The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-11-18

being equally favorable to domestic hap
piness. Another thing that detracte
from the sociability Of literary husband
in his habit of relapsing the ideas that
refuse to be invoked in the study begin
to flow in the drawing-room or dining
room, and literary husband when his
ideas are ION the fiow' 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 th.st
are nuisance in a house. A naughty
boy is one, NANCY dog is another, a
third is an early student OF the violin;
but, of all domestic nuisances, a man
who is writing book is. to our mind,
the worst. If he is writing it as mat
ter of business, be is an unmitigated
BORE He thinks of nothing else. What
is 1t 20 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 a 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 hissown
amusement, but expects those about hun
to make it theirs also. His book, its
present and future contents, must form
the leading topic of converse
ton in the family, if he is
to be kept in good humor. As every
half-dozen pages of crarnped, 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 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 stilted and
illegible scrawls, or they even go so far
as to sit in arm-chairs smoking cigars
while their wives write at their dictation.
One of the most trying periods to
wives of literary husbands is that during
which the bundles of manuscript are
travelling about from publisher to pub
Usher. The husband can scarcely sleep
at night, 80 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 ver-
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
eel arrives, containing the precious man.
uscript safe and sound, and also 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.
~. lint I1o I,s1x~1 v,fs
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 s'real
print" this proceeding being rendered
more attractive by the authors constant
ly stopping the reader by swat a mo-
ment; if you will give me the proof, 1
think I will altar word there There
are also frequent pauses to ask the audi
ence whether there are not s'too many
Witches in that sentence" or whether
there ought to be "a comma or
q 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. lie alternately wonders
when it will: appear and whether he 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 w;fe's cares and troubles
then become very similar to those of
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 a month, he becomes Infatuated
with his publisher, who cannot, he says,
be taking the slightest trouble about his
book. He viii also be much irritated if
he does not receive prompt and very