diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-8.txt | 2144 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 42182 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 44667 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-h/26128-h.htm | 2225 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0062.png | bin | 0 -> 33422 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0063.png | bin | 0 -> 40068 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0064.png | bin | 0 -> 34515 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0065.png | bin | 0 -> 40095 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0066.png | bin | 0 -> 33054 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0067.png | bin | 0 -> 40639 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0068.png | bin | 0 -> 38949 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0069.png | bin | 0 -> 32262 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0070.png | bin | 0 -> 34122 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0071.png | bin | 0 -> 32875 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0072.png | bin | 0 -> 32076 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0073.png | bin | 0 -> 31971 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0074.png | bin | 0 -> 31497 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0075.png | bin | 0 -> 29640 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0076.png | bin | 0 -> 36814 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0077.png | bin | 0 -> 37871 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0078.png | bin | 0 -> 47839 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0079.png | bin | 0 -> 48585 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0080.png | bin | 0 -> 39781 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128-page-images/p0081.png | bin | 0 -> 37526 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128.txt | 2144 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 26128.zip | bin | 0 -> 42147 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
29 files changed, 6529 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26128-8.txt b/26128-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dff4a47 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2144 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITER, VOLUME VI, APRIL 1892. *** + +***** This file should be named 26128-8.txt or 26128-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/1/2/26128/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/26128-8.zip b/26128-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e69e2c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-8.zip diff --git a/26128-h.zip b/26128-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f73b2a --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-h.zip diff --git a/26128-h/26128-h.htm b/26128-h/26128-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9cf3b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-h/26128-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2225 @@ +<!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 */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<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,—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.</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,—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,—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—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—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 <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. 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:—</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—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!</p> + +<p>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<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—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!</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,—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.</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,—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 Æschylus, 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—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.</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 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.</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—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.</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. +——'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—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—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, coöperative 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—rare expressions in him.</p> + +<p>"A few years ago," he said. "I, too, had the literary craze. I wrote a +little—stray articles, stories, poems, the usual repertoire."</p> + +<p>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.</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,"—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."</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. 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—the self-distrusting lover sighed his woes into the sympathetic +ear of the damsel of whom in his "normal state" he had said—</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,—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.</p> + +<p>Now and then a leader has appeared,—an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> inventor,—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>Hæc fabula docet</i>—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. 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:—</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:—</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. 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'être</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?"—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,—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—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). <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-à-brac." Friends of the <i>Golden Rule</i>, +<i>Cottage Hearth</i>, and <i>Christian Register</i> have assured me that +good—not <i>goody-goody</i>—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,—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 <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—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:—</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:—</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 Cæsar 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 édition de luxe of Gray's "Elegy" with every stanza +printed in this style:—</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,—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.</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,—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:—</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—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—</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,—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:—</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,—</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.—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. 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>⁂ <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>⁂ 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>⁂ <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>⁂ No sample copies of <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> will be sent free.</p> + +<p>⁂ 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>⁂ <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> 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.</p> + +<p>⁂ Everything printed in the magazine will be written expressly for it.</p> + +<p>⁂ Not one line of paid advertisement will be printed in <span class="smcap">The Writer</span> +outside of the advertising pages.</p> + +<p>⁂ Advertising rates will be sent on request.</p> + +<p>⁂ Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed +envelope is enclosed.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">Address:—</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 25em;">THE WRITER,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 30em;">(P. 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. H. 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. L. A.</span></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Windham</span>, N. 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>"—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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> 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> + +<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 & 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—like his own Mr. +Toots—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. H. 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. D. 310 pp. Cloth, $1.00. +New York: Harper & 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. H. 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, & 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. H. 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. H. 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. H. H.</span></span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">New Harvard Songbook.</span> Compiled by R. 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. H. 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. A. Darr. With Portrait of the Author. +311 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: A. Lovell & 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. H. 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. H. 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, & 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. 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. D., and Joseph V. Denney, A. 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. D. 51 pp. Stiff +paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Æsthetics, Its Problems and Literature.</span> By Fred N. Scott, Ph. 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. J. +McFadden. 183 pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & +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, & Company. 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Light of Asia.</span> By Sir Edwin Arnold. With Notes by Mrs. I. L. +Hauser. 309 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Company. +1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Book of Ruth.</span> A novel. By P. L. Gray. 219 pp. Paper. Bendena, +Kan.: P. L. Gray. 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Blue Scarab.</span> By David Graham Adee. 348 pp. Paper, 50 cents. +Chicago: Laird & 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 & 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. 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. S. Ogilvie. 1892.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Classical Poems.</span> By William Entriken Bailey. 108 pp. Cloth. +Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & 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>—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. H. 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. H. 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. W. Howe. E. 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. 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. 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 & 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. 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. 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: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/1/2/26128/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0062.png b/26128-page-images/p0062.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4a1299 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0062.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0063.png b/26128-page-images/p0063.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e0c07 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0063.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0064.png b/26128-page-images/p0064.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bbb173 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0064.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0065.png b/26128-page-images/p0065.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05f4941 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0065.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0066.png b/26128-page-images/p0066.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e403965 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0066.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0067.png b/26128-page-images/p0067.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4590743 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0067.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0068.png b/26128-page-images/p0068.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..79d73a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0068.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0069.png b/26128-page-images/p0069.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8db88fe --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0069.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0070.png b/26128-page-images/p0070.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe4b6f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0070.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0071.png b/26128-page-images/p0071.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9f9a18 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0071.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0072.png b/26128-page-images/p0072.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e785f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0072.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0073.png b/26128-page-images/p0073.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6374ba --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0073.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0074.png b/26128-page-images/p0074.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b807c21 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0074.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0075.png b/26128-page-images/p0075.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1295610 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0075.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0076.png b/26128-page-images/p0076.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9db8532 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0076.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0077.png b/26128-page-images/p0077.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..faa7fcc --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0077.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0078.png b/26128-page-images/p0078.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..48c63bb --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0078.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0079.png b/26128-page-images/p0079.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8db5d78 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0079.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0080.png b/26128-page-images/p0080.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..71b3fc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0080.png diff --git a/26128-page-images/p0081.png b/26128-page-images/p0081.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b777df --- /dev/null +++ b/26128-page-images/p0081.png diff --git a/26128.txt b/26128.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3713058 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2144 @@ +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 ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/1/2/26128/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/26128.zip b/26128.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7844c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/26128.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77fe5bf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #26128 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26128) |
