, 1879-01-05

--,,1;cstion of the work In these fl
'oo ra.rs he found that, living in the most
fea on.;ca1 manner possible, and cutting
~ The expenses Of his books to the
CON- 49, amount, he fad lost $4,000. The
sl!,aA s!aa t,,rned finally; but it was not until
.u1 ."N, txeuty.four years after be be-
-.,-thst -.' the sale Ct his oooks
eand et,ad him to make good his losses.
ena' en s.,es are pow beginning to be remu-
lus i've and, owning oil his copyrights, it
:. -.ohabIe that he may reap fair pecun1ary
,!Fand from these works. With his series
- .t' charts and tables called "Descriptive
eo,;oIocy 1" his experience was even less for
..,no,e These charts he began compiling
sara sa tn years ago, and published them in
,s-as su folio parts. They aimed to represent
s,.<.;6ed form the civilizations of yarious
-. ..;atias md are Of the highest value to stu
s.~.s If social science. He WIS obliged to
snn1ov assistance in their compilation, and
r. rad of ten years found that he had ex-
..dad .. mon them about $4,000, while the
fs1es bad brought linn a little more than
- - 400, The printing expenses Of one OF
.hs<e na,ts-the most popular one, dealing
18th English civilization-he expects to get
ta,t from tho sales by 1880; the printing
s~nenses Of the other parts he does not ex-
ssrt to regain for q much longer time. The
.,onav mid for the work Of compilation he
hones to recover if he should live to be over
m vesrs old. ANY profit to himself for this
rrsponsible and laborious undertaking he
1ea1es entirely out Of the range Of proba-
biiy.
snch is the experience Of one Of the most
,,n;rent of living authors. In respect to the
;naaeouscy Of the returns for the labor in
..o,rsd II is substantially that Of some of
~. nost eminent writer's who have ever
1;vpd Is It IN experience to be coveted by
thosa less strong in intellect, less resolute IN
nnrpose, less persistent and heroic in self
asuil? There are few things more il]usory
thxn authorship. Many would-be writer's
fnncy that all they have to do is to prepare
The manuscript for book, and eager pub
fishers stand ready to publish and an eager
world to buy. There is something almost
nathetic in the quantity Of manuscripts re-
ca7ed by any frst~class publishing-house,
each representing, perhaps, years Of toll and
honas that are doomed to disappointment. Not
one in twenty Of those that are offered can be
nnblished at all; and Of those that are pub
1ished scarcely one in dozen is real sue
csss. But the inexperienced author is always
saueuine. He is sure that ten or twenty
thousand copies of his book will bo sold. The
nnblisher, who knows that sale Of 5000 is
rare success, and made sadly. wise
hr the recollection that his store
rooms arc full of unsold and unsala-
bic books, smiles politely, but declines to
odyauce the thousand dollars or 50 necessary
to test the reasonableness Of the authors e1-
pectations and when, perhaps, the book is
published On money furnished by the author,
it is the publisher who Is usually blamed for
the disnal failure TINT ensues. Flashy and
meretricious books may have an ephemernl
success in purely financial sense, but it is
not Of that class Of literature that We now
speak.
Judging. by experience through all the
1ange of literature, va might almost say
that authors are slow in winning recognition
in proportion as their merits arc real and in
tr;nsic Il is true there ara occasional IL
stances Of apparently legitimate success in
literature suddenly attained, but these are at
best only exceptional, and may be deceptive
and illusory. A long and arduous proc
ess seems to be the law. And, in
any eyent, any great financial success
should be least Of all expected Even those
few writer's who have become illustrious
through lifetime Of devotion to literary
pursuits find their pecuniary rewards late and
meagre as compared with what their abilities
would have earned for them in other fields
Of activity. We do not wish to discourage
any one having an honorable and worthy
ambition in literature. What we would urge
upon such is, that they should rid themselves
Of Illusions, and, looking at the experience
Of greater and worthier writer's than they,
prepare themselves, if they are resolved to
attempt to gain literary fame, Ito accept,
If necessary, life Of struggle and self
denial, and perhaps sacrifice and pain They
must be content to work with persistence as
well IS patience, not looking for immediate
results, but, sure Of their vocation, and dnd-
ing IN their work itself much of its reward,
They must be content to "1abor and to soait "
DEATH BY ELEVATORS,
Among the modern improvements for the
convenience Of mankind, the elevator seems
to be disciple of Nautilus in the service it
renders in the limiting of population. 4