The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-10-25
ralunrnAnr cxarrns.

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 loso, Edgar Me.ssoassy. n \. '. wsrlA.l
 sThcse verv insereseing volumes, !" Lie aud Lessezs of Bsyzrd Tsylce.s iusk publisked hy Hongkton. Miflis & Co, reviewed recently in the Wewlf give striking exhibition of an sushcrs struggle fcr the mighty dollar. They should be read carefully by every young person vhc nourishcs the ruseaae cnnvic- liou that the existence of literary man must be ideal. Ca the contrary t ts painfully real. An author with a sub stsnsial income is an imposing spectacle.
 h has been pFrsended that writers in literature asd journalism are well paid nowadays As . matter of tact. the amount of toii they expend tor tolerabsy modest reward is excessive. Moreover, . few lucky writers are citen scs forward to represent . whole class. The class has DO money 10 waste, depend upon t.
 Bayard Taylor was, every oue will admit who hno~s what the business cf writing Tor living means, . lucky man. Durirg his maturity and until his death, fx time was ksnd 10 him, he had an inn mense capacity fx work, in the 6rN place in the second place, he had all the work he desired to.do. Too many writers are in this pexplexing situation they have capacity and lack opportunity. Tay- :or's brilliant versatility and his training as journalist helped hisn in his great tasks. He was rot the scrt of man to ucderrase journalism. The newspaper $ an admirable strait jacket tor exubes- ant authors. II, as have heard, its machinery crushcs the soul of a poet or thinker. that IS because certain souls are .baosmslly fragile. Journalism did not destroy Bsyard Taylor. It added strength to his copious na'ursi energy. His talent vas sffiuent in various dircStions-i in poetry, tctiou. criticism, descriptive writ ing and correspondence. He was for several years of his hfr famous, popular, in demand. On the whsle. therefore. it is not wrong to describe Taylor as one of the lucky men in journalism and ,esatur
 Yet the reader of these volumes is re- minded constantly by Taylor himself that poverty and genius are sad couple and that half empty purse was ms fortune that he could not accustom him self to. He vas willing to do much for glory. He wrote in 1855 to James T. Fields: "Thanks for your prompt kind ness in sending me more than asked for. have read traditions of poets re- ceiving money for their works, but | never credited them before. am still fearful lest the check may be an illusion, and have opened your note twice to sec that l, has not evaporated." In iSs6 he commanded a eood income. "I have just had my semi-annual report from Putnam. My profit on the books amounts to Ss7,4: not bad. is it. This assures me the SiS GOO which shall need to start with in July. My income from my months amounts to $ 400 quite little fortune" In 1870 he wri.es to his mother: "Few men of my age have gone through so much or done harder work, and it IS time that this continual wear and tear must come to an end" Somewhat later he writes from Cedar croft. "I thought that possibly my cir cumstapces would enable me to spend half the year in New York. and the other half here. But there is no hope Of that can only go to New York for two or three months by doing extra work enough 50 pay for the stay there. In order 10 live without overwork, 1 must decide either to live here altogether or there altogether" In i87, he writes 10 John E. Phillips: H' Liars IS the first poem of mine ever published in England. and hoped for some impartial recogni- ton there. We'll, the sale is ,ast ioS copies! My translation oi Faust is al last accepted in England, Germany aud America as much the lest. It cos, me years of the seseres, labor and has not yet returned me s5oo The 'Masque of the Gods has not paid expenses. The sale of my former volumes of travel has fallen almost to nosiing, as is natural, for they were doomed from the first to a transient existence For two years pas, l have had no incoms of any sort from property or oopyrighss, and am living partly upon my capital and partly upon mechanical labor Of the mind. Within a year have written I.izrs,' compiled a volume on Central Asia for Scribner's, :, done the Vienna exposition for the 7,iJEs<, written complete school his- tory of Germany (working on ii ten hours a day for months) and have returned from six weeks of Goethe studies and re- searches in WeimAF. l am vesy weary, indeed, completely tagged out" Again, just before-his appointment as minister to Germany, he writes to friend: @rhe fact is that during the past three years have done fully as much zs ir any pre- vious six or eight years of my life. have had no single day, no hour. could nghnully call my own; and some of my severest duties were just those which gave me honor, but nothing else. My former income is wholly suspended in these disastrous times; practically am penniless and must earn every dollar 1 spend"
 The youthful and ambitious aspirant for the rscompenses of authorship may take warning by this record The sacri- hoes of authorship would be, perhaps. a more cogen. expression.