Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1873-06-14
INCOMES oE AUTHORS.
Row Much American Writers Make
Their Ine,mss Usually Quite Meaere.


Their Ine'mss Usually Quite Measre.
\ writer In the New York GraDhic. in
the course of an article entitled "In
comes from the lnkstand," thus gossips
about the incomes of well known writers
for the press
The authors in this country who have
made auy money worth speaking of are
distinguished by their paucity. Those
who are most eminent, unquesIionab the
best, have earned the least,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, universally ne
know lodged to be the most original, II
not the protouudest, thinker IN America
or on the gobe-one of the intellectual
king of the cen'ury-has not made
directly, by his hooks (and be has been
studying and toiling ceasclcssy for sew.
cuy y,ars), at the most liherAliestimate,
over S30.0 900. II he had worked one fifth
us hand and zealously at alulort any
thing else, he would be in fag better cir.
cumstauces 10 day.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, one CT the finest
artists and Iarest genuses of his time,
admired and loved wherever our Ian
guagc is read-and whore is i; not WAS
poor all his life; would have come to
positive want, and nothing save his peer.
less books stood between him and bis
dali needs. lie deemed himself fortunat
when such a creation as the House OF
the Seven Cables" or the Scarle
Letter." or the Marble Faun," yielded
him 81 900 TO $4,000. lie gave the though,
this suffering, the experience, the Gu ture
OF many years to each Of his works, and
behold his monetary reward single
commercial transaction would have car
! ripd mora dollars tn his pnrgp
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is il d,
pendent 10 circumstances, for his poems
are extremely popular on both sides Of
/ the sea. But ne owes more to careful
management Of his Affairs than to bis
muse, who has never brought TO hs cx.
chequer much beyond $4,000.
James Russell Lowell, a master Of the
! English tongue, strong and loft,
| singer, second 10 none as II brilliant
essayist, is indebted to other sources tban
his genius for the comfortable income h.
enjoys. He is aware literature keeps de
voices on cruets, therefore he has log
spaces in lis woolng, and munches put,
de foie grds Instead.
William Cullen Bryant ls often placed
a, the head OF American bards, but bis
inspiration costs him unwearled pains,
aud Fortune has been too Klud to demaud
sacrifice Of time and peace to the tuneiul
Nine. His wealth comes from prosaic
source, the Ege1ing Post, Of which Ike is
one Of the principal owners. There arc
no hexameters in the Post, no Homerle
SMILES, no idyllic pictures but i;s Ind
viduals are understood to be always reg
ular and eminentlJ satisfactory.
Oliver Wendell Holmes is "a clever poet,
delicate humog,st, u charming psilOso-
phi r; and the poetry and Lumor and
philosophy Of his literary career IL IN The
is,t tuat lie ueeu not look for breau u
his ink-stand. Poverty may be the nursa
Of genius but she Is n dsy nurse a. best
John G. Whittier. lover Of freedom Au4
nature, expresses his "a -als in the sw G.
est Of verse, and pays for his accomplish
ment In surroundings modest as his de-
meanor. # is well for poet to be alone
in the world, for poetry Is wretched
, proyider for others-oiten for ones self.
Bards are presumed TO be the favored Of
the gods, but the gods neglect them sadly.
e Whittier has stirred the souls OF thou
, sands but the thousands he has stirred
from the pockets of his publishers are
precious few.
William d. Howells, though one of our
: dainticst and most graceful writers, does
, not seek to live by his pen alone. He
5 has $1,000 as editor Of tie Atlantic, and,
3 as he docs not abide IN New York, the
e me1gre sum preserves him from starGa
& ton. His hest work, "Nenetian Life,
: has high European regulations has been
out seven or eight years, and yet he has
+ never received from It more than 81 900.
1t is said that In his native town, Column
5 bus, Ohio, not a single copy of the book
S has ever been sold. Surely, profits are
A without honor in the capital of the Buck
{ eyes.
D George William Curtis, the Henry
, Mackenzie Of the republic, is one Of the
o most elegant scholars and writer's Dc the
n day. If he trusted TO fugitive literalp, Fl
a however, he would doubtless lind hinse
S in arrears. Having $4,000 annually
2. from the Harpcrs for his strong and
v graceful editorials in their Weekly, foi
+ the sod Easy Chair" in the Monthig, an,
It for the cold Bachelor Papers, in
l. Baz ", be regards with serene eyes Ii,
Is bills Of the butcher aud the window o
the grocer. The dainty flowadjl stay
# at home in these domestic DAYS, Uni,
o keeps, perfUree, his Grecian nose to IL,
e pecnniary grindstone.
" Bayard Taylor has been lucllier thar
y most authors; but, after travelling
over the world, and speaking a ecore u
1 u.ent at the corner of Nassau and Spruc,
:, street, and the plain English Of 7ribW.
: dividends the most forcible and agrcra
- bic OF languages.
DR.. Holland, neither above nor below
n the average appreciation, aud, therefor
a popular, is very comfortable In worldly
\. goods, But he has not filed his &C fer
= by Bitter Sweets" or =" Katharinas,
~ or Bay Paths" He first cllnked BIZ
- coin while he was part owner of thu
II Springfield (Mass.) RepaJlican. He hai
Il large interest in Scri5ner's Monthly
and $4,000 salary us Superintendent o.
Public Schools. Consequently his ducata
~ come from business, aud his deniers iron
a his bucollcs
n Thomas Wentworth Iligguson, a con
a temporansQus classic, is SO fastidious ant
n conscientious that he spends two month";
,. on magazine article, and seldom earn
A by writing over $500 year.
N james Parson, prince of biographer
ana capital mage zinist, cannot coun
N from all sources, more than $4,000 pc
- Annum.
, George II. Boxer has a private fortune
i. Charles G. Leland depends on Ham
breitmann" and other vapidites only TO
:, lis lager and pietzcs.
4 BET Harte refers 10 the " lutcaste q
o Poker Flat aud the "Luck of Roaring
,r camp" Tor his guarantees of the future
a Edmund Clarence Stedman looks to
4 Wall street for the meeting of both ends
/. Richard Henry Sloddaid to the Depart
y mcnt of Docks Herman Melville to th'
~ Custom House Mark Twain TO his rep
n utation as a theolUgian.
~ In truth, all literary men who have
n bias in favor Of living must live by othe
l. means than pure literature. To ear
:. $1,000 year is the maximum for tn
4 btst Of ms, and this requires a wear o
NJ nerves and strain of brain that may no
Is be long endured. JuNIus,
a. May %.
n 49,
Sad Tragedy,