Smyrna times., 1893-03-29
A LOVE STORY REVISED.
BY AMY DARCY wETMoRE.


"YOu look seedy, old fellow, what's
up?" asked Tom Brown, as he entered
Graham Longstreet's Office, one cold
evening in March.
II am seedy, for a fact. When l
have poked the fire will tell you my
latest dilemma"
THE Star does not pay, l suppose, -
said Tom Brown, meditatively, as be
drew his chair up to the fire that was
meant to be cheerful and was not.
"There-the wood has caught at
last. l can't say that l blame those
poor women who use coal oil and then
give us a blazing item for our afternoon
papers," Graham answered, as he set
tied himself in an easy chair by this
new source of comfort.
Tom murmured, 81 am waiting for
your tale of Woe"
ut is hardly so tragic as that-only
an annoyance. You know Stuart
really put me in the Star; started it
with his money and made me chief
editOr-in fact, placed the whole
thing in my hands"
And so far it is a success" said his
friend
"Yes, more so than we could have
hoped. But it requires, as you may
| suppose, constant thought, and l, as
head man, naturally have a great
responsibility in my selection of arti-
cles-in the fiction department, partic-
rlarly, which as in all other papers, is
inundated with good, bad and indiffer
ent matter"
In other words an editors is not q
happy lot, said Tom sleepily.
Shades of the past Don't quote to
me now anything so haggard as the
Pirates but listen to my story"
"GO on then" more drowsily from
Tom.
Here is a letter Stuart sent me to.
day, accompanied with this much
rolled manuscript"
DEAR GRAHAM Keep a place in vou
! fiction corner, if possible, for this little
! story that | send you 1t is written by a
| friend of mine whom | am very anxious tC
assist. A reverse in fortune has Obliged
her to do something to support herself and
mother, and she thinks writing is her forte
! This IS her first attempt | have not read
1t, as hate stories, but | am sure it is cle-
! yer, for her father David Leighton, was
one OF the brightest men that | ever knew
| However l depend upon you and the Stai
| to give her a start. Could you not give
her an editorial puff and oblige youi
friend GEORGE r. STrART.
Now what do you think of that ?'
asked Graham desperately.
We'll, " said Tom, quite walked up
to the situation, 'the story is the
point. Is it good ?'
Good the veriest trash ever writ
ten. Slipshod and careless in style
an absolute ignorance of her subject
and is even badly spelled"
That last could be remedied"
well, yes; but you know it is not
usual for such things to have to be
| done"
Does 1t show any promise ?"
That is the queer part OF it. There
is some small gleam of wit or rather a
sort of humor, if you can understand
what l mean. But the plot is crude,
the lOvemaking sheer nonsense and
the ending long drawn out and impos-
sible, while many of the sentences are
badly constructed and ungrammatical.' ,
Impossible then, to publish it, !
suppose"
Az she has written it, yes; and |
have neither the time nor the patience
to alter it,"
And you could not disappoinr
Stuart ?"
Il fear not. You see, fiction to hin
is all bosh at best. He would say
doctor it up and get it in somewhere.
said Graham.
why not go and see the authoresi
and suggest to her to re-write it. ,
asked Tom, practically.
The very thing, old boy! Otter
advice is good, though l shall dread
acting on it. OF course she is oldist
and ugly and gushingly romantic
Besides, having lost her money. sh,
will probably weep great deal.h
"One can't tel, +" said Tom, rising t
go. They are pretty plucky some
times, these unprotected females, anC
1 must say from the inexperience which
you say the story displays, she must b,
young"
"Old maid, rather, who never had ,
love affair, fancy, for the younge
they are the more they dash into tn,
unknown, and are apt to take the ex
ponents of passionate literature fo
their models. But drop in tomorrow
at this time and l will report my prog
ress.