+To bring about such a state of things, public opinion must be educated
+in every direction, through the home, school, and newspapers, as well as
+by individual effort.
+
+The newspaper's cooking, like its editorials, must not be so narrow and
+partisan but that it may command the respect of those who do not wholly
+agree with it.
+
+We must strive to separate the essentials from the non-essentials in our
+housekeeping; to recognize the various conditions of life among those to
+whom we are writing.
+
+We do not want to copy the food fashions of any other land in a servile
+manner; no French, Italian, or English teacher can best instruct us in
+methods of cooking.
+
+But, following our national motto, let us select the best from all, and
+unite these principles to develop an American system of cooking that
+shall produce a race so well proportioned physically that their mental
+and moral natures cannot fail to be well balanced.
+
+  _Anna Barrows._
+
+  BOSTON, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE?
+
+
+A few years ago my attention was attracted by an article in one of the
+leading magazines. It was an article of more than ordinary merit,
+possessing that rarity, even then, a plot dramatically conceived and
+executed. The scene was laid in a part of the world the truthful
+picturing of which showed the writer to be a person who had travelled
+much and observed keenly; the diction was "English pure and undefiled."
+There was but one drawback, that the author's name was withheld, and I
+was obliged to lay my offering of approval and admiration at an unknown
+shrine.
+
+Lately, in conversation with a man who forms one of the great majority
+of those who gain a moderate competence in business life, his days spent
+in the wearisome routine of mercantile life, his nights in painful
+figurings about that delusive "deal" which is to settle satisfactorily
+all questions of financial perplexity, our talk turned on books,
+literary celebrities, the chat of the profession of letters. My friend
+suddenly became communicative and reminiscent--rare expressions in him.
+
+"A few years ago," he said. "I, too, had the literary craze. I wrote a
+little--stray articles, stories, poems, the usual repertoire."
+
+I wondered what kind of material this suave, cynical, reserved man could
+have produced--in other words, what was his undercurrent. I
+interrogated. To my surprise and consternation I had found at last the
+author of my pedestal-placed masterpiece.
+
+"But why," I said, "did you not keep on; why hide, deface, forget, a
+talent like yours?"
+
+"Allowing, for the sake of argument," he answered, "that I possessed
+talent to the degree you imply, I should still have been forced to my
+present attitude. I am not alone in this. I am convinced that the best
+writers (of course, with notable exceptions) are the people who never
+write, who could bring to the field varied experience, the results of
+travel, thought, and cultivation, but who are driven away by the
+knowledge that the wolf will have them if they attempt it.
+Notwithstanding the fact that there has never been a time when
+literature has been produced so prolifically, a man can only make a
+moderate competence, and that after years of weary uncertainty and a
+constant strain on the waiting nerves, and, even at the end, he gets
+but a meagre reward: lots of newspaper notoriety and a scanty bank
+account. I am not complaining; I looked the facts squarely in the face,
+and chose what I regarded as the only sensible solution. I could not
+conscientiously use literature as a safety-valve or time-passer, giving
+to the world the result of tired brain and over-wrought nerves;
+consequently, I sacrificed inclination to necessity, and have left my
+muse alone. However,"--and he was once more the worldling,--"I have
+reserved to myself the right to criticise; and when I see a young man of
+talent enter the field of letters, I conclude he is like a man about to
+marry, either a great hero or a great fool."
+
+  _Gertrude F. Lynch._
+
+  NEW YORK, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+FASHIONS IN LITERATURE.
+
+
+A veteran novel reader has learned to detect a plot in its early stages;
+to see from afar the marriage, the forgery, the hidden will; to him (or
+should I rather say to her?) the true inwardness of the different
+characters is manifest; no disguise, no blandishments, avail to conceal
+from his piercing vision the true heir, the disguised villain, the timid
+lover.
+
+It has been stated by careful students that the original stories in the
+world number but two hundred and fifty; but we have not forgotten our
+arithmetic, and we have learned chess, so we know something of the
+manifold combinations of numbers, and we take courage.
+
+But the veteran novel reader finds little variety in incident and
+machinery; there are fashions in fiction as in everything else, and the
+prevailing "style" of the time is followed apparently without question.
+
+The heroines of an earlier generation differed from those of the
+present. They were slender creatures, living on delicate fare, and
+fainting at every or no provocation. When these lovely beings died it
+was usually of a broken heart, developing into consumption. They were
+depicted clad in white and holding flowers, reclining at open windows,
+regardless of draughts, and they lectured heart-broken friends and
+faithless lovers with a command of language and strength of lung rare in
+every-day life. For bringing about some needed explanation sprained
+ankles have played a conspicuous part, and a strong-armed hero or
+stalwart rival was ready to carry the fair sufferer
+
+  "Over hill, over dale,
+   Through bush, through briar,"
+
+to some place of shelter, where friends and reader alike watched the
+progress of recovery. Runaway horses have been vastly useful in bringing
+matters to a crisis, and in New England stories a fierce bull is always
+ready to threaten the life of the heroine.
+
+These casualties were especially the lot of the heroines, but fevers
+were open to all without distinction of "sex, race, or color." In the
+wanderings of delirium the cleverly-disguised villain betrayed his dark
+designs--the self-distrusting lover sighed his woes into the sympathetic
+ear of the damsel of whom in his "normal state" he had said--
+
+  "'Twere all as one
+   That I should love some bright particular star
+   And seek to wed it."
+
+With the modern dissemination of knowledge and of sanitary science, the
+former ailments have become less fashionable; there has been a run of
+diphtheria, and heart complaints are slaying their thousands.
+
+Athletics are restricted to no sex,--the hero is less frequently called
+to rescue his beloved from a watery grave. Indeed, her skill may be
+superior to his,--witness Armorel, one of the fairest of modern
+creations.
+
+Now and then a leader has appeared,--an inventor,--but the new style is
+imitated with no respect for patent right. Jane Eyre was _new_; here was
+a heroine with neither wealth nor beauty, and forthwith appeared a long
+train of ugly girls, and dark, middle-aged men promising henceforth "to
+forswear sack and live cleanly," yet in confidential moments giving
+glimpses of a past which caused all virtuous folks to shiver.
+
+We have now the "novel of every-day life," wherein we are called to
+"assist" at commonplace incidents; to listen to inane talk, where
+adverbs, liberally bestowed, help our comprehension, as we are told that
+certain things were "coarsely," "suggestively," "tentatively," said. It
+is, indeed, "reading made easy."
+
+Stuart Mill, lamenting the changes in the tendency of modern fiction,
+wrote: "For the first time perhaps in history, the youth of both sexes
+of the educated classes are universally growing up unromantic. What will
+come in mature age from such a youth the world has not yet had time to
+see."
+
+These words were written half a century ago, the generation referred to
+has reached "mature age," and the world has read its novels.
+
+  _Pamela McArthur Cole._
+
+  EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+SNEAK REPORTING.
+
+
+I do not beg the reader's pardon for the apparent egotism of this
+article, for, though I use the first person throughout, I feel that I do
+so as the spokesman of a large (if not an important) class.
+
+To begin at the beginning, I have always believed that in time I could
+succeed as a journalist, if I could but secure a position on a live
+newspaper, where I could gain practical knowledge. In pursuance of this
+idea, I haunted the doors of an afternoon paper, and finally, by dint of
+perseverance, fairly worried the city editor into giving me an
+assignment.
+
+Naturally, a beginner was not given an important task, but it proved to
+be a very embarrassing one. I was required, in the line of my duty, to
+stick my impertinent nose into another man's business, and elicit from
+him facts that he did not want published. I did not feel the least
+curiosity about the matter, and, I am sure, looked as guilty as if I had
+been a dog engaged in the sheep-stealing industry, and had been caught
+with the wool in my teeth. I approached him with inward fear and
+trembling, and requested information on a subject in connection with
+which he had been held up before the public in an unenviable light. He
+refused to talk, and when I persisted, as per orders, told me to go to
+the residence of a personage whom I do not like to hear mentioned,
+except by authority and by gentlemen who have the legal right to wear a
+handle to their names.
+
+I did not resent this as ordinarily I should have done. I was so humbled
+and ashamed by my consciousness of the impudence of my errand, that if
+he had pulled my nose, I am sure I should have commended the spirit with
+which he did it.
+
+It was in vain I represented to him that to withhold this matter of
+public interest was to show an unpardonable disregard of the rights of
+others, which, as contrary to public policy, could easily be construed
+into an act of overt disloyalty. He did not seem to be interested in the
+rights of others, and entirely refused to see the matter in the proper
+light. He was not a rational man. When I attempted to argue the case
+with him, he became violent, and roared at me until, I am sure, had the
+bulls of Bashan heard him, they would have been tempted to "hide their
+diminished heads." I decided that discretion was the better part of
+valor, and left him to fight it out alone. I returned to the office,
+rendered an account of the manner in which I had failed, and was the
+recipient of a scathing rebuke from the city editor. It was in vain I
+tried to get angry. Even to myself I could not simulate proper
+indignation, so thoroughly had the starch been taken out of me by my
+seance with an excusably irritated man, knowing the while that I was
+trespassing on the bounds of courtesy.
+
+That experience was enough for me. While I might become a successful
+reporter, in doing so I fear I should lose that regard for the rights of
+others, the petty conscience of every-day life, that is conspicuously
+absent in so many of the men we meet.
+
+While this incident has not altered my liking for newspaper work, it has
+very materially modified my ideas concerning certain branches of it.
+From the reporter's desk to the editor's chair is a natural and easy
+transition; and the outsider, unless he possesses the genius of George
+Kennan and his companions, must go through this stage of preliminary
+training. Those of us who have no influence, no startling genius, and a
+decided dislike to becoming inquisitive nuisances feel that we are
+overweighted in the journalistic handicap.
+
+What course shall we pursue, that what few merits we possess shall not
+be overshadowed by the lack of one quality, which may be a useful one to
+the reporter, but is usually known and avoided in the ordinary man under
+the vulgar name of "gall"?
+
+  _Herbert Corey._
+
+  CINCINNATI, Ohio.
+
+
+
+
+A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME.
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived a good little girl whom everybody loved.
+She had six aunts, four uncles, and twenty-seven cousins, besides a
+brother and two sisters. All these relatives, of course, especially
+loved her, for that was only natural. And they were all very glad,
+indeed, to help her in every way possible.
+
+She was a bright little thing as well as good, and by and by she thought
+she would see whether any of the papers and magazines cared to know of
+the things she thought, and she wrote a morsel of an article and timidly
+sent it off.
+
+But before she sent it to the editor she read it to her sisters, each of
+whom had some slight correction to make; and she showed it to Aunt Emma,
+who was quite of a literary turn of mind, and Aunt Emma read it to her
+daughter Mabel, who had just left college.
+
+These ladies so marked up the carefully written manuscript that the good
+little girl had to copy it all before it was fit to be sent.
+
+After it had been gone eight days the article was returned. This made
+the little girl very sad, and she wept.
+
+The other five aunts, and the uncles, and all the cousins were by this
+time interested, and they comforted her with many words, and censured
+her with a great many more, and gave her a great deal of good advice.
+But the little girl finally got so confused by the many conflicting
+opinions offered that she hardly knew what to do or say. One moment she
+would think she would write this and another that, and some of the time
+she declared that she would never write another line at all.
+
+But one day a very pretty idea came into her mind all at once, and she
+did think it too sweet to be lost. So she wrote it down just as it came
+to her, and sent it away, and never told a soul a word about it.
+
+By and by it was printed, and how happy the little girl was! She told
+nobody but her parents and her sisters this time, but all her friends
+saw her name in the paper, and they came running to her to talk about
+it.
+
+"I saw your name in the paper," said Cousin Ada.
+
+"Did you?" said the good little girl, pleasantly.
+
+"Yes; an' Bert an' I know who you meant by 'The Old Bad Man.'"
+
+"But I didn't mean anybody," explained she; "that was only a little
+story."
+
+"Oh, we know you did. Mamma says it isn't a nice story at all, an'
+Mabelle says, 'Ugh!'"
+
+It was no wonder that the little girl felt hurt at these words. And it
+was queer, but every time that any of the friends had any fault to find,
+or any help to give her, which was the same thing, of course, they began
+it by saying, "I saw your name in the paper."
+
+At last the good little girl could endure it no longer, and she said to
+herself, "They _sha'n't_ see my name in the paper any more"; and she sat
+down on the green grass and thought of a nice new name that pleased her,
+and she called herself by that name always when she wrote for the
+papers. And as she never got famous so that she wanted to tell people
+what her pen-name was, her friends never found it out, and she lived and
+died in peace.
+
+_Hæc fabula docet_--Don't be made to feel it's cowardly to use a nom de
+plume if you want to. It isn't likely to do any harm, and it may save
+you lots of bother.
+
+  _Persis E. Darrow._
+
+  WENTWORTH, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE.
+
+
+When any one living in this age of the world feels that he has thoughts
+clamoring for utterance, he seeks advice from some one who has attained
+success in the profession of literature. In most instances he receives
+no satisfactory criticism, and is compelled to act on innate conviction
+of his right to enter the "thorny path" and fight his way up to the top,
+where, we are told, there is always room.
+
+There seem to be two literary factions pitted against each other. Those
+of one class employ their best effort in dissuading young writers from
+writing; those of another set forth an author's life in glowing colors.
+One faction will tell you that half the manuscripts sent to editors are
+not even accorded the courtesy of an examination unless signed by a
+well-known name. Another says that editors are keenly on the outlook for
+original matter, seizing with avidity anything that promises to make a
+new element in current literature.
+
+A noted author writes to a young aspirant: "Sweet and natural though
+your utterance seems to be, let me ask you in the friendliest spirit not
+to write at all. The toil is great, the pursuit incessant, the reward
+not outward." To the same young woman writes another equally well-known
+writer: "Your work is excellent; you _can_ and _will_ succeed."
+
+The fact is obvious that there is a literary aristocracy in America.
+Born in an intellectual atmosphere, with inherited talent, wrapped in
+their own dreams, knowing little of the struggle and toil of their less
+fortunate co-workers, its members stand aloof, saying: Thou shalt not
+enter therein. The old Italian poet quaintly puts it:--
+
+  "For singing loudly is not singing well;
+   But ever by the song that's soft and low
+   The master singer's voice is plain to tell.
+   Few have it, and yet all are masters now,
+   And each of them can trill out what he calls
+   His ballads, canzonets, and madrigals.
+   The world with masters is so covered o'er
+   There is no room for pupils any more."
+
+Therefore, the individual who contemplates becoming an author must be a
+law unto himself. If he finds his truest expression, his greatest
+delight in literary work, let him persevere, all the world to the
+contrary notwithstanding.
+
+  "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
+     Can circumvent, can hinder, or control
+     The firm resolve of a determined soul.
+   Gifts count for nothing; _will alone is great_."
+
+An editor, noted for his gentleness and courtesy, tells us that all
+writers must go through an evolutionary process of rejected manuscripts,
+and cites the instance of Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, who awoke one
+morning to find herself famous. She had written "The Amber Gods." When
+congratulated as the first author who had attained reputation by a
+single effort, she replied:--
+
+"No, that is not true. I have been writing for years under an assumed
+name."
+
+  _Susan Andrews Rice._
+
+  WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+
+
+
+THE DELUGE OF VERSE.
+
+
+A fragment of a conversation overheard the other evening, when the
+writer, half-buried with the daily proof-sheets from which he knows no
+escape, was hurrying westward on an afternoon train, is the _raison
+d'être_ of this communication. The participants were two young and
+pleasant-looking girls: they discussed matters feminine, of which only
+the words "toque," "a bewitching little thing," and "pink velvet" had
+reached my ears; but when I heard the question, "What became of your
+last poem, Clara?"--and the reply, "_Youth's Companion_, came back with
+a printed slip; _Independent_, ditto; then I tried the _Waverley
+Magazine_, who accepted it, but did not pay young contributors"; I
+became unthinkingly an interested eavesdropper, and just then, with
+creak and clatter, the train stopped, the station, "Wellesley," was
+called, and the fair ones departed, taking my thoughts (and all power of
+concentration on work in hand) with them.
+
+I mused in this wise: "Just why does the average young person give him
+(or her) self out in verse, good, bad, and indifferent?" The _Youth's
+Companion_ does not want a Wellesley girl's lucubrations; it has verse
+on hand from many of the most skilled and charming writers in that line.
+But it does, I know, want good stories for boys, for girls,--and where
+can be a better "_locale_," materials for plot, sketches of life and
+character, etc., than at a girls' college? One could surely range "from
+grave to gay, from lively to severe," in such a field.
+
+The editor of the _Atlantic_, dear young people, accepts
+articles--well-written, of course--on questions relating to higher
+education, university extension, matters of historical research. Harper
+& Brothers are glad to get character sketches (not New England
+particularly,--you cannot outdo, quite yet, Miss Jewett and Mary
+Wilkins,--but there are many other bits of humanity, quaint, odd, or
+pathetic). _Scribner's_ and the _Cosmopolitan_ like travels, but they
+must be bright and varied; and mechanical articles, young men, but these
+must be a direct and forcible presentation of their subjects, and not
+rehashes from old books; while the _Century_ will pay you well for some
+dainty comic bit for its "Bric-à-brac." Friends of the _Golden Rule_,
+_Cottage Hearth_, and _Christian Register_ have assured me that
+good--not _goody-goody_--juvenile literature is very hard to get. I know
+a young woman who is paid well by the page for all the children's
+stories she can write, and her pages are fresh and good, with new
+themes and unhackneyed incidents; and a young man who is taking up
+themes of interest in our history,--the unprecedented message of a
+president which gave no report to Congress of financial or diplomatic
+matters for the preceding two years, and the three presidential protests
+against action taken in Congress (how many of you know about these state
+papers?),--there are a hundred other things, too, which might be told
+about in this line,--and he finds no difficulty in getting his matter
+accepted. There is an assistant editor not far from Beacon Hill who
+keeps track of the clergymen, the prominent families, and individuals in
+a certain large religious denomination. Every week she furnishes her
+quota of items to an eight-page paper, and she is a pearl of great price
+to her chief. The Marthas of the household, "careful and troubled,"
+there is a place for in many journals to-day, whether their specialty be
+cooking, scrubbing, or lace-work. There is also a chance for those who
+possess a large fund of miscellaneous information, in _Notes and
+Queries_ and like journals.
+
+"The bearing of which lies in the application of it." Perhaps you may
+think, discouragingly, that there is no chance for you in these or any
+other specialties, but take my advice and try something awhile--get into
+a class and work to become at the head of that class; then, even if you
+do not attain the full measure of success you had hoped, you will
+certainly have the proud consciousness of having striven, and can
+contemplate with pity
+
+  Those green and salad days: Can I rehearse
+  What sweets I ate and what I put In verse?
+
+  _Douglas Dane._
+
+  BOSTON, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+CONCERNING SONNETS.
+
+
+A few months ago the pages of THE WRITER contained some interesting
+suggestions as to the advisability of a uniform indentation for sonnets
+when printed; the writer favoring a New York method, which would bring
+out even the first, fifth, ninth, and twelfth lines, setting all the
+other lines an equal space to the right of these. I give a quatrain for
+example:--
+
+  "The early star, soft mirrored in the stream,
+     Dim vistas of the dewy forest-road,
+     Yea, even the solemn, high-walled glen, abode
+     Of mortal dust long quit of deed and dream."
+
+The writer's chief argument for this style was, I believe, that it was
+used by a good printing house, and also made a neat appearance on the
+page; but the question at once occurred to me, What is indentation in
+verse for? Is it not a guide to the eye, to enhance the proper
+recurrence of the rhyme (and in the ode to show as well rhythm)? If we
+are to have a mere arbitrary arrangement of the sonnet, why not the same
+in a poem of regular or inverted quatrains, or of the Persian quatrain,
+which is now always given in this form:--
+
+  "I sometimes think that never blows so red
+   The rose as where some buried Cæsar bled;
+     That every flower the fragrant garden wears
+   Dropped in her lap from some once lovely head."
+
+Or imagine an édition de luxe of Gray's "Elegy" with every stanza
+printed in this style:--
+
+  "Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
+     Their homely joys, their destiny obscure;
+     Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,
+     The short and simple annals of the poor."
+
+I could not take much pleasure in a book of sonnets where each page was
+thus stiffly arranged, but should greatly prefer the indenting of lines
+according to rhyme, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth to be in line,
+and the second, third, sixth, and seventh to be set somewhat to the
+right of these; should there come, however, a Shakespearian sonnet to be
+provided for,--lines rhyming alternately,--or any of those monstrosities
+of fourteen lines, which have no regularity of rhyme, let the lines then
+be brought to a uniform indentation, and the reader disentangle the plan
+of the verse as best he may.
+
+In editing copy or reading proof for a poet, I always follow the
+author's preference, if indicated, or if copy submitted is consistent;
+but having the matter to determine, I would first look to see if the
+sonnets were generally regular; and second, if the sextet (the last six
+lines) followed the Italian or the best accepted English forms: this
+done, it is easy to determine upon a style,--which would be the one
+adopted at the present time by the best English and American printers
+(as far as recent books of both countries give any clue), as follows:--
+
+  "What we miscall our life is Memory:
+     We walk upon a narrow path between
+     Two gulfs--what is to be, and what has been,
+   Led by a guide whose name is Destiny;
+   Beyond is sightless gloom and mystery,
+     From whose unfathomable depths we glean
+     Chaotic hopes and terrors, dimly-seen
+   Reflections of a past reality.
+
+  "Behind, pursuing through the twilight haze,
+     The phantom people of the past appear;
+       Hope, happiness and sorrow, fruitless strife,
+   And all the loved and lost of other days;
+     They crowd upon us closer year by year,
+       Till we as phantoms haunt some other life."
+
+The octet, in the regular form of a sonnet, should stand as above; if
+the sextet varies, but is not too irregular, vary the indentation of the
+latter, as--
+
+       ... "the great World-builder has designed
+  The wondrous plans which Nature's works disclose.
+    A child who scans the philosophic page
+    Of some profoundly meditative sage
+  May see familiar phrases,--then he knows
+    That his own simple thoughts and childish lore
+    Are part of the great scholar's mental store."
+
+Should the sextet read as given below, instead of trying to follow the
+seemingly hap-hazard rhymes with the setting in or out of lines, it
+would be better to print the first eight lines uniformly even and the
+sextet at the end to correspond with them:--
+
+  "Then human Grief found out her human heart,
+   And she was fain to go where pain is dumb;
+   So thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see,
+   And she fares onward with thee, willingly,
+   To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,--
+   Thus Grief that is makes welcome Death to come."
+
+In like manner, let any irregularity of the eight lines settle the
+question of indentation, even though the latter portion of the sonnet
+should happen to be according to the best forms.
+
+There are many other questions of style and appearance in getting up a
+collection of sonnets, a few of which may be referred to here. A little
+English book which I have at hand has the best of all the recent work in
+that line, and even runs back, in some cases, fifty years; from a
+literary point of view, it is unexcelled. But look at a few of the
+mechanical defects: it is printed as a very small 18mo.--all the long
+lines of the sonnets with a word or two "turned down," as the printers
+say. It is a "red-line" book, which means a large enclosed white space
+above and below the sonnet, and very little margin on each side. It has
+running titles standing in a lonesome way at the head of each page, and
+a folio in the page corner instead of being centred at the foot of each
+sonnet; and, to make a bad matter worse, each of these running titles
+has a rule beneath it, making the separation more obvious. These are
+only a few of the defects. Not the less displeasing to me is another
+book of sonnets, printed in octavo form. Not that one objects to a large
+margin, but the duodecimo, it seems to me, is much the best size and
+shape of volume for the proper display upon a printed page of this
+miniature poem, and a handsome old-style or Elzevir letter is the
+fittest type, instead of the sombre modern cut, so often used.
+
+  _F. D. Stickney._
+
+  CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  THE WRITER.
+
+
+  WM. H. HILLS.      EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
+
+
+*** THE WRITER is published the first day of every month. It will be
+sent, post-paid, ONE YEAR for ONE DOLLAR.
+
+*** All drafts and money orders should be made payable to William H.
+Hills. Stamps, or local checks, should not be sent in payment for
+subscriptions.
+
+*** THE WRITER will be sent only to those who have paid for it in
+advance. Accounts cannot be opened for subscriptions, and names will not
+be entered on the list unless the subscription order is accompanied by a
+remittance. When subscriptions expire the names of subscribers will be
+taken off the list unless an order for renewal, accompanied by
+remittance, is received. Due notice will be given to every subscriber of
+the expiration of his subscription.
+
+*** No sample copies of THE WRITER will be sent free.
+
+*** The American News Company, of New York, and the New England News
+Company, of Boston, are wholesale agents for THE WRITER. It may be
+ordered from any newsdealer, or directly, by mail, from the publisher.
+
+*** THE WRITER is kept on sale by Damrell & Upham (Old Corner
+Bookstore), Boston; Brentano Bros., New York, Washington, and Chicago;
+George F. Wharton, New Orleans; John Wanamaker, Philadelphia; and the
+principal newsdealers in other cities.
+
+*** Everything printed in the magazine will be written expressly for it.
+
+*** Not one line of paid advertisement will be printed in THE WRITER
+outside of the advertising pages.
+
+*** Advertising rates will be sent on request.
+
+*** Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed
+envelope is enclosed.
+
+  Address:--
+
+  THE WRITER,
+
+  (P. O. Box 1905.) BOSTON, MASS.
+
+
+
+
+  VOL. VI.    APRIL, 1892.     NO. 4.
+
+
+It is hard to believe that Dr. Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years
+old April 3, but it will not do to contradict the birth record and the
+arithmetic, in spite of all his unfailing energy and youthful activity
+in many different undertakings. Dr. Hale is one of the men who will be
+always young, and it may be in consequence of this that he has written
+so many things that will never lose their freshness. One of the best of
+them is the chapter in "How to Do It" on "How to Write," which is full
+of crisp and practical suggestions. Dr. Hale's rules for writing are
+evidently those which have always governed his own literary work; and
+while others may not be able to follow them with equal success, they are
+worth remembering by every writer. The rules are:
+
+First, _Know what you want to say_; second, _Say it_; third, _Use your
+own language_; fourth, _Leave out all the fine passages_; fifth, _A
+short word is better than a long one_; sixth, _The fewer words, other
+things being equal, the better_; finally, _Cut it to pieces_. Any writer
+who will make these rules his guide in daily work will find in them an
+important help to literary success.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCRAP BASKET.
+
+
+It was proposed by a recent contributor to THE WRITER that authors
+should advertise their wares, like other manufacturers. In case the idea
+should meet with favor, I would suggest that the practice be carried a
+step further in the line of business methods. During the "Robert
+Elsmere" craze, a few years ago, a certain soap manufacturing company
+advertised a copy of the book with every quarter's worth of soap sold.
+It is unfortunate that Mrs. Humphry Ward, whose "History of David
+Grieve," it is reported, is not meeting with great success in this
+country, did not profit by the hint of the soap company and advertise a
+cake of soap to be given as an inducement with every copy of her book.
+
+  A. L. A.
+
+  WINDHAM, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.
+
+
+     [Brief, pointed, practical paragraphs discussing the use and misuse
+     of words and phrases will be printed in this department. All
+     readers of THE WRITER are invited to contribute to it.
+     Contributions are limited to 400 words; the briefer they are, the
+     better.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"=Cenotaph.="--We are told that a cenotaph is a monument "in memory of
+one buried elsewhere"--otherwise, "an empty tomb." A recent number of a
+popular magazine contains an article on "Memorials of Edgar Allen Poe."
+When the author asked to be directed to the grave of the poet, the
+sexton pointed to the cenotaph of white marble in the corner at the
+intersection of two streets, and we are told that "the remains" were
+"transferred to this more conspicuous spot from the family lot in the
+rear of the church." Are not "high-sounding" words too often used
+without reference to their suitableness? Mr. Pecksniff called his
+daughter "a playful warbler,"--not that she was, we are told, "at all
+vocal," but that Mr. Pecksniff was in the habit of using a word that
+rounded a sentence well.
+
+  P. MCA. C.
+
+  EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK REVIEWS.
+
+
+     LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS TO WILKIE COLLINS. Edited by Lawrence
+     Hutton. With Portraits and Fac-similes. 171 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New
+     York: Harper & Brothers. 1892.
+
+The friendship between Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins began when
+Dickens was nearly forty, and Collins about twenty-five years of age.
+Ten years later the marriage of the daughter of Dickens to the brother
+of Collins cemented the intimacy then begun, and it continued unbroken
+until the death of Dickens, in 1870. Part of the familiar correspondence
+between the two men was printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens"; but
+many more letters from Dickens were found after the death of Collins,
+and from these Miss Hogarth selected the specimens that make up the
+present volume. As Mr. Hutton says in his introduction: "They not only
+show their writer as he was willing to show himself to the man whom he
+loved, but they give an excellent idea of his methods of collaboration
+with the man whom he had selected from all others as an active partner
+in certain of his creative works." The replies from Collins cannot be
+printed, since it was Dickens' rule to destroy every letter he received,
+not on actual business. It is fortunate that his correspondents did not
+do the same with his letters, so great is the interest of everything
+that he put on paper: as Mr. Hutton happily puts it: "It is greatly to
+be regretted that he did not write letters to himself--like his own Mr.
+Toots--and preserve them all."
+
+The letters included in the present volume are so interesting that the
+temptation is strong to reprint many extracts from them. They give
+charming glimpses of Dickens' personality, and illustrate the literary
+ideas and methods of work of two famous story-writers. Mr. Hutton
+connects the letters with all necessary explanations, and has performed
+his work as editor with admirable skill. A good portrait of Dickens, a
+better one of Collins, and some interesting fac-similes illustrate the
+book.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     EVERYBODY'S WRITING-DESK BOOK. By Charles Nisbet and Don Lemon.
+     Revised and Edited by James Baldwin, Ph. D. 310 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
+     New York: Harper & Brothers. 1892.
+
+In this handy little volume are combined instruction regarding
+composition, English grammar, and punctuation; a list of synonyms and
+antonyms; a list of forms of addresses; information about writing for
+the press, proof-reading, writing and printing papers and books; rules
+for pronunciation and spelling; rates of postage, etc. The book is a
+compilation rather than an original work, and its chief merit is that it
+puts together in a single volume a good deal of information of different
+kinds, not elsewhere to be found in one book. Its spelling list and its
+list of synonyms and antonyms are the parts most valuable for reference;
+while the parts devoted to composition and grammar may be studied with
+profit by those in need of such instruction. The chapter on "Writing for
+the Press" is short and weak, and the book generally is adapted for use
+rather by non-professional than by professional writers.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS; AND HOW HE RECEIVED AND IMPARTED THE
+     SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. By Justin Winsor. 674 pp. Cloth, $4.00.
+     Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Company. 1892.
+
+Mr. Winsor's rank as an historian is so high that whatever he writes is
+read with respectful attention. Especially regarding the early history
+of America he is an authority, and probably no one in this country is
+better fitted than he to write the story of Columbus. The view he takes
+of the life and character of the admiral in this exhaustive study of his
+career will surprise those who have looked on Columbus as a hero, with
+ideas far in advance of the age in which he lived, and with no blemishes
+upon his reputation. Mr. Winsor presents facts, so far as they can be
+ascertained, rather than the romantic notions of traditions, and his
+picture of Columbus is not flattering to the explorer. In the opening
+chapter of the work he gives a review of all the sources of information
+about the admiral's life, and shows a respect for the investigations of
+Harisse that is undoubtedly justified. Irving's well-known "Life of
+Columbus" he treats with scant reverence as an historical work. "The
+genuine Columbus," he says, "evaporates under the warmth of the writer's
+genius, and we have nothing left but the refinement of his clay."
+According to Mr. Winsor's estimate, Columbus was a pitiable man, who
+deserved his pitiable end. His discovery was a blunder, and he became
+the despoiler of the new world he had unwittingly found. A rabid seeker
+of gold and a vice-royalty, he left to the new continent a legacy of
+devastation and crime. Finding America, he thought he had discovered the
+Indies, and maintained that belief until his death. Claiming to desire
+the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, he did what he could to
+establish a slave trade with Spain. Slitting the noses and tearing off
+the ears of naked heathen are cruelties with which he is charged. In his
+early life he deserted his lawful wife and became the father of an
+illegitimate son. In his last years his mind weakened, and he became
+the victim of wild hallucinations. Such is the man as Mr. Winsor
+describes him, in contrast to the demi-god of whom Prescott says:
+"Whether we contemplate his character in its public or private
+relations, in all its features it wears the same noble aspects." As a
+bold navigator Columbus won the fame of a world-discoverer; but he never
+knew himself what he had found; and if Mr. Winsor's estimate is just, it
+is not altogether unfitting that the name of a more clear-sighted
+voyager than he should be given to the world that he discovered.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE. Edited by Charles F. Warner, 120 pp. Large
+     Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
+     Company. 1890.
+
+     PICTURESQUE FRANKLIN. Edited by Charles F. Warner. 123 pp. Large
+     Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton. Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
+     Company. 1891.
+
+At first sight it seems astonishing that such handsome books as these,
+with their lavish wealth of costly half-tone pictures, can be profitably
+sold at so low a price. They are exceedingly attractive volumes, and
+together they make a delightful picture-gallery of New England country
+life. "Picturesque Hampshire" was published in November, 1890, as a
+supplement to the quarter-centennial issue of the _Hampshire County
+Journal_, and its success was so great as to lead to the publication of
+"Picturesque Franklin," and to the preparation of "Picturesque Hampden,"
+which will be issued in two parts next fall. Not only the residents of
+the counties illustrated, and of Western Massachusetts generally, but
+every cultivated person will be interested in these books. The
+illustrations are so numerous that each volume is really a picture book
+of New England life. The illustrations have been reproduced from
+photographs by the half-tone process, and they retain all the accuracy
+and sharpness of the original photographs. The text explains them
+sufficiently, and is generally well written.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     IN FOREIGN LANDS. By Barbara N. Galpin. 156 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
+     Boston: New England Publishing Company. 1892.
+
+"In Foreign Lands" is a pleasantly-written volume descriptive of
+European travel, and tells, in an interesting way, the experiences of a
+delightful summer journey.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     NEW HARVARD SONGBOOK. Compiled by R. T. Whitehouse, '91, and
+     Frederick Bruegger, '92. Revised Edition. 92 pp. Flexible Covers.
+     Boston: Oliver Ditson Company. 1892.
+
+This new compilation of college songs contains many of the new songs
+which have been sung by the Harvard Glee Club during the last three
+years. Many of the songs are the compositions of Harvard undergraduates,
+and have never before been published. Some of the best-known among them
+are: "Boreen," "Holsteiner's Band," "The Hoodoo," "Jay Bird," "The Man
+in the Moon's Ball," "Mrs. Craigin's Daughter," "O'Grady's Goat," "The
+Party at Odd Fellows' Hall," "The Phantom Band," "Romeo and Juliette,"
+"Schneider's Band," and "The Versatile Baby." The book is full of the
+rollicking college spirit, and college men and their sweethearts will
+find it an unfailing source of delight. It is adapted either for glee
+club or home use, and is exquisitely gotten up.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     BRUNHILDE; OR, THE LAST ACT OF NORMA. By Pedro A. De Alarcon.
+     Translated by Mrs. Francis J. A. Darr. With Portrait of the Author.
+     311 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: A. Lovell & Company. 1891.
+
+Mrs. Darr has translated this work of the Spanish novelist with fidelity
+and skill. It is an interesting story, with an unusual plot and a
+dramatic climax, and it is told in a peculiar style, which gives to it a
+distinctive charm. A good portrait of the author is given as a
+frontispiece.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     TRIFET'S HARMONIZED MELODIES. Arranged by Charles D. Blake. 256 pp.
+     Paper, 60 cents. Boston: F. Trifet. 1892.
+
+Four hundred songs, sacred and secular, comic and sentimental, pathetic
+and humorous, are given in this collection, so harmonized and arranged
+that they may be played upon the piano or organ or sung with or without
+accompaniment. Every variety of song is given, and every one will find
+in the book something suited to his taste. The arranger has done his
+work well, and the music printer has made the book an attractive one.
+The selections range from "Old Folks at Home" and the "Sweet By and By"
+to "Comrades" and "Annie Rooney," and the price of the book, considering
+the quantity of music it contains, is remarkably low. It will
+undoubtedly have an extensive sale.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA. By Bret Harte. 301 pp. Cloth, $1.25.
+     Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 1892.
+
+The charm of Bret Harte's stories lies in their originality of
+conception, their well-defined local color, and the chaste richness of
+their literary style. The power to pique one's interest to the last page
+belongs to Mr. Harte above all other writers of stories of American
+life. His latest book has all the good qualities of its predecessors. It
+tells a perfectly natural story of life in California. The hero is a
+newspaper man; the other characters are a man who makes a big "strike"
+in land, and becomes suddenly rich, his two daughters, a newspaper
+proprietor with an axe to grind and a secret love, a beautiful and rich
+Boston widow, and a civil engineer. The denouement is startling, being
+none other than the wiping out by a flood of the town which made the
+rich man's fortune, and the lesson of the story is the suddenness with
+which in the West riches have been made, and also lost.
+
+  L. F.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS RECEIVED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     [All books sent to the editor of THE WRITER will be acknowledged
+     under this heading. They will receive such further notice as may be
+     warranted by their importance to readers of the magazine.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PARAGRAPH-WRITING, WITH APPENDICES ON NEWSPAPER
+     STYLE AND PROOF-READING. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D., and Joseph V.
+     Denney, A. B. 107 pp. Stiff paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register
+     Publishing Company. 1891.
+
+     THE PRINCIPLES OF STYLE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 51 pp. Stiff
+     paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.
+
+     ÆSTHETICS, ITS PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 32
+     pp. Paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.
+
+     HELEN YOUNG. By Paul Lindau. Translated from the German by P. J.
+     McFadden. 183 pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, &
+     Company. 1892.
+
+     THE TREASURE TOWER. A Story of Malta. By Virginia W. Johnson. 223
+     pp. Paper, 25 cents. New York: Rand, McNally, & Company. 1892.
+
+     THE LIGHT OF ASIA. By Sir Edwin Arnold. With Notes by Mrs. I. L.
+     Hauser. 309 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Company.
+     1892.
+
+     THE BOOK OF RUTH. A novel. By P. L. Gray. 219 pp. Paper. Bendena,
+     Kan.: P. L. Gray. 1892.
+
+     THE BLUE SCARAB. By David Graham Adee. 348 pp. Paper, 50 cents.
+     Chicago: Laird & Lee. 1892.
+
+     A LOYAL LOVER. By E. Lovett Cameron. 294 pp. Paper, 50 cents. New
+     York: John A. Taylor & Company. 1892.
+
+     MRS. LYGON. A Domestic Detective Story. By Shirley Brooks. 385 pp.
+     Paper, 50 cents. St. Paul, Minn.: Price, McGill Company. 1892.
+
+     A MORAL INHERITANCE. By Lydia Hoyt Farmer. 240 pp. New York: J. S.
+     Ogilvie. 1890.
+
+     HOW TO GET MARRIED, ALTHOUGH A WOMAN. By a Young Widow. 144 pp.
+     Paper, 25 cents. New York: J. S. Ogilvie. 1892.
+
+     CLASSICAL POEMS. By William Entriken Bailey. 108 pp. Cloth.
+     Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Company. 1892.
+
+     THE PARSON. A Satire. By Charles J. Bayne. Twelfth Edition. 19 pp.
+     Paper. Augusta, Ga.: Chronicle Office. 1892.
+
+
+
+
+HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.
+
+
+=Envelope Pigeon-holes.=--One of the most useful appliances that I use in
+daily work is the row of envelopes in the front compartment of the upper
+left-hand drawer of my desk. The envelopes are made of stout manila
+paper, almost as high as the drawer is deep, and eight and one-half
+inches long. They are arranged in the drawer at right angles with the
+front, so that as I sit at the desk the face of each envelope is toward
+me. The flaps are turned inside, and each envelope has an inscription on
+the upper left-hand corner. They are used for filing material wanted for
+early reference, and they keep such material classified, within
+immediate reach, and in much smaller space than if pigeon-holes were
+used. The first twenty-six envelopes are inscribed with the letters of
+the alphabet, and are used for filing material alphabetically. Those
+beyond are labelled with subjects, also arranged alphabetically, the
+subjects being those in which I have an immediate special interest. For
+instance, if I am preparing an article on "Misprints," any examples
+noted are filed away in an envelope so marked, and when I get ready to
+write the article the material is ready at hand. "Bills Unpaid,"
+"Receipted Bills," "Ideas and Suggestions," "Postage Stamps,"
+"Addresses," "Cards and Circulars," may be marked on other envelopes. If
+a drawer is not available, the envelopes may be kept in a box within
+easy reach, but the drawer is best. The scheme is easily adapted to any
+special needs. In the case of a writer collecting material, when an
+envelope bulges too much, it suggests profitable action.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+  SOMERVILLE, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS.
+
+
+     [Readers who send to the publishers of the periodicals indexed for
+     copies containing the articles mentioned in the following list,
+     will confer a favor if they will mention THE WRITER when they
+     write.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+     WRITINGS OF W. H. H. MURRAY. George Stewart, Jr. _Belford's
+     Magazine_ for March.
+
+     REPORTERS AND THEIR TRIALS. _Inland Printer_ for March.
+
+     THEORY OF THE COMMA. _American Bookmaker_ for March.
+
+     CHARACTERISTICS OF MAGIC IN EASTERN AND WESTERN LITERATURE. Talcott
+     Williams. _Poet-Lore_ for March 15.
+
+     WHAT A BIBLIOGRAPHY SHOULD BE. Victor Chauvin. _Library Journal_
+     for March.
+
+     SOME NEWSPAPER BAD HABITS. With Portrait of E. W. Howe. E. W. Howe.
+     _Newspaperdom_ for March.
+
+     THE DANBURY NEWS MAN. George Watson Hallock. _Newspaperdom_ for
+     March.
+
+     A COMPLETE REFERENCE SYSTEM. I. D. Marshall. _Newspaperdom_ for
+     March.
+
+     THE COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF A NEWS DESPATCH. Samuel
+     Merrill. _Engraver and Printer_ (Boston) for March.
+
+     EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. _Critic_ for March 26.
+
+     COUNT LEON TOLSTOI. Madame Dovidoff. _Cosmopolitan_ for April.
+
+     GOODRIDGE BLISS ROBERTS. With Portrait. Charles G. Abbott.
+     _Dominion Illustrated Monthly_ (Montreal) for April.
+
+     LITERATURE AND THE MINISTRY. Leverett W. Spring. _Atlantic Monthly_
+     for April.
+
+     GEORGE ELIOT AND MRS. HUMPHRY WARD. Charles T. Copeland. _North
+     American Review_ for April.
+
+     CHARLES KEENE, OF PUNCH. George Somes Layard. _Scribner's Magazine_
+     for April.
+
+     ISAAC JUDSON POTTER, PUBLISHER OF THE YANKEE BLADE. With Portrait.
+     _Weekly Journalist_ (Boston) for March 24.
+
+     FICTION IN THE COURT ROOM. George Stewart. _Toronto Week_ for March
+     11.
+
+     T. W. HIGGINSON. With Portrait. _Weekly Journalist_ (Boston) for
+     March 31.
+
+     WHY BOOKS SUCCEED. Duffield Osborne. _American Bookseller_ for
+     April 1.
+
+     EUGENE FIELD. _Inland Printer_ for April.
+
+     WHAT IS POETRY. Edmund Clarence Stedman. _Century_ for April.
+
+     WOLCOTT BALESTIER. Edmund Gosse. _Century_ for April.
+
+     THE WIFE OF EUGENE FIELD. John Ballantyne. _Ladies' Home Journal_
+     for April.
+
+     MISTAKEN LITERARY SUCCESS. Wolstan Dixey. _Ladies' Home Journal_
+     for April.
+
+     POETRY AND ELOQUENCE. John Burroughs. _Chautauquan_ for April.
+
+
+
+
+NEWS AND NOTES.
+
+
+D. Appleton & Co. announce a Holland Fiction Series, introducing to
+American readers the best literature of modern Holland. They have been
+led to do this by the interest shown in Maarten Maartens' "Joost
+Avelingh," which they published some time ago. A new novel by Maarten
+Maartens will be included in the series.
+
+Mrs. James T. Field is abroad with Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.
+
+Daniel Lothrop, head of the D. Lothrop Company, of Boston, died February
+18. He was born August 11, 1831.
+
+Edward Augustus Freeman, the English historian, died of smallpox
+February 16, at Alicante, Spain, aged sixty-nine years.
+
+With the issue of March 11 the _Epoch_ ceased to exist as a separate
+publication, having been merged with _Munsey's Magazine_.
+
+Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years old April 3.
+
+Rev. George Thomas Dowling, D. D., who has been pastor of the
+Madison-avenue Reformed Church in Albany for nearly three years, has
+offered his resignation, to take effect July 1. It is his intention, he
+says, to devote himself for a few years to rest and literary pursuits,
+probably in Boston. Dr. Dowling's salary is $6,500.
+
+In the _New York Herald_ for March 13 were printed the opening lines of
+a story, entitled "The Way Out," which American writers have been
+invited to complete. The opening lines are by John Habberton. The entire
+tale, inclusive of the opening, should not exceed eight thousand words,
+nor contain less than seven thousand words. No limitations are imposed
+as to scenes, characters, or incidents. The decision will be left to Mr.
+Charles Ledyard Norton. For the best story offered the _Herald_ will pay
+$100, the story to become the property of the _Herald_, and be published
+in full Sunday, May 1. Manuscripts must be typewritten, and must reach
+the _Herald_ office not later than Saturday, April 16.
+
+The frontispiece of the _Magazine of Art_ (New York) for April is an
+etching by Chauvel from Troyon's "The Watering-place."
+
+The _Chautauquan_ (Meadville, Penn.) for April contains an excellent
+portrait of John Vance Cheney, the popular poet and critic.
+
+Charles Keene, the famous caricaturist of _Punch_, who died about a year
+ago, is the subject of an article in _Scribner's_ for April, illustrated
+with many pictures from his original drawings.
+
+A portrait of Walt Whitman, from the painting by J. W. Alexander, forms
+the frontispiece to _Harper's Magazine_ for April. Guido Biagi writes of
+"The Last Days of Percy Bysshe Shelley."
+
+A society of American authors, on lines similar to the British and
+French societies of the same name, is proposed by Charles Burr Todd, who
+has set forth the grievances of American authors in a paper in the March
+_Forum_. The first meeting is to be held privately in New York on or
+before May 1, and when one hundred members are enrolled the society will
+be organized at once. Its objects are extension of copyright, abolition
+of letter-rate postage on manuscripts, amendment of international
+copyright law, and the adoption in America of the French statutes in
+regard to literary property. All persons who have written a book, or are
+engaged in writing for the press, are eligible to membership.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892., by Various
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Writer, by William H. Hills.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
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+    hr { width: 33%;
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+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
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+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
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+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892., by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892.
+       A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Henry Hills
+        Robert Luce
+
+Release Date: July 25, 2008 [EBook #26128]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITER, VOLUME VI, APRIL 1892. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Annie McGuire and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1><span class="smcap">THE WRITER:</span></h1>
+
+<h3>A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<table width="100%" summary="Title">
+  <tr>
+    <td align="left"><b>VOL. VI.</b></td>
+    <td align="center"><b>BOSTON, APRIL, 1892.</b></td>
+    <td align="right"><b>No. 4.</b></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<h5>Copyright, 1892, by <span class="smcap">William H. Hills</span>. All rights reserved.</h5>
+<h5><span class="smcap">Entered at the Boston Post-office as Second-class mail matter.</span></h5>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS_PAGE" id="CONTENTS_PAGE"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#WALT_WHITMAN_IN_EUROPE"><b>WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SHALL_WRITERS_COMBINE"><b>SHALL WRITERS COMBINE?</b></a><br />
+<a href="#NEWSPAPER_COOKERY"><b>NEWSPAPER COOKERY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#DO_THE_BEST_WRITERS_WRITE"><b>DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE?</b></a><br />
+<a href="#FASHIONS_IN_LITERATURE"><b>FASHIONS IN LITERATURE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SNEAK_REPORTING"><b>SNEAK REPORTING.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#A_PLEA_FOR_THE_NOM_DE_PLUME"><b>A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TO_WRITE_OR_NOT_TO_WRITE"><b>TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_DELUGE_OF_VERSE"><b>THE DELUGE OF VERSE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CONCERNING_SONNETS"><b>CONCERNING SONNETS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_SCRAP_BASKET"><b>THE SCRAP BASKET.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_USE_AND_MISUSE_OF_WORDS"><b>THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#BOOK_REVIEWS"><b>BOOK REVIEWS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#BOOKS_RECEIVED"><b>BOOKS RECEIVED.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#HELPFUL_HINTS_AND_SUGGESTIONS"><b>HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#LITERARY_ARTICLES_IN_PERIODICALS"><b>LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#NEWS_AND_NOTES"><b>NEWS AND NOTES.</b></a><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="WALT_WHITMAN_IN_EUROPE" id="WALT_WHITMAN_IN_EUROPE"></a>WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE.</h2>
+
+<p>With the death and burial of Walt Whitman passes away the most
+picturesque figure of contemporary literature.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that in England the name of the poet is more familiar than
+his poetry, and that students of literature are more conversant with the
+nature of his writings than are the mass of general readers; yet the
+character of the man and the spirit of his compositions were rapidly
+beginning to be appreciated by, and to sway an influence over, the whole
+higher intelligence of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the man and his works, it is almost surprising to find how
+easily he did conquer for himself an audience, and even admirers, in
+England. He was <i>par excellence</i> a contemporary American. Not that
+American who clings to the Puritanic traditions of his English
+ancestors, but that characteristic product of the New World who looks
+more with eagerness to the future than with satisfaction on the past,
+and whose pre-eminent optimism is inspired by his ardent appreciation of
+the living present. Walt Whitman stood forth as an innovator into such
+realms, where the rigor of conditions demanded an abstract compliance
+with rules which were based on absolute truths, and where a swerving
+from them was evidence of impotence. His unconventional forms, the
+rhymeless rhythm of his verses, which, in appearance, resembled more a
+careless prosody than a delicately attuned poesy,&mdash;this alone was enough
+to provoke, at first, an incredulous smile, even among those whose
+tastes were endowed with more penetration. But Walt Whitman stood forth,
+besides, as the representative of a principle which, as yet, is looked
+upon with suspicion by the old world,&mdash;of the principle of a broad,
+grand, all-embracing democracy, which elevates manhood above all forms,
+all conditions, and all limitations.</p>
+
+<p>The question where metre comes in in poetry, whether it is simply a
+means of accentuating rhythm, and is not the rhythm itself, and whether
+it is legitimate to do as Whitman did, to prolong the rhythmic phrase at
+the expense of metre, until the sense is completed,&mdash;all this was a
+problem for the professors and the critics to decide, and they might
+wrangle as they pleased. But here was Walt Whitman, recognizing no
+beauty higher than creative nature, recognizing no law greater than the
+spontaneous dictates of the moral personality; here was Walt Whitman, a
+pagan, a pantheist, who recognized more divinity in an outcast human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+being than in a grandly ordained king, who acknowledged nothing higher
+than the dignity of the human individuality,&mdash;all this was enough to
+make sober people pause and think, if not shudder.</p>
+
+<p>'Tis true that some, almost all the representative men of literature in
+England, recognized in Walt Whitman, from the first, a beauty, a
+grandeur, which appealed to and captivated their higher susceptibilities
+and mental appreciation. Such critics as George Eliot, Dowden, and even
+Matthew Arnold, and such poets as Tennyson, Swinburne, and even William
+Morris, have uttered expressions of the warmest appreciation of his
+great talent; but the class of general readers are not endowed with such
+discrimination, and his works, till very recently, were excluded from
+the shelves of libraries which were catholic enough to embrace the
+writings of the earliest saints and the latest productions of Zola&mdash;on
+the ground that his poetry was too demoralizing for the general public.</p>
+
+<p>This is not a general statement. I have a specific instance in view,
+when, in 1886, I went to the Leinster House in Dublin&mdash;the public
+library of the place&mdash;and asked for Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." On
+being informed that they had no copy of it in the library, I put down
+the book in the suggestion list. A number of Trinity students did the
+same. The matter was brought before the directors at their monthly
+meeting, and it appears it was strenuously objected to by the librarian,
+who pleaded the exclusion of the book on the ground of its being
+immoral, indecent! We carried the fight from private discussion to
+correspondence in the press; the editor of the <i>Dublin University
+Review</i> put the pages of the magazine at our disposal, and it was not
+until a year afterwards, and until considerable pressure was brought on
+the directors, that "Leaves of Grass" was admitted into the catalogues
+of the Dublin library.</p>
+
+<p>But the genuine merit of Walt Whitman's works, as the true inspiration
+of individualistic genius is always destined to do, is rapidly
+conquering the opposition and prejudice even of those whose obtuse minds
+seldom discover the intrinsic good motive frequently underlying an
+indifferent form. Those whose objections rested on their incapacity of
+penetrating further than the surface of the headline are rapidly
+beginning to discern in Walt Whitman's writings a force, a sentiment, a
+moral passion, and a natural grandeur that is amply compensating for the
+occasional roughness or looseness of the expressions he mirrors them in.
+Before his death the good old poet had not only the satisfaction of
+knowing that his writings have been widely read and universally
+commented on, but he had the pleasure of seeing his "Leaves of Grass"
+translated into German by T.&nbsp;W. Rolleston, of Dublin, and Professor
+Schwartz, of Dresden, of having parts of it translated into French, and
+a few years ago Mr. Lee consulted me as to the advisability of rendering
+them into Russian, parts of the book having already been published in
+the periodicals of the Russian emigr&eacute;s in Switzerland. Not only this,
+but his innovations, his genius, have even founded a school, and has a
+following. The little volume published some time ago in England, under
+the title "Toward Democracy," by Ed. Carpenter, written in the same
+style as "The Leaves of Grass," is also gradually finding its way to the
+surface of the highest consideration. And such passages as this, when
+Nature is calling to man:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I, Nature, stand and call to you, though you heed not:</p>
+
+<p>"Have courage, come forth, O child of mine, that you may see me."</p>
+
+<p>"As a nymph of the invisible air before her mortal beloved, so I glance
+before you. I dart and stand in your path, and turn away from your
+heedless eyes like one in pain. I am the ground; I listen to the sound
+of your feet. They come nearer. I shut my eyes and feel their tread over
+my face," etc. etc.; or such an outburst as this: "Ireland&mdash;liberty's
+deathless flame leaping on her Atlantic shore,"&mdash;are enough to convince
+the human mind that men who write them can be actuated only by impulses
+of which genius alone is capable!</p>
+
+<p>It is this impulse&mdash;this sober, solemn love pervading the writings of
+Walt Whitman which has invested his compositions with a property far
+transcending in genuine beauty the effusions of those poets whose object
+in writing is more the display of a capacity for finished manipulation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+of delicate form, than the manifestation of a free conception of a grand
+spirit. Walt Whitman is spontaneous without being careless. His style is
+unhesitating, his diction is flowing, smooth, without being searching or
+verbose! It seems as if his soul were responsive&mdash;not plaintively, but
+appreciatively responsive&mdash;to all the chords, influences, and objects of
+nature; and that his imagination were absorptive enough to embrace and
+love, and reflect all changes and transitions of light and shadow in
+nature and life, particularly in the inner human life,&mdash;for Walt
+Whitman's love for humanity, permeating all his writings, has more
+grandeur than the most heroic of classic epics!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Roman I. Zubof.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SHALL_WRITERS_COMBINE" id="SHALL_WRITERS_COMBINE"></a>SHALL WRITERS COMBINE?</h2>
+
+<p>Things in this world are often the precise opposite of what we should
+expect. The shoemaker's wife and the blacksmith's horse frequently go
+poorly shod. The man who makes his sole living from the product of his
+brains does not use them in disposing of his wares. He remains the slave
+of publishers who have enriched themselves from his labor, while he
+thoughtlessly plods on, apparently content with a few crumbs from the
+feast which he has provided for them.</p>
+
+<p>One striking difference between the two halves of the nineteenth century
+is the gigantic combination which the shuttle of these latter years is
+weaving. The wealth of no single man was found sufficient to place a
+railroad across the continent. Men combined their capital, and to-day we
+can ride from New York to San Francisco in a car as luxuriously
+furnished as a drawing-room. Had it not been for this union of dollars,
+we should to-day be forced to use the stage coach or to walk. When the
+railroads were once built, their owners found combination necessary to
+keep them from cutting each other's throats and to maintain a good rate
+of profit.</p>
+
+<p>By combination the working man has reduced his hours of toil, obtained a
+fairer share of the profits coming to capital from his labor, and made
+his own life better worth the living. These concessions did not come
+voluntarily: combination wrung them from capital, and then stood guard
+over them.</p>
+
+<p>The author stands almost alone with no union among his craft. The
+refiners of sugar and coal oil, the makers of matches, lead-pencils,
+screws,&mdash;in short, almost all other interests,&mdash;have some sort of
+combination. The brewers stand by each other in fixing the price of
+beer, and if a saloon keeper fails to pay one brewer, the others will
+not furnish him with the product of their vats.</p>
+
+<p>There is plenty of freemasonry among publishers. Their contracts read
+very much alike. They resort to the same subterfuges to get the lion's
+share of the profits. They care nothing for the logic of the situation.
+What did a grasping palm ever care for logic which told against itself?
+An American author has just shown by indisputable figures that many of
+our publishers treat the writers of books as badly as the worst Hebrew
+sweating shops do their employees. An author in one instance worked for
+years upon a book which had every prospect of not being ephemeral. He
+signed a contract with a firm of publishers to receive a ten-percent.
+royalty only after the first thousand copies were sold. The work had
+much free advertising and sold well, as many booksellers testified. More
+than two years have elapsed since it appeared, and though clerks in book
+stores still say it sells well, the author has never received a cent for
+those weary years of labor. He knows there is an Indian lurking
+somewhere in the forest, but one author is not powerful enough to enter
+and dislodge the enemy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It may do us good to know that the English Society of Authors protects
+writers from dishonest publishers; but why should not our authors form a
+union of their own and enjoy the same advantages? It has been shown that
+our literary men have been repeatedly imposed upon; that the publisher
+in many cases takes all the profits; that his accounts are not open to
+the verifiable inspection of authors; and that this is one of the few
+exceptions of the kind in all business, that one of two interested
+partners is alone allowed to audit the accounts.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Besant has shown that in England the perfectly honest publisher is a
+rare exception. Are Englishmen less honest than Americans? Or is it true
+that human nature is very much alike everywhere and easily warped to
+look at things only in the line of its own advantage, wherever that can
+be done without coming to the knowledge of the world?</p>
+
+<p>There will, of course, be strong opposition on the part of publishers to
+the formation of any protective authors' association, which would insist
+that the writer know the exact facts in those cases in which he is to be
+a partner in the share of the profits from his own work. If only a few
+authors joined the movement, publishers would undoubtedly combine to
+boycott them; but here, as in England, safety will be found in numbers.
+There is not a railroad in the United States that dares select any
+special engineer and treat him unjustly. The Brotherhood of Locomotive
+Engineers is too strong to admit that for one week.</p>
+
+<p>Some hysterical publisher may exclaim, "If you think we are rascals, you
+had better not deal with us." Ask him what he would think of the
+president and the cashier of a national bank if they said to the
+examiner, "You have come here to insult us by implying that we would
+steal the depositors' money. We resent such treatment; we are honest."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, then, do you object to a careful inspection of your methods?" asks
+the examiner.</p>
+
+<p>"Because it throws suspicion on us," is the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you aware that officials with reputations quite as good as yours
+are now embezzlers in foreign lands? I want to remove from you the
+temptation of making money in that way, so that nothing may rest heavily
+on your consciences in the great hereafter."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, we object to an examination."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I had better at once go over your accounts thoroughly. I shall
+probably be here several days."</p>
+
+<p>History tells us that for a long time the English Parliament forbade any
+newspaper to publish a line of what was said there. A disobedient editor
+was speedily imprisoned. The members desired to receive bribes for their
+votes in as many cases as possible. If a member could keep his
+constituents in ignorance of the way he voted, he could often make money
+by voting in opposition to their interests. Of course, he dreaded to
+have the newspapers turn the light on his record, and he developed many
+remarkable arguments against such privileges on the part of the press.
+When more light streams in on certain publishers' methods, authors may
+then be able to select better men to represent them.</p>
+
+<p>It has been said that the jealousy of authors is such as to keep them
+from working in harmony; that authors who have won their spurs have a
+supreme contempt for one who has not; that they omit no opportunity of
+indulging in sarcasm at his expense; that they would not throw him a
+plank if he were drowning, unless they could so throw it as to strike
+him on the head. If this were so, they would not differ much from the
+world in general, for it will not give quarter to any man who cannot
+claim it by his own might. But the case of Mr. Besant, the president of
+the English Society, disproves these sweeping statements against
+authors. He stands among the foremost of living novelists, and yet he is
+willing to spend a great deal of his valuable time to assist a writer
+just beginning to climb the tiresome ladder. This pure and undefiled
+religion of being willing to help a fellow-toiler is far more common
+than cynics will allow. It prevails among engineers, factory hands, and
+miners. With the exception of a few cads, it is doubtful if authors have
+sunk so low in the scale of humanity as to be unwilling to assist each
+other, when by so doing they will help themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Some authors have been dreaming of a time when they could control the
+entire literary output<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> of the United States in the same way that the
+Standard Oil Company controls kerosene, or the chief of the Brotherhood
+of Locomotive Engineers directs his men. He can tie up any railroad with
+a snap of his finger if his men are not treated squarely. In such a
+literary dreamland an author might do one-third of his present work and
+get far more pay than now. Publishers and editors would not then have a
+superfluity of matter. They would then have to bow to the authors' trust
+before the desired material could be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>It might be claimed that if writers would pool their issues, put their
+manuscripts into a common stock, allow the publisher to select from them
+at a good round figure, and after a certain lapse of time burn all the
+rejected ones,&mdash;there would be less work and more money for all authors.
+Of course, it would be necessary to have a committee to decide when an
+author wrote well enough to be admitted to the pool, and also to
+determine what greater portion of the common fund the authors of
+specially meritorious work should receive.</p>
+
+<p>Such a scheme certainly does work with sugar, kerosene, starch, and
+numberless other articles; but it is more than doubtful if it would
+prevail in literature. Some authors would be too desirous of seeing
+themselves constantly before the public. They could not be prevailed
+upon to limit the output of their brain, and they would be conceited
+enough to demand that everything appear in print.</p>
+
+<p>It is well to lay aside thoughts of such a Utopia until we have secured
+an authors' protective association of wide membership, with permanent
+headquarters, legal counsel, and agents to learn the publishing business
+and expose unfair methods.</p>
+
+<p>Let writers remember that Greece, in spite of her &AElig;schylus, Sophocles,
+Xenophon, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Plato, and Aristotle, perished
+because her independent states would not combine against a common foe.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>John Braincraft.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Louisville</span>, Ky.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="NEWSPAPER_COOKERY" id="NEWSPAPER_COOKERY"></a>NEWSPAPER COOKERY.</h2>
+
+<p>In a late number of a popular periodical, Mrs. Amelia E. Barr, while
+telling of her childhood a half-century ago, incidentally remarks: "I
+should have as soon thought of smoking my father's pipe as of reading
+his newspaper. There were no papers at all for women and children, if I
+except the <i>Court Journal</i> for women of rank."</p>
+
+<p>Just when cookery and household affairs became a part of the newspaper's
+province, I do not know, nor is it my purpose to give its history. My
+earliest recollection of anything in this line is connected with <i>Hearth
+and Home</i>, an illustrated paper, the forerunner of the many household
+periodicals of to-day. A leading feature was "Mrs. Hunnibee's Diary,"
+furnished by Mrs. Lyman, afterward on the staff of the <i>New York
+Tribune</i>. Her work was a worthy model for us to follow. Let us look at
+the work as it is, and as it ought to be.</p>
+
+<p>Count Rumford&mdash;one of the pioneers in the study of foods&mdash;has said: "The
+number of inhabitants who may be supported in any country upon its
+internal produce depends about as much upon the state of the art of
+cookery as upon that of agriculture&mdash;these are the arts of civilized
+nations; savages understand neither of them." Naturally, therefore, the
+agricultural papers were the first to give space to cookery, and have
+ever been generous in that way.</p>
+
+<p>Newspaper cookery is not an inappropriate phrase, since too often the
+"Home Column" in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> half our papers is simply a rehash of what has
+appeared in the other papers of the country. The results of warming over
+in the kitchen are very diverse, and they are equally so in newspaper
+cookery; a rechauff&eacute; may be very sloppy or very dry, and give no hint of
+its original components, when it should be a savory combination, the
+ingredients of which have suffered no loss of flavor.</p>
+
+<p>This does not include the class of articles which are made by careful
+study of books of reference and form a new setting for fragmentary
+information, such as is often lost if not rearranged; but what can be
+said in favor of the sort of work where a standard recipe forms the
+basis for a wishy-washy story?</p>
+
+<p>Another variety of newspaper cookery to be avoided is the reporting of
+demonstration lectures by those who know nothing of the subject and have
+no conception of the lecturer's methods, or by those having a
+superficial knowledge who attempt to interlard their own opinions
+throughout the report.</p>
+
+<p>Reporters having little or no knowledge of the literature of the kitchen
+are apt to make rash claims for their favorite lecturers or for
+themselves. In a recent paper an evident neophyte&mdash;in cookery at
+least&mdash;claims to set right in a new and original way the curdling of a
+mayonnaise dressing. She claims that none of the directions given in the
+cook-books tell what should be done if it goes wrong, yet in at least
+two standard works the whole thing is fully explained.</p>
+
+<p>There are undoubtedly many recipes which belong to the whole world, and
+have been in use for generations, yet some teachers may claim original
+methods of combining these ingredients. Has a reporter any right to make
+such ideas appear as her own, without due credit to the authors? Whether
+this sort of work is done in newspapers, or appears in book form, or
+whether it is in direct violation of copyright laws or not, it is at
+least discourteous. Poems are sometimes stolen, but the literature of
+the kitchen oftener suffers.</p>
+
+<p>In these days of specialties, when one man devotes himself to politics,
+another to finance, or music, or art, it would not seem that a woman,
+because she is a woman, is therefore fitted to care for the household
+department of a paper; yet this is usually the first work given into her
+hands. Probably there are many teachers of cookery who could not write a
+catchy newspaper article, but it may be questioned whether such writing
+is desirable upon this subject.</p>
+
+<p>The time is coming when the cooking-school graduate will be called for
+to teach this art and science through the columns of the newspaper, as
+well as in the schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>The religious papers choose graduates of the theological seminaries for
+their editors, and medical journalism is conducted by physicians. If a
+sporting editor is essential, why should not special training be
+required for the cooking department?</p>
+
+<p>Under present conditions, the best teachers can afford to do little
+newspaper work; a demonstration requires little more time and effort
+than the preparation of a newspaper column, and the compensation is
+double or quadruple, and is promptly paid.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the advertising agents of patent medicines have been wiser in
+their generation than the newspaper men, and from the days of Mrs.
+&mdash;&mdash;'s Soothing Syrup until now their cook-books have been passports for
+their medicines into many a home, not that a call for medicine was the
+natural result of the use of these recipes, but that the name of the
+medicine became a household word through the use of the cookbook, and
+hence was the first thought when any panacea was required. Such good
+prices have been paid by manufacturers that they have been able to
+obtain the best writers, and the books distributed by various salves,
+sarsaparillas, meat choppers, baking powders, etc., contain many
+valuable recipes and suggestions. As a whole, they are far safer guides
+than the average newspaper column of recipes.</p>
+
+<p>Furnished by untrained hands, the newspaper recipe has become a synonym
+for something utterly unreliable, and, therefore, a byword among those
+so old-fashioned as to believe that a woman who holds a pen is, of
+course, a poor housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>True, much of the blame for the uncertainty of the newspaper recipe must
+be laid at the door of the typesetter and proof-reader&mdash;who else would
+make a demonstrator whose programme included<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> a "Frozen Rice Pudding"
+responsible for a "Dozen Nice Puddings" in a single lecture.</p>
+
+<p>Often the column headed "Dainty Dishes," "Hints for the Cuisine," etc.,
+appears to be made up from recipes taken at random from the clippings of
+the year before&mdash;so we have strawberry shortcake and asparagus omelet in
+October, cauliflower in August, and blueberries in December. Without a
+hint concerning the proper method of combining the ingredients, a string
+of recipes are worthless, and mean as little as a column from the
+dictionary.</p>
+
+<p>So accustomed has the public vision become to this artificial,
+improbable, housekeeping that it fails to recognize veritable facts and
+pronounces them impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Food is a subject which demands the careful consideration of every human
+being daily, and therefore claims ample space in the newspapers. The
+wise man of the Old Testament has said: "All the labor of man is for his
+mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled."</p>
+
+<p>We are not all interested in the success of either political party, nor
+are we all thirsty for items of society gossip, nor are the details of
+every murder or railroad accident more important than our daily bread.</p>
+
+<p>Our physical natures and our food are not so ignoble as some would have
+us think. We need only look at the thousand allusions to food in classic
+writings to realize that it is our attitude toward an object, not the
+thing itself, which makes it common and unclean.</p>
+
+<p>Does it not seem strange that the art of cookery, which first
+distinguished man from beasts, has been so underrated and neglected?</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 16em;">"The art of cookery drew us gently forth</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 16.5em;">From the ferocious light, when, void of faith,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 16.5em;">The Anthropophaginian ate his brother;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 16.5em;">To cookery we owe well-ordered states,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 16.5em;">Assembling men in dear society."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Surely no one better than a newspaper reporter, who must snatch a bite
+here and there of whatever is at hand, can appreciate the force of the
+words of an old physician: "The faculty the stomach has of communicating
+the impressions made by the various substances that are put into it is
+such that it seems more like a nervous expansion of the brain, than a
+mere receptacle for food."</p>
+
+<p>Many a newspaper woman has found a safety-valve in doing her
+housekeeping with her own hands, the needed reaction after prolonged
+mental effort, and by the divine law of compensation has thus worked out
+with her hands something of which the brain alone was not capable.
+Michelet says that "A man always clears his head by doing something with
+his hands." Can we not all bear testimony that some of our brightest
+ideas have come when our hands were busy with rolling-pin or dish-pan?</p>
+
+<p>The newspaper woman is expected to act as leader in many directions.
+Though not always competent to do special newspaper cookery in the best
+way, she may help mould public opinion in the right way on the great
+questions of temperance, domestic economy, co&ouml;perative housekeeping,
+and, above all, help to change the prevailing belief that work with the
+hands is degrading.</p>
+
+<p>The great social questions of the day are largely dependent upon the
+food supply. Show the working men and women how to obtain attractive,
+palatable, and nourishing food at less cost than that which is
+unsatisfying, and their wages will really be doubled.</p>
+
+<p>The temperance question is so closely connected with the food supply
+that it is astonishing that more attention has not been given to this
+side of it. We often ascribe the intemperance of the poor man to poor
+food; but are not the excesses of the rich also due to food, poor
+because it is too highly seasoned and improperly cooked?</p>
+
+<p>Rev. T. De Witt Talmage has said: "The kitchen is the most important end
+of the household. If that goes wrong, the whole establishment is wrong.
+It decides the health of the household, and health settles almost
+everything."</p>
+
+<p>May we all live to see the day when every town shall have a food
+experiment station, which shall do for the cook and the kitchen what the
+agricultural stations do for the farmer and farm. The cooking schools
+are a step in the right direction, but their work should be broadened
+and put upon a more scientific basis.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such an experimental kitchen should analyze and test food products as to
+best methods of preparation; it should try new utensils; it should fit
+young women for their own home life. Perhaps something in this line will
+grow out of the New England Kitchen, so successfully started in Boston.</p>
+
+<p>To bring about such a state of things, public opinion must be educated
+in every direction, through the home, school, and newspapers, as well as
+by individual effort.</p>
+
+<p>The newspaper's cooking, like its editorials, must not be so narrow and
+partisan but that it may command the respect of those who do not wholly
+agree with it.</p>
+
+<p>We must strive to separate the essentials from the non-essentials in our
+housekeeping; to recognize the various conditions of life among those to
+whom we are writing.</p>
+
+<p>We do not want to copy the food fashions of any other land in a servile
+manner; no French, Italian, or English teacher can best instruct us in
+methods of cooking.</p>
+
+<p>But, following our national motto, let us select the best from all, and
+unite these principles to develop an American system of cooking that
+shall produce a race so well proportioned physically that their mental
+and moral natures cannot fail to be well balanced.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Anna Barrows.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DO_THE_BEST_WRITERS_WRITE" id="DO_THE_BEST_WRITERS_WRITE"></a>DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE?</h2>
+
+<p>A few years ago my attention was attracted by an article in one of the
+leading magazines. It was an article of more than ordinary merit,
+possessing that rarity, even then, a plot dramatically conceived and
+executed. The scene was laid in a part of the world the truthful
+picturing of which showed the writer to be a person who had travelled
+much and observed keenly; the diction was "English pure and undefiled."
+There was but one drawback, that the author's name was withheld, and I
+was obliged to lay my offering of approval and admiration at an unknown
+shrine.</p>
+
+<p>Lately, in conversation with a man who forms one of the great majority
+of those who gain a moderate competence in business life, his days spent
+in the wearisome routine of mercantile life, his nights in painful
+figurings about that delusive "deal" which is to settle satisfactorily
+all questions of financial perplexity, our talk turned on books,
+literary celebrities, the chat of the profession of letters. My friend
+suddenly became communicative and reminiscent&mdash;rare expressions in him.</p>
+
+<p>"A few years ago," he said. "I, too, had the literary craze. I wrote a
+little&mdash;stray articles, stories, poems, the usual repertoire."</p>
+
+<p>I wondered what kind of material this suave, cynical, reserved man could
+have produced&mdash;in other words, what was his undercurrent. I
+interrogated. To my surprise and consternation I had found at last the
+author of my pedestal-placed masterpiece.</p>
+
+<p>"But why," I said, "did you not keep on; why hide, deface, forget, a
+talent like yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Allowing, for the sake of argument," he answered, "that I possessed
+talent to the degree you imply, I should still have been forced to my
+present attitude. I am not alone in this. I am convinced that the best
+writers (of course, with notable exceptions) are the people who never
+write, who could bring to the field varied experience, the results of
+travel, thought, and cultivation, but who are driven away by the
+knowledge that the wolf will have them if they attempt it.
+Notwithstanding the fact that there has never been a time when
+literature has been produced so prolifically, a man can only make a
+moderate competence, and that after years of weary uncertainty and a
+constant strain on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> waiting nerves, and, even at the end, he gets
+but a meagre reward: lots of newspaper notoriety and a scanty bank
+account. I am not complaining; I looked the facts squarely in the face,
+and chose what I regarded as the only sensible solution. I could not
+conscientiously use literature as a safety-valve or time-passer, giving
+to the world the result of tired brain and over-wrought nerves;
+consequently, I sacrificed inclination to necessity, and have left my
+muse alone. However,"&mdash;and he was once more the worldling,&mdash;"I have
+reserved to myself the right to criticise; and when I see a young man of
+talent enter the field of letters, I conclude he is like a man about to
+marry, either a great hero or a great fool."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Gertrude F. Lynch.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">New York</span>, N.&nbsp;Y.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="FASHIONS_IN_LITERATURE" id="FASHIONS_IN_LITERATURE"></a>FASHIONS IN LITERATURE.</h2>
+
+<p>A veteran novel reader has learned to detect a plot in its early stages;
+to see from afar the marriage, the forgery, the hidden will; to him (or
+should I rather say to her?) the true inwardness of the different
+characters is manifest; no disguise, no blandishments, avail to conceal
+from his piercing vision the true heir, the disguised villain, the timid
+lover.</p>
+
+<p>It has been stated by careful students that the original stories in the
+world number but two hundred and fifty; but we have not forgotten our
+arithmetic, and we have learned chess, so we know something of the
+manifold combinations of numbers, and we take courage.</p>
+
+<p>But the veteran novel reader finds little variety in incident and
+machinery; there are fashions in fiction as in everything else, and the
+prevailing "style" of the time is followed apparently without question.</p>
+
+<p>The heroines of an earlier generation differed from those of the
+present. They were slender creatures, living on delicate fare, and
+fainting at every or no provocation. When these lovely beings died it
+was usually of a broken heart, developing into consumption. They were
+depicted clad in white and holding flowers, reclining at open windows,
+regardless of draughts, and they lectured heart-broken friends and
+faithless lovers with a command of language and strength of lung rare in
+every-day life. For bringing about some needed explanation sprained
+ankles have played a conspicuous part, and a strong-armed hero or
+stalwart rival was ready to carry the fair sufferer</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 16em;">"Over hill, over dale,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 16.5em;">Through bush, through briar,"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>to some place of shelter, where friends and reader alike watched the
+progress of recovery. Runaway horses have been vastly useful in bringing
+matters to a crisis, and in New England stories a fierce bull is always
+ready to threaten the life of the heroine.</p>
+
+<p>These casualties were especially the lot of the heroines, but fevers
+were open to all without distinction of "sex, race, or color." In the
+wanderings of delirium the cleverly-disguised villain betrayed his dark
+designs&mdash;the self-distrusting lover sighed his woes into the sympathetic
+ear of the damsel of whom in his "normal state" he had said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">"'Twere all as one</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">That I should love some bright particular star</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">And seek to wed it."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>With the modern dissemination of knowledge and of sanitary science, the
+former ailments have become less fashionable; there has been a run of
+diphtheria, and heart complaints are slaying their thousands.</p>
+
+<p>Athletics are restricted to no sex,&mdash;the hero is less frequently called
+to rescue his beloved from a watery grave. Indeed, her skill may be
+superior to his,&mdash;witness Armorel, one of the fairest of modern
+creations.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then a leader has appeared,&mdash;an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> inventor,&mdash;but the new style is
+imitated with no respect for patent right. Jane Eyre was <i>new</i>; here was
+a heroine with neither wealth nor beauty, and forthwith appeared a long
+train of ugly girls, and dark, middle-aged men promising henceforth "to
+forswear sack and live cleanly," yet in confidential moments giving
+glimpses of a past which caused all virtuous folks to shiver.</p>
+
+<p>We have now the "novel of every-day life," wherein we are called to
+"assist" at commonplace incidents; to listen to inane talk, where
+adverbs, liberally bestowed, help our comprehension, as we are told that
+certain things were "coarsely," "suggestively," "tentatively," said. It
+is, indeed, "reading made easy."</p>
+
+<p>Stuart Mill, lamenting the changes in the tendency of modern fiction,
+wrote: "For the first time perhaps in history, the youth of both sexes
+of the educated classes are universally growing up unromantic. What will
+come in mature age from such a youth the world has not yet had time to
+see."</p>
+
+<p>These words were written half a century ago, the generation referred to
+has reached "mature age," and the world has read its novels.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Pamela McArthur Cole.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">East Bridgewater</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SNEAK_REPORTING" id="SNEAK_REPORTING"></a>SNEAK REPORTING.</h2>
+
+<p>I do not beg the reader's pardon for the apparent egotism of this
+article, for, though I use the first person throughout, I feel that I do
+so as the spokesman of a large (if not an important) class.</p>
+
+<p>To begin at the beginning, I have always believed that in time I could
+succeed as a journalist, if I could but secure a position on a live
+newspaper, where I could gain practical knowledge. In pursuance of this
+idea, I haunted the doors of an afternoon paper, and finally, by dint of
+perseverance, fairly worried the city editor into giving me an
+assignment.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, a beginner was not given an important task, but it proved to
+be a very embarrassing one. I was required, in the line of my duty, to
+stick my impertinent nose into another man's business, and elicit from
+him facts that he did not want published. I did not feel the least
+curiosity about the matter, and, I am sure, looked as guilty as if I had
+been a dog engaged in the sheep-stealing industry, and had been caught
+with the wool in my teeth. I approached him with inward fear and
+trembling, and requested information on a subject in connection with
+which he had been held up before the public in an unenviable light. He
+refused to talk, and when I persisted, as per orders, told me to go to
+the residence of a personage whom I do not like to hear mentioned,
+except by authority and by gentlemen who have the legal right to wear a
+handle to their names.</p>
+
+<p>I did not resent this as ordinarily I should have done. I was so humbled
+and ashamed by my consciousness of the impudence of my errand, that if
+he had pulled my nose, I am sure I should have commended the spirit with
+which he did it.</p>
+
+<p>It was in vain I represented to him that to withhold this matter of
+public interest was to show an unpardonable disregard of the rights of
+others, which, as contrary to public policy, could easily be construed
+into an act of overt disloyalty. He did not seem to be interested in the
+rights of others, and entirely refused to see the matter in the proper
+light. He was not a rational man. When I attempted to argue the case
+with him, he became violent, and roared at me until, I am sure, had the
+bulls of Bashan heard him, they would have been tempted to "hide their
+diminished heads." I decided that discretion was the better part of
+valor, and left him to fight it out alone. I returned to the office,
+rendered an account of the manner in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> which I had failed, and was the
+recipient of a scathing rebuke from the city editor. It was in vain I
+tried to get angry. Even to myself I could not simulate proper
+indignation, so thoroughly had the starch been taken out of me by my
+seance with an excusably irritated man, knowing the while that I was
+trespassing on the bounds of courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>That experience was enough for me. While I might become a successful
+reporter, in doing so I fear I should lose that regard for the rights of
+others, the petty conscience of every-day life, that is conspicuously
+absent in so many of the men we meet.</p>
+
+<p>While this incident has not altered my liking for newspaper work, it has
+very materially modified my ideas concerning certain branches of it.
+From the reporter's desk to the editor's chair is a natural and easy
+transition; and the outsider, unless he possesses the genius of George
+Kennan and his companions, must go through this stage of preliminary
+training. Those of us who have no influence, no startling genius, and a
+decided dislike to becoming inquisitive nuisances feel that we are
+overweighted in the journalistic handicap.</p>
+
+<p>What course shall we pursue, that what few merits we possess shall not
+be overshadowed by the lack of one quality, which may be a useful one to
+the reporter, but is usually known and avoided in the ordinary man under
+the vulgar name of "gall"?</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Herbert Corey.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Cincinnati</span>, Ohio.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_PLEA_FOR_THE_NOM_DE_PLUME" id="A_PLEA_FOR_THE_NOM_DE_PLUME"></a>A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME.</h2>
+
+<p>Once upon a time there lived a good little girl whom everybody loved.
+She had six aunts, four uncles, and twenty-seven cousins, besides a
+brother and two sisters. All these relatives, of course, especially
+loved her, for that was only natural. And they were all very glad,
+indeed, to help her in every way possible.</p>
+
+<p>She was a bright little thing as well as good, and by and by she thought
+she would see whether any of the papers and magazines cared to know of
+the things she thought, and she wrote a morsel of an article and timidly
+sent it off.</p>
+
+<p>But before she sent it to the editor she read it to her sisters, each of
+whom had some slight correction to make; and she showed it to Aunt Emma,
+who was quite of a literary turn of mind, and Aunt Emma read it to her
+daughter Mabel, who had just left college.</p>
+
+<p>These ladies so marked up the carefully written manuscript that the good
+little girl had to copy it all before it was fit to be sent.</p>
+
+<p>After it had been gone eight days the article was returned. This made
+the little girl very sad, and she wept.</p>
+
+<p>The other five aunts, and the uncles, and all the cousins were by this
+time interested, and they comforted her with many words, and censured
+her with a great many more, and gave her a great deal of good advice.
+But the little girl finally got so confused by the many conflicting
+opinions offered that she hardly knew what to do or say. One moment she
+would think she would write this and another that, and some of the time
+she declared that she would never write another line at all.</p>
+
+<p>But one day a very pretty idea came into her mind all at once, and she
+did think it too sweet to be lost. So she wrote it down just as it came
+to her, and sent it away, and never told a soul a word about it.</p>
+
+<p>By and by it was printed, and how happy the little girl was! She told
+nobody but her parents and her sisters this time, but all her friends
+saw her name in the paper, and they came running to her to talk about
+it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I saw your name in the paper," said Cousin Ada.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you?" said the good little girl, pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; an' Bert an' I know who you meant by 'The Old Bad Man.'"</p>
+
+<p>"But I didn't mean anybody," explained she; "that was only a little
+story."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we know you did. Mamma says it isn't a nice story at all, an'
+Mabelle says, 'Ugh!'"</p>
+
+<p>It was no wonder that the little girl felt hurt at these words. And it
+was queer, but every time that any of the friends had any fault to find,
+or any help to give her, which was the same thing, of course, they began
+it by saying, "I saw your name in the paper."</p>
+
+<p>At last the good little girl could endure it no longer, and she said to
+herself, "They <i>sha'n't</i> see my name in the paper any more"; and she sat
+down on the green grass and thought of a nice new name that pleased her,
+and she called herself by that name always when she wrote for the
+papers. And as she never got famous so that she wanted to tell people
+what her pen-name was, her friends never found it out, and she lived and
+died in peace.</p>
+
+<p><i>H&aelig;c fabula docet</i>&mdash;Don't be made to feel it's cowardly to use a nom de
+plume if you want to. It isn't likely to do any harm, and it may save
+you lots of bother.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Persis E. Darrow.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Wentworth</span>, N.&nbsp;H.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="TO_WRITE_OR_NOT_TO_WRITE" id="TO_WRITE_OR_NOT_TO_WRITE"></a>TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE.</h2>
+
+<p>When any one living in this age of the world feels that he has thoughts
+clamoring for utterance, he seeks advice from some one who has attained
+success in the profession of literature. In most instances he receives
+no satisfactory criticism, and is compelled to act on innate conviction
+of his right to enter the "thorny path" and fight his way up to the top,
+where, we are told, there is always room.</p>
+
+<p>There seem to be two literary factions pitted against each other. Those
+of one class employ their best effort in dissuading young writers from
+writing; those of another set forth an author's life in glowing colors.
+One faction will tell you that half the manuscripts sent to editors are
+not even accorded the courtesy of an examination unless signed by a
+well-known name. Another says that editors are keenly on the outlook for
+original matter, seizing with avidity anything that promises to make a
+new element in current literature.</p>
+
+<p>A noted author writes to a young aspirant: "Sweet and natural though
+your utterance seems to be, let me ask you in the friendliest spirit not
+to write at all. The toil is great, the pursuit incessant, the reward
+not outward." To the same young woman writes another equally well-known
+writer: "Your work is excellent; you <i>can</i> and <i>will</i> succeed."</p>
+
+<p>The fact is obvious that there is a literary aristocracy in America.
+Born in an intellectual atmosphere, with inherited talent, wrapped in
+their own dreams, knowing little of the struggle and toil of their less
+fortunate co-workers, its members stand aloof, saying: Thou shalt not
+enter therein. The old Italian poet quaintly puts it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"For singing loudly is not singing well;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">But ever by the song that's soft and low</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">The master singer's voice is plain to tell.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">Few have it, and yet all are masters now,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">And each of them can trill out what he calls</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">His ballads, canzonets, and madrigals.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">The world with masters is so covered o'er</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">There is no room for pupils any more."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, the individual who contemplates becoming an author must be a
+law unto himself. If he finds his truest expression, his greatest
+delight in literary work, let him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> persevere, all the world to the
+contrary notwithstanding.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17.5em;">Can circumvent, can hinder, or control</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17.5em;">The firm resolve of a determined soul.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">Gifts count for nothing; <i>will alone is great</i>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>An editor, noted for his gentleness and courtesy, tells us that all
+writers must go through an evolutionary process of rejected manuscripts,
+and cites the instance of Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, who awoke one
+morning to find herself famous. She had written "The Amber Gods." When
+congratulated as the first author who had attained reputation by a
+single effort, she replied:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No, that is not true. I have been writing for years under an assumed
+name."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Susan Andrews Rice.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Washington</span>, D.&nbsp;C.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_DELUGE_OF_VERSE" id="THE_DELUGE_OF_VERSE"></a>THE DELUGE OF VERSE.</h2>
+
+<p>A fragment of a conversation overheard the other evening, when the
+writer, half-buried with the daily proof-sheets from which he knows no
+escape, was hurrying westward on an afternoon train, is the <i>raison
+d'&ecirc;tre</i> of this communication. The participants were two young and
+pleasant-looking girls: they discussed matters feminine, of which only
+the words "toque," "a bewitching little thing," and "pink velvet" had
+reached my ears; but when I heard the question, "What became of your
+last poem, Clara?"&mdash;and the reply, "<i>Youth's Companion</i>, came back with
+a printed slip; <i>Independent</i>, ditto; then I tried the <i>Waverley
+Magazine</i>, who accepted it, but did not pay young contributors"; I
+became unthinkingly an interested eavesdropper, and just then, with
+creak and clatter, the train stopped, the station, "Wellesley," was
+called, and the fair ones departed, taking my thoughts (and all power of
+concentration on work in hand) with them.</p>
+
+<p>I mused in this wise: "Just why does the average young person give him
+(or her) self out in verse, good, bad, and indifferent?" The <i>Youth's
+Companion</i> does not want a Wellesley girl's lucubrations; it has verse
+on hand from many of the most skilled and charming writers in that line.
+But it does, I know, want good stories for boys, for girls,&mdash;and where
+can be a better "<i>locale</i>," materials for plot, sketches of life and
+character, etc., than at a girls' college? One could surely range "from
+grave to gay, from lively to severe," in such a field.</p>
+
+<p>The editor of the <i>Atlantic</i>, dear young people, accepts
+articles&mdash;well-written, of course&mdash;on questions relating to higher
+education, university extension, matters of historical research. Harper
+&amp; Brothers are glad to get character sketches (not New England
+particularly,&mdash;you cannot outdo, quite yet, Miss Jewett and Mary
+Wilkins,&mdash;but there are many other bits of humanity, quaint, odd, or
+pathetic). <i>Scribner's</i> and the <i>Cosmopolitan</i> like travels, but they
+must be bright and varied; and mechanical articles, young men, but these
+must be a direct and forcible presentation of their subjects, and not
+rehashes from old books; while the <i>Century</i> will pay you well for some
+dainty comic bit for its "Bric-&agrave;-brac." Friends of the <i>Golden Rule</i>,
+<i>Cottage Hearth</i>, and <i>Christian Register</i> have assured me that
+good&mdash;not <i>goody-goody</i>&mdash;juvenile literature is very hard to get. I know
+a young woman who is paid well by the page for all the children's
+stories she can write, and her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> pages are fresh and good, with new
+themes and unhackneyed incidents; and a young man who is taking up
+themes of interest in our history,&mdash;the unprecedented message of a
+president which gave no report to Congress of financial or diplomatic
+matters for the preceding two years, and the three presidential protests
+against action taken in Congress (how many of you know about these state
+papers?),&mdash;there are a hundred other things, too, which might be told
+about in this line,&mdash;and he finds no difficulty in getting his matter
+accepted. There is an assistant editor not far from Beacon Hill who
+keeps track of the clergymen, the prominent families, and individuals in
+a certain large religious denomination. Every week she furnishes her
+quota of items to an eight-page paper, and she is a pearl of great price
+to her chief. The Marthas of the household, "careful and troubled,"
+there is a place for in many journals to-day, whether their specialty be
+cooking, scrubbing, or lace-work. There is also a chance for those who
+possess a large fund of miscellaneous information, in <i>Notes and
+Queries</i> and like journals.</p>
+
+<p>"The bearing of which lies in the application of it." Perhaps you may
+think, discouragingly, that there is no chance for you in these or any
+other specialties, but take my advice and try something awhile&mdash;get into
+a class and work to become at the head of that class; then, even if you
+do not attain the full measure of success you had hoped, you will
+certainly have the proud consciousness of having striven, and can
+contemplate with pity</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Those green and salad days: Can I rehearse</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">What sweets I ate and what I put In verse?</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>Douglas Dane.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONCERNING_SONNETS" id="CONCERNING_SONNETS"></a>CONCERNING SONNETS.</h2>
+
+<p>A few months ago the pages of <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> contained some interesting
+suggestions as to the advisability of a uniform indentation for sonnets
+when printed; the writer favoring a New York method, which would bring
+out even the first, fifth, ninth, and twelfth lines, setting all the
+other lines an equal space to the right of these. I give a quatrain for
+example:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"The early star, soft mirrored in the stream,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Dim vistas of the dewy forest-road,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Yea, even the solemn, high-walled glen, abode</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Of mortal dust long quit of deed and dream."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The writer's chief argument for this style was, I believe, that it was
+used by a good printing house, and also made a neat appearance on the
+page; but the question at once occurred to me, What is indentation in
+verse for? Is it not a guide to the eye, to enhance the proper
+recurrence of the rhyme (and in the ode to show as well rhythm)? If we
+are to have a mere arbitrary arrangement of the sonnet, why not the same
+in a poem of regular or inverted quatrains, or of the Persian quatrain,
+which is now always given in this form:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"I sometimes think that never blows so red</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">The rose as where some buried C&aelig;sar bled;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">That every flower the fragrant garden wears</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Dropped in her lap from some once lovely head."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Or imagine an &eacute;dition de luxe of Gray's "Elegy" with every stanza
+printed in this style:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Their homely joys, their destiny obscure;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">The short and simple annals of the poor."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I could not take much pleasure in a book of sonnets where each page was
+thus stiffly arranged, but should greatly prefer the indenting of lines
+according to rhyme, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth to be in line,
+and the second, third, sixth, and seventh to be set somewhat to the
+right of these; should there come, however, a Shakespearian sonnet to be
+provided for,&mdash;lines rhyming alternately,&mdash;or any of those monstrosities
+of fourteen lines, which have no regularity of rhyme, let the lines then
+be brought to a uniform indentation, and the reader disentangle the plan
+of the verse as best he may.</p>
+
+<p>In editing copy or reading proof for a poet, I always follow the
+author's preference, if indicated, or if copy submitted is consistent;
+but having the matter to determine, I would first look to see if the
+sonnets were generally regular; and second, if the sextet (the last six
+lines) followed the Italian or the best accepted English forms: this
+done, it is easy to determine upon a style,&mdash;which would be the one
+adopted at the present time by the best English and American printers
+(as far as recent books of both countries give any clue), as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"What we miscall our life is Memory:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">We walk upon a narrow path between</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Two gulfs&mdash;what is to be, and what has been,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Led by a guide whose name is Destiny;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Beyond is sightless gloom and mystery,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">From whose unfathomable depths we glean</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">Chaotic hopes and terrors, dimly-seen</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Reflections of a past reality.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Behind, pursuing through the twilight haze,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">The phantom people of the past appear;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Hope, happiness and sorrow, fruitless strife,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">And all the loved and lost of other days;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5em;">They crowd upon us closer year by year,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Till we as phantoms haunt some other life."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The octet, in the regular form of a sonnet, should stand as above; if
+the sextet varies, but is not too irregular, vary the indentation of the
+latter, as&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">... "the great World-builder has designed</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The wondrous plans which Nature's works disclose.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">A child who scans the philosophic page</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">Of some profoundly meditative sage</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">May see familiar phrases,&mdash;then he knows</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">That his own simple thoughts and childish lore</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">Are part of the great scholar's mental store."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Should the sextet read as given below, instead of trying to follow the
+seemingly hap-hazard rhymes with the setting in or out of lines, it
+would be better to print the first eight lines uniformly even and the
+sextet at the end to correspond with them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Then human Grief found out her human heart,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">And she was fain to go where pain is dumb;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">So thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">And she fares onward with thee, willingly,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Thus Grief that is makes welcome Death to come."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In like manner, let any irregularity of the eight lines settle the
+question of indentation, even though the latter portion of the sonnet
+should happen to be according to the best forms.</p>
+
+<p>There are many other questions of style and appearance in getting up a
+collection of sonnets, a few of which may be referred to here. A little
+English book which I have at hand has the best of all the recent work in
+that line, and even runs back, in some cases, fifty years; from a
+literary point of view, it is unexcelled. But look at a few of the
+mechanical defects: it is printed as a very small 18mo.&mdash;all the long
+lines of the sonnets with a word or two "turned down," as the printers
+say. It is a "red-line" book, which means a large enclosed white space
+above and below the sonnet, and very little margin on each side. It has
+running titles standing in a lonesome way at the head of each page, and
+a folio in the page corner instead of being centred at the foot of each
+sonnet; and, to make a bad matter worse, each of these running titles
+has a rule beneath it, making the separation more obvious. These are
+only a few of the defects. Not the less displeasing to me is another
+book of sonnets, printed in octavo form. Not that one objects to a large
+margin, but the duodecimo, it seems to me, is much the best size and
+shape of volume for the proper display upon a printed page of this
+miniature poem, and a handsome old-style or Elzevir letter is the
+fittest type, instead of the sombre modern cut, so often used.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><i>F.&nbsp;D. Stickney.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Cambridge</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">THE WRITER.</span></h2>
+
+<table width="100%" summary="Title">
+  <tr>
+    <td align="left"><b>WM. H. HILLS.</b></td>
+    <td align="right"><b><span class="smcap">Editor and Publisher.</span></b></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+<p>&#x2042; <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> is published the first day of every month. It will be
+sent, post-paid, <span class="smcap">One Year</span> for <span class="smcap">One Dollar</span>.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; All drafts and money orders should be made payable to William H.
+Hills. Stamps, or local checks, should not be sent in payment for
+subscriptions.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> will be sent only to those who have paid for it in
+advance. Accounts cannot be opened for subscriptions, and names will not
+be entered on the list unless the subscription order is accompanied by a
+remittance. When subscriptions expire the names of subscribers will be
+taken off the list unless an order for renewal, accompanied by
+remittance, is received. Due notice will be given to every subscriber of
+the expiration of his subscription.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; No sample copies of <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> will be sent free.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; The American News Company, of New York, and the New England News
+Company, of Boston, are wholesale agents for <span class="smcap">The Writer</span>. It may be
+ordered from any newsdealer, or directly, by mail, from the publisher.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> is kept on sale by Damrell &amp; Upham (Old Corner
+Bookstore), Boston; Brentano Bros., New York, Washington, and Chicago;
+George F. Wharton, New Orleans; John Wanamaker, Philadelphia; and the
+principal newsdealers in other cities.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; Everything printed in the magazine will be written expressly for it.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; Not one line of paid advertisement will be printed in <span class="smcap">The Writer</span>
+outside of the advertising pages.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; Advertising rates will be sent on request.</p>
+
+<p>&#x2042; Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed
+envelope is enclosed.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 20em;">Address:&mdash;</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">THE WRITER,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 30em;">(P.&nbsp;O. Box 1905.) <span class="smcap">Boston, Mass.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+<table width="100%" summary="Title">
+  <tr>
+    <td align="left"><b><span class="smcap">VOL</span>. VI.</b></td>
+    <td align="center"><b><span class="smcap">April</span>, 1892.</b></td>
+    <td align="right"><b><span class="smcap">No</span>. 4.</b></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 100%;" />
+
+<p>It is hard to believe that Dr. Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years
+old April 3, but it will not do to contradict the birth record and the
+arithmetic, in spite of all his unfailing energy and youthful activity
+in many different undertakings. Dr. Hale is one of the men who will be
+always young, and it may be in consequence of this that he has written
+so many things that will never lose their freshness. One of the best of
+them is the chapter in "How to Do It" on "How to Write," which is full
+of crisp and practical suggestions. Dr. Hale's rules for writing are
+evidently those which have always governed his own literary work; and
+while others may not be able to follow them with equal success, they are
+worth remembering by every writer. The rules are:</p>
+
+<p>First, <i>Know what you want to say</i>; second, <i>Say it</i>; third, <i>Use your
+own language</i>; fourth, <i>Leave out all the fine passages</i>; fifth, <i>A
+short word is better than a long one</i>; sixth, <i>The fewer words, other
+things being equal, the better</i>; finally, <i>Cut it to pieces</i>. Any writer
+who will make these rules his guide in daily work will find in them an
+important help to literary success.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_SCRAP_BASKET" id="THE_SCRAP_BASKET"></a>THE SCRAP BASKET.</h2>
+
+<p>It was proposed by a recent contributor to <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> that authors
+should advertise their wares, like other manufacturers. In case the idea
+should meet with favor, I would suggest that the practice be carried a
+step further in the line of business methods. During the "Robert
+Elsmere" craze, a few years ago, a certain soap manufacturing company
+advertised a copy of the book with every quarter's worth of soap sold.
+It is unfortunate that Mrs. Humphry Ward, whose "History of David
+Grieve," it is reported, is not meeting with great success in this
+country, did not profit by the hint of the soap company and advertise a
+cake of soap to be given as an inducement with every copy of her book.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">A.&nbsp;L.&nbsp;A.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Windham</span>, N.&nbsp;H.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_USE_AND_MISUSE_OF_WORDS" id="THE_USE_AND_MISUSE_OF_WORDS"></a>THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[Brief, pointed, practical paragraphs discussing the use and misuse
+of words and phrases will be printed in this department. All
+readers of <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> are invited to contribute to it.
+Contributions are limited to 400 words; the briefer they are, the
+better.]</p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"<b>Cenotaph.</b>"&mdash;We are told that a cenotaph is a monument "in memory of one
+buried elsewhere"&mdash;otherwise, "an empty tomb." A recent number of a
+popular magazine contains an article on "Memorials of Edgar Allen Poe."
+When the author asked to be directed to the grave of the poet, the
+sexton pointed to the cenotaph of white marble in the corner at the
+intersection of two streets, and we are told that "the remains" were
+"transferred to this more conspicuous spot from the family lot in the
+rear of the church." Are not "high-sounding" words too often used
+without reference to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> suitableness? Mr. Pecksniff called his
+daughter "a playful warbler,"&mdash;not that she was, we are told, "at all
+vocal," but that Mr. Pecksniff was in the habit of using a word that
+rounded a sentence well.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">P. MCA. C.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">East Bridgewater</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="BOOK_REVIEWS" id="BOOK_REVIEWS"></a>BOOK REVIEWS.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Letters of Charles Dickens to Wilkie Collins.</span> Edited by Lawrence
+Hutton. With Portraits and Fac-similes. 171 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New
+York: Harper &amp; Brothers. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>The friendship between Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins began when
+Dickens was nearly forty, and Collins about twenty-five years of age.
+Ten years later the marriage of the daughter of Dickens to the brother
+of Collins cemented the intimacy then begun, and it continued unbroken
+until the death of Dickens, in 1870. Part of the familiar correspondence
+between the two men was printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens"; but
+many more letters from Dickens were found after the death of Collins,
+and from these Miss Hogarth selected the specimens that make up the
+present volume. As Mr. Hutton says in his introduction: "They not only
+show their writer as he was willing to show himself to the man whom he
+loved, but they give an excellent idea of his methods of collaboration
+with the man whom he had selected from all others as an active partner
+in certain of his creative works." The replies from Collins cannot be
+printed, since it was Dickens' rule to destroy every letter he received,
+not on actual business. It is fortunate that his correspondents did not
+do the same with his letters, so great is the interest of everything
+that he put on paper: as Mr. Hutton happily puts it: "It is greatly to
+be regretted that he did not write letters to himself&mdash;like his own Mr.
+Toots&mdash;and preserve them all."</p>
+
+<p>The letters included in the present volume are so interesting that the
+temptation is strong to reprint many extracts from them. They give
+charming glimpses of Dickens' personality, and illustrate the literary
+ideas and methods of work of two famous story-writers. Mr. Hutton
+connects the letters with all necessary explanations, and has performed
+his work as editor with admirable skill. A good portrait of Dickens, a
+better one of Collins, and some interesting fac-similes illustrate the
+book.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Everybody's Writing-desk Book.</span> By Charles Nisbet and Don Lemon.
+Revised and Edited by James Baldwin, Ph.&nbsp;D. 310 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
+New York: Harper &amp; Brothers. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>In this handy little volume are combined instruction regarding
+composition, English grammar, and punctuation; a list of synonyms and
+antonyms; a list of forms of addresses; information about writing for
+the press, proof-reading, writing and printing papers and books; rules
+for pronunciation and spelling; rates of postage, etc. The book is a
+compilation rather than an original work, and its chief merit is that it
+puts together in a single volume a good deal of information of different
+kinds, not elsewhere to be found in one book. Its spelling list and its
+list of synonyms and antonyms are the parts most valuable for reference;
+while the parts devoted to composition and grammar may be studied with
+profit by those in need of such instruction. The chapter on "Writing for
+the Press" is short and weak, and the book generally is adapted for use
+rather by non-professional than by professional writers.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Christopher Columbus; and How He Received and Imparted the Spirit
+of Discovery.</span> By Justin Winsor. 674 pp. Cloth, $4.00. Boston:
+Houghton, Mifflin, &amp; Company. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Winsor's rank as an historian is so high that whatever he writes is
+read with respectful attention. Especially regarding the early history
+of America he is an authority, and probably no one in this country is
+better fitted than he to write the story of Columbus. The view he takes
+of the life and character of the admiral in this exhaustive study of his
+career will surprise those who have looked on Columbus as a hero, with
+ideas far in advance of the age in which he lived, and with no blemishes
+upon his reputation. Mr. Winsor presents facts, so far as they can be
+ascertained, rather than the romantic notions of traditions, and his
+picture of Columbus is not flattering to the explorer. In the opening
+chapter of the work he gives a review of all the sources of information
+about the admiral's life, and shows a respect for the investigations of
+Harisse that is undoubtedly justified. Irving's well-known "Life of
+Columbus" he treats with scant reverence as an historical work. "The
+genuine Columbus," he says, "evaporates under the warmth of the writer's
+genius, and we have nothing left but the refinement of his clay."
+According to Mr. Winsor's estimate, Columbus was a pitiable man, who
+deserved his pitiable end. His discovery was a blunder, and he became
+the despoiler of the new world he had unwittingly found. A rabid seeker
+of gold and a vice-royalty, he left to the new continent a legacy of
+devastation and crime. Finding America, he thought he had discovered the
+Indies, and maintained that belief until his death. Claiming to desire
+the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, he did what he could to
+establish a slave trade with Spain. Slitting the noses and tearing off
+the ears of naked heathen are cruelties with which he is charged. In his
+early life he deserted his lawful wife and became the father of an
+illegitimate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> son. In his last years his mind weakened, and he became
+the victim of wild hallucinations. Such is the man as Mr. Winsor
+describes him, in contrast to the demi-god of whom Prescott says:
+"Whether we contemplate his character in its public or private
+relations, in all its features it wears the same noble aspects." As a
+bold navigator Columbus won the fame of a world-discoverer; but he never
+knew himself what he had found; and if Mr. Winsor's estimate is just, it
+is not altogether unfitting that the name of a more clear-sighted
+voyager than he should be given to the world that he discovered.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Picturesque Hampshire.</span> Edited by Charles F. Warner, 120 pp. Large
+Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
+Company. 1890.</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Picturesque Franklin.</span> Edited by Charles F. Warner. 123 pp. Large
+Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton. Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
+Company. 1891.</p></div>
+
+<p>At first sight it seems astonishing that such handsome books as these,
+with their lavish wealth of costly half-tone pictures, can be profitably
+sold at so low a price. They are exceedingly attractive volumes, and
+together they make a delightful picture-gallery of New England country
+life. "Picturesque Hampshire" was published in November, 1890, as a
+supplement to the quarter-centennial issue of the <i>Hampshire County
+Journal</i>, and its success was so great as to lead to the publication of
+"Picturesque Franklin," and to the preparation of "Picturesque Hampden,"
+which will be issued in two parts next fall. Not only the residents of
+the counties illustrated, and of Western Massachusetts generally, but
+every cultivated person will be interested in these books. The
+illustrations are so numerous that each volume is really a picture book
+of New England life. The illustrations have been reproduced from
+photographs by the half-tone process, and they retain all the accuracy
+and sharpness of the original photographs. The text explains them
+sufficiently, and is generally well written.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">In Foreign Lands.</span> By Barbara N. Galpin. 156 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
+Boston: New England Publishing Company. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>"In Foreign Lands" is a pleasantly-written volume descriptive of
+European travel, and tells, in an interesting way, the experiences of a
+delightful summer journey.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">New Harvard Songbook.</span> Compiled by R.&nbsp;T. Whitehouse, '91, and
+Frederick Bruegger, '92. Revised Edition. 92 pp. Flexible Covers.
+Boston: Oliver Ditson Company. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>This new compilation of college songs contains many of the new songs
+which have been sung by the Harvard Glee Club during the last three
+years. Many of the songs are the compositions of Harvard undergraduates,
+and have never before been published. Some of the best-known among them
+are: "Boreen," "Holsteiner's Band," "The Hoodoo," "Jay Bird," "The Man
+in the Moon's Ball," "Mrs. Craigin's Daughter," "O'Grady's Goat," "The
+Party at Odd Fellows' Hall," "The Phantom Band," "Romeo and Juliette,"
+"Schneider's Band," and "The Versatile Baby." The book is full of the
+rollicking college spirit, and college men and their sweethearts will
+find it an unfailing source of delight. It is adapted either for glee
+club or home use, and is exquisitely gotten up.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Brunhilde; or, The Last Act of Norma.</span> By Pedro A. De Alarcon.
+Translated by Mrs. Francis J.&nbsp;A. Darr. With Portrait of the Author.
+311 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: A. Lovell &amp; Company. 1891.</p></div>
+
+<p>Mrs. Darr has translated this work of the Spanish novelist with fidelity
+and skill. It is an interesting story, with an unusual plot and a
+dramatic climax, and it is told in a peculiar style, which gives to it a
+distinctive charm. A good portrait of the author is given as a
+frontispiece.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Trifet's Harmonized Melodies.</span> Arranged by Charles D. Blake. 256 pp.
+Paper, 60 cents. Boston: F. Trifet. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>Four hundred songs, sacred and secular, comic and sentimental, pathetic
+and humorous, are given in this collection, so harmonized and arranged
+that they may be played upon the piano or organ or sung with or without
+accompaniment. Every variety of song is given, and every one will find
+in the book something suited to his taste. The arranger has done his
+work well, and the music printer has made the book an attractive one.
+The selections range from "Old Folks at Home" and the "Sweet By and By"
+to "Comrades" and "Annie Rooney," and the price of the book, considering
+the quantity of music it contains, is remarkably low. It will
+undoubtedly have an extensive sale.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">A First Family of Tasajara.</span> By Bret Harte. 301 pp. Cloth, $1.25.
+Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, &amp; Co. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<p>The charm of Bret Harte's stories lies in their originality of
+conception, their well-defined local color, and the chaste richness of
+their literary style. The power to pique one's interest to the last page
+belongs to Mr. Harte above all other writers of stories of American
+life. His latest book has all the good qualities of its predecessors. It
+tells a perfectly natural story of life in California. The hero is a
+newspaper man; the other characters are a man who makes a big "strike"
+in land, and becomes suddenly rich, his two daughters, a newspaper
+proprietor with an axe to grind and a secret love, a beautiful and rich
+Boston widow, and a civil engineer. The denouement is startling, being
+none other than the wiping out by a flood of the town which made the
+rich man's fortune, and the lesson of the story is the suddenness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> with
+which in the West riches have been made, and also lost.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">L.&nbsp;F.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="BOOKS_RECEIVED" id="BOOKS_RECEIVED"></a>BOOKS RECEIVED.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[All books sent to the editor of <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> will be acknowledged
+under this heading. They will receive such further notice as may be
+warranted by their importance to readers of the magazine.]</p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Paragraph-writing, With Appendices on Newspaper Style and
+Proof-reading.</span> By Fred N. Scott, Ph.&nbsp;D., and Joseph V. Denney, A.&nbsp;B.
+107 pp. Stiff paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing
+Company. 1891.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Principles of Style.</span> By Fred N. Scott, Ph.&nbsp;D. 51 pp. Stiff
+paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">&AElig;sthetics, Its Problems and Literature.</span> By Fred N. Scott, Ph.&nbsp;D. 32
+pp. Paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Helen Young.</span> By Paul Lindau. Translated from the German by P.&nbsp;J.
+McFadden. 183 pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, &amp;
+Company. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Treasure Tower.</span> A Story of Malta. By Virginia W. Johnson. 223
+pp. Paper, 25 cents. New York: Rand, McNally, &amp; Company. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Light of Asia.</span> By Sir Edwin Arnold. With Notes by Mrs. I.&nbsp;L.
+Hauser. 309 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, &amp; Company.
+1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Book of Ruth.</span> A novel. By P.&nbsp;L. Gray. 219 pp. Paper. Bendena,
+Kan.: P.&nbsp;L. Gray. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Blue Scarab.</span> By David Graham Adee. 348 pp. Paper, 50 cents.
+Chicago: Laird &amp; Lee. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Loyal Lover.</span> By E. Lovett Cameron. 294 pp. Paper, 50 cents. New
+York: John A. Taylor &amp; Company. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Lygon.</span> A Domestic Detective Story. By Shirley Brooks. 385 pp.
+Paper, 50 cents. St. Paul, Minn.: Price, McGill Company. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Moral Inheritance.</span> By Lydia Hoyt Farmer. 240 pp. New York: J.&nbsp;S.
+Ogilvie. 1890.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">How to Get Married, although a Woman.</span> By a Young Widow. 144 pp.
+Paper, 25 cents. New York: J.&nbsp;S. Ogilvie. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Classical Poems.</span> By William Entriken Bailey. 108 pp. Cloth.
+Cincinnati: Robert Clarke &amp; Company. 1892.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Parson.</span> A Satire. By Charles J. Bayne. Twelfth Edition. 19 pp.
+Paper. Augusta, Ga.: Chronicle Office. 1892.</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="HELPFUL_HINTS_AND_SUGGESTIONS" id="HELPFUL_HINTS_AND_SUGGESTIONS"></a>HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.</h2>
+
+<p><b>Envelope Pigeon-holes.</b>&mdash;One of the most useful appliances that I use in
+daily work is the row of envelopes in the front compartment of the upper
+left-hand drawer of my desk. The envelopes are made of stout manila
+paper, almost as high as the drawer is deep, and eight and one-half
+inches long. They are arranged in the drawer at right angles with the
+front, so that as I sit at the desk the face of each envelope is toward
+me. The flaps are turned inside, and each envelope has an inscription on
+the upper left-hand corner. They are used for filing material wanted for
+early reference, and they keep such material classified, within
+immediate reach, and in much smaller space than if pigeon-holes were
+used. The first twenty-six envelopes are inscribed with the letters of
+the alphabet, and are used for filing material alphabetically. Those
+beyond are labelled with subjects, also arranged alphabetically, the
+subjects being those in which I have an immediate special interest. For
+instance, if I am preparing an article on "Misprints," any examples
+noted are filed away in an envelope so marked, and when I get ready to
+write the article the material is ready at hand. "Bills Unpaid,"
+"Receipted Bills," "Ideas and Suggestions," "Postage Stamps,"
+"Addresses," "Cards and Circulars," may be marked on other envelopes. If
+a drawer is not available, the envelopes may be kept in a box within
+easy reach, but the drawer is best. The scheme is easily adapted to any
+special needs. In the case of a writer collecting material, when an
+envelope bulges too much, it suggests profitable action.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 38em;"><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Somerville</span>, Mass.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_ARTICLES_IN_PERIODICALS" id="LITERARY_ARTICLES_IN_PERIODICALS"></a>LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[Readers who send to the publishers of the periodicals indexed for
+copies containing the articles mentioned in the following list,
+will confer a favor if they will mention <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> when they
+write.]</p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Writings of W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;H. Murray.</span> George Stewart, Jr. <i>Belford's
+Magazine</i> for March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Reporters and Their Trials.</span> <i>Inland Printer</i> for March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Theory of the Comma.</span> <i>American Bookmaker</i> for March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Characteristics of Magic in Eastern and Western Literature.</span> Talcott
+Williams. <i>Poet-Lore</i> for March 15.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">What a Bibliography Should Be.</span> Victor Chauvin. <i>Library Journal</i>
+for March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Some Newspaper Bad Habits.</span> With Portrait of E.&nbsp;W. Howe. E.&nbsp;W. Howe.
+<i>Newspaperdom</i> for March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Danbury News Man.</span> George Watson Hallock. <i>Newspaperdom</i> for
+March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Complete Reference System.</span> I.&nbsp;D. Marshall. <i>Newspaperdom</i> for
+March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Complete and Authentic History of a News Despatch.</span> Samuel
+Merrill. <i>Engraver and Printer</i> (Boston) for March.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Edward Augustus Freeman.</span> <i>Critic</i> for March 26.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Count Leon Tolstoi.</span> Madame Dovidoff. <i>Cosmopolitan</i> for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Goodridge Bliss Roberts.</span> With Portrait. Charles G. Abbott.
+<i>Dominion Illustrated Monthly</i> (Montreal) for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Literature and the Ministry.</span> Leverett W. Spring. <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>
+for April.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">George Eliot and Mrs. Humphry Ward.</span> Charles T. Copeland. <i>North
+American Review</i> for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Charles Keene, of Punch.</span> George Somes Layard. <i>Scribner's Magazine</i>
+for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isaac Judson Potter, Publisher of the Yankee Blade.</span> With Portrait.
+<i>Weekly Journalist</i> (Boston) for March 24.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fiction in the Court Room.</span> George Stewart. <i>Toronto Week</i> for March
+11.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">T.&nbsp;W. Higginson.</span> With Portrait. <i>Weekly Journalist</i> (Boston) for
+March 31.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Why Books Succeed.</span> Duffield Osborne. <i>American Bookseller</i> for
+April 1.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Eugene Field.</span> <i>Inland Printer</i> for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">What Is Poetry.</span> Edmund Clarence Stedman. <i>Century</i> for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Wolcott Balestier.</span> Edmund Gosse. <i>Century</i> for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Wife of Eugene Field.</span> John Ballantyne. <i>Ladies' Home Journal</i>
+for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mistaken Literary Success.</span> Wolstan Dixey. <i>Ladies' Home Journal</i>
+for April.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Poetry and Eloquence.</span> John Burroughs. <i>Chautauquan</i> for April.</p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="NEWS_AND_NOTES" id="NEWS_AND_NOTES"></a>NEWS AND NOTES.</h2>
+
+<p>D. Appleton &amp; Co. announce a Holland Fiction Series, introducing to
+American readers the best literature of modern Holland. They have been
+led to do this by the interest shown in Maarten Maartens' "Joost
+Avelingh," which they published some time ago. A new novel by Maarten
+Maartens will be included in the series.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. James T. Field is abroad with Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.</p>
+
+<p>Daniel Lothrop, head of the D. Lothrop Company, of Boston, died February
+18. He was born August 11, 1831.</p>
+
+<p>Edward Augustus Freeman, the English historian, died of smallpox
+February 16, at Alicante, Spain, aged sixty-nine years.</p>
+
+<p>With the issue of March 11 the <i>Epoch</i> ceased to exist as a separate
+publication, having been merged with <i>Munsey's Magazine</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years old April 3.</p>
+
+<p>Rev. George Thomas Dowling, D.&nbsp;D., who has been pastor of the
+Madison-avenue Reformed Church in Albany for nearly three years, has
+offered his resignation, to take effect July 1. It is his intention, he
+says, to devote himself for a few years to rest and literary pursuits,
+probably in Boston. Dr. Dowling's salary is $6,500.</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>New York Herald</i> for March 13 were printed the opening lines of
+a story, entitled "The Way Out," which American writers have been
+invited to complete. The opening lines are by John Habberton. The entire
+tale, inclusive of the opening, should not exceed eight thousand words,
+nor contain less than seven thousand words. No limitations are imposed
+as to scenes, characters, or incidents. The decision will be left to Mr.
+Charles Ledyard Norton. For the best story offered the <i>Herald</i> will pay
+$100, the story to become the property of the <i>Herald</i>, and be published
+in full Sunday, May 1. Manuscripts must be typewritten, and must reach
+the <i>Herald</i> office not later than Saturday, April 16.</p>
+
+<p>The frontispiece of the <i>Magazine of Art</i> (New York) for April is an
+etching by Chauvel from Troyon's "The Watering-place."</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Chautauquan</i> (Meadville, Penn.) for April contains an excellent
+portrait of John Vance Cheney, the popular poet and critic.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Keene, the famous caricaturist of <i>Punch</i>, who died about a year
+ago, is the subject of an article in <i>Scribner's</i> for April, illustrated
+with many pictures from his original drawings.</p>
+
+<p>A portrait of Walt Whitman, from the painting by J.&nbsp;W. Alexander, forms
+the frontispiece to <i>Harper's Magazine</i> for April. Guido Biagi writes of
+"The Last Days of Percy Bysshe Shelley."</p>
+
+<p>A society of American authors, on lines similar to the British and
+French societies of the same name, is proposed by Charles Burr Todd, who
+has set forth the grievances of American authors in a paper in the March
+<i>Forum</i>. The first meeting is to be held privately in New York on or
+before May 1, and when one hundred members are enrolled the society will
+be organized at once. Its objects are extension of copyright, abolition
+of letter-rate postage on manuscripts, amendment of international
+copyright law, and the adoption in America of the French statutes in
+regard to literary property. All persons who have written a book, or are
+engaged in writing for the press, are eligible to membership.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892., by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITER, VOLUME VI, APRIL 1892. ***
+
+***** This file should be named 26128-h.htm or 26128-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+</pre>
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892., by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892.
+       A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: William Henry Hills
+        Robert Luce
+
+Release Date: July 25, 2008 [EBook #26128]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITER, VOLUME VI, APRIL 1892. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Annie McGuire and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE WRITER:
+
+  A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.
+
+
+  VOL. VI.     BOSTON, APRIL, 1892.     No. 4.
+
+
+  Copyright, 1892, by WILLIAM H. HILLS. All rights reserved.
+  ENTERED AT THE BOSTON POST-OFFICE AS SECOND-CLASS MAIL MATTER.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS:                                                           PAGE
+
+  WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE. _Roman I Zubof_                             63
+
+  SHALL WRITERS COMBINE? _John Braincraft_                            65
+
+  NEWSPAPER COOKERY. _Anna Borrows_                                   67
+
+  DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE? _Gertrude F. Lynch_                      70
+
+  FASHIONS IN LITERATURE. _Pamela McArthur Cole_                      71
+
+  SNEAK REPORTING. _Herbert Corey_                                    72
+
+  A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME. _Persis E. Darrow_                     73
+
+  TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE. _Susan Andrews Rice_                      74
+
+  THE DELUGE OF VERSE. _Douglas Dane_                                 75
+
+  CONCERNING SONNETS. _F. D. Stickney_                                76
+
+  EDITORIAL.                                                          78
+
+    Dr. Hale's Rules for Writing.                                     78
+
+  THE SCRAP BASKET.                                                   78
+
+  THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.                                        78
+
+    "Cenotaph."                                                       78
+
+  BOOK REVIEWS.                                                       79
+
+  HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.                                      81
+
+    Envelope Pigeon-holes.                                            81
+
+  LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS.                                   81
+
+  NEWS AND NOTES.                                                     82
+
+
+
+
+WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE.
+
+
+With the death and burial of Walt Whitman passes away the most
+picturesque figure of contemporary literature.
+
+It is true that in England the name of the poet is more familiar than
+his poetry, and that students of literature are more conversant with the
+nature of his writings than are the mass of general readers; yet the
+character of the man and the spirit of his compositions were rapidly
+beginning to be appreciated by, and to sway an influence over, the whole
+higher intelligence of the country.
+
+Considering the man and his works, it is almost surprising to find how
+easily he did conquer for himself an audience, and even admirers, in
+England. He was _par excellence_ a contemporary American. Not that
+American who clings to the Puritanic traditions of his English
+ancestors, but that characteristic product of the New World who looks
+more with eagerness to the future than with satisfaction on the past,
+and whose pre-eminent optimism is inspired by his ardent appreciation of
+the living present. Walt Whitman stood forth as an innovator into such
+realms, where the rigor of conditions demanded an abstract compliance
+with rules which were based on absolute truths, and where a swerving
+from them was evidence of impotence. His unconventional forms, the
+rhymeless rhythm of his verses, which, in appearance, resembled more a
+careless prosody than a delicately attuned poesy,--this alone was enough
+to provoke, at first, an incredulous smile, even among those whose
+tastes were endowed with more penetration. But Walt Whitman stood forth,
+besides, as the representative of a principle which, as yet, is looked
+upon with suspicion by the old world,--of the principle of a broad,
+grand, all-embracing democracy, which elevates manhood above all forms,
+all conditions, and all limitations.
+
+The question where metre comes in in poetry, whether it is simply a
+means of accentuating rhythm, and is not the rhythm itself, and whether
+it is legitimate to do as Whitman did, to prolong the rhythmic phrase at
+the expense of metre, until the sense is completed,--all this was a
+problem for the professors and the critics to decide, and they might
+wrangle as they pleased. But here was Walt Whitman, recognizing no
+beauty higher than creative nature, recognizing no law greater than the
+spontaneous dictates of the moral personality; here was Walt Whitman, a
+pagan, a pantheist, who recognized more divinity in an outcast human
+being than in a grandly ordained king, who acknowledged nothing higher
+than the dignity of the human individuality,--all this was enough to
+make sober people pause and think, if not shudder.
+
+'Tis true that some, almost all the representative men of literature in
+England, recognized in Walt Whitman, from the first, a beauty, a
+grandeur, which appealed to and captivated their higher susceptibilities
+and mental appreciation. Such critics as George Eliot, Dowden, and even
+Matthew Arnold, and such poets as Tennyson, Swinburne, and even William
+Morris, have uttered expressions of the warmest appreciation of his
+great talent; but the class of general readers are not endowed with such
+discrimination, and his works, till very recently, were excluded from
+the shelves of libraries which were catholic enough to embrace the
+writings of the earliest saints and the latest productions of Zola--on
+the ground that his poetry was too demoralizing for the general public.
+
+This is not a general statement. I have a specific instance in view,
+when, in 1886, I went to the Leinster House in Dublin--the public
+library of the place--and asked for Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." On
+being informed that they had no copy of it in the library, I put down
+the book in the suggestion list. A number of Trinity students did the
+same. The matter was brought before the directors at their monthly
+meeting, and it appears it was strenuously objected to by the librarian,
+who pleaded the exclusion of the book on the ground of its being
+immoral, indecent! We carried the fight from private discussion to
+correspondence in the press; the editor of the _Dublin University
+Review_ put the pages of the magazine at our disposal, and it was not
+until a year afterwards, and until considerable pressure was brought on
+the directors, that "Leaves of Grass" was admitted into the catalogues
+of the Dublin library.
+
+But the genuine merit of Walt Whitman's works, as the true inspiration
+of individualistic genius is always destined to do, is rapidly
+conquering the opposition and prejudice even of those whose obtuse minds
+seldom discover the intrinsic good motive frequently underlying an
+indifferent form. Those whose objections rested on their incapacity of
+penetrating further than the surface of the headline are rapidly
+beginning to discern in Walt Whitman's writings a force, a sentiment, a
+moral passion, and a natural grandeur that is amply compensating for the
+occasional roughness or looseness of the expressions he mirrors them in.
+Before his death the good old poet had not only the satisfaction of
+knowing that his writings have been widely read and universally
+commented on, but he had the pleasure of seeing his "Leaves of Grass"
+translated into German by T. W. Rolleston, of Dublin, and Professor
+Schwartz, of Dresden, of having parts of it translated into French, and
+a few years ago Mr. Lee consulted me as to the advisability of rendering
+them into Russian, parts of the book having already been published in
+the periodicals of the Russian emigres in Switzerland. Not only this,
+but his innovations, his genius, have even founded a school, and has a
+following. The little volume published some time ago in England, under
+the title "Toward Democracy," by Ed. Carpenter, written in the same
+style as "The Leaves of Grass," is also gradually finding its way to the
+surface of the highest consideration. And such passages as this, when
+Nature is calling to man:--
+
+"I, Nature, stand and call to you, though you heed not:
+
+"Have courage, come forth, O child of mine, that you may see me."
+
+"As a nymph of the invisible air before her mortal beloved, so I glance
+before you. I dart and stand in your path, and turn away from your
+heedless eyes like one in pain. I am the ground; I listen to the sound
+of your feet. They come nearer. I shut my eyes and feel their tread over
+my face," etc. etc.; or such an outburst as this: "Ireland--liberty's
+deathless flame leaping on her Atlantic shore,"--are enough to convince
+the human mind that men who write them can be actuated only by impulses
+of which genius alone is capable!
+
+It is this impulse--this sober, solemn love pervading the writings of
+Walt Whitman which has invested his compositions with a property far
+transcending in genuine beauty the effusions of those poets whose object
+in writing is more the display of a capacity for finished manipulation
+of delicate form, than the manifestation of a free conception of a grand
+spirit. Walt Whitman is spontaneous without being careless. His style is
+unhesitating, his diction is flowing, smooth, without being searching or
+verbose! It seems as if his soul were responsive--not plaintively, but
+appreciatively responsive--to all the chords, influences, and objects of
+nature; and that his imagination were absorptive enough to embrace and
+love, and reflect all changes and transitions of light and shadow in
+nature and life, particularly in the inner human life,--for Walt
+Whitman's love for humanity, permeating all his writings, has more
+grandeur than the most heroic of classic epics!
+
+  _Roman I. Zubof._
+
+  BOSTON, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+SHALL WRITERS COMBINE?
+
+
+Things in this world are often the precise opposite of what we should
+expect. The shoemaker's wife and the blacksmith's horse frequently go
+poorly shod. The man who makes his sole living from the product of his
+brains does not use them in disposing of his wares. He remains the slave
+of publishers who have enriched themselves from his labor, while he
+thoughtlessly plods on, apparently content with a few crumbs from the
+feast which he has provided for them.
+
+One striking difference between the two halves of the nineteenth century
+is the gigantic combination which the shuttle of these latter years is
+weaving. The wealth of no single man was found sufficient to place a
+railroad across the continent. Men combined their capital, and to-day we
+can ride from New York to San Francisco in a car as luxuriously
+furnished as a drawing-room. Had it not been for this union of dollars,
+we should to-day be forced to use the stage coach or to walk. When the
+railroads were once built, their owners found combination necessary to
+keep them from cutting each other's throats and to maintain a good rate
+of profit.
+
+By combination the working man has reduced his hours of toil, obtained a
+fairer share of the profits coming to capital from his labor, and made
+his own life better worth the living. These concessions did not come
+voluntarily: combination wrung them from capital, and then stood guard
+over them.
+
+The author stands almost alone with no union among his craft. The
+refiners of sugar and coal oil, the makers of matches, lead-pencils,
+screws,--in short, almost all other interests,--have some sort of
+combination. The brewers stand by each other in fixing the price of
+beer, and if a saloon keeper fails to pay one brewer, the others will
+not furnish him with the product of their vats.
+
+There is plenty of freemasonry among publishers. Their contracts read
+very much alike. They resort to the same subterfuges to get the lion's
+share of the profits. They care nothing for the logic of the situation.
+What did a grasping palm ever care for logic which told against itself?
+An American author has just shown by indisputable figures that many of
+our publishers treat the writers of books as badly as the worst Hebrew
+sweating shops do their employees. An author in one instance worked for
+years upon a book which had every prospect of not being ephemeral. He
+signed a contract with a firm of publishers to receive a ten-percent.
+royalty only after the first thousand copies were sold. The work had
+much free advertising and sold well, as many booksellers testified. More
+than two years have elapsed since it appeared, and though clerks in book
+stores still say it sells well, the author has never received a cent for
+those weary years of labor. He knows there is an Indian lurking
+somewhere in the forest, but one author is not powerful enough to enter
+and dislodge the enemy.
+
+It may do us good to know that the English Society of Authors protects
+writers from dishonest publishers; but why should not our authors form a
+union of their own and enjoy the same advantages? It has been shown that
+our literary men have been repeatedly imposed upon; that the publisher
+in many cases takes all the profits; that his accounts are not open to
+the verifiable inspection of authors; and that this is one of the few
+exceptions of the kind in all business, that one of two interested
+partners is alone allowed to audit the accounts.
+
+Mr. Besant has shown that in England the perfectly honest publisher is a
+rare exception. Are Englishmen less honest than Americans? Or is it true
+that human nature is very much alike everywhere and easily warped to
+look at things only in the line of its own advantage, wherever that can
+be done without coming to the knowledge of the world?
+
+There will, of course, be strong opposition on the part of publishers to
+the formation of any protective authors' association, which would insist
+that the writer know the exact facts in those cases in which he is to be
+a partner in the share of the profits from his own work. If only a few
+authors joined the movement, publishers would undoubtedly combine to
+boycott them; but here, as in England, safety will be found in numbers.
+There is not a railroad in the United States that dares select any
+special engineer and treat him unjustly. The Brotherhood of Locomotive
+Engineers is too strong to admit that for one week.
+
+Some hysterical publisher may exclaim, "If you think we are rascals, you
+had better not deal with us." Ask him what he would think of the
+president and the cashier of a national bank if they said to the
+examiner, "You have come here to insult us by implying that we would
+steal the depositors' money. We resent such treatment; we are honest."
+
+"Why, then, do you object to a careful inspection of your methods?" asks
+the examiner.
+
+"Because it throws suspicion on us," is the reply.
+
+"Are you aware that officials with reputations quite as good as yours
+are now embezzlers in foreign lands? I want to remove from you the
+temptation of making money in that way, so that nothing may rest heavily
+on your consciences in the great hereafter."
+
+"Nevertheless, we object to an examination."
+
+"Then I had better at once go over your accounts thoroughly. I shall
+probably be here several days."
+
+History tells us that for a long time the English Parliament forbade any
+newspaper to publish a line of what was said there. A disobedient editor
+was speedily imprisoned. The members desired to receive bribes for their
+votes in as many cases as possible. If a member could keep his
+constituents in ignorance of the way he voted, he could often make money
+by voting in opposition to their interests. Of course, he dreaded to
+have the newspapers turn the light on his record, and he developed many
+remarkable arguments against such privileges on the part of the press.
+When more light streams in on certain publishers' methods, authors may
+then be able to select better men to represent them.
+
+It has been said that the jealousy of authors is such as to keep them
+from working in harmony; that authors who have won their spurs have a
+supreme contempt for one who has not; that they omit no opportunity of
+indulging in sarcasm at his expense; that they would not throw him a
+plank if he were drowning, unless they could so throw it as to strike
+him on the head. If this were so, they would not differ much from the
+world in general, for it will not give quarter to any man who cannot
+claim it by his own might. But the case of Mr. Besant, the president of
+the English Society, disproves these sweeping statements against
+authors. He stands among the foremost of living novelists, and yet he is
+willing to spend a great deal of his valuable time to assist a writer
+just beginning to climb the tiresome ladder. This pure and undefiled
+religion of being willing to help a fellow-toiler is far more common
+than cynics will allow. It prevails among engineers, factory hands, and
+miners. With the exception of a few cads, it is doubtful if authors have
+sunk so low in the scale of humanity as to be unwilling to assist each
+other, when by so doing they will help themselves.
+
+Some authors have been dreaming of a time when they could control the
+entire literary output of the United States in the same way that the
+Standard Oil Company controls kerosene, or the chief of the Brotherhood
+of Locomotive Engineers directs his men. He can tie up any railroad with
+a snap of his finger if his men are not treated squarely. In such a
+literary dreamland an author might do one-third of his present work and
+get far more pay than now. Publishers and editors would not then have a
+superfluity of matter. They would then have to bow to the authors' trust
+before the desired material could be obtained.
+
+It might be claimed that if writers would pool their issues, put their
+manuscripts into a common stock, allow the publisher to select from them
+at a good round figure, and after a certain lapse of time burn all the
+rejected ones,--there would be less work and more money for all authors.
+Of course, it would be necessary to have a committee to decide when an
+author wrote well enough to be admitted to the pool, and also to
+determine what greater portion of the common fund the authors of
+specially meritorious work should receive.
+
+Such a scheme certainly does work with sugar, kerosene, starch, and
+numberless other articles; but it is more than doubtful if it would
+prevail in literature. Some authors would be too desirous of seeing
+themselves constantly before the public. They could not be prevailed
+upon to limit the output of their brain, and they would be conceited
+enough to demand that everything appear in print.
+
+It is well to lay aside thoughts of such a Utopia until we have secured
+an authors' protective association of wide membership, with permanent
+headquarters, legal counsel, and agents to learn the publishing business
+and expose unfair methods.
+
+Let writers remember that Greece, in spite of her AEschylus, Sophocles,
+Xenophon, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Plato, and Aristotle, perished
+because her independent states would not combine against a common foe.
+
+  _John Braincraft._
+
+  LOUISVILLE, Ky.
+
+
+
+
+NEWSPAPER COOKERY.
+
+
+In a late number of a popular periodical, Mrs. Amelia E. Barr, while
+telling of her childhood a half-century ago, incidentally remarks: "I
+should have as soon thought of smoking my father's pipe as of reading
+his newspaper. There were no papers at all for women and children, if I
+except the _Court Journal_ for women of rank."
+
+Just when cookery and household affairs became a part of the newspaper's
+province, I do not know, nor is it my purpose to give its history. My
+earliest recollection of anything in this line is connected with _Hearth
+and Home_, an illustrated paper, the forerunner of the many household
+periodicals of to-day. A leading feature was "Mrs. Hunnibee's Diary,"
+furnished by Mrs. Lyman, afterward on the staff of the _New York
+Tribune_. Her work was a worthy model for us to follow. Let us look at
+the work as it is, and as it ought to be.
+
+Count Rumford--one of the pioneers in the study of foods--has said: "The
+number of inhabitants who may be supported in any country upon its
+internal produce depends about as much upon the state of the art of
+cookery as upon that of agriculture--these are the arts of civilized
+nations; savages understand neither of them." Naturally, therefore, the
+agricultural papers were the first to give space to cookery, and have
+ever been generous in that way.
+
+Newspaper cookery is not an inappropriate phrase, since too often the
+"Home Column" in half our papers is simply a rehash of what has
+appeared in the other papers of the country. The results of warming over
+in the kitchen are very diverse, and they are equally so in newspaper
+cookery; a rechauffe may be very sloppy or very dry, and give no hint of
+its original components, when it should be a savory combination, the
+ingredients of which have suffered no loss of flavor.
+
+This does not include the class of articles which are made by careful
+study of books of reference and form a new setting for fragmentary
+information, such as is often lost if not rearranged; but what can be
+said in favor of the sort of work where a standard recipe forms the
+basis for a wishy-washy story?
+
+Another variety of newspaper cookery to be avoided is the reporting of
+demonstration lectures by those who know nothing of the subject and have
+no conception of the lecturer's methods, or by those having a
+superficial knowledge who attempt to interlard their own opinions
+throughout the report.
+
+Reporters having little or no knowledge of the literature of the kitchen
+are apt to make rash claims for their favorite lecturers or for
+themselves. In a recent paper an evident neophyte--in cookery at
+least--claims to set right in a new and original way the curdling of a
+mayonnaise dressing. She claims that none of the directions given in the
+cook-books tell what should be done if it goes wrong, yet in at least
+two standard works the whole thing is fully explained.
+
+There are undoubtedly many recipes which belong to the whole world, and
+have been in use for generations, yet some teachers may claim original
+methods of combining these ingredients. Has a reporter any right to make
+such ideas appear as her own, without due credit to the authors? Whether
+this sort of work is done in newspapers, or appears in book form, or
+whether it is in direct violation of copyright laws or not, it is at
+least discourteous. Poems are sometimes stolen, but the literature of
+the kitchen oftener suffers.
+
+In these days of specialties, when one man devotes himself to politics,
+another to finance, or music, or art, it would not seem that a woman,
+because she is a woman, is therefore fitted to care for the household
+department of a paper; yet this is usually the first work given into her
+hands. Probably there are many teachers of cookery who could not write a
+catchy newspaper article, but it may be questioned whether such writing
+is desirable upon this subject.
+
+The time is coming when the cooking-school graduate will be called for
+to teach this art and science through the columns of the newspaper, as
+well as in the schoolroom.
+
+The religious papers choose graduates of the theological seminaries for
+their editors, and medical journalism is conducted by physicians. If a
+sporting editor is essential, why should not special training be
+required for the cooking department?
+
+Under present conditions, the best teachers can afford to do little
+newspaper work; a demonstration requires little more time and effort
+than the preparation of a newspaper column, and the compensation is
+double or quadruple, and is promptly paid.
+
+Some of the advertising agents of patent medicines have been wiser in
+their generation than the newspaper men, and from the days of Mrs.
+----'s Soothing Syrup until now their cook-books have been passports for
+their medicines into many a home, not that a call for medicine was the
+natural result of the use of these recipes, but that the name of the
+medicine became a household word through the use of the cookbook, and
+hence was the first thought when any panacea was required. Such good
+prices have been paid by manufacturers that they have been able to
+obtain the best writers, and the books distributed by various salves,
+sarsaparillas, meat choppers, baking powders, etc., contain many
+valuable recipes and suggestions. As a whole, they are far safer guides
+than the average newspaper column of recipes.
+
+Furnished by untrained hands, the newspaper recipe has become a synonym
+for something utterly unreliable, and, therefore, a byword among those
+so old-fashioned as to believe that a woman who holds a pen is, of
+course, a poor housekeeper.
+
+True, much of the blame for the uncertainty of the newspaper recipe must
+be laid at the door of the typesetter and proof-reader--who else would
+make a demonstrator whose programme included a "Frozen Rice Pudding"
+responsible for a "Dozen Nice Puddings" in a single lecture.
+
+Often the column headed "Dainty Dishes," "Hints for the Cuisine," etc.,
+appears to be made up from recipes taken at random from the clippings of
+the year before--so we have strawberry shortcake and asparagus omelet in
+October, cauliflower in August, and blueberries in December. Without a
+hint concerning the proper method of combining the ingredients, a string
+of recipes are worthless, and mean as little as a column from the
+dictionary.
+
+So accustomed has the public vision become to this artificial,
+improbable, housekeeping that it fails to recognize veritable facts and
+pronounces them impossible.
+
+Food is a subject which demands the careful consideration of every human
+being daily, and therefore claims ample space in the newspapers. The
+wise man of the Old Testament has said: "All the labor of man is for his
+mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled."
+
+We are not all interested in the success of either political party, nor
+are we all thirsty for items of society gossip, nor are the details of
+every murder or railroad accident more important than our daily bread.
+
+Our physical natures and our food are not so ignoble as some would have
+us think. We need only look at the thousand allusions to food in classic
+writings to realize that it is our attitude toward an object, not the
+thing itself, which makes it common and unclean.
+
+Does it not seem strange that the art of cookery, which first
+distinguished man from beasts, has been so underrated and neglected?
+
+  "The art of cookery drew us gently forth
+   From the ferocious light, when, void of faith,
+   The Anthropophaginian ate his brother;
+   To cookery we owe well-ordered states,
+   Assembling men in dear society."
+
+Surely no one better than a newspaper reporter, who must snatch a bite
+here and there of whatever is at hand, can appreciate the force of the
+words of an old physician: "The faculty the stomach has of communicating
+the impressions made by the various substances that are put into it is
+such that it seems more like a nervous expansion of the brain, than a
+mere receptacle for food."
+
+Many a newspaper woman has found a safety-valve in doing her
+housekeeping with her own hands, the needed reaction after prolonged
+mental effort, and by the divine law of compensation has thus worked out
+with her hands something of which the brain alone was not capable.
+Michelet says that "A man always clears his head by doing something with
+his hands." Can we not all bear testimony that some of our brightest
+ideas have come when our hands were busy with rolling-pin or dish-pan?
+
+The newspaper woman is expected to act as leader in many directions.
+Though not always competent to do special newspaper cookery in the best
+way, she may help mould public opinion in the right way on the great
+questions of temperance, domestic economy, cooperative housekeeping,
+and, above all, help to change the prevailing belief that work with the
+hands is degrading.
+
+The great social questions of the day are largely dependent upon the
+food supply. Show the working men and women how to obtain attractive,
+palatable, and nourishing food at less cost than that which is
+unsatisfying, and their wages will really be doubled.
+
+The temperance question is so closely connected with the food supply
+that it is astonishing that more attention has not been given to this
+side of it. We often ascribe the intemperance of the poor man to poor
+food; but are not the excesses of the rich also due to food, poor
+because it is too highly seasoned and improperly cooked?
+
+Rev. T. De Witt Talmage has said: "The kitchen is the most important end
+of the household. If that goes wrong, the whole establishment is wrong.
+It decides the health of the household, and health settles almost
+everything."
+
+May we all live to see the day when every town shall have a food
+experiment station, which shall do for the cook and the kitchen what the
+agricultural stations do for the farmer and farm. The cooking schools
+are a step in the right direction, but their work should be broadened
+and put upon a more scientific basis.
+
+Such an experimental kitchen should analyze and test food products as to
+best methods of preparation; it should try new utensils; it should fit
+young women for their own home life. Perhaps something in this line will
+grow out of the New England Kitchen, so successfully started in Boston.
+
+To bring about such a state of things, public opinion must be educated
+in every direction, through the home, school, and newspapers, as well as
+by individual effort.
+
+The newspaper's cooking, like its editorials, must not be so narrow and
+partisan but that it may command the respect of those who do not wholly
+agree with it.
+
+We must strive to separate the essentials from the non-essentials in our
+housekeeping; to recognize the various conditions of life among those to
+whom we are writing.
+
+We do not want to copy the food fashions of any other land in a servile
+manner; no French, Italian, or English teacher can best instruct us in
+methods of cooking.
+
+But, following our national motto, let us select the best from all, and
+unite these principles to develop an American system of cooking that
+shall produce a race so well proportioned physically that their mental
+and moral natures cannot fail to be well balanced.
+
+  _Anna Barrows._
+
+  BOSTON, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE?
+
+
+A few years ago my attention was attracted by an article in one of the
+leading magazines. It was an article of more than ordinary merit,
+possessing that rarity, even then, a plot dramatically conceived and
+executed. The scene was laid in a part of the world the truthful
+picturing of which showed the writer to be a person who had travelled
+much and observed keenly; the diction was "English pure and undefiled."
+There was but one drawback, that the author's name was withheld, and I
+was obliged to lay my offering of approval and admiration at an unknown
+shrine.
+
+Lately, in conversation with a man who forms one of the great majority
+of those who gain a moderate competence in business life, his days spent
+in the wearisome routine of mercantile life, his nights in painful
+figurings about that delusive "deal" which is to settle satisfactorily
+all questions of financial perplexity, our talk turned on books,
+literary celebrities, the chat of the profession of letters. My friend
+suddenly became communicative and reminiscent--rare expressions in him.
+
+"A few years ago," he said. "I, too, had the literary craze. I wrote a
+little--stray articles, stories, poems, the usual repertoire."
+
+I wondered what kind of material this suave, cynical, reserved man could
+have produced--in other words, what was his undercurrent. I
+interrogated. To my surprise and consternation I had found at last the
+author of my pedestal-placed masterpiece.
+
+"But why," I said, "did you not keep on; why hide, deface, forget, a
+talent like yours?"
+
+"Allowing, for the sake of argument," he answered, "that I possessed
+talent to the degree you imply, I should still have been forced to my
+present attitude. I am not alone in this. I am convinced that the best
+writers (of course, with notable exceptions) are the people who never
+write, who could bring to the field varied experience, the results of
+travel, thought, and cultivation, but who are driven away by the
+knowledge that the wolf will have them if they attempt it.
+Notwithstanding the fact that there has never been a time when
+literature has been produced so prolifically, a man can only make a
+moderate competence, and that after years of weary uncertainty and a
+constant strain on the waiting nerves, and, even at the end, he gets
+but a meagre reward: lots of newspaper notoriety and a scanty bank
+account. I am not complaining; I looked the facts squarely in the face,
+and chose what I regarded as the only sensible solution. I could not
+conscientiously use literature as a safety-valve or time-passer, giving
+to the world the result of tired brain and over-wrought nerves;
+consequently, I sacrificed inclination to necessity, and have left my
+muse alone. However,"--and he was once more the worldling,--"I have
+reserved to myself the right to criticise; and when I see a young man of
+talent enter the field of letters, I conclude he is like a man about to
+marry, either a great hero or a great fool."
+
+  _Gertrude F. Lynch._
+
+  NEW YORK, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+FASHIONS IN LITERATURE.
+
+
+A veteran novel reader has learned to detect a plot in its early stages;
+to see from afar the marriage, the forgery, the hidden will; to him (or
+should I rather say to her?) the true inwardness of the different
+characters is manifest; no disguise, no blandishments, avail to conceal
+from his piercing vision the true heir, the disguised villain, the timid
+lover.
+
+It has been stated by careful students that the original stories in the
+world number but two hundred and fifty; but we have not forgotten our
+arithmetic, and we have learned chess, so we know something of the
+manifold combinations of numbers, and we take courage.
+
+But the veteran novel reader finds little variety in incident and
+machinery; there are fashions in fiction as in everything else, and the
+prevailing "style" of the time is followed apparently without question.
+
+The heroines of an earlier generation differed from those of the
+present. They were slender creatures, living on delicate fare, and
+fainting at every or no provocation. When these lovely beings died it
+was usually of a broken heart, developing into consumption. They were
+depicted clad in white and holding flowers, reclining at open windows,
+regardless of draughts, and they lectured heart-broken friends and
+faithless lovers with a command of language and strength of lung rare in
+every-day life. For bringing about some needed explanation sprained
+ankles have played a conspicuous part, and a strong-armed hero or
+stalwart rival was ready to carry the fair sufferer
+
+  "Over hill, over dale,
+   Through bush, through briar,"
+
+to some place of shelter, where friends and reader alike watched the
+progress of recovery. Runaway horses have been vastly useful in bringing
+matters to a crisis, and in New England stories a fierce bull is always
+ready to threaten the life of the heroine.
+
+These casualties were especially the lot of the heroines, but fevers
+were open to all without distinction of "sex, race, or color." In the
+wanderings of delirium the cleverly-disguised villain betrayed his dark
+designs--the self-distrusting lover sighed his woes into the sympathetic
+ear of the damsel of whom in his "normal state" he had said--
+
+  "'Twere all as one
+   That I should love some bright particular star
+   And seek to wed it."
+
+With the modern dissemination of knowledge and of sanitary science, the
+former ailments have become less fashionable; there has been a run of
+diphtheria, and heart complaints are slaying their thousands.
+
+Athletics are restricted to no sex,--the hero is less frequently called
+to rescue his beloved from a watery grave. Indeed, her skill may be
+superior to his,--witness Armorel, one of the fairest of modern
+creations.
+
+Now and then a leader has appeared,--an inventor,--but the new style is
+imitated with no respect for patent right. Jane Eyre was _new_; here was
+a heroine with neither wealth nor beauty, and forthwith appeared a long
+train of ugly girls, and dark, middle-aged men promising henceforth "to
+forswear sack and live cleanly," yet in confidential moments giving
+glimpses of a past which caused all virtuous folks to shiver.
+
+We have now the "novel of every-day life," wherein we are called to
+"assist" at commonplace incidents; to listen to inane talk, where
+adverbs, liberally bestowed, help our comprehension, as we are told that
+certain things were "coarsely," "suggestively," "tentatively," said. It
+is, indeed, "reading made easy."
+
+Stuart Mill, lamenting the changes in the tendency of modern fiction,
+wrote: "For the first time perhaps in history, the youth of both sexes
+of the educated classes are universally growing up unromantic. What will
+come in mature age from such a youth the world has not yet had time to
+see."
+
+These words were written half a century ago, the generation referred to
+has reached "mature age," and the world has read its novels.
+
+  _Pamela McArthur Cole._
+
+  EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+SNEAK REPORTING.
+
+
+I do not beg the reader's pardon for the apparent egotism of this
+article, for, though I use the first person throughout, I feel that I do
+so as the spokesman of a large (if not an important) class.
+
+To begin at the beginning, I have always believed that in time I could
+succeed as a journalist, if I could but secure a position on a live
+newspaper, where I could gain practical knowledge. In pursuance of this
+idea, I haunted the doors of an afternoon paper, and finally, by dint of
+perseverance, fairly worried the city editor into giving me an
+assignment.
+
+Naturally, a beginner was not given an important task, but it proved to
+be a very embarrassing one. I was required, in the line of my duty, to
+stick my impertinent nose into another man's business, and elicit from
+him facts that he did not want published. I did not feel the least
+curiosity about the matter, and, I am sure, looked as guilty as if I had
+been a dog engaged in the sheep-stealing industry, and had been caught
+with the wool in my teeth. I approached him with inward fear and
+trembling, and requested information on a subject in connection with
+which he had been held up before the public in an unenviable light. He
+refused to talk, and when I persisted, as per orders, told me to go to
+the residence of a personage whom I do not like to hear mentioned,
+except by authority and by gentlemen who have the legal right to wear a
+handle to their names.
+
+I did not resent this as ordinarily I should have done. I was so humbled
+and ashamed by my consciousness of the impudence of my errand, that if
+he had pulled my nose, I am sure I should have commended the spirit with
+which he did it.
+
+It was in vain I represented to him that to withhold this matter of
+public interest was to show an unpardonable disregard of the rights of
+others, which, as contrary to public policy, could easily be construed
+into an act of overt disloyalty. He did not seem to be interested in the
+rights of others, and entirely refused to see the matter in the proper
+light. He was not a rational man. When I attempted to argue the case
+with him, he became violent, and roared at me until, I am sure, had the
+bulls of Bashan heard him, they would have been tempted to "hide their
+diminished heads." I decided that discretion was the better part of
+valor, and left him to fight it out alone. I returned to the office,
+rendered an account of the manner in which I had failed, and was the
+recipient of a scathing rebuke from the city editor. It was in vain I
+tried to get angry. Even to myself I could not simulate proper
+indignation, so thoroughly had the starch been taken out of me by my
+seance with an excusably irritated man, knowing the while that I was
+trespassing on the bounds of courtesy.
+
+That experience was enough for me. While I might become a successful
+reporter, in doing so I fear I should lose that regard for the rights of
+others, the petty conscience of every-day life, that is conspicuously
+absent in so many of the men we meet.
+
+While this incident has not altered my liking for newspaper work, it has
+very materially modified my ideas concerning certain branches of it.
+From the reporter's desk to the editor's chair is a natural and easy
+transition; and the outsider, unless he possesses the genius of George
+Kennan and his companions, must go through this stage of preliminary
+training. Those of us who have no influence, no startling genius, and a
+decided dislike to becoming inquisitive nuisances feel that we are
+overweighted in the journalistic handicap.
+
+What course shall we pursue, that what few merits we possess shall not
+be overshadowed by the lack of one quality, which may be a useful one to
+the reporter, but is usually known and avoided in the ordinary man under
+the vulgar name of "gall"?
+
+  _Herbert Corey._
+
+  CINCINNATI, Ohio.
+
+
+
+
+A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME.
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived a good little girl whom everybody loved.
+She had six aunts, four uncles, and twenty-seven cousins, besides a
+brother and two sisters. All these relatives, of course, especially
+loved her, for that was only natural. And they were all very glad,
+indeed, to help her in every way possible.
+
+She was a bright little thing as well as good, and by and by she thought
+she would see whether any of the papers and magazines cared to know of
+the things she thought, and she wrote a morsel of an article and timidly
+sent it off.
+
+But before she sent it to the editor she read it to her sisters, each of
+whom had some slight correction to make; and she showed it to Aunt Emma,
+who was quite of a literary turn of mind, and Aunt Emma read it to her
+daughter Mabel, who had just left college.
+
+These ladies so marked up the carefully written manuscript that the good
+little girl had to copy it all before it was fit to be sent.
+
+After it had been gone eight days the article was returned. This made
+the little girl very sad, and she wept.
+
+The other five aunts, and the uncles, and all the cousins were by this
+time interested, and they comforted her with many words, and censured
+her with a great many more, and gave her a great deal of good advice.
+But the little girl finally got so confused by the many conflicting
+opinions offered that she hardly knew what to do or say. One moment she
+would think she would write this and another that, and some of the time
+she declared that she would never write another line at all.
+
+But one day a very pretty idea came into her mind all at once, and she
+did think it too sweet to be lost. So she wrote it down just as it came
+to her, and sent it away, and never told a soul a word about it.
+
+By and by it was printed, and how happy the little girl was! She told
+nobody but her parents and her sisters this time, but all her friends
+saw her name in the paper, and they came running to her to talk about
+it.
+
+"I saw your name in the paper," said Cousin Ada.
+
+"Did you?" said the good little girl, pleasantly.
+
+"Yes; an' Bert an' I know who you meant by 'The Old Bad Man.'"
+
+"But I didn't mean anybody," explained she; "that was only a little
+story."
+
+"Oh, we know you did. Mamma says it isn't a nice story at all, an'
+Mabelle says, 'Ugh!'"
+
+It was no wonder that the little girl felt hurt at these words. And it
+was queer, but every time that any of the friends had any fault to find,
+or any help to give her, which was the same thing, of course, they began
+it by saying, "I saw your name in the paper."
+
+At last the good little girl could endure it no longer, and she said to
+herself, "They _sha'n't_ see my name in the paper any more"; and she sat
+down on the green grass and thought of a nice new name that pleased her,
+and she called herself by that name always when she wrote for the
+papers. And as she never got famous so that she wanted to tell people
+what her pen-name was, her friends never found it out, and she lived and
+died in peace.
+
+_Haec fabula docet_--Don't be made to feel it's cowardly to use a nom de
+plume if you want to. It isn't likely to do any harm, and it may save
+you lots of bother.
+
+  _Persis E. Darrow._
+
+  WENTWORTH, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE.
+
+
+When any one living in this age of the world feels that he has thoughts
+clamoring for utterance, he seeks advice from some one who has attained
+success in the profession of literature. In most instances he receives
+no satisfactory criticism, and is compelled to act on innate conviction
+of his right to enter the "thorny path" and fight his way up to the top,
+where, we are told, there is always room.
+
+There seem to be two literary factions pitted against each other. Those
+of one class employ their best effort in dissuading young writers from
+writing; those of another set forth an author's life in glowing colors.
+One faction will tell you that half the manuscripts sent to editors are
+not even accorded the courtesy of an examination unless signed by a
+well-known name. Another says that editors are keenly on the outlook for
+original matter, seizing with avidity anything that promises to make a
+new element in current literature.
+
+A noted author writes to a young aspirant: "Sweet and natural though
+your utterance seems to be, let me ask you in the friendliest spirit not
+to write at all. The toil is great, the pursuit incessant, the reward
+not outward." To the same young woman writes another equally well-known
+writer: "Your work is excellent; you _can_ and _will_ succeed."
+
+The fact is obvious that there is a literary aristocracy in America.
+Born in an intellectual atmosphere, with inherited talent, wrapped in
+their own dreams, knowing little of the struggle and toil of their less
+fortunate co-workers, its members stand aloof, saying: Thou shalt not
+enter therein. The old Italian poet quaintly puts it:--
+
+  "For singing loudly is not singing well;
+   But ever by the song that's soft and low
+   The master singer's voice is plain to tell.
+   Few have it, and yet all are masters now,
+   And each of them can trill out what he calls
+   His ballads, canzonets, and madrigals.
+   The world with masters is so covered o'er
+   There is no room for pupils any more."
+
+Therefore, the individual who contemplates becoming an author must be a
+law unto himself. If he finds his truest expression, his greatest
+delight in literary work, let him persevere, all the world to the
+contrary notwithstanding.
+
+  "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
+     Can circumvent, can hinder, or control
+     The firm resolve of a determined soul.
+   Gifts count for nothing; _will alone is great_."
+
+An editor, noted for his gentleness and courtesy, tells us that all
+writers must go through an evolutionary process of rejected manuscripts,
+and cites the instance of Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, who awoke one
+morning to find herself famous. She had written "The Amber Gods." When
+congratulated as the first author who had attained reputation by a
+single effort, she replied:--
+
+"No, that is not true. I have been writing for years under an assumed
+name."
+
+  _Susan Andrews Rice._
+
+  WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+
+
+
+THE DELUGE OF VERSE.
+
+
+A fragment of a conversation overheard the other evening, when the
+writer, half-buried with the daily proof-sheets from which he knows no
+escape, was hurrying westward on an afternoon train, is the _raison
+d'etre_ of this communication. The participants were two young and
+pleasant-looking girls: they discussed matters feminine, of which only
+the words "toque," "a bewitching little thing," and "pink velvet" had
+reached my ears; but when I heard the question, "What became of your
+last poem, Clara?"--and the reply, "_Youth's Companion_, came back with
+a printed slip; _Independent_, ditto; then I tried the _Waverley
+Magazine_, who accepted it, but did not pay young contributors"; I
+became unthinkingly an interested eavesdropper, and just then, with
+creak and clatter, the train stopped, the station, "Wellesley," was
+called, and the fair ones departed, taking my thoughts (and all power of
+concentration on work in hand) with them.
+
+I mused in this wise: "Just why does the average young person give him
+(or her) self out in verse, good, bad, and indifferent?" The _Youth's
+Companion_ does not want a Wellesley girl's lucubrations; it has verse
+on hand from many of the most skilled and charming writers in that line.
+But it does, I know, want good stories for boys, for girls,--and where
+can be a better "_locale_," materials for plot, sketches of life and
+character, etc., than at a girls' college? One could surely range "from
+grave to gay, from lively to severe," in such a field.
+
+The editor of the _Atlantic_, dear young people, accepts
+articles--well-written, of course--on questions relating to higher
+education, university extension, matters of historical research. Harper
+& Brothers are glad to get character sketches (not New England
+particularly,--you cannot outdo, quite yet, Miss Jewett and Mary
+Wilkins,--but there are many other bits of humanity, quaint, odd, or
+pathetic). _Scribner's_ and the _Cosmopolitan_ like travels, but they
+must be bright and varied; and mechanical articles, young men, but these
+must be a direct and forcible presentation of their subjects, and not
+rehashes from old books; while the _Century_ will pay you well for some
+dainty comic bit for its "Bric-a-brac." Friends of the _Golden Rule_,
+_Cottage Hearth_, and _Christian Register_ have assured me that
+good--not _goody-goody_--juvenile literature is very hard to get. I know
+a young woman who is paid well by the page for all the children's
+stories she can write, and her pages are fresh and good, with new
+themes and unhackneyed incidents; and a young man who is taking up
+themes of interest in our history,--the unprecedented message of a
+president which gave no report to Congress of financial or diplomatic
+matters for the preceding two years, and the three presidential protests
+against action taken in Congress (how many of you know about these state
+papers?),--there are a hundred other things, too, which might be told
+about in this line,--and he finds no difficulty in getting his matter
+accepted. There is an assistant editor not far from Beacon Hill who
+keeps track of the clergymen, the prominent families, and individuals in
+a certain large religious denomination. Every week she furnishes her
+quota of items to an eight-page paper, and she is a pearl of great price
+to her chief. The Marthas of the household, "careful and troubled,"
+there is a place for in many journals to-day, whether their specialty be
+cooking, scrubbing, or lace-work. There is also a chance for those who
+possess a large fund of miscellaneous information, in _Notes and
+Queries_ and like journals.
+
+"The bearing of which lies in the application of it." Perhaps you may
+think, discouragingly, that there is no chance for you in these or any
+other specialties, but take my advice and try something awhile--get into
+a class and work to become at the head of that class; then, even if you
+do not attain the full measure of success you had hoped, you will
+certainly have the proud consciousness of having striven, and can
+contemplate with pity
+
+  Those green and salad days: Can I rehearse
+  What sweets I ate and what I put In verse?
+
+  _Douglas Dane._
+
+  BOSTON, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+CONCERNING SONNETS.
+
+
+A few months ago the pages of THE WRITER contained some interesting
+suggestions as to the advisability of a uniform indentation for sonnets
+when printed; the writer favoring a New York method, which would bring
+out even the first, fifth, ninth, and twelfth lines, setting all the
+other lines an equal space to the right of these. I give a quatrain for
+example:--
+
+  "The early star, soft mirrored in the stream,
+     Dim vistas of the dewy forest-road,
+     Yea, even the solemn, high-walled glen, abode
+     Of mortal dust long quit of deed and dream."
+
+The writer's chief argument for this style was, I believe, that it was
+used by a good printing house, and also made a neat appearance on the
+page; but the question at once occurred to me, What is indentation in
+verse for? Is it not a guide to the eye, to enhance the proper
+recurrence of the rhyme (and in the ode to show as well rhythm)? If we
+are to have a mere arbitrary arrangement of the sonnet, why not the same
+in a poem of regular or inverted quatrains, or of the Persian quatrain,
+which is now always given in this form:--
+
+  "I sometimes think that never blows so red
+   The rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
+     That every flower the fragrant garden wears
+   Dropped in her lap from some once lovely head."
+
+Or imagine an edition de luxe of Gray's "Elegy" with every stanza
+printed in this style:--
+
+  "Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
+     Their homely joys, their destiny obscure;
+     Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,
+     The short and simple annals of the poor."
+
+I could not take much pleasure in a book of sonnets where each page was
+thus stiffly arranged, but should greatly prefer the indenting of lines
+according to rhyme, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth to be in line,
+and the second, third, sixth, and seventh to be set somewhat to the
+right of these; should there come, however, a Shakespearian sonnet to be
+provided for,--lines rhyming alternately,--or any of those monstrosities
+of fourteen lines, which have no regularity of rhyme, let the lines then
+be brought to a uniform indentation, and the reader disentangle the plan
+of the verse as best he may.
+
+In editing copy or reading proof for a poet, I always follow the
+author's preference, if indicated, or if copy submitted is consistent;
+but having the matter to determine, I would first look to see if the
+sonnets were generally regular; and second, if the sextet (the last six
+lines) followed the Italian or the best accepted English forms: this
+done, it is easy to determine upon a style,--which would be the one
+adopted at the present time by the best English and American printers
+(as far as recent books of both countries give any clue), as follows:--
+
+  "What we miscall our life is Memory:
+     We walk upon a narrow path between
+     Two gulfs--what is to be, and what has been,
+   Led by a guide whose name is Destiny;
+   Beyond is sightless gloom and mystery,
+     From whose unfathomable depths we glean
+     Chaotic hopes and terrors, dimly-seen
+   Reflections of a past reality.
+
+  "Behind, pursuing through the twilight haze,
+     The phantom people of the past appear;
+       Hope, happiness and sorrow, fruitless strife,
+   And all the loved and lost of other days;
+     They crowd upon us closer year by year,
+       Till we as phantoms haunt some other life."
+
+The octet, in the regular form of a sonnet, should stand as above; if
+the sextet varies, but is not too irregular, vary the indentation of the
+latter, as--
+
+       ... "the great World-builder has designed
+  The wondrous plans which Nature's works disclose.
+    A child who scans the philosophic page
+    Of some profoundly meditative sage
+  May see familiar phrases,--then he knows
+    That his own simple thoughts and childish lore
+    Are part of the great scholar's mental store."
+
+Should the sextet read as given below, instead of trying to follow the
+seemingly hap-hazard rhymes with the setting in or out of lines, it
+would be better to print the first eight lines uniformly even and the
+sextet at the end to correspond with them:--
+
+  "Then human Grief found out her human heart,
+   And she was fain to go where pain is dumb;
+   So thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see,
+   And she fares onward with thee, willingly,
+   To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,--
+   Thus Grief that is makes welcome Death to come."
+
+In like manner, let any irregularity of the eight lines settle the
+question of indentation, even though the latter portion of the sonnet
+should happen to be according to the best forms.
+
+There are many other questions of style and appearance in getting up a
+collection of sonnets, a few of which may be referred to here. A little
+English book which I have at hand has the best of all the recent work in
+that line, and even runs back, in some cases, fifty years; from a
+literary point of view, it is unexcelled. But look at a few of the
+mechanical defects: it is printed as a very small 18mo.--all the long
+lines of the sonnets with a word or two "turned down," as the printers
+say. It is a "red-line" book, which means a large enclosed white space
+above and below the sonnet, and very little margin on each side. It has
+running titles standing in a lonesome way at the head of each page, and
+a folio in the page corner instead of being centred at the foot of each
+sonnet; and, to make a bad matter worse, each of these running titles
+has a rule beneath it, making the separation more obvious. These are
+only a few of the defects. Not the less displeasing to me is another
+book of sonnets, printed in octavo form. Not that one objects to a large
+margin, but the duodecimo, it seems to me, is much the best size and
+shape of volume for the proper display upon a printed page of this
+miniature poem, and a handsome old-style or Elzevir letter is the
+fittest type, instead of the sombre modern cut, so often used.
+
+  _F. D. Stickney._
+
+  CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  THE WRITER.
+
+
+  WM. H. HILLS.      EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
+
+
+*** THE WRITER is published the first day of every month. It will be
+sent, post-paid, ONE YEAR for ONE DOLLAR.
+
+*** All drafts and money orders should be made payable to William H.
+Hills. Stamps, or local checks, should not be sent in payment for
+subscriptions.
+
+*** THE WRITER will be sent only to those who have paid for it in
+advance. Accounts cannot be opened for subscriptions, and names will not
+be entered on the list unless the subscription order is accompanied by a
+remittance. When subscriptions expire the names of subscribers will be
+taken off the list unless an order for renewal, accompanied by
+remittance, is received. Due notice will be given to every subscriber of
+the expiration of his subscription.
+
+*** No sample copies of THE WRITER will be sent free.
+
+*** The American News Company, of New York, and the New England News
+Company, of Boston, are wholesale agents for THE WRITER. It may be
+ordered from any newsdealer, or directly, by mail, from the publisher.
+
+*** THE WRITER is kept on sale by Damrell & Upham (Old Corner
+Bookstore), Boston; Brentano Bros., New York, Washington, and Chicago;
+George F. Wharton, New Orleans; John Wanamaker, Philadelphia; and the
+principal newsdealers in other cities.
+
+*** Everything printed in the magazine will be written expressly for it.
+
+*** Not one line of paid advertisement will be printed in THE WRITER
+outside of the advertising pages.
+
+*** Advertising rates will be sent on request.
+
+*** Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed
+envelope is enclosed.
+
+  Address:--
+
+  THE WRITER,
+
+  (P. O. Box 1905.) BOSTON, MASS.
+
+
+
+
+  VOL. VI.    APRIL, 1892.     NO. 4.
+
+
+It is hard to believe that Dr. Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years
+old April 3, but it will not do to contradict the birth record and the
+arithmetic, in spite of all his unfailing energy and youthful activity
+in many different undertakings. Dr. Hale is one of the men who will be
+always young, and it may be in consequence of this that he has written
+so many things that will never lose their freshness. One of the best of
+them is the chapter in "How to Do It" on "How to Write," which is full
+of crisp and practical suggestions. Dr. Hale's rules for writing are
+evidently those which have always governed his own literary work; and
+while others may not be able to follow them with equal success, they are
+worth remembering by every writer. The rules are:
+
+First, _Know what you want to say_; second, _Say it_; third, _Use your
+own language_; fourth, _Leave out all the fine passages_; fifth, _A
+short word is better than a long one_; sixth, _The fewer words, other
+things being equal, the better_; finally, _Cut it to pieces_. Any writer
+who will make these rules his guide in daily work will find in them an
+important help to literary success.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCRAP BASKET.
+
+
+It was proposed by a recent contributor to THE WRITER that authors
+should advertise their wares, like other manufacturers. In case the idea
+should meet with favor, I would suggest that the practice be carried a
+step further in the line of business methods. During the "Robert
+Elsmere" craze, a few years ago, a certain soap manufacturing company
+advertised a copy of the book with every quarter's worth of soap sold.
+It is unfortunate that Mrs. Humphry Ward, whose "History of David
+Grieve," it is reported, is not meeting with great success in this
+country, did not profit by the hint of the soap company and advertise a
+cake of soap to be given as an inducement with every copy of her book.
+
+  A. L. A.
+
+  WINDHAM, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.
+
+
+     [Brief, pointed, practical paragraphs discussing the use and misuse
+     of words and phrases will be printed in this department. All
+     readers of THE WRITER are invited to contribute to it.
+     Contributions are limited to 400 words; the briefer they are, the
+     better.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"=Cenotaph.="--We are told that a cenotaph is a monument "in memory of
+one buried elsewhere"--otherwise, "an empty tomb." A recent number of a
+popular magazine contains an article on "Memorials of Edgar Allen Poe."
+When the author asked to be directed to the grave of the poet, the
+sexton pointed to the cenotaph of white marble in the corner at the
+intersection of two streets, and we are told that "the remains" were
+"transferred to this more conspicuous spot from the family lot in the
+rear of the church." Are not "high-sounding" words too often used
+without reference to their suitableness? Mr. Pecksniff called his
+daughter "a playful warbler,"--not that she was, we are told, "at all
+vocal," but that Mr. Pecksniff was in the habit of using a word that
+rounded a sentence well.
+
+  P. MCA. C.
+
+  EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK REVIEWS.
+
+
+     LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS TO WILKIE COLLINS. Edited by Lawrence
+     Hutton. With Portraits and Fac-similes. 171 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New
+     York: Harper & Brothers. 1892.
+
+The friendship between Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins began when
+Dickens was nearly forty, and Collins about twenty-five years of age.
+Ten years later the marriage of the daughter of Dickens to the brother
+of Collins cemented the intimacy then begun, and it continued unbroken
+until the death of Dickens, in 1870. Part of the familiar correspondence
+between the two men was printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens"; but
+many more letters from Dickens were found after the death of Collins,
+and from these Miss Hogarth selected the specimens that make up the
+present volume. As Mr. Hutton says in his introduction: "They not only
+show their writer as he was willing to show himself to the man whom he
+loved, but they give an excellent idea of his methods of collaboration
+with the man whom he had selected from all others as an active partner
+in certain of his creative works." The replies from Collins cannot be
+printed, since it was Dickens' rule to destroy every letter he received,
+not on actual business. It is fortunate that his correspondents did not
+do the same with his letters, so great is the interest of everything
+that he put on paper: as Mr. Hutton happily puts it: "It is greatly to
+be regretted that he did not write letters to himself--like his own Mr.
+Toots--and preserve them all."
+
+The letters included in the present volume are so interesting that the
+temptation is strong to reprint many extracts from them. They give
+charming glimpses of Dickens' personality, and illustrate the literary
+ideas and methods of work of two famous story-writers. Mr. Hutton
+connects the letters with all necessary explanations, and has performed
+his work as editor with admirable skill. A good portrait of Dickens, a
+better one of Collins, and some interesting fac-similes illustrate the
+book.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     EVERYBODY'S WRITING-DESK BOOK. By Charles Nisbet and Don Lemon.
+     Revised and Edited by James Baldwin, Ph. D. 310 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
+     New York: Harper & Brothers. 1892.
+
+In this handy little volume are combined instruction regarding
+composition, English grammar, and punctuation; a list of synonyms and
+antonyms; a list of forms of addresses; information about writing for
+the press, proof-reading, writing and printing papers and books; rules
+for pronunciation and spelling; rates of postage, etc. The book is a
+compilation rather than an original work, and its chief merit is that it
+puts together in a single volume a good deal of information of different
+kinds, not elsewhere to be found in one book. Its spelling list and its
+list of synonyms and antonyms are the parts most valuable for reference;
+while the parts devoted to composition and grammar may be studied with
+profit by those in need of such instruction. The chapter on "Writing for
+the Press" is short and weak, and the book generally is adapted for use
+rather by non-professional than by professional writers.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS; AND HOW HE RECEIVED AND IMPARTED THE
+     SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. By Justin Winsor. 674 pp. Cloth, $4.00.
+     Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Company. 1892.
+
+Mr. Winsor's rank as an historian is so high that whatever he writes is
+read with respectful attention. Especially regarding the early history
+of America he is an authority, and probably no one in this country is
+better fitted than he to write the story of Columbus. The view he takes
+of the life and character of the admiral in this exhaustive study of his
+career will surprise those who have looked on Columbus as a hero, with
+ideas far in advance of the age in which he lived, and with no blemishes
+upon his reputation. Mr. Winsor presents facts, so far as they can be
+ascertained, rather than the romantic notions of traditions, and his
+picture of Columbus is not flattering to the explorer. In the opening
+chapter of the work he gives a review of all the sources of information
+about the admiral's life, and shows a respect for the investigations of
+Harisse that is undoubtedly justified. Irving's well-known "Life of
+Columbus" he treats with scant reverence as an historical work. "The
+genuine Columbus," he says, "evaporates under the warmth of the writer's
+genius, and we have nothing left but the refinement of his clay."
+According to Mr. Winsor's estimate, Columbus was a pitiable man, who
+deserved his pitiable end. His discovery was a blunder, and he became
+the despoiler of the new world he had unwittingly found. A rabid seeker
+of gold and a vice-royalty, he left to the new continent a legacy of
+devastation and crime. Finding America, he thought he had discovered the
+Indies, and maintained that belief until his death. Claiming to desire
+the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, he did what he could to
+establish a slave trade with Spain. Slitting the noses and tearing off
+the ears of naked heathen are cruelties with which he is charged. In his
+early life he deserted his lawful wife and became the father of an
+illegitimate son. In his last years his mind weakened, and he became
+the victim of wild hallucinations. Such is the man as Mr. Winsor
+describes him, in contrast to the demi-god of whom Prescott says:
+"Whether we contemplate his character in its public or private
+relations, in all its features it wears the same noble aspects." As a
+bold navigator Columbus won the fame of a world-discoverer; but he never
+knew himself what he had found; and if Mr. Winsor's estimate is just, it
+is not altogether unfitting that the name of a more clear-sighted
+voyager than he should be given to the world that he discovered.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE. Edited by Charles F. Warner, 120 pp. Large
+     Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
+     Company. 1890.
+
+     PICTURESQUE FRANKLIN. Edited by Charles F. Warner. 123 pp. Large
+     Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton. Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
+     Company. 1891.
+
+At first sight it seems astonishing that such handsome books as these,
+with their lavish wealth of costly half-tone pictures, can be profitably
+sold at so low a price. They are exceedingly attractive volumes, and
+together they make a delightful picture-gallery of New England country
+life. "Picturesque Hampshire" was published in November, 1890, as a
+supplement to the quarter-centennial issue of the _Hampshire County
+Journal_, and its success was so great as to lead to the publication of
+"Picturesque Franklin," and to the preparation of "Picturesque Hampden,"
+which will be issued in two parts next fall. Not only the residents of
+the counties illustrated, and of Western Massachusetts generally, but
+every cultivated person will be interested in these books. The
+illustrations are so numerous that each volume is really a picture book
+of New England life. The illustrations have been reproduced from
+photographs by the half-tone process, and they retain all the accuracy
+and sharpness of the original photographs. The text explains them
+sufficiently, and is generally well written.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     IN FOREIGN LANDS. By Barbara N. Galpin. 156 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
+     Boston: New England Publishing Company. 1892.
+
+"In Foreign Lands" is a pleasantly-written volume descriptive of
+European travel, and tells, in an interesting way, the experiences of a
+delightful summer journey.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     NEW HARVARD SONGBOOK. Compiled by R. T. Whitehouse, '91, and
+     Frederick Bruegger, '92. Revised Edition. 92 pp. Flexible Covers.
+     Boston: Oliver Ditson Company. 1892.
+
+This new compilation of college songs contains many of the new songs
+which have been sung by the Harvard Glee Club during the last three
+years. Many of the songs are the compositions of Harvard undergraduates,
+and have never before been published. Some of the best-known among them
+are: "Boreen," "Holsteiner's Band," "The Hoodoo," "Jay Bird," "The Man
+in the Moon's Ball," "Mrs. Craigin's Daughter," "O'Grady's Goat," "The
+Party at Odd Fellows' Hall," "The Phantom Band," "Romeo and Juliette,"
+"Schneider's Band," and "The Versatile Baby." The book is full of the
+rollicking college spirit, and college men and their sweethearts will
+find it an unfailing source of delight. It is adapted either for glee
+club or home use, and is exquisitely gotten up.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     BRUNHILDE; OR, THE LAST ACT OF NORMA. By Pedro A. De Alarcon.
+     Translated by Mrs. Francis J. A. Darr. With Portrait of the Author.
+     311 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: A. Lovell & Company. 1891.
+
+Mrs. Darr has translated this work of the Spanish novelist with fidelity
+and skill. It is an interesting story, with an unusual plot and a
+dramatic climax, and it is told in a peculiar style, which gives to it a
+distinctive charm. A good portrait of the author is given as a
+frontispiece.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     TRIFET'S HARMONIZED MELODIES. Arranged by Charles D. Blake. 256 pp.
+     Paper, 60 cents. Boston: F. Trifet. 1892.
+
+Four hundred songs, sacred and secular, comic and sentimental, pathetic
+and humorous, are given in this collection, so harmonized and arranged
+that they may be played upon the piano or organ or sung with or without
+accompaniment. Every variety of song is given, and every one will find
+in the book something suited to his taste. The arranger has done his
+work well, and the music printer has made the book an attractive one.
+The selections range from "Old Folks at Home" and the "Sweet By and By"
+to "Comrades" and "Annie Rooney," and the price of the book, considering
+the quantity of music it contains, is remarkably low. It will
+undoubtedly have an extensive sale.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+
+     A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA. By Bret Harte. 301 pp. Cloth, $1.25.
+     Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 1892.
+
+The charm of Bret Harte's stories lies in their originality of
+conception, their well-defined local color, and the chaste richness of
+their literary style. The power to pique one's interest to the last page
+belongs to Mr. Harte above all other writers of stories of American
+life. His latest book has all the good qualities of its predecessors. It
+tells a perfectly natural story of life in California. The hero is a
+newspaper man; the other characters are a man who makes a big "strike"
+in land, and becomes suddenly rich, his two daughters, a newspaper
+proprietor with an axe to grind and a secret love, a beautiful and rich
+Boston widow, and a civil engineer. The denouement is startling, being
+none other than the wiping out by a flood of the town which made the
+rich man's fortune, and the lesson of the story is the suddenness with
+which in the West riches have been made, and also lost.
+
+  L. F.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS RECEIVED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     [All books sent to the editor of THE WRITER will be acknowledged
+     under this heading. They will receive such further notice as may be
+     warranted by their importance to readers of the magazine.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PARAGRAPH-WRITING, WITH APPENDICES ON NEWSPAPER
+     STYLE AND PROOF-READING. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D., and Joseph V.
+     Denney, A. B. 107 pp. Stiff paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register
+     Publishing Company. 1891.
+
+     THE PRINCIPLES OF STYLE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 51 pp. Stiff
+     paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.
+
+     AESTHETICS, ITS PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 32
+     pp. Paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.
+
+     HELEN YOUNG. By Paul Lindau. Translated from the German by P. J.
+     McFadden. 183 pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, &
+     Company. 1892.
+
+     THE TREASURE TOWER. A Story of Malta. By Virginia W. Johnson. 223
+     pp. Paper, 25 cents. New York: Rand, McNally, & Company. 1892.
+
+     THE LIGHT OF ASIA. By Sir Edwin Arnold. With Notes by Mrs. I. L.
+     Hauser. 309 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Company.
+     1892.
+
+     THE BOOK OF RUTH. A novel. By P. L. Gray. 219 pp. Paper. Bendena,
+     Kan.: P. L. Gray. 1892.
+
+     THE BLUE SCARAB. By David Graham Adee. 348 pp. Paper, 50 cents.
+     Chicago: Laird & Lee. 1892.
+
+     A LOYAL LOVER. By E. Lovett Cameron. 294 pp. Paper, 50 cents. New
+     York: John A. Taylor & Company. 1892.
+
+     MRS. LYGON. A Domestic Detective Story. By Shirley Brooks. 385 pp.
+     Paper, 50 cents. St. Paul, Minn.: Price, McGill Company. 1892.
+
+     A MORAL INHERITANCE. By Lydia Hoyt Farmer. 240 pp. New York: J. S.
+     Ogilvie. 1890.
+
+     HOW TO GET MARRIED, ALTHOUGH A WOMAN. By a Young Widow. 144 pp.
+     Paper, 25 cents. New York: J. S. Ogilvie. 1892.
+
+     CLASSICAL POEMS. By William Entriken Bailey. 108 pp. Cloth.
+     Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Company. 1892.
+
+     THE PARSON. A Satire. By Charles J. Bayne. Twelfth Edition. 19 pp.
+     Paper. Augusta, Ga.: Chronicle Office. 1892.
+
+
+
+
+HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.
+
+
+=Envelope Pigeon-holes.=--One of the most useful appliances that I use in
+daily work is the row of envelopes in the front compartment of the upper
+left-hand drawer of my desk. The envelopes are made of stout manila
+paper, almost as high as the drawer is deep, and eight and one-half
+inches long. They are arranged in the drawer at right angles with the
+front, so that as I sit at the desk the face of each envelope is toward
+me. The flaps are turned inside, and each envelope has an inscription on
+the upper left-hand corner. They are used for filing material wanted for
+early reference, and they keep such material classified, within
+immediate reach, and in much smaller space than if pigeon-holes were
+used. The first twenty-six envelopes are inscribed with the letters of
+the alphabet, and are used for filing material alphabetically. Those
+beyond are labelled with subjects, also arranged alphabetically, the
+subjects being those in which I have an immediate special interest. For
+instance, if I am preparing an article on "Misprints," any examples
+noted are filed away in an envelope so marked, and when I get ready to
+write the article the material is ready at hand. "Bills Unpaid,"
+"Receipted Bills," "Ideas and Suggestions," "Postage Stamps,"
+"Addresses," "Cards and Circulars," may be marked on other envelopes. If
+a drawer is not available, the envelopes may be kept in a box within
+easy reach, but the drawer is best. The scheme is easily adapted to any
+special needs. In the case of a writer collecting material, when an
+envelope bulges too much, it suggests profitable action.
+
+  W. H. H.
+
+  SOMERVILLE, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS.
+
+
+     [Readers who send to the publishers of the periodicals indexed for
+     copies containing the articles mentioned in the following list,
+     will confer a favor if they will mention THE WRITER when they
+     write.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+     WRITINGS OF W. H. H. MURRAY. George Stewart, Jr. _Belford's
+     Magazine_ for March.
+
+     REPORTERS AND THEIR TRIALS. _Inland Printer_ for March.
+
+     THEORY OF THE COMMA. _American Bookmaker_ for March.
+
+     CHARACTERISTICS OF MAGIC IN EASTERN AND WESTERN LITERATURE. Talcott
+     Williams. _Poet-Lore_ for March 15.
+
+     WHAT A BIBLIOGRAPHY SHOULD BE. Victor Chauvin. _Library Journal_
+     for March.
+
+     SOME NEWSPAPER BAD HABITS. With Portrait of E. W. Howe. E. W. Howe.
+     _Newspaperdom_ for March.
+
+     THE DANBURY NEWS MAN. George Watson Hallock. _Newspaperdom_ for
+     March.
+
+     A COMPLETE REFERENCE SYSTEM. I. D. Marshall. _Newspaperdom_ for
+     March.
+
+     THE COMPLETE AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF A NEWS DESPATCH. Samuel
+     Merrill. _Engraver and Printer_ (Boston) for March.
+
+     EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. _Critic_ for March 26.
+
+     COUNT LEON TOLSTOI. Madame Dovidoff. _Cosmopolitan_ for April.
+
+     GOODRIDGE BLISS ROBERTS. With Portrait. Charles G. Abbott.
+     _Dominion Illustrated Monthly_ (Montreal) for April.
+
+     LITERATURE AND THE MINISTRY. Leverett W. Spring. _Atlantic Monthly_
+     for April.
+
+     GEORGE ELIOT AND MRS. HUMPHRY WARD. Charles T. Copeland. _North
+     American Review_ for April.
+
+     CHARLES KEENE, OF PUNCH. George Somes Layard. _Scribner's Magazine_
+     for April.
+
+     ISAAC JUDSON POTTER, PUBLISHER OF THE YANKEE BLADE. With Portrait.
+     _Weekly Journalist_ (Boston) for March 24.
+
+     FICTION IN THE COURT ROOM. George Stewart. _Toronto Week_ for March
+     11.
+
+     T. W. HIGGINSON. With Portrait. _Weekly Journalist_ (Boston) for
+     March 31.
+
+     WHY BOOKS SUCCEED. Duffield Osborne. _American Bookseller_ for
+     April 1.
+
+     EUGENE FIELD. _Inland Printer_ for April.
+
+     WHAT IS POETRY. Edmund Clarence Stedman. _Century_ for April.
+
+     WOLCOTT BALESTIER. Edmund Gosse. _Century_ for April.
+
+     THE WIFE OF EUGENE FIELD. John Ballantyne. _Ladies' Home Journal_
+     for April.
+
+     MISTAKEN LITERARY SUCCESS. Wolstan Dixey. _Ladies' Home Journal_
+     for April.
+
+     POETRY AND ELOQUENCE. John Burroughs. _Chautauquan_ for April.
+
+
+
+
+NEWS AND NOTES.
+
+
+D. Appleton & Co. announce a Holland Fiction Series, introducing to
+American readers the best literature of modern Holland. They have been
+led to do this by the interest shown in Maarten Maartens' "Joost
+Avelingh," which they published some time ago. A new novel by Maarten
+Maartens will be included in the series.
+
+Mrs. James T. Field is abroad with Miss Sarah Orne Jewett.
+
+Daniel Lothrop, head of the D. Lothrop Company, of Boston, died February
+18. He was born August 11, 1831.
+
+Edward Augustus Freeman, the English historian, died of smallpox
+February 16, at Alicante, Spain, aged sixty-nine years.
+
+With the issue of March 11 the _Epoch_ ceased to exist as a separate
+publication, having been merged with _Munsey's Magazine_.
+
+Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years old April 3.
+
+Rev. George Thomas Dowling, D. D., who has been pastor of the
+Madison-avenue Reformed Church in Albany for nearly three years, has
+offered his resignation, to take effect July 1. It is his intention, he
+says, to devote himself for a few years to rest and literary pursuits,
+probably in Boston. Dr. Dowling's salary is $6,500.
+
+In the _New York Herald_ for March 13 were printed the opening lines of
+a story, entitled "The Way Out," which American writers have been
+invited to complete. The opening lines are by John Habberton. The entire
+tale, inclusive of the opening, should not exceed eight thousand words,
+nor contain less than seven thousand words. No limitations are imposed
+as to scenes, characters, or incidents. The decision will be left to Mr.
+Charles Ledyard Norton. For the best story offered the _Herald_ will pay
+$100, the story to become the property of the _Herald_, and be published
+in full Sunday, May 1. Manuscripts must be typewritten, and must reach
+the _Herald_ office not later than Saturday, April 16.
+
+The frontispiece of the _Magazine of Art_ (New York) for April is an
+etching by Chauvel from Troyon's "The Watering-place."
+
+The _Chautauquan_ (Meadville, Penn.) for April contains an excellent
+portrait of John Vance Cheney, the popular poet and critic.
+
+Charles Keene, the famous caricaturist of _Punch_, who died about a year
+ago, is the subject of an article in _Scribner's_ for April, illustrated
+with many pictures from his original drawings.
+
+A portrait of Walt Whitman, from the painting by J. W. Alexander, forms
+the frontispiece to _Harper's Magazine_ for April. Guido Biagi writes of
+"The Last Days of Percy Bysshe Shelley."
+
+A society of American authors, on lines similar to the British and
+French societies of the same name, is proposed by Charles Burr Todd, who
+has set forth the grievances of American authors in a paper in the March
+_Forum_. The first meeting is to be held privately in New York on or
+before May 1, and when one hundred members are enrolled the society will
+be organized at once. Its objects are extension of copyright, abolition
+of letter-rate postage on manuscripts, amendment of international
+copyright law, and the adoption in America of the French statutes in
+regard to literary property. All persons who have written a book, or are
+engaged in writing for the press, are eligible to membership.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892., by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITER, VOLUME VI, APRIL 1892. ***
+
+***** This file should be named 26128.txt or 26128.zip *****
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