The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-04-29

culablc.
The Trials of Literary Man.
When n man Is young. ardent. and sam
guinc, he often longs for the day when he
shall sec his name enrolled in the list Of the
famous. and shall enjoy the tribute Of the
praise Of the world. These youthful a-pira-
tions may provoke smile from age, hut
ambition in a hoy Is a good thing, furnish
ing him with needed stimulus for the battle
Of Ike. Without it society would -tagnatc.
and nothing great would bc donc Yet after
all. the true pleasure Is in doing the work,
not in getting praise for it and those who
accomplish the most are usually 80 much
engaged in their tasks that they give little
thought 10 what other people are say
Ing about them. II it wore otherwise, the
chances are that they never would be
famous. and never win the substantial prizes
Of fortune. There Is no poorer and more
proNtlcss occupation, We assure young
people, than thinking about yourself, and
hemoauing your lack Of success and scanty
opportunities. That Is not the path to
wealth. happiness, or fame. And fame Is
never certain To- bring peace Of mind, while
Il inevitably Imposes responsibilities oil the
Io~-'--or ~ II.
These thought, occur to u IN reading a
letter viItt.n hy Mr.. BAYAED TAYLOR to
Nh. MtRAr HAL-rEAp. the sturdy editor of
the Cincinnati ComU,,r,dl, and the fellow
tuwu-man OF Tia" famous Deacon RICH
ARD SMITH. whose praises are in every
ones mouth. The purpose Of Mr.. TAY-
LoR's cplstlc is to throw up his en-
gngcmcnt a. Nev York correspondent of
Mr.. HAL~rEAD's Journal, and the reason
given for that action j, the writer's over
Whcimiug literary cares, and tie hJrl,us
the public puts ou him tocau-" of Ai- roputa-
ton as a poet lecturer, and traveller Mr..
TALuN'- letters ou sht not II themselves to
have overhurdcucl him, for they never gave
cyi'-u-. Of llyiuG cost him any intel
lcctunI effort. Tc--1e-- that Sort II work
j. among the easiest literary man. dcit in
his art, can undertake; for the metropolis
furnishes abundant themes TO write about,
and there l. no necessity Of thinking very
'ccply over what you lay. Yet Mr. TAYLOR
found the task irk-ome, and asked To- Ice re-
loved from it, though We dare say 1t was
fairly rcmmerati,r, since Nj HALsrEAp is
no stingy paymas'cr
Mr.. TAYLOR thus describes his trials
Bat, seriously nov. my dear friend have you an,
.n., y 'lf 'S rH ' NJ" a9t pm mean a"' ia t,a
iaref Have wa scr egn,il.r, how many 'li ieins
,H-',f n ni hs. 10 ,n.5 4i.n >,n "irc 'ni j. ,n'
statement r,peao0' ~ 'anrl, nsw,palsi, wr anan
tli, country, AZ lhls une.
! Undoubtedly il i true that a man may do
good literary work and fail 90 get -ub-tan-
tial reward for IT, since II may hcof Il sort
for which there is no wide popular demand;
and in literature a. elsewhere, the law of
supply and demand Is sure to prevail. The
writer must then get his satisfaction from
doing the work, and from the knowledge
that he is contributing something valuable
To the world, though the world may not be-
disposed to pay him high price Tor it. We
do not, however, agree with Mr. TAILOR
when he says that in this country and at
this time good literary work Is not ap-
prociatcd or rewarded. II is tru" that the
times are very hard, and TINT some books
do not sell as we'll a. they might in moro
prosperous days; hut, compared with other
business, We fancy that that of the publisher
and consequently Of the author has been
inuch favored Within year large NUM-
Ter of costly and important works have been
put ON the market, and they seem 10 have
had an adequate sale II would be- easy t,
make long list of new books in the higher
departments II literature which haS,
by no means gone without purchasers
The year has really been remarkable fol
such publications. and that they are IN de
mand shows that the literary taste of the
people is sound and good, and their critica
Judgment intelligent and accurate. Their
never was period in the history of the
country when there were ~omany cultivated
and discriminating readers ~ there arr
NOW, and never a time whcna really good Iii
craIy product was So sure of recognition an'
appreciation. II Is not possible nowaday
for the merit Of an author TO escape dis
covory, and never before was the crltica
acumeA of the press 50 sure. There ar
growing up among IL a body Of men witt
admirably trained iutcllects who are thor
oughly fitted for the business of litcrnr
criticism, and who are outside OF litolar
, cliqucs, and are honest and panstaking i
their work. They have open minds an
kccn eyes for whatever is worthy of prais
, in literature, and they are not afraid 10 cN
, press their opinions. They are doing goo
( service in detecting and exposing the fraud
a among authors, and in ridiculins the prefer
+ tious work Of weak or unoducated writer
70 who write more words than srn,r.
q Mr.. TAYLOR says that the hi'l rs
nu4a.t and tt,t-t u.ttI...tt .IIt al lf.ll.