The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-04-04
Short Stories.

A correspondent says: few months ago
periodical published in one of the eastern
cities offered as prizes considerable sums of
money for those persons to whom should be
awarded the merit of having written the
best short stories submitted in competition
to the editor of that magazine. The sum
fixed upon as prize for that one of the sto
ries regarded as only third best was larger
than even the masters in the art of short
story writing can command, and the sum to
be awarded as a first prize was greater with
perhaps two exceptions than had ever been
promised as a reward for chief merit in such
competition Therefore the money tempta-
tions were IA sufficient inducement to lead
even the most distinguished of those men
and women who have facility in the writing
of short stories.
Within few weeks after the announce
ment was made the mails that came to the
Office of this publication were loaded down
with manuscript. A number of tales were
sent so speedily after the announcement
was made that it was evident their authors
had not written any new tale to enter into
this competition, but had taken stories
which they had already written. But the
majority of the stories bore evidence of re
cent composition When the day which
was set as the limit of time for receiving
the stories came, it was found that more
than 800 manuscripts had been forwarded
to the editor. They came from all parts of
the United States, few from Canada.
Some of them were in exquisite writing
as clear as script, plainly the work of pro
fessional copyists. Some of them were
neatly tied together by ribbons. Nearly all
of them, however, were in typewriter man
uscript, and all of them indicated that the
writers had familiarity with the rules
which editors insist upon in the making of
manuscript. A few of them were packed
in thin wooden boxes, and one was written
upon scented paper, and, strange as it may
appear, this is one of the best of those Of
fered in competition
The work of examining these manuscripts
entailed a labor upon a few men perhaps
quite as great as the aggregate labor be-
slowed in the writing of them. There were
few whose imperfections were revealed at
single glance and were plainly the work
of persons who had no conception of literary
form or capacity for telling story and
yet in almost every case these worthless
specimens were accompanied by pleading
and explanatory letters, as though good
story did not sufficiently explain itself.
After several weeks of diligence, entail
there were sifted out of this great number
of stories IL which were regarded as worthy
| of publication, and then perhaps the hard
est work of all began, the selection from
these IL of the three entitled to the money
prizes
1t might be supposed, the pecuniary re-
wards being so great in the case of the
first prize, 900, that some of the famous
authors would have been induced to send
| in their stories, but in the list there was
not the name of a single person who had
won any recognition for such literary work.
| This is probably due to two reasons. One,
| the famous writers of short stories are able
to command a market for anything they
write, some of them at their own figures.
Mr. Kipling, Mr.. Howells, Miss wilkins.
Mr. Harry Edwards, Mr.. Hubbard and Mr..
| Gilbert Parker find no difficulty in selling
| their short tales. In fact, the difficulty
with them is to meet the applications made
by publishers for such products of their
pen.
Then another reason is the repugnance
which persons who have commanded rep
utation have to entering into competition,
at least using their own names. Some
times this has been done by the use of q
nom de plume, and there is one interesting
anecdote that is told in literary circles of
the modification which one distinguished
writer experienced in contest of this kind.
A periodical had offered a prize of s. 600
for short continued story. The sum was
so great that very large number of tales
was submitted. The prize went TO com
paratively unknown writer, while distin-
guished writer of short stories who had
submitted one anonymously was humli
| ata I Nyh ha 6igpnVarpH
had received not even one of the minor
awards
1t is curious fact, however, that with
two or three exceptions those who have
competed in prize story contests with
success seem to have been unable TO main
tain the victories thus won. The writer
of short stories whose nom de plume is
20" did, as an unknown, win prize in
one of these contests, and from that success
he has gone on until now he is recognized
as one of the most brilliant of short story
writer's of Great Britain. But in the score
Or more of contests under the direction OF
the editors of some of the responsible peri
odicals of America there has been no case
in which the winner of prize maintained
afterward the repute thus gained. Miss
Ella Farman, as she then was, now Mrs
Pratt, won prize in contest OF that sort
and she afterward became the editor OF q
children's periodical, but there has been nc
story from her pen which compares with
the one which gained her that victory.
In the contest described above, which is
now about to be decided. one thing was
made evident, and that was that very
considerable number of persons now un
known are able to write fairly interesting
short stories, showing that discipline and
development are unquestionably training g
good many American writers. so that We
may expect hereafter to produce as bril-
liant tellers of short tales as does France
itself.
INSECTS inhabiting islands hav
| t.A. A,