The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-11
ANSWERS FOR ASKERS.
BILL NYE FURNISHES FOOD FOR
ANXIOUS MINDS TO DIGEST.
BE Gently Criticises the Work Of q West
ern Poet, Takes q Fall Out of a West
ern Man. and Discusses Etiquette and
Sitting Bull.
[Copyright BY Edgar W. Nye.l

Copyright by Edgar W. Nye.1
The past thirty days have been very
productive OF interrogatories by mail for
this department, and desire at this time
to express thanks for the interest shown
and the appetite for knowledge manifest
ed by these frequent calls for informa-
ton upon subjects so widely and so dia-
metrically differing in character, the
knowledge of which is yet so important
to each writer in fitting himself or her
self for the great battle of life. trust
that the somewhat bantering tone en-
ployed at times in the treatment of these
subjects will not deter future CORE
spondents from ever and again tapping
this perennial font Of varied, though
sometimes fly blown, information.
Pimply Harris-assumed name, judge
writes from Aspen, Colo:
''SIR-I am the author of number Of
little poetic bits, some of whom have been
printed, and lately have thought that
although there was very little money
into it l would do well, as matter of
prestige and in order to catch on to the
some more ambitious pieces for the mag
azines. So done so, and done it so as
not to offend either publication, sending
a poem to each, The Century, Scribner's
and Harper's, also little oriental pean
to The Atlantic Monthly.
''Some of these magazines wrote to
me by means Of a job press that they
II lyaI h1,% Il
to their columns. wrote back for them
to tell me how much the thing run over
or how short it was Of a page, and
would trim her up so it would fit, but to
this l got no reply. have decided from
having gotten brief and rather con-
ventional replies all around, together
with the manuscript which sent, that
unless you have pull as a poet on these
magazines you might as well go to solic-
iting orders for fruit trees in perdition
as to expect you can suit the morbid
taste of these people.
Il write great deal of verse, because
have considerable leisure whilst herd
ing sheep here for man who pays me
mere pittance. 1t is an uneventful job,
but l try to do it in such way as to
make myself necessary to the owner.
Some of my verse is light and efferves-
cent, like Charlotte Rouge, whilst other
is more filling and heavier, like what
you might call the rump steak of
rhyme.
II wish you would tell me, as between
old frontiersmen and co-workers in the
literary vineyard, what in your opinion
is eating the editors of the magazines.
Il give you one stanza of little epic
which drew off and sent to The Allan
tic Monthly, to show you that because /
don't live in Milk street or belong to the
Papyrus club Of Boston the romping
children of my unshackled brain it seems
has got to cut their front teeth on the
cactus of Colorado, whilst the madden
ing aroma of hot beans comes dimly
across the unquenchable distance:
'Soporifc, beatiflc
And in much felictude
Lies Samoa in the vast Pacific,
And her sons they are terrific,
Although they are mostly nude"
Your attitude, Mr.. Harris, toward the
is entirely unwarranted and
cannot be supported at all. While your
idea of obtaining a livelihood by herd
ing sheep and writing pieces for the
in order to obtain social recog- |
milton shows great business foresight,
you must admit that some of your verse
lacks merit, and your clubfooted meas
ures cannot possibly get there. You
will excuse slang when say that the ]
verse you send me can hardly hope to
get there, at least with both feet
Magazine editors are engaged in edit
ing their publications, Mr.. Harris, for !
the use of magazine readers. l do not /
mean that the magazine reader is en-
tirely different as to his anatomy or diet
from the reader of the morning paper.