Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-01-31

Of them. Then Glider thought enough o
I them 10 Inquire about their author ant
I found them 10 be the very verses be Ia,
refused OF course nc was compelled &,
acknowledge his error Of Judgment
hope the rditOr OF the Century vii
I forgive me for saying that Ia this case b,
I had not very great crrol
TO acknowledge The Century standard
Is far too low TO admit Of q great errorpr
tine part of It's chlei editor. The letter
/ press of the magazine Is exceedingly
ordinary the only thing that saves he
reputation Is the illustrative work. II u
pity that This Is true, but the fact musi
De apparent TO anyone who carefully
examines any number OF the Century.
W. d. Il0Wclls, in the February
/ llsrpcr's, turns upon his critics. ! fancy
however, that none of them are az AL
alarmed. LtastNlse, ] ava not aud
wrote Ia November last 10 Boston pub.
licatlon one Of ihe least charitable crit.
elsms OF llowclls recent literary wolf
tnat have seen any whore Nor do
take back a word % 30
Mr uuwoils Is unknd enough 90 say
that the cumpetrut critics of she country
eau be- counted upon something less than
the thumbs of Oue's right hand.
which Us equivalent 90 saying has There
afe no competent hioraty critics 40 ail
Iua ls, Indeed, strong statement 90
come lfulu u nau, himeclf SO susrepu.
bic % criticism rhc criace mi4hl Niu
equal fairness, and equal dFnity fgtuit by
Saying that the uoy,nss % the couuuy
csc uu counted upon ihiug less tlBu
it.. ~ V..Nf q Hf s ali
hHiau.e az the other side OF the exceed.
iEgly ih-1aauccd and at tunes ill-nauwd
editor of the Study But, Il ! understand
The inClinatinns Of She critics, they are
not disposed Go makr any such rrtOrt.
rhuy are ready % coucodc 20 lluVgll- O
great deal that is valuable, q little that
viii live, and an infinitely small portion
that Is really worth preserving.
Mr. uowulls believes himself the
founder uf a new school lie lays as
much In The February Harper Possibly
he may be- But he gurssrs very wide OF
The mark when be iniofs that bis work is
condemned because 10 does not follow
prec, dents His work is
or that part Of il shares that
late because II deserves condemnation;
because 10 Is slush; because IL Is sloyCu-
ly done, aud because its author has
rcckoned upon reputation won ON
honest effort, TO carry through rot that he
Is either too indolent or too ignorant to
make better OF course a writer who Is
paid $4,000 year for what he
feels disposed TO write, be IL
much or little, can afford TO talk back 10
his critics, II they yet TO his literary
door, there Is not much danger Of the
wolf reaching the door uf his opulence
But Que of the strongest evidences OF
Howeils' shsllUwnoss, in certain we'll
defined directions, Is his ill-natured re-
mark in the February Harper to the effect
that when the critics know more they will
irIticise HOwclls less,
~.
But literary squabbles are not, / fancy,
IF vital interest 20 the general public
jAzErrE readers, for instance, would
nlher be told something about the his
.oIy OF the great firm that is able TO have
'evernl $40 GOO year literary employees.
In lSlI John and james Harper, two
ioung printers, began business on their
)wn account In small shop IN Clid
street, New York, under the firm name of
J. & j Harper The first book published /
was some old Dutch "reminiscences re.
ating to early New York history II was
rot very suEesslul, but the two brothers
to keep their heads above water
or u period OF ten years, when their two
brothers were taken iuto the |
lrm, which then consisted OF Johu, .
ames, Fletcher and Joseph Wesley lar- .
'rr, These men adopted the firm name of .
larper &sRros and such It has ever since /
Ilarpers Magazine was
tarted I'm 1850 and was ut first purely &c.
: cue, all It's contents being sell cited .
rom current English periodicals. Henry .
Raymond, afterwards editor OF the
Jew York Times, became lbs FIRST editor, .
nd held his post for four years, when he
vas succeeded by George Ripley. the
nan who helped Charles A Dana OF the /
View York sun compile Appleton's ency
lopedla Ripley Was IN time followed .
" DR. Alfred Guernsey, and he By Or II.
w. Allen, the present editor, who is a
lpc scholar and admirable writer, as well .
~ an editor aud critic Of rare discern.
ncnt,
The "Editor's Drawer" flarpcr's IL
onducted by Charles Dldley Warner,
dltor of the Hartford Como Courant,
Who helped Mark Twain write the
LAY OF "The Gllded Age" and who Is IA
BUSINESS parnero OF Uutcd States senator
oscph Il llawlry rho Drawer derived .
Is name IN purely accidental way,
rawer in Mr.. Fletcher Harper's desk
ad become receptacle for all sorts of
dds and ends on every imaginable sub
rct, mixture OF newspaper clippings,
okes, prose aud poetry. From this the
naterlals for the "Edito . Drawer" were
aken-a receptacle that eventually gave
Is name to the department
Tho "kasy Chair' was started and !
famed by Donald e Mitchell, bcttor
,nown as "lke Marveln The story OF
y hirth and christening was told when
he department WAS opened az follows
"Attei our moro severe editorial work
: doue- the scissors laid Ia our drawer,
nd the Monthly Record made as fun as
'ur pagee viii bear Of history, we have a
Wy ui throwing ourselves back into an
'ld red-hackrd easy char tht has long
'ecnan ornament of our dingy Olicc, aud
ndulgipg In an easy aud Carehss over.
ooE of tbr pos~lbmg papers of the day,
nd in such rhit.chat with chance visitors
K keeps us Informed nt tho drift toe
while II relieves greatly the
lunutouy of our Office hours
The chair Is now lllled by George WIN /
am Curtis, Who has completely changed
Is literary character and made Ii one OF
he most popular features OF any Amori.
an publication MIR Curtis lives IN
leasant country seat on Staten Island,
nd also GDds time 10 conduct narpcr's
Weekly aud appear In politics OCCASION
lily in the role OF reformer and Mug.
iump
some numbers OF larper's cost Gs high
\ $4,000. The Harpers Invariably pay
lr contributions by transatlantic authors