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Rev. Dr. Charles F. Thwing, lately of Minneapolis, has been inaugurated president of Adelbert College, the old Western Reserve University, now located at Cleveland.

The

With the March number the Forum began its sixth year and its eleventh volume. demand for bound volumes is so large that the publishers have reprinted all the back numbers to date, so that complete sets of the magazine may now be had.

"Across East African Glaciers" is the title Dr. Meyer has given to his account of the first ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the most important events of recent African exploration. It will be published immediately in this country by Longmans, Green, & Co.

F. Marion Crawford, having been pulled down by overwork, has gone to Tiflis, Asiatic Russia, a city noted for its hot baths, to recuperate. He has promised to deliver to Macmillan's by June I the third and concluding part of "Saracinesca," but ill-health may prevent his doing so.

"Is

Public Opinion (Washington and New York) has just announced the offer of three cash prizes of $150, $100, and $50, respectively, for the best three essays upon the question: any extension and development of trade between the United States and Canada desirable; if so, what are the best means of promoting it?"

One of the clauses in the marriage contract between Dr. Schliemann and the Greek lady whom he married provided, it is said, that the lady should improve her knowledge of Homer by learning and reciting fifty lines of the Iliad nightly. The ordeal was a severe one for the bride, but Herr Schliemann, when telling the story to his friends, always said that neither tears nor entreaties ever induced him to let her off a single line.

President Dunlap, of the National Amateur Press Association, has appointed the following judges of award in the contest for the title laureates annually conferred by that association: Judge of serials, Mary Hartwell Catherwood; judge of sketches, Captain Charles King; judge of poems, Ella Wheeler Wilcox; judge of essays, Allan Forman.

James Payn's literary gains for the first year of his married life were just £32 155.

Mrs. Hodgson Burnett's income from her books and plays amounts to more than $25,000 a year.

Puck's Library for March is entitled" Dollars and Cents; Being Puck's Best Things About the Scramble for Scads."

Rudyard Kipling's father is a professor in an art school in India. He is a fine-looking old man, with snow-white beard and hair.

Miss Lily A. Long, author of the strong and bright novel, “A Squire of Low Degree," is a Western woman, born in St. Paul, of Swedish descent, and educated at the University of Wisconsin. Though she has written essays and poems, this is her first novel.

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Thomas Nelson Page has written a number of short stories, and has " roughed out" other stories of the Old Dominion. He is getting together material for a life of General Thomas Nelson, the revolutionary war governor of the state, for the Makers of America Series. He has in contemplation, furthermore, a volume of papers on "The Southern Civilization " ("The Old South," "Authorship in the South Before the War," "The Social Life of the Old South," etc.), and another on "Europe in Sunshine and Shadow," the latter to comprise various sketches from his journals and letters during several visits abroad.

A life of Thackeray will be the next volume in the Great Writers Series. It was begun by Herman Merivale and has been completed by Frank T. Marzials. As it was Thackeray's particular request (which his daughters have sacredly respected) that no life of him should ever be published, the forthcoming volume will have the interest of novelty.

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.

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HINTS TO THE WRITER. Austin Bierbower.

A POINT IN RAPID TYPEWRITING. H. M. Hoke.

A READER'S PROTEST AGAINST SYNDICATES. Mar garet H. Lawless.

THE WORM TURNS. Tudor Jenks.

EVENING PAPERS IN ENGLAND AND THEIR SUB-EDIT-
ING. C. Watson.

EDITORIAL.

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No. 4.

those authors recommended to the attention of young men and women seeking a model of good English style. To those who have followed this advice, as well as to those who have not, the following letter, written by Newman when he was sixty-eight years old, and after he had produced his most famous works, cannot fail to be interesting:

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"It is simply the fact that I have been obliged to take great pains with everything I have written, and I often write chapters over and over again, besides innumerable corrections and interlinear additions. 76 I am not stating this as a merit, only that some persons write their best first, and I very seldom do. Those who are good speakers may be supposed to be able to write off what they want to say. I, who am not a good speaker, have to correct laboriously what I put on paper. I have heard that Archbishop Howley, who was an elegant writer, betrayed the labor by which he became so by his mode of speaking, which was most painful to hear from his hesitations and alterations that is, he was correcting his compositions as he went along.

The International Copyright Law and Its Effect on
Authorship.

76

BUREAUS OF REVISION.

77

QUERIES.

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I have been reading the "Letters and Correspondence of the late John Henry Newman," edited by his relative, Anne Mozley, recently published in England. Among many other subjects of interest to admirers of the great cardinal, I find a letter written in 1869, in which he for the first time tells the world something concerning his method of composition, that may prove instructive to young writers. All know that few men have shown an equal mastery of the English language with Dr. Newman. He has been always named among the first of

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Copyright, 1891, by WILLIAM H. HILLS. All rights reserved.

much obliged to correct and rewrite as I was thirty years ago.

"As to patterns for imitation, the only master of style I have ever had (which is strange, considering the differences of the language) is Cicero. I think I owe a great deal to him, and, as far as I know, to no one else. His great mastery of Latin is shown especially in his clearness."

Particular attention should be paid to the fact that Newman, like many other great writers, felt the necessity of constant correction. He

evidently never "dashed off" anything, as young writers always want us to imagine they do. The most remarkable statement in the letter, however, is near its conclusion: "I don't get any better by practice. I am as much obliged to correct and rewrite as I was thirty years ago." That last sentence ought to be comforting to the despairing writer who feels after wrestling with refractory manuscript for years that he has mistaken his vocation because he has not acquired facility in expression. LOUISVILLE, Ky.

James C. Moffet.

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER AS THEY SHOULD BE.

A publisher and an editor produced a new magazine. It was a good magazine, as everybody who saw it was obliged to admit. But as yet it had not a reputation; and without a reputation to start with, a reputation is a hard thing to get.

The publisher and the editor had energy, and pluck, and perseverance. They worked hard and constantly, and they believed in their work.

But they had great difficulty in getting a hearing among the authors. Check after check they sent away to the pen-wielders; always with stamps enclosed for the return of the checks if they should not be wanted.

All they asked was that the checks be examined. If these were found good, the authors would please pay for them at their customary rates in manuscript, prose or poetry — prose preferred.

Most of the checks proved unavailable. A heart-crushing number came back; not a few so torn, and rumpled, and marked across that they had to be rewritten before they could be sent to another author.

Little printed slips came back with them, setting forth that they were "not suited to our present purposes"; that " we thank you for the

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privilege of reading them, but are unable to make use of them"; that "the rejection of a check by one author does not imply that it may not be exactly suited to some other author's needs "; and that "you will please excuse this form of answer, as the great mass of checks constantly received renders a personal letter impossible."

And all the while syndicate letter-writers kept assuring the struggling publisher and editor that "merit is the only condition of success"; that "every check is examined solely on its merits"; that "authors are constantly on the alert to find new publishers and editors of real ability."

At long intervals a check was accepted; but that did not always mean an end of trouble. Sometimes it did; but at other times an author would write: "Your check is accepted, and will be paid for when used."

Then the publisher and the editor would wait a year and a half or two years for that check to be used. They would write mild letters of inquiry, perhaps, without gaining the courtesy of any sort of reply.

At last they would discover for themselves that the check had been used, and would eagerly expect the promised manuscript in payment; but they would wait two or three months before

getting it; and when it came it was pretty sure to be shorter than they expected.

If any explanation accompanied the long deferred payment, it was to the effect that this particular author paid quarterly for the checks he accepted.

Sometimes the checks were never returned, and never paid for.

The publisher and the editor did not abandon their magazine. They command the market now, and can dictate terms to the most stiffnecked and rebellious author. But when success came it found them just about ready to accept a job of hod-carrying. James C. Purdy.

MOORESTOWN, N. J.

BUSINESS RELATIONS BETWEEN AUTHOR AND EDITOR.

Will THE WRITER receive and consider a small growl and a question or two from a puzzled scribbler?

In the advice which is liberally bestowed upon young writers, and which, I believe, is usually gratefully received, and thoughtfully pondered, whatever general impression there may be to the contrary, I have noticed that much stress is usually laid upon one point. Tyros in literature are warned not to look upon it as in any way a romantic or exceptional profession, but, on the contrary, to remember that the making and marketing of manuscript is a business, a trade, like any other, and must be conducted on business principles, subjected to business rules, like any other.

I, for one, have endeavored to lay the wise lesson to heart and profit by it. But now and then I find myself questioning if the obligation to hold to business principles applies to the author, or seller, alone. Does it, or does it not, rest upon the publisher, or buyer, also?

I will illustrate, and thereby come to my growl.

A few months ago I sent a manuscript story to an old, popular, and entirely reputable magazine. The editor, a veteran literary worker, expressed approval of the story, and accepted it; a satisfactory price was agreed on, and I supposed the matter was settled.

Last week the manuscript came back to me with a note saying that, although the story had been accepted by Mrs. Star, Mrs. Star was no

longer editor of the Blank Magazine; and the present management did not find it suited to their needs, therefore returned it.

I do not claim to be versed in all the ins and outs of business matters; but I have always fancied that when a man buys out a business, he takes it subject to the liabilities of the old firm, and is bound by their contracts, unless some special agreement is made to the contrary. I have yet to learn that when a man buys a grocer's stock and trade he has a right to send back to the gardener vegetables and fruit, to the wholesale dealer sugar, tea, spices, etc., bought and delivered, but not yet paid for, even though it might be to his advantage to do so.

The instance I have given is not unprecedented. Once before in my experience with this particular magazine a like happening befell me. Certain manuscripts had been accepted, kept a year or two, and then, after a change in administration, returned, with the explanation that the new publishers did not wish to use them. In this case, insult was added to injury by the fact that, although return postage had been sent with all manuscripts, only one two-cent stamp was affixed to the package, the remainder of the postage being left for collection. I paid the postage twice over, and the new firm's repudiation of the old firm's agreements was carried out with praiseworthy economy. True, the sum was not so great as seriously to deplete

the purse, but that is not the point exactly. Neither does the fact that I was rather glad to get my papers back, and afterward sold them for a higher price than had been offered by this magazine, alter the principle involved, or silence the question which presses upon my unsophisticated mind.

Were these little transactions conducted according to business principles? If so, since "turn about is fair play," why has not an author the privilege of demanding a return of his creations if, before they are published, he sees a better opportunity for disposing of

them?

I wish also to ask the opinion of THE WRITER as to the almost general custom of paying contributors "on publication." Is that a strictly business-like arrangement? The farmer who takes his wheat to the mill or general market is not asked to wait for his pay till the wheat is ground into flour, barrelled, and sold to the private consumer. The wood-cutter who draws yearly supplies of wood to village customers does not wait for his pay till the wood is burned. I fancy general business conducted in this way would soon come to a standstill. The poor farmer and laborer would starve, and supplies would cease.

The scribbler, though perhaps not so necessary and important a member of the community, has, nevertheless, the same material needs as farmer and wood-cutter. Are they not entitled to any consideration? He must pay for his bread when he gets it. Bakers, and

grocers, and boarding-house keepers do not choose to wait through the very uncertain number of weeks, or months, or years that must pass before his promised checks arrive, and one can hardly blame them.

It may, and does often, happen that during these months the waiting scribbler will see how he might dispose of his finished work more to the advantage of purse and reputation than his contract promises. Has he a right to demand a return of his manuscript, a release from his contract, because such release seems to him desirable? By no means, say the publishers. That would be a most unbusiness-like proceeding. He has made a contract; he must abide by it. Any child might see that.

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Is an agreement between author and publisher binding only on one side the author's? The woes of the writer whose wares are found "not available " I do not bring into the question. His business is to make them available. But when he does this, when he produces useful work, though he may not have won so high a place in his profession as to give him power to dictate his own terms, even then, poor, obscure, hard-working mortal that he is, has he, or has he not, rights which a publisher is bound to respect?

Is, or is not, the laborer worthy of his hire? If he is, would it not be just and "businesslike to give it to him when his work is done, delivered and accepted as satisfactory? H. A. Saxton.

SCHOOLCRAFT, Mich.

HINTS TO THE WRITER.

Get a subject as big as you can.

Boil it down as small as you can.

Say everything as strong as you can.

Make it so clear that the reader must understand it.

Say nothing more than once.

Every unnecessary word clogs the interest.

Every unnecessary thought destroys the sym.

metry.

Every word not understood throws the reader off the track.

As soon as you begin to get uninteresting, the reader is apt to drop your piece.

The writer must not only give the reader a

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