Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-08-09
A Publishers Gossip.
HOW DIFFERENT PEOPLE CLAIM THE SANE
LITERARY BaSTL!SGs.

HOW DIFFERENT PEOPLE CLAIM THE SANS
LITERARY BASTL!SGs.
correspondent Of the Springfield Re
publican gives the followin g 4, from the con
yorsation of "a woll-known pubishei"
1t is singular how different people will
sometimes claim the authorship Of the same
book. especially If it il a successful one
The two most striking incidents OF this in
my experience were in the case OF the two
poems Nothing to Wear" and Betsy and
are out" The first poem, il Is well known,
originally appeared IN Hdrper's Weekly |
picked up the paper containing it at
friends house soon after it was published
and was amusing myself by illustrating the
poem with pencil on the margin of tho
paper, when a lady friend looking over my
shoulder said " You ought to publish an
illustrated edition of that poem The idea
struck me tavorablv. and after thinking OF
it over night. | decided to do 20, and wrote
my friend Gus lIoppin to draw tho re-
quiste pictures ationce, Your correspon-
dent has always understood that a famous
New York belle allowed Mr.. ilopfin to
draw her face for that OF Miss Flora
MeFlimsey, and that brother of the artist
was delineated as the hero OF the poem
A. soon rs got the pictures our firm pub
lSutu u htht llttic huSliH CUNtItu tultIbH
of the book, which sold for fifty cents We
had sold few editions when Miss Peck.
clergyman's daughter from Norwich.
Ct, came into the store and claimed the
authorship, hitherto attributed to William
Allen Butler. Her story was that she had
dropped the manuscript OF the first part of
the poem in Now York omnibus, and
knew nothing of its whereabouts till she
saw her poem, much enlarged and expanded
it Uas true. but embracing all her lines, in
Harpo's Weekly. The lady's appearance
was so mach in her favor that we told her
if she could produce evidence of sufficient
literary ability We would pay her Tor her
production and compensate her for there
with for tho poem. Ere long she brought
us a good novel, and We paid her 81 900
as compensation for both works We
afterwards published second novel
for her, and the lidy was at work upon
third when her death occurred,
not long after she had made happy mar
riage. Mr. Butler never admitted tho
lady's claims to any share OF tho author
ship. and his character and high abilities
always made the matter mystery. lie
gu uhaeuuently published "Two Millions
and volume OF selected poems which We
shall probably republlsh for him hereafter.
Tho controversy a. to the authorship ci
Nothing to Wear" had much to do with
its sale, which WAS very large. The other
case Of contested authorship was also over
poem published in Harper S. although it
first saw the light in the Toledo Bidde
This WAS tho famous 'Betsey and arc
out" which IL claimed by Will Carleton, IA
young Wostern poet. whose name was at
tached to it in Harper :. and by Mrs. En-
arson. Tho poem had appeared in Hdr-
per's, when Mrs. Emerson called upon us
and asserted that the poem was hers, Vsr6d-
TIM q hterdfin that It was written
by her at her home in Maine, grew out
of actual incidents in the nie of her
Uncle Eliab and Aunt Betsey, who bOIo tho
real Christian names OF the hero AMI
heroine of the posm, and that 1t had been
repeatedly read aloud by her from her own
manuscript to neighbors and friends, at
whose request sho had made and given
away copies thereof. Her theory was that
one of these stray copies got into the hands
of Will Carleton. who sent it to the Toledo
Blade, very probably without claiming tho