The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1879-01-23
TIFFIN. OHIO, THURSDAY :
From = New York Letter.
MAGAZINE EDITING.
Curious Stories Told At a LotEl-Club
Banquet.

j Curious Stories Told at a LotEs.Clul
I. Banquet.
, was a. Lotus-Club dinner recent
: ly, and a pretty well known journalist
5 being called upon Tor "a speech.
I speech" after the UVrJariOUs habit o.
, tha' intellectual circle, rose and told ,
= stu IT might be called said he
p vi q sly look at the head Of the Ia
r 81, here sat. III Presidential majesty
[ aI her corpulent. slightly bald, mid
: de II man. ii might be called How
) 60 into q magazine. Then hi
/ cii..---1I tu The other foot. blusheC
Slig.Iiy. leaned on his fork, and said:
Il had an article once which
, tho -ht wOuld make six pages in .
/ ma Zine-if il got i rhance. CUE
, clUu Il 10 give the atlantic UOathts
, the 1-lrfit Of il. because that was su
peru creation Of the human intellect
. and uIght 10 he encouraged. Smiles
p and rstps on the table, / sent il Il
= thai periodical. saving thai il MS my
maiden effort. and asking the editor Il
. send NE the 500 by drafi Ur money
? order. In three weeks il came back,
10 my after amaZement, with tile
> printed notice that il Was excellent
but not exactly adapted, etc. ! saw
that The editor 0f the Atlantic was Z
fool. lCheers around the table aud
satirical approval ] sent it 10 anOth-
ct Well-knOwn magazine, Offering II FOR
so. II came back in two months, just
as | was looking fol il TO appear. The
magazine. too. was evidently failure
/ then sent il price SlJj to firSt-clasS
weekly, that printed just such things
as nv sketch. Mary Wanley's Guide,
but not half rs well written. LCheers
and encouraging remarks. Again II
was sent back [Laughter.l 1 could
not believe that our periodical litera-
ture was decaying so fast. | offered II
TO another journalist for nothing. tell
ing him that ] was beginner, that
this was the first effort of the sort !
had ever offered to anybody, and /
watched his face as he examined il
suspiciOusly, and finally returned It 10
me, saving that the style was faulty A;
the idea was good, though it might
have been used heretofore; but with
study and careful practice ] would
make. perhaps in time. etc. Laugh
ter.
Il was mri. gentlemen" said the
speaker, amid the rOaTS Of the com
pany, and. leaning on the chair with
his other hand, he went on: some
thing heroic must be done, Two years
had passed. II was now 1871. | re-
solved 10 storm the citadel. bOr-
rOwed my brothers sealskin OvercOat
so as Ia look aS imposing as possible,
and struck for an illustrated magazine
/ | had not tried; one of the finest works
of art in tie world. The dOOrkeeper
stood brishly aside a. | went in and
asked for the editor, whose name | did
not then know. | was speedily uSh-
cred into the presence Of a young man
/ who asked me TO be seated, and in
J quirad nv business. TO see the edi-
( tor He would examine nv manu-
script Very WELL | said, still stand
/ ing 4 must have al answer in fifteen
minutes, as | leave on the next train
for Boston, lie parleye1, but | was
severe and tacitum and reached for
the manuscript which he had taken.
( i Will see Mr.. --, said he naming
the editor himself. The latter appear
/ ed. We will send this To yOu by
: mail SAID he. If it is not used i can
! leave it with YOU only fifteen minutes
[ replied | looked surprised, and
| glanced at the title. You can surely
leave il one night he cXpOStulated.
| NO. | reiOined, reSOlutely, i have
other uses for it. In that suppose he
scented the opposition house, for he
| took off his OvercOat (he was just going
home), and said: i will look it over
now. ICheers around the table.
"He was 4 iine-loOking man as he
sat there in the dying twilight-lCries
of 'Ohr .Ahrl a rather corpulent,
slightly y-bald, middle-aged man (at this
the company turned toward the pre-
siding officer, who was rs red as a
boiled lobster. and then they rOared
with glee), and he looked up in about
ten minutes and said: 'lwlll take this
-; Mr.. Oliver, please make out a
chech for $50 What ? asked, tS5Oy'
my Dri~o is Sl2J.' All" said he, pass
iHg Dee manuscript to me, 1t is more
than -r ever pay anybody, except IA
nous writers I delivered 4 stately
bow, took the roll of Ssaer, ana turned
out Of the door. 'WenF said he, call
ing 10 me, Wen take il at SI2j-and
Nj. Oliver made out my check. lCheers
and rOars of laughter. The man at the
head of the table had turned 4 sort of
indigo blue
The worst of il is, or the best of il"
said the narrator, that | had not seen
or heard of that sketch during all these
seven years,
The Lotus Club Hall rang with
cheers and laughter, for his manner of
telling the story was indescribably
droll, and then all parties turned to-
ward the presiding officer who was
recognized as the hero Of the narrative.
He rose slowly TO his feet; the blue
went out of his face, and even the
scarlet turned to the rosy flush which
is habitual to it, and he smiled cheer
fully by the time the cheers and guf-
flaws which greeted him had died
away.
The fact is, he began, deprecating-
ly, and there was another great roar of
laughter; YES; | well remember the
circumstances. | accepted the sketch
to keep its writer from inflicting it on
some weaker magazine. Loud laugh
ter. Our house IS rich. | can stand
in the breach. If it were not for the
work we do III buying articles capable /.
of injury, the mortality among maga- !
zines would be incalculable. Laugh /
ter and cheers. Yes, gentlemen, |
when person with a fighty temper2- |
ment comes i'll laughter we exert |
every nerve to get possession of his |
manuscript 10 prevent the desolatiUn /.
that might otherwise ensue. GCheers
and jingling of glasses, Such an arti- |
Gle might fall into the hands of men
who would inadvertently print il.
tCheers and cries of Hear, hearr"1
We lock up in 4 strong safe
The company led by the Journalist,
who hlushed again at his awkward po
sitiOn, then drank to the sagGciOus ma
gaZine, while the editor went on Sc
riously TO say that he had eight i'm
mense fire-prOOf safes full of stories
and other manuscript that had been
bought and paid for, some Of the mat
ter extending back many years. "lf
nobody should write a word for the
body of our magazine for the next ten
years" he said, ''it would appear regu-
larly every month, and | doubt if its
quality would be at all impaired"
Then Junius Henri Browne told
amusing stories of his magazine eXpe-
rience, and alleged that the Harpers
still had unpublished stories of his paid
for eight years ago.
Familiarity of Cattle With Children.