The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-10-28

to flow in the drawing-room or dining
room, and literary husband when his
ideas are ION the flow" is an object
sacred from disturbance. When in that
celestial condition he is doubtless worthy
of great reverence, but he can scarcely
be called an amusing member OF society.
There are many living creatures that
are nuisance in house. A naughty
boy is one, NANCY dog is another,
third is an early student of the violin;
but, of all domestic nuisances, man
who is writing q book is, to our mind,
the worst. If he is writing it as a mat
ter of business, he is an unmitigated
bore. He thinks of nothing else. What
is it to him that the country is involved
in war, that the Ministry have been
beaten, or that his drains are out of or
der, unless these facts have at least an
indirect bearing on his work? He spends
most of his time closeted in his study.
and if he goes out he has notebook at
hand to receive his ideas. If he reads
at all, he confines himself to books bear
ing on the subject that he is treating in
his great work. He is absent and pre-
occupied in the presence of his wife. and
he enlivens her nights by talking in his
sleep on the subject of his book. If he
is writing it for pleasure rather than for
business, he is an even greater nuisance,
for then he not only makes it his own
amusement, but expects those about him
to make it theirs also. His book, its
present and future contents, must form
the leading topic OF cOnversa-
ton in the family, if he is
to be kept in good humor. AS every
half-dozen pages of cramped, blotted,
and much-cOrrected manuscript is fin
ished, it is submitted to the various mem
bers of the family for perusal. Their
verdict must, of course, always be IA
vorable. How good! How clever! How
amusing! 1t is easy enough to praise,
and during a long life wife may de-
clare that each new specimen OF her
husbands scribbling is the best; but
literary husbands have sometimes an
unfortunate habit of asking their wives
to make suggestions. In such cases,
the wife is put into this awkward posi-
ton, that if she makes suggestions she
is pretty certain to be severely snubbed,
while, if she makes none, she will be
accused of taking no interest in the all
important work. Worst of all, some
literary husbands expect their wives to
write out fair copies of their stited and
illegible scrawls, or they even 90 so far
as to sit in arm-chairs smoking cigars
while their wives write at their dictation.
One o. the most trying periods to
wives of literary husbands is that during
oh Ill IS ,itNf no
travelling about from publisher to pub
Usher The husband can scarcely sleep
at night, so anxious is he about the con-
tents of the mornings post-bag. Of
course many days or even weeks elapse
before the first publisher gives his YER
dict. At last polite note describing
his regret at being unable to undertake
the publication renders the unhappy
writer savage in his family for fort
night. Or perhaps brown-paper par
Gel arrives, containing the precious man.
uscript safe and sound, and also a slip
of paper, inscribed with the magic words
'Declined with thanks" after the re-
ceipt of which the disappointed aspirant
will be quite unapproachable for some
hours. and will be uncomfortable for many
weeks. When the well-traveled manu-
script has been at last accepted, the
writer falls into state of ecstasy for a
time; but he assumes a bumptiousness
that is not altogether agreeable to near
relations. When the proofs arrive, the
horrors seem to begin all over again.
The husband shuts himself up for hours
at time, as of old, and everything has
to give way to the great undertaking.
The entertainment of the evenings is to
have the book read aloud from real
print" this proceeding being rendered
more attractive by the authors constant
ly stopping the reader by "Wat mo-
ment; if you will give me the proof, |
think | will altar a word there" There
are also frequent pauses to ask the audi
ence whether there are not "too many
witches in that sentence" or whether
there ought to be ga comma or
semicolon after the word reliable >"
and the reader is often requested to be-
gin again from the top of the page.
The apparently interminable interval
between the return of the corrected
proofs and the publication of the book
has no tendency to make the author
light-hearted. He alternately wonders
when it will appear and whether be was
wise in writing it at all. He has almost
reduced himself to forgetfulness of the
whole matter when the book actually APP
pears. His wife's cares and troubles
then become very similar to those of a
nurse who has charge of ian invalid
gentleman. He is put into fever by
the absence of any reviews of his work
in the first week after publication; and
when no criticisms of it appear in the
principal journals for a fortnight, or
perhaps month, he becomes Infatuated
with his publisher, who cannot, he says,
be taking the slightest trouble about his
book He will also be much irritated if
he does not receive prompt and very
favorable criticisms from the friends to
whom he has presented copies. He will
not be able to understand why they have
not thrown all other engagements and
occupations on one side and spent their
time in greedily reading his book until
it was finished. He will be secretly
angry again if any of his friends who
profess to have read it with pleasure are
found by no means to know it by heart
when put through a UiUd-voce examina-
ton. 1t may be readily imagined that
under these conditions the author is
scarcely the most amiable and light
hearted of men in his own family circle
Saturday RevieW.