The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-25

! Wand she's modest like" Now certainly it is
the fact that all female literary asplrants are
not modest like"
We read our friends letter through, while
poor Mary was standing at the counter below.
How eagerly should we have run TO greet her, TO
save her from the gaze of the public, to well
come her at least with q chair and the warmth
of our editorial fire, had we guessed then wnaC
were her qualities 1t was not long before she
| knew the way ND to our sanctum without any
clerk to show her, and not long before we
knew well the sound of that low but not tlmld
| knock at our door, made always with the nan
| die of the parasol with which her advent was
heralded. We will confess that there was al
ways music to our ears in that light tap from
the little round wooden knob. The man OF
letters i'm Dorsetshirc. whom we had known
we'll for many wears, had been never known
10 us with intimacy We had bought with him
and sold with him, had talked with him, and,
perhaps, walked with him; but he was not one
| with whom we had eaten, or drunk or prayed
A dull, well-instructed, honest man he was,
fond of his money, and, as we had Thought, as
unlikely as any man to be walked 10 enthusiasm
by the ambitious dreams Of q young gri. But
| Mary had been potent even over him, and he had
written to me saying that Miss Gresley
was a young lady of exceeding promise, in
respect OF whom he had strong presentment
that she would rise, if not to eminence, at
q
is very young" he added. Having read TINS
letter, we al last desired our clerk TO send the
lady up.
We remember her step as she came to the
door, timid enough then-hesitating, but yet
with an assumed lightness as though she was
determined to show us that she was not
ashamed of what she was doing. She had on
her head light straw hat, such as then was
very unusual in Londen-and is not now, we
believe, commonly worn III the streets OF the
metropolis by ladies who believe themselves
to know what they are about. But 1t was a
hat, worn upon her head, and not straw plate
done up with ribbons, and reaching down the
| incline of the forehead as far as the top oil the
nose. And she was dressed in gray stuff
frock, with little black band round her
waist. AS far as our memory goes, we
never saw her in any other dress. or with
other hat or bonnet on her head. "4And what
can we do for you. Miss Gresey?" we said, stand
ing up and holding the literary, gentlemans
| letter in our hand. We had almost said, my
dear" seeing her youth and remembering onr
\ age We were afterwards glad that VIC had
| not so addressed her; thought it came before
long that we did call her "my dear'-in quite
She rccoicd little from the tone of our
voice. "Mr. thinks that you can do
something for me. / have written q novel,
and have brought it to you"
|
written novel ~
~ am young she said "but perhaps older
than you think. | am eighteen" Then for
the first time there came into her eye that
glcam of merry humor which never was al
lowed to dwell there long, but which was so al
Turing when it showed itself.
That is q ripe age" we said laughing, and
then we babe her seat herself. AT once
we began TO pour forth that long and
dull and ngly lesson which is so common
to our lives, in which we tried to explain
TO our unwilling pupil that of all respccta-
ble professions for young women literature
is the most uncertain the most heart-break-
ing, and the most dangerous. "You hear of
the few who are remuncrated," we said; 'but
| YOU hear nothing of the thousands that fail"
at is so noble !" she replied.
"But so hopeless"
''Thcrc are those who succeed"
'sYcs, indeed. Even in lottery one must
| gain the prize; but they who trust TO lotteries
break their hearts,
'But literature is not lottery. If am fit,
| shall succeed. Mr.. thinks may
succeed Many more words of wisdom we
spoke to her, and well do we remember her
reply when we had run all our line off the reel,
and had completed our sermon. IL shall 70
| OH all the same she said. ! shall try, anu
try again-and again
| Her power over us. to certain extent. was
| soon established. OF course we promised TO
read the Ms, and turned it over, no doubt with
| an ANXIOUS countcnancc, TO see OF what nature
was the writing There sa feminine scrawl Of Il
nature so terrible that the task OF reading be-
comes worse than the trcadmill. IL know |
can write WELL though am not quite sure
abont the spelling" said Mary, as She observed
| th.. Tllncc of our eyes. She spoke truly. The
writing was good, though the eraSureS and al
| ;cruti0ns were very numerous. And then the
story was intended to fill only one volume. " !
will copy it for you If you wish it," said Mary.
Though there are so many scratchings out, II
has been copied once" We would not for worlds
have given her such labor, and then we prom
iscd to read the tale. We forget how 1t was
| brought about, but she told us at that inter-
view that her mother had obtained leave from
the pastry-cook round the corner, to sit there
waiting till Mary should rcjoin her. " ! thought
it would be trouble enough for you to have one
of us here" she said with her little laugh,
when asked ner why she had not brought
her mother on with her. | own that felt
that she had been wise; and when ] t0ld
her that if she would call on me again that
day week | would then have read at any rate
so much of her work rs would enable me to
give her my opinion, / did not invite her TO
bring her mother with her. l knew lilat
could talk more freely to the girl without the
mothers presence. Even when you are past
fifty, and intend only to preach sermon, you
do not wish to have mother present.
V.
When she was gone we took up the roll of
papcr and examined it. We looked al the di-
vision into chapters, at the various notices
the poor child had chosen, pronounced to
ourselves the name of the story-it was sim
ply the name of the heroine, an easy-%oing.
unaffected, well-choSen namc--and read the
last page of IL. On such occasions the reader
of the work begins his task almost with con-
yictiCn that the labor he is about TO undertake
will be utterly thrown away. He feels all but
sure that the matter will he bad, that il will
bc better for all parties, writer, intended rca-
drrs. and intended publisher, that the written
words should not be conveyed into typc-that
It will be his duty, after some fashion, to
convey that unwelc0med opinion TO the writer,
and that the writer will 20 away incredllous,
an,, accusing mentally the Mentor Of the mo-
nent of all manner of literary sins, among
which ignorance, jealousy and ialschood VIII,
In the poor authors imagination, be most
prominent. And yet when the writerwas ask
ing for that opinion, declaring his cSpccla! dc
sire that the opinion should be candid, protest.
inr that his present wish is to have some gauge
of his own capability, and that he has come TO
YOU believing YOU To be above others able 10
rive him that gau@c-while his petition 10 yoI
was being made, he was in every respect sim
cerc. He had come dcsirous to measure him.
self. and had believed that You could measure
him. When coming he did not think that
you would declare him TO he an Apollo. He
had told himself, no doubt, how probable ii
was that You would point out TO him that he was
| a dwarf. You lind him to be an ordinary man,
| tt,.,, F,ntr la