The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-11-27
cURsos.r,Es OF PLAGIARISM.
The Habit se layssg Clsta so Osher Pss
Ple'. Literary work.

The Habit e6 layssg Clsta so Osher s'so-
Pse'. Literary werh.
The setting up % a claim to the author
ship of Little Lord Fauntlcrny'' ny a lady
whose literary work never attracted pub
liz To herelf, must, says the
New York World, awaken interest in the
phenomenon of n malady not ycs classic
He'd by the dortors, hut familiar tai all esli-
tors. critics and publishers.
The disease il akin to the opium habit
in it's pcrsistency i'm the ease with which il
Is acquired, i'm the obstinacy with which il
resists treatment, and in it's effects upon
the moral character Of its victims. The
cha racteristic symptoms at the ailnlent Is
an Irresistible disposition To claim tn have
written other psnple's literary works.
IL has never been definitely determined
whether the disease IL Infections ar not.
but there il u strong suggestion that il is
SO i'm the fact that even the most obust
moral health seems tn afford no secure
Immunity from it's attacks.
Let ut consider - Z, " typical q. y :. TIE
late Dr. Holland was Al. instiHat.,ro at the
sSaNe Holm" stories. They were written
by a pc :" ION, or person. p"rrsrsiy well
time to time concerning them hc received
them i'm manuscript suggested occasional
changes. MANY of which were made, and.
rs the editor of the magazine i'm which
they were published, he drew checks
in for them. He confidently
who wrote the stories as certainly as he
knew who wrote his own poems. And yet
there were three entirely reputable per
sons. all accounted truthful. each of whom
solemnly assured Dr. Holland that hc ar
she. in fact. wrote the stories. each having
u din ercnt tale tn tell of the way Ina which
be manuscripts were stolen.
William Cullen Bryant once told tie
present writer that n person who was not
born until years after tho first publication
of "Thanatopsis." vclIeIncntly claimed
the authorship OF that poem. and went
away indignant when Mr.. Bryant declined
:" SURRENDER his own ptcten>ions ia that
particular.
The number of pcr~ons who wrote
beautiful Snow" was estimated 10y the
late Richard Grant White at 2i.and every
body remembers how many different per
son produced Quiet Along the Poto-
mac" and Rock Me to Sleep"
The curiosities of plagiarism are end
less and sometimes very startling coincid-
present writer. when editing u weekly
periodical many years ago. had offered Ia
him an article which he had himself
written and published anonymously in ~
article was written for u temporary
use. and there was nothing in
il to cause any reader to rcmen,-
her ID after the immediate occasion had
fered his literary swag To any other editor
his theft would have not been suspected.
His i'll luck lcd him tn submit his manu-
script to the only person i'm the country
who could have known its origin and reaI
authorship.
A rural Clergyman in New York had the
courage upon one occasion tn offer ~ lit
crol Transcript of Dickens christina,
when the editor objected thai the worl
was already widely known as Dickens
the Clergyman solemnly protested that hs
could not imagine how the author a
Pickwic could have got his manu-
script. which had been locked up fo
vt.lrS.