Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-07-04
BUSINESS AND WRITING.
EXPERIENCE OF ONE WOMAN WHO
TRIED JOURNALISM.

sisntial One OF Assured Competence.
IL has been wittily said thar the success
full politician Is the man who eau eat saw
dust without butter, and certainly such a
capacity must be a large factor in all sue
cess. have eaten a good deal of sawdust
In my time, and only recently acquired the
right to add the butter Some ten years
ago was the most miserable of created
beings-a woman with three children de
pendent upon her-no training for work or
special knowledge of any kind, and /
shared, in common with good many other
women, the conviction that my misfort-
unes gave me "A certain claim upon people.
and that should make an income because
1t was necessary for me to do so or starve
don't mind owning now that | came per
Donsly near doing the latter
Ever since | landed in New York, now
over ten years ago, | have been able to find
work OF some Sort although il has often
been miserably i'll paid, and, am afraid,
of very little real value The first thing
had TO get rid Of was my ambition and de
sire Tor fame AS writer. A woman with
three children soou finds she must banker
after more material things than a name in
literature, and the time speedily comes
when, as a hack, she is ready enough TO
accept any kind Of work and let who will
have the glory, SO long as she sees results
in dollars and cents.
So 1t came to pass that, shortly after my
arrival in New York, was more than sat
isfed II my copy was accepted and weeks
income assured, aud perfectly jubilant
when, by any chance task Of compiling
fell TO my share which would bring me
more grist TO the mill But it was a
wretched existence. Many and many a
day in midwinter | have tramped about
Brooklyn and New York looking up open
ings-writing at the point Of the bayonet,
as 1t were, for miserable dollar; and
many a time and oft have written col
umns OF worthless trash which never saw
the light at all. But every hack can tell
the same story, the never ending effort TO
produce and the difficulty Of turning the
production TO account after all-the miser
able abortions Of semi literary life.
might TO this day be walking the tread
mill Of itinerant journalism but for the
frankness Of my friends had good
many Of them, and they were unusually |
outspokeR, probably because they were /
really sorry for me. The fault finding Of /
faithful friends is valuable.
FAULT FtNDfNG FRIENDS
A publisher. whose name is byworc I
for philanthropy, once told me plainly that .
1 should never succeed as a writer until | I
produced something worth reading, and I
be added, Il doubt if you have sufficient |
cultivation to do i'll" remember swal-
lowing this bitter pill with tears A still .
tranker friend. business man, expressed .
his opinion Of the abominable pride that
could consider it dgnifed to write rub
bish for nothing and vet despise honor.
nd
business man could easily buy up all the
authors tn creation, and never miss the
money, which. as ! was only hack and
could not even aspire TO authorship, was
quite unnecessarily severe.
IL is to this csustic friend owe the fact
that am today in comfortable circun,.
stances, and that my children are highly
educated and entirely independent Of me
He fell upon me with such severity that I
asked what be would have me do, and was
told, TO my surprise, that he himself had
made his money mainly by his cieverneSs
an an advertiser-a fact which at first made
no impression upon me except that of sur
prise that be should be interested in any
thing 80 commonplace
it reminded me simply Of atrocious il.
Illustrations and odious types, but after all
there was something seductive Ia the idea
OF making money, and finally gave ear
To the suggestion that instead OF killing
myself In producing bad articles, which
nobody wanted, should try TO produce
good advertisements, which my friend a.
-ured my everybody-at least every body in
business would want
SUCCESS AND MONEY!
| have found much truth In his predic.
ton The modest card drew up at his
mo Hon a
ness houses brought wonderfully prompt
reptiles asking me to call, aud all at once
a comic element entered into my life, and
found myself quite suddenly in request.
aud for such funny things, tool about
many OF which knew absolutely nothing
yet was expected. by the terms Of my card.
20 be prepared to give advice upon. In my
new undertaking called myself descrip
ave writer, and was prepared to put any
-hing and everything into such shape that
he public would be bound to want it.
very soon had my hands full.
should say there is nothing have not
written about, from soft soap TO the circu
alton Of the blood. the latter on the under
Standing that the article must satisfy
'ommittee OF six gentlemen before should
e entitled to the thirty dollars | asked for
L read it 10 them with a quak ing heart,
md came out victor. much TO my surprise
md theirs
Another time was offered ten dollars TO :
iraw mp the form Of a will Ia which a wo
NO could cut her husband off with a dime
'ut, calling to carry out my instructions, |
onnd she had forgiven him and wouldn't
iurt his feelings by any such AN item An
veil! learned wisdom slowly but surely
The only thing could do was to make
conld tell business man
What would be likely TO bring him bust
ie'7 Is It any wonder, then, that was y
islened 10 with respect, even when my /.
uggestions had little value
AT that time, ten years ago. trade jour ,
isls we're not rs plentiful as they are now :
started one or two. and undertook their :
whole management, writing the articles.
publishing, even circulating.
had much TO learn but the knowledge :
'sined soon paid in good coin of the Re :
'ublic, and six mouths from my new de y
'srtnre was offered forty dollars "A week
y firm Of good standing to look after the
dvertising. Later on, when was free 20
sork Tor Others, this income was more