, 1885-05-03
Spring POETS
THE MOST CONSCIENTIOUS ANu SEN
slTlvE OF NEWSPAPER WRITERS.
The Volunteer Contribution OF versea to
the Daily Papers-A sensibis and
Worthy Class Who Omen
Turn Out Well.


The stalest and most Improbable. OF jokes
are tho5e about spring poets" The remark
was the more surprising rs it came from a
man WHO has grown gray in that depart
ment III Newspaper work that wears most
heavily on enthusiasm and sentiment
Z .ere wers half dozen Of these old stagers
Who had dri.ted without method to one
lunch table. Finding that the others were
not altogether unsy mpathetic he continued;
Twenty years ago, or more, the standard
joke we're about the mother in-law, the rs-
liable c~ontraband, aud the spring poet
They were all worn t~hreadbare in less than
a year, but they ore occasionally put on duty
now by fellows who don't seem to realize
they are trotting out bare skeletons for the
eiiheation Of the public.
~1he most conscientious. the NEST sensi-
tive contributors of verses to tho
daily papers are the high grade
peopls OF sentiment who send In
verses for publication. They arc for the
most part men and women who write for
the love OF writing, and who have soma
thing to say and a striking way OF saying
il. My own experience is that these p~oetical
contributors are mora reasonable and less
exacting than are many other class,; about
whom jokes are never made. The poets as
Il rule write legibly and according TO news
paper rule, and they have a proper npprecia-
ton Of the space given them. l have found
them as a rule unobtrusive, sensible, and
very strict in their o~bservances Of what
they conceive to be newspaper etiquette.
Hundreds OF well-to-do and talented men
aud women are volunteer contributors of
To the daily papers. Scores Of others are
PEOPLE with aspirations who seek acquaint-
aics with the public while ripening for their
best work. And there is no better schooling.
The Carey sisters. the Piatts, W. d.. Howeils,
Maurice Thompson, Ella Wheeler, the
Clarke sisters, and hundreds Of others, be-
ginning with the era when George d. Prem
tice gave his sympathy to young versitiers
until now, all were given regulations and
character by the newspaper. When the
newspaper poet's wings are strong he flies Off
10 the real lield OF remunerative labor, but
it is not often he forgets the paper that gave
him IA start
AYou are right for once" said a younger
member Of the group. II like to think OF
some little incidental lifts I have given poo
pie who have seampered out of sight ahead
OF me In the way OF making regulations ami
money. On one occasion, a good many years
ago ! flsEed out of a box of kicked about
papers a dainty little envelope with a dainty
little poem in it l published it, and the
next week received a letter overlooking with
thankfulness, and another poem. This wa
the beginning for a sensitive, shrinking girl
Ut III WIS u tuAttI VI kOOu nUlbHl NuIA
and success
Il remember a story told mo by a friend that
illustrates tho same idea He was the junior
editor OF a paper to which WIN Carleton
sent his Betsy and l Are Out The length
Of the poem was against it, and it hal be- en-
thrown about from one man to another as II
nuisance. 1t fell to the lot of the young man
TO rsad it. Before he was half through he
called in his associates to inform them that
lie had discovered q genius. They wouldn't
listen, but he urged the publication Of the
poem, and when everybody was talking
about it those same associates claimed a
share in making the reputation for Carleton
that followed the publication of The initial
poem.
u ave made some queer mistakes as TO
personality and character of writer's in my
time. ! had n delightful acquaintance by
letter oncs with n young lady aspirant
| judged her 10 DO 10 or II and wrote her in
a fatherly, patronizing way. She called and
! discovered that she was a woman OF 40,
better posted than myself in literature and
with a wider range of information gener-
ally. | nave distrusted ths scampering,
young-hearted style of a letter ever since. In
another case / jumped to d conclusion that q
certain dignified correspondent was about
40. She wasn't half that"
"Some years ago. said the magazine man
Of the group, there was among our con-
tributors a young fellow who signed ths
name Birch Arnold. He was bright and
ambitious and ! wrote him a good many
letters Of advice and encouragement. This
ian on for more than a year and to drop a
note to My Dear Arnold became a sort OF
everyday affair. At last my young frienl
wrote that he would call on me, and on the
day named a young lady came In and de
murely placed on my desk a card marked
Birch Arnold Remembering how I had
been dear string her for a year, l laughed
outright, and it was soon apparent that she
had enjoyed the correspondence all the more
because she had demonstrated hat a woman
could keep a secret. She still writes verses
and etnrfao -