The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1885-02-14
HOW SOME WRITER'S WRITE.


What Kind of Copy Different Authors
Make
Most writer's have curiosity as re-
CARDS their fellow-workers. It is a
zeellng likely shared by the general
-bllc, who find themselves wondering
T jesflmes how certain writers accomplish
2se1r work, the hours they devote to it.
and the time they find best fitted for it.
The appearance of manuscript and the
style of chirography come in for their
share Of interest. Thac keray is credited
with giving up the early morning hours
TO putting his thoughts on paper, and
the remainder of the day to collecting
them. He wrote so many words a
minute, SO many pages an hour, and
was no believer in moods He had no
sympathy with the theory that a man
can write better at one time than
another, and declared that the best in
spirat On was q piece of shoemaker's
wax iii the writer's chair.
Most Of the shining lights in litera-
ture, past and present, are distinguished
Tor most i:legible handwr;ting u mark
OF genius which seems to be their pride,
since t..ty have been known to refer
with evident satisfaction to the fact
that only certain printers can set up
their copy, and that they themselves
have been unable to read it until the
subject has been suggested.
Among the novelists of to-day the
women are app rently the more careful
as to the neatness or their MSS. Mrs
Frances Hodgson Burnett is precise
writer, putting into her stories just so
many hundreds of words, telling her
publishers the exact number before
hand. Miss Louise Alcott affects a
backhand style, making her letters
. clearly and putting her words far apart,
so that they are easily read. Miss
a Fletcher, "kismet's" author, writes SO
4 evenly and distinctly that her pages
have the appearance Of being engraved,
and are suggestive of much rewriting
and care.
The copy of Jean Ingelow shows un-
certain, almost childish characters,
traced on an unruled surface. Nora
Perry incliues to violet ink, and has a
flowing, extremely graceful handwrit-
ing, together with habit of scenting
her paper. Mrs. A. D. L. Whitney has
an Italian style of chirography, and
scrawls but few words in line, in a
style neither easy to read nor pretty to
look at. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
writes with the tremulous hand of an
aged woman, and Lucy Larcom's writ
ing also looks as if the hand that WELD
ed the pen was old and stiff. Jennie
June" Mrs. Croly) writes cas- ly and
legibly, as does also "Grace Green
wood" Miss Lippincottl. Emily Faith
hand. Julia Hawthorne makes her
characters clearly but her writing is SO
fine IS almost to require a microscope
to define it. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe
wastes no time in shading her letters,
and has a way of putting peculiar twists
to them that look funny and yet doesn't
make them illegible. Mrs. Celia Thax-
! ter is always careful to leave a margin
to left Of her page, but writes back
hand, and is apt to run off the sheet to
the right. Mrs. Mary Booth, of Har-
per's Bazar, writes uneyenly, but easily.
Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton is the
model writer, punctuates, capitalizes,
and paragraphs with utmost exactness.
Once, at q New York press dinner,
George William Curtis proposed her
health, as the contributor who furnished
perfect copy. Mrs. Lucy Stone Black
we'll, of the UOmen's Journal, is said
to jot down her ideas on whatever kind
of paper is handiest-old envelopes OF
circulars-in q handwriting awkward
and uniformed, with many erasures and
paragraph marks.
Among the men, William D. How
ellis is cramped and irregular. Henry
James writes firmly, with heavy ink,
his letters looking as though made with
quill. Mark Twain's penmanship is
'tusiness-hke and perfectly plain, but
he often uses typewriter. DR..
Holmes writing is exceedingly neat; he
does it with ease aud rapility; and
George Parsons Latmop sends copy to
the printer that, although nervousl.
written. is correctly punctuated. and
has all til. printers marks added
PHILADELPHIA Gf0n0e.