The Lafayette gazette., 1893-07-01
REJECTED AND ACCEPTED
Why q StenoRraphor Lost Faith In
the Worlds Honesty.

The ri.e Of Reginald Flipp had been
Something phcnomenal. No man was
more sought after by publishers and
had been somewhat prolific ut the be-
ginning, but now TINT he conld get
practically any price he asked for his
MSS.v he became more careful It was
more and more difficult for a magazine
to get q story by this now celebrated
author.
One day there came to his room a
mans- whom the world apparently had
not used generously.
81 have come.'' said he to Mr.. Flipp,
Ito sec you without any letter of intro
duction. or without any preliminary an
nouncement. was afraid to let you
know intended to come. assso busy n
man as you might we'll have refused to
see a stranger"
81 am not a busy man, said Mr..
FIpp. 81 doubt if anyone in the town
ms more leisure than I. Sit down.
What can do for for you?''
my narne,'' said the stranger, ''is
Crosby. am shorthand writer and
want to work for YOU"
MY dear sir, - replied F1ipp, II have
no use for a shorthand writer. 1 have
never dictated in my life, and I, doubt
If could. Everything write I do with
my own hand. do not even use q type
writer"
81 do" said Crosby. 81 have n type
writer at home, and if you will try die
tation for awhile it will occupy but
little of your time and you may find it
extremely useful. If, the other
hand, you conclude that it is of no adj
vantage to you, no harm will be done"
II know, before we begin," said
F1fpp, 'sthat it wouldn't work. am
sure of that
''IIow can you be sr,rc," asked Cros-
by, 'about something you have never
tried? Let me ask you a question:: Have
you ever forgotten any good idea that
you ever hael?''
j Hundreds of them answered F'lipp.
''Then does not that strike you a
tremendous waste of brain power? Have
you never felt annoyed to think that
some good idea that had occurred to
you had slipped into oblivion?'
Flipp, who had been walking up and
down the room with some inpatiencc,
stopped and looked at his visitor.
IL presume he said at last, ''every-
body has had that annoying experience.
The fish that gets away is always bigger
than those we catch.''
Precisely" answered Crosby. ''Then
why let them get away? You are a
young man now, but there will come n
time when you will regret the waste
shat probably now seems trivial
'What salary do you vvant?' asked
the writer abruptly.
II don't want any salary" replied
Crosby. 81 shall be very pleased to give
YOU an hour day for nothing. Al
least" he said. seeing F'lipp wave his
hand impatiently, until you find
whether or not the proposal is of value
to You. Once down on paper an idea is
fixed, and forever under your control.
Merely floating on your brain it may
sink and never rise to the surface
again.
There is something in that said
Flipp metlitatively. cat least it will
was thinking of Il story that ought to
work out reasonably we'll Have you
your notebook with you?''
Crosby produced it.
Flipp walked up and down the room
for a few moments in silence.
Suppose we head it, he said, "'The
Parting of the Ways
i Crosby was evidently an expert short
hand writer, for when Flipp became in
tc1ested inSthe story he talked very rap
idly, bus Crosby, without apparent
haste, noted it all down, never once
checking the speaker.
'.rhere," said Flipp, when he had
finished, what do you think of that
storyTt s-sS =. e.
Really said Crosby, II cannot tell
you. 1 have not heard it,
Not heard it!'' exclaimed the novel
ISL. I1dNc EOU JuSC u1cC1CCO IL TO
you?''
"You have dictated it, said Crosby,
''to machine. I shall give you my
opinion upon it when 1 have read the
typewriter MS. That isl he added,
''if you care for the opinion of n no.
body. When shall call again?''
''Oh, 1 am in no hurry" said Flipp.
''This hour to-morrow?''
''Ics, if that suits your convenience
The stranger snapped the elastic band
around his notebook, put the cap upon
the stylograplnic pen, and, without a
word, departed.
''He is queer fish, said the writer
to himself when his visitor had gone
Il don't more than half like the looks
of him.
Next day the stenographer called at
the same hour, and placed before the
novelist ten pages of typewrittcn MS.
headed ''Thc Partingoof the Ways
1T is one of the best stories you have
yet written, said Crosby, Elf you want
my opinion.'~
Reginald laughed 'If you were after
a large salary that would be the kind
of remark one might expect you to
make
II am not after a salary at all," an
swcred Crosby. You asked my opin-
ion, and I give it. 1t may be worth
leSs.'
'sWhich-the opinion or the story?"
''If one is," said Crosby, "t1e other
naturally must be. Shall I take down
another?'