The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-10

| 4uCubl1 was OuG vi ullC OIuludIN OllltE
of things, apart from the information it
conveyed, and was joyously hailed from
all sides.
''Have you it with your" asked Nc
Lean; and the bulky manuscript was
silently produced
''Writes a good hand" commented
Harry Swift, approvingly, as he con-
templated the firm, bold pen strokes.
"Who is going to read it to us?"
"Why you, of course" answered De
Whit. 1.-THE only question is, when
will you beginP"
Better begin as soon as possible l
should think, and get it over with, put
in Bruce with a widey awn and unearth-
ly stretch, as if bored in anticipation.
"You fellows come back after your din
ners, and we will finish it at one sitting
if the sitting lasts all night. Luckily
there is nobody around to be disturbed
by our orgie."
Accordingly, in two hours time they
were all back in the comfortable office,
lounging around in various attitudes,
suggestive of ease and comfort, smoking
industriously, and listening in I'M
broken silence to Harry Swift's musical,
WClI-lIOQulilOu FOICG. vi duIl Ou anu
on went the smooth tones-hour after
hour and hour after hour-until
one watching him would have Won
4 dered if his throat didn't ache, and his
voice buzz in his own ears. He suffered
no apparent inconvenience, however,
and as he laid the last leaf of the manu-
script down, when the hours in the
morning had gotten beyond being ''wee
aud sma'," he looked inquiringly at his
silent auditors.
There was an Ominous pause. There
was no denying the fact that the novel
was disappointment. The characters
were mostly overdrawn underdrawn;
the plot weak; the style, pleasant at
first grew strained and monotonous
toward the last the result of the whole,
mediocre to a degree. There would
: occur at times, however, flash of
bright thought brightly expressed; a
] CLEAN of quaint wisdom beyond the
: writer's age and experience; an under
lying pathos and power to some simple
passage that caused the tears to spring
/ unbidden to the hearers eyes; and
[ these, few and far between though they
; were, lifted it from the abyss of abso-
{ lutte worthlessness.
, at is about what / expected" said
Bruce at last. There's not woman
on earth, nor ever has been, who can
write novel fit to readn'
| "How about George Eliot and Fred
| erica Bremen, and two or three Others
of their ilk?n inquired Mclean.
''The first affected masculinity with
, out possessing it, and the second wrote
simple little home stories that any one
could scribble;" sweepingly asserted
t Bruce, too irritated to be either just OF
reasonable.
81 don't think it so very bad I am
sure" said De Whit, who always de,
terminedly looked on the bright side OF
: things. II have read some novels that
were worse"
7 Damned with faint praise" ironi
cally quoted Bruce. They were
? probably written by people who
had made name for themselves first
by some lucky hit, and so could afford
: to be weak and trashy"
sit is weak, certainly admitted DR..
} Dunscombe, considerably crestfallen,
''but [ think you are hasty in calling il
l trashy. There are passages in it which
would be no disgrace to Marian Evans
] herself"
''But they are the exceptions, while
the weakness and freshness are the
: rule; you can't get over that fact
! Apparently DR.. Dunscombe saw the
impossibility, for he relapsed into
silence
e "Well, what are we to do with it?''
e asked Swift, carefully squaring the pile
S. of manuscript as it lay before him with
gentle touches of his hands at the OPP
r posite sides.
t "Why not send it to some publisher
: anyway" suggested the optimist. ave
have expected so much that we are not
: fair judges, probably, and may be un
t reasonably disappointed. 1t can do nc
a harm to find out what other people
Y think of it."
t As nobody made any objection, ex
e cept Bruce, who objected to everything
e on principle, the suggestion was carried
1 out, and the manuscript lay on the
table all ready for the express office
inclosed in a sealed wrapper, and adj
t dressed to leading firm of publishers
n before the friends went out into the din
> morning light, and separated, in some
n what detected spirits, for their severa
homes.
S In fortnight the manuscript hat
it come back, with courteous little note
Returned with thanks" etc, etc.
k "Send it again to some one else,
it advised the undaunted De Whit, anC
d again it was put in fresh wrapper
It and started off on its travels.
o In the meantime Donald Bruce wa
if working secretly and on his own re
sponsbility. With great deal of pa
tient industry and intricate wire-pullins
|, he finally succeeded in obtaining TO
q Miss Stratton a permanent and fairl'
i lucrative position as contributor to ;
l. lively little weekly periodical, devotin2
Y itself entirely to fiction, and fiction il
o an abridged form, its immaculate page
l. presenting themselves virtuously FIRE,
IS from those serial stories which tend t
ii rouse the hidden Adam in poor, veal
human nature by invariably stopping
is at the most thrilling and critical poin
Is in the narrative. Not a word of this
h however, came to the ears of his fel
n low-conspirators and in wretched ig
" norance that there was no need TO
a present anxiety, they worried them
?, selves considerably over Miss StrattoI
ii and Miss STATIONS financial affairs.
Ill. 4,