Smyrna times., 1872-09-11
MGSceIIU 10 e o IL S.
Writing.

The Orerland Monthly divides chirography
into three headS:-tC wit, the good, the bad,
the very worst and classifcs some literary
geniuses of the time. Joaquin Miller's manu-
script comes honestly under the third head.
His lines resemble diapidated hedge fences.
On one occasion, having become hOpelessly in
volved in the midst of one of his poems, the
editor applied to Mr.. Miller personally for
relief. He willingly proposed to read the puz
zng passages but in few moments he also
stumbled and threw down the mystery, eXcaim
ing: Darn it, can read it myself Per- |
| haps scout bullets and Indian arrows are in some
measure accountable for the impediment in his
fingers. Dickens affected
| blue ink, and wrote with the accuracy and
legibity of lawyer Bret Harte prefers
violet, writes a legible, uniform hand is a
slow producer upon unruled note paper, seldom
leaves page without some erasures, and his
best sentences are laborously chiseed, and
require a great waste of stationery in their
making. n Mark Twain and j. Ross
Browne prepare good manuscript.
Charles StOddard, of the OveriGnd who is the
most peculiar of all Of them, must have been
born where the particular stars Of Josh Billings
and Artemus Ward were in conjunction. He
spells according to the mood he happens to be
in There is sometimes in his manuscripts an
astonishing development Of cOnsOnants; again,
an aggr4vating separation or division Of the
b double letters; and, as for his chiTOgraphy, he
is apt to break the backs Of all the loops in the
alphabet-but he can gracefully excuse it all
e by philosiphically remarking, You would
= never know the difference when it is read to
A you.
That's philosophy. Neither exactness nor
n pedantic polish amount to literary merit.
p Writing, is, good English literature, =
Of must wear; and the measure and shine of it dc
% not alone any more make it substantial and
excellent, than the shape and back-shine o.
r. boots render them serviceabe. English tha
=. is all shine is for the most part like boots tina
nj are all enthusiastically The literary aspiran
ld must remember that because he can SPELL sen
h' tence, and paragraph in good grammar anC
Il. rhetoric, is no sign he can Write, 1t is th
IS; Is; brains put into these and the peculiar style o
putting, that make Writing. Brains is tn
ng m body of literature; orthOgraphy, sentencing
ln- paragraphing, grammar and rhetoric are tn
clothes for that body. The difference betwee
,a the body and the clothes is very great; tn
is clothes were made for the body, not the bod
'"' for the clothes; and while they are valuee:
red without it, it is Of intrinsic worth naked Let
man of brains have ideas and originality
rod he desire to print them, if they be worth i
- there will ever be ready plenty Of competeI
and persons to attend to seeing them printed !
a ,Ra correct form. Good spoilers, sentencers, gran
ses, marians, rhetoricians, and paragraphers al
two very plenty compared to the number OF goo
thinkers; and they are always ready and only t.
glad to get the chance to bcstow their accor
tor plishments upon the dress of thought wh(
les thought comes naked in their way. Give
now thoughts, and we will put them into Addiso
ian prose, or Sbakspearian verse, or Byron
ring measure, at your will, right gladly and 500
'e'i The schools gift the multitude with accor
cred plishments; nature gifts few with geniu
mis- And this multitude asks for only matter, mt
ter matter the body to dress, and they "
dor, make it so that you would never know t
=. difference when it is read to yOu