New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-04-16
From Alabama,
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Ap'l II, IS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala, Ap'l II, 1874.
r, TIE E5ii,r erMc Nt,o National Era:
DEAR: Please excuse the liberty which l,
ali humble stranger, unknown to fame, and
unaccustomed to this kind of business, now
take in addressing you. To be candid,..
Write against my will. But it is my only
alternative. For one long year restless,
craving, ncvcr-ceasing anxiety to be 4 writer
to your paper has had possession Of me.
Time after time l tried to satisfy this exact
ing desire by attempting to compose able
| essays to send to the ERA, and just so many
times have my efforts proved humiliating
| failures. After so many futile efforts, seems
it strange to you that l should, tonight, sit
down to trace the history of my experience.
date all of my trouble back to the I'M
timely remark of an indiscrect friend. "IfI
were you,' said he, 81 would write to the
| New NATIONAL ERA" Grand conception
Pregnant with visions of renOwn! My mind
seized it. From that moment it was the sun
of my life. 1t rose in splcndor. l was at
once successful writer, and in the world of
letters sat side by side with Poor Richard,
Peter Farley, Artemus Ward, and the host
of distinguished writers, dead and living. The
| world stood waiting with eager expectancy
for the jewels that fell from my pen. There
was nothing now wanting to complete my
| greatness but n more novel and graceful title
than the one by which common mortals
| called me. In the absence of any to suit me
| l coined one. l will not write what it was,
suffice it to say that, With my subsequent ex-
pcricnce, would as soon name my first born
Hard Timcs-I'vc seen several chubby little
fellows with that hungry namc-as to sign it
to this letter. Thus did fancy, scorning to
climb the steps to success-labor, patience,
perseverance. and hOpc-soar above them,
and light unwcaried into the hallowcd land.
This was the morning of my experience.
Long ere the hour of midday, however, the
clouds Of despair and impatcncc rose and OBJ.
scurcd the heaven of my fancy, and soon the
rain of doubt descended to dampcn the arlol
of my spirits. With the material pen, ink
and paper before me my thoughts became
unmanageable and flew off in every direction
Gems of thought, worthy of Plato, with all
my persuasion, would not consent to 90 on
paper. Witticisms that Mark Twain would
have envied, and political deductions that q
can't help thinking) would have been of ben
eft to our lawmakers at Washington, al
scampered of. Sometimes l would sit fol
hours, chewing the end of my pcn-holder
trying in vain to tame my frightened thoughts
Not having written anything but the date
ard, perhaps few lines, l would commits
that TO the flames, Nobody must know m,
! vanity.
So begun and ended all of my efforts saw
the one made yesterday. AS fate woul'
have it, the Disposer of events had gener
ously scattered here and there, during tn
interval of month, few Of his much-ad
mired rubies-of which, let me say, he i
very sparing in these parts-and had some
thing to write about. soon wrote you :
descriptive letter, which I carried to tn
| post office and mailed. The sound it mad
when it fell into the lcttcr-box aroused m
to a consciousness of what l had done.
Q turned and walked sorrowfully away. 1t wa
g, like parting with near and dear fricn
about to take perilous sea voyage. TIL
unwelcomed thoughts that rushed througl
my brains about that poor letter and it
!. poorer author were torturing. Misspele'
s words, ungrammatical sentences, bad style
s worse taste, all were remembered. Suppos
!, you should ridicule it in your paper? TIL
: idea was enough. 1 rctraced my steps to tn
:. Office. "Mr. Postmaster" said I, with n
little degree of humblcness, "Mr. Postma
s ter, will you please be so kind as to let m
: have (only one minute) the letter 1 maile
c just now to the New NATIONAL ERA.
= With some hcsitancy he got it and handle
0 it to me. 1 took it. A great burden W;
: lifted from my shoulders. have that lett