The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-09-18
AN AMERICAN PIRATE.

1t was about five years ago that !
saw an advertisement in a great literary
journal. 1t ran as follows:
FICT1ON-wanted.N Novels and Short Stories.
suitable for high-class magazine. Thorough
dealt with. A good serial novel. about 10000
words can be treated for.-P j.. care of
Blifkins, printers, Bouverie Street f. c.
Thorough originality" | cried;
why, that's my strong point; hang
it. I'm nothing if I'm not original!
Why, | can reel it out by the yard
quite comfortably just as though had
been literary silk-worm." And so l
could. then. Plots? pooh! l never
even troubled about plot; | just sat
down and began to fire away to Miss
Dashes (Miss Dashes is my shorthand
writer and amanuensis) and the plots
came; they came rs a matter of course.
Now it's different; they don't come as
they used to. I'm at times even tempted
to read other peoples fiction and st
| mean adapt their ideas. | wish l
knew Dutch. Nobody knows Dutch.
There must be a magnificent field for
pecul- | mean adaptation in Dutch
literature. At the time | speak of /
was exceedingly original. In my set
determination to be original both in
manner and matter. read nothing but
my own manuscripts, Which were many.
and my own proofs. which were few.
Now | read good deal, with the re-
suit that I'm not nearly so original as
| was. OF course I've grown artful;
I've got the measure of certain editorial
feet. Some want climax-I give 'em
climax; others demand pathos-I give
'em pathos. One man likes plenty of
it-I give him plenty of it; another
wants concentrated plot q. g., the plot
of a three-volume novel in a column
and quarter)-I give it to him..
There's one man who likes the pleasant
cynical vein, and, though I'm person.
ally romantic enthusiast. | give him
what his soul sighs for. BY all this
you will see that I'm a very talented
and mauy-sided person, and hard
worker.
At the sight of that advertisement |
called in Bouverie street After a
good deal of beating about the bush, l
learned that p. j. was the manager of
asyndicate-i. c. he was wholesale
dealer in literature; he was the middle
man, that proverbially indispensable
middle man. who is so very dear to us
ALL After several unsuccessful at
tempts. | succeeded in seeing p. j. in
the flesh. He wore spectacles, he spoke
with drawl and he was evidently
man of business.
You send in a sample, Uncle
Dudley" said he, with a noble familiar
ity. EFF it suits we shall deal at New
York price, which is ten dollars
thousand words. That seems to as
tonish you," he said; but we act liberal
in the States"
Nothing could be simpler, nothing
could be fairer, nothing could be
nobler
You jest whack in short thing as
a sample. We return either the stuff
or the money in a week"
Then he offered me particularly
good cigar. | went straight home. !
despatched thousand-word story to
?. j., and in forty-eight hours got the
following note:
SIR Your tale is ring-tailed roarer. can
take any amount of similar stuff. | enclose
the equivalent of ten dollars in postal order
Please call ut two tomorrow.
Yours faithfully. P. j
| could have clasped 2. j. to my
breast. Here was an appreciative
mind, a congenial spirit. l thought
that the leaden-footed hours till two
the next day never would have passed;
but the time came at length-it struck
two at'last by the clock of St. Brides,
and l WAS shown by one of Blitfkins
the printers people into the presence
of p. J.
The American received me in the
most genial manner.
You're the bov." he said: "you are
the chap that takes the cake, Mr..
Nibbs." cried p. j. Il am prepared
to run you altogether; it's only a
question of terms, my boy. and our
folks are full-they are absolutely
bursting with dollars. But there's one
thing, Mas'r George; is the rest of your
stuff up to sample? That is the point
that and the question of terms"
Then he handed me Il huge cigar I'VE
pay fifty cents for 'em in the States"
he said.
never met such a liberal man as P.
j. before. His people had every con.
tidence in him; he had full powers.
How much stuff had | got?" WAS
L IestllN 10 ueii on iuS bdslS VI lcu
dollars thousand for all the stuff /
had iiuished?"
Can fish swim? Was / readyf
Ave, that | was.
1T amt the actual cash. remarked
P. j.; its the reputation. Our people'll
run you in American, and we'll take
you in the lump at ten dollars a
thousand words all round. Es that
good enough? Fl you are satisfied,
shoot the stuff in
| agreed-of course | did. | re.
turned to my home. | made up huge
parcel of manuscripts l calculated
the amount of the check | had to re.
ceive at eight thousand dollars, or two
thousand pounds. for there were eight
hundred thousand words. or there
abouts; and then | waited patiently.
Would p. j. take them all? Would
he take half. waited, | say, patiently.
After month | received a parcel; it
contained my manuscripts and the fol-
lowing note;
DEAR SIR: regret to have to return yon
MSS. Yours faithfully p
Five years elapsed.
l had got on-siowlv. terribly slow.
IL: but had got on. had published