The weekly Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1872-1887, 1875-05-01
Habits Of Authors.

When Dickens laid out for himself A
system of literary work and forced him.
self into rigid adherence to it, spending
Just so many hours daily at his desk,
whether in the mood or not, and whether
accomplishing anything or not plodding
away at composition in rs mattcr-of- fnct
n manner MS laborer would shovel of an
cmbankmcnt-hes set an excellent example
for all writers, but one which majority
OF them would find it impossible TO inf.
tate. No greater diversity, no shnrpar
contrast can be found than in the modes
of composition, the requirements as sur
roundings, state of feeling, and necessary
conditions Of freedom in working of DIFF
fcrcnt authors, rs shown by their. own
statements or. those of their biographies
and personal friGS1ls :. - ~,
Walter Scott felt no special need of re-
considering or revising what ho had
written; but having dashed off novel or
pocm-hc sent off one after another in
rapid succession such rs had not been
heard of before his day. Where would
the Wnvcrly novels have been, and should
We ever have had tho long list if he had
been subjected to the test which Alcott, in
his Concord Days" lays down in his
"codc Of compositionr"-to wit: 'sBurn
every scrap that stands not the test of all
moods of composition; such lack lon
gcrity. What is left gains immensely.
Such is the law. Very little of what is
thought admirable at the writing holds
good over night. Sleep on your writings;
take walk over it; review it of an after
noon; digest it after meal; let it sleep
i'll your drawer n twclvcmonth.p Igy
The impulsive habit belongs to some
writer's whom We should least suspect of
it. IF there hns been one woman writer
i'll America who was prc-cmincnt for
strong masculine understanding, critical
insight, GOODNESS and impartiality in her
Judgments, and the power to put her own
personality aside, it was Margaret Fuller;
yet, of her, when especially employed as
critic on the New York Tribune, Mr..
Greedy complained that she could only
write "when in the vcin," and although
new books demanded her attention, and
the utmost promptncss was desirable, sho
waited day after day to feel in the right
mood for writing, and her criticisms wore
consequently sometimes too late. Sllo
did, in fact, distrust herself in writing;
her pen was "non-conductor," she said;
she was subject to pain, and affected by
the most subtitle Influences; sometimes
wrote in bed, and believed TINT she
could understand anything better when
she WAS ILL" Her Summer on the Lakcs'
scents to have been written under moro
tranquiIizing circumstances, and after n
more orderly way thnn was usual with
her. "Evcry day." she says, ~ rose and
attended to tho many little calls which
are always on me. Then, about
eleven, / would sit down to write ut my
window, close 10 which is the apple tree
lately full of blossoms and now of yell
low birds. Opposite me was Dol Sarto'S
MADONNA behind me 'Sinenus holding
in his nrms tho infant PAM felt very
content with my pen, my dniIy 6oquOt
and my yellow birds. About fivc would
go out and work till dark"
Another woman of the highest distinc-
ton in science, Mrs. Somerville, gives
us, in That modest straightforward way
which makes her narrative so charming,
an account of her habit of writing Ab-
struse Rs were her subjects, shc did not
find it necessary TO sccludc herself. Sho
had n singular power Of abstraction,
which made her "indepcndent of outward
circumstances" She rose carly, she says,
and made the nccdful arrangements for
her family, then wrote, subject to inter
ruption of visitors, who had "comc to
spend few hours" with her. '"Iowevcr
I learned by habit to leave q subject and
resume it again ut once, like putting
mark into book might have been read
ing" In another place shc says: "I
had, and still have, determined pcrsevcr-
ancc, but / soon found that it was in
vain to occupy my mind beyond n Ger
tain time. grew tired, and did moro
harm than good; 80, if met with DIFF
llcult point, l left 1t, took my
work or some amusing book, and re-
sumcd it when my mind wns fresh." shc
took for this reaction poetry, and after.
ward noYcls.-9Ho Aidine for Aprh.