Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-09-14
TRAVELS OF A MANUSCRIPT.
An Incident Illustrating the TribuIations
 of Authorship.
Especial Correspondence.l ]

Special Correspondence.l
 NEW YORK, Sept. 11.-It was just o'clock as knocked at the door of the CO., ziCst womnn's club in New York.
 The fragrance of tea-the very best Oo- lOng-camc to me like a breath of wei come.
 There were half a dozen young women sitting about, some on rugs, some tailor fashion on a divan, sOmo o1 tables, none in the conventional chair iI thc convcn- tional attitude.
 'McthusclGh Is back again. !" whispered one of thcsc latter day rcformcrs to me, her mouth filled with bread and jam. "Isn't it n shame? Poor Addic!'
 l knew what she meant. Every one be- longing to tho club was aware that one of the members had written novel which no editor could bc cajolCd into accepting, and in consequence of its many expert cncCs it was nicknamcd Methusclah.
 ''HCrc it is!'' said the disappointed au- thorcss, pointing to n grimy roll of paper beside her.
 Never mind," said one of thoso com fortahle people who take such n provOk- ingly cheerful view of every one elsc's fu- ture. ''Thcrc arc lots like you
 Afterward for 20 minutes I talked 10 that young woman. and what she said will surcly be of interest to the thousands of young writers all over the land.
 ''Whc this was ready for publication, as thought, she said, with fearful sniff, Il was the happiest girl alive. took it to Thc Century. After six weeks I called to find out its fate, and a young man who looked as if he was afraid of me said 1t was not philosophical enough
 After that I tried every magazine in New York. In some places it wasn't even read, as l was frankly and politely i'm formed. Oh. the terrible despair I felt when n very sweet voiced young man nt Harpcr's told me they had manuscripts thcro by the dozen which they had bought 25 years ago and had never been able to publish, they were so crowded. took the manuscript home. It wasn't 'Mcthusc- lah' then. That name came when it had jOurncyCd much by land and water.
 Well, I rccopicd it and sent it to an other city. It came hack, soilcd and toss cd. Bravely frrShcncd it up, put new covers on it, called it by another name and sent it forth again. In two months back it came as weather beaten as beforc.
 The heroine was blond, and n nCwSpa- per woman told me she had heard that cd iturs were prrjudicCd against blond hero ines, so 1 went through the mass of papers carefully and changed her from a pale, ethereal creature to n flashing brunette. Think of the work Cntailcd. I not only had tn alter her description, but such phrases as 'Rndrrick looked into her great pansy blue eyes and sighed. oh, it was dreadful, but Hot a bit of use! Now, after bCing rcchrStvncd three times, copied four times and when il is quite four years old, it has come back from it. last jaunt.
 If a girl wants Ia write a story. let her lr sure she knows what she iS writing about. laid my story in Spain. q cnun- try haI never lsrn in. l made il 4.OuO words lunc-a most imVrictiCHhlc length.
 If I wvrr l"',innin.g gain, I'd describe the life about me. try to make my char acrvrS something besides romantic 1ictionS, and Id devote at least 10. 0uU words to their struggles. I rcalizc 'Methusclah's' deficiencies so clcarly-that the worst of it."
 What will you do with the manuscript nOw:'' 1 asked.
 Put it under tho bcd-or paper n room with it as n living text"
 KATE JORDAN.