The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1894-05-18
STORY OF A STORY.
A Lost Manuscript and How It
Was Reproduced


The lot of n manuscript reader for a
great magazine soon gets to be as ioy-
less as that of faster for a tea-im-
porting house. He loses all zs>t for
literature, while at the same time. An
almost painfully acute sensitiven,.ss To
literary flavor possesses him He can
not help detecting the most exquisite
fragrances and aromas of the authors
art, but il is too often with the feeling
of the victim OF rose-fever who i com
pelled To pass through a garden in full
bloom
1t was somewhat remarkable. there
fore, that Payson Dewey, reader for
the Midland Magazine. should have
slipped into his pocket the manuscript
of story he had been reading. with
the intention of taking it home and
sharing his enjoyment of 1t with his
wife and niece Ii it had not been a
unique well as delightful story. Mr.
Dewey would certainly not have thus
departed from his usual custom of lcav-
ing the shop behind him when his worl,
for the day was done. For he had
reached the point where the couren-
tlOnal story, no matter how clegerlV
done. only nauseated HIM. OF course h,.
could pronounce upon II, - a prOfes-
sional critic without the least personal
bias; but Tor himself he would have en-
joyed fInging every story of a certain
popular type into the tire
Here was a tale. however. completely
and decidedly sui gsaeriz Il was told
without dialect. and, what Is still moe
remarkable, without dialogue The
characters did not Jump up. bow.
squeak and retire a. their strings ere
led hsar. 1.usf
characters in the story and these were
never allowed To appear, either sin-ly
or together, without the personal chap
eropage of the author. Their story
was told tor them in the sweetest, sim
plest quaintest way; and finally they
were sent away, hand in hand. a. un-
atfectcdly happy as two Arcadian low
ers When the author bowed to the
reader. presented him with 4 tail-pircc
and retired without even giving his full
name. But the initials were those of a
young and very popular story-writer
and Payson Dewey, from has interior
relations with the sanctum, knew that
the story was written by this man
On the way from the magazine office
to Mr.. Dewey's home, the manuscript
was lost
1t was useless to speculate how it
happened Looking 1t the stain OF
split milk fills nobody's thimble. There
Is precious little satisfaction 5u these
retroactive imaginings. What comfort
can 1t be To IA man, who has fallen and
broken his leg, to have a series OF snap
shot photographs of the curve he de-
scribed in falling? Yet people always
try To assuage their feelings in this
way, when they have experienced dis
aster. Payson Dewey did lie spent
the whole evening speculating, with
his wife and his niece. Vida, now that
manuscript could have gotten out Il
his pocket Perhaps IL was pulled out2
Perhaps it slipped out? Perhaps ii
went through?-no, that could not be;
there was no hole in the pocket, and
manuscripts, presumably, have attained
no mastery over the fourth dimension
of space. The conclusion of the whole
matter was, after all, that the manu-
script was lost
" hen Fiyson Dewey went back to
tie Midland Office in the morning he
had - tell the editor III chief that ne
had lost the manuscript Of the story,
'.All in Il Nutshe l. Of course the
editor looked grave and vcSed- There
are just two things to be done, Dewey
he said, and | will leave you 10 do
evening papers, and again Tomorrow
morning tit ought to have been done
this morniug), for the story Offer AS
tempting a reward for its return as
as you care to pay The other thing
Is to write To the author. Tell him
frankly that you have lost his manu-
script. Ask him if he has another
copy, or a rough draft. and then ofT.-r-
provided the story Is not found within
a week-to stand the expense of hav-
ing another copy made 1or us
None of the advertisements brought
the LOST manuscript, which pity
for they cost Paysnn Dewey six hard
earned dol ars- Ia two days a decided
" wrathy letter came rom the author:
MIR PAYsoS DEWEY. Dear Sir I must he
permitted 10 ,ay that NoIr cIrClc ssny Il mex
.usablc, and seems likely 10 cost Inc Tie utter
loss Of one OF my best product ols- should
have rough draft OF the story somewhere, but
cannot una it You, or the Midland Ma.lziHe,
must bear The responsibility What do you
propose TO do about it:'
What do 1 propose to do, Jane?'
asked Mr.. Dewey OF his wife, pathet-
ically.
Pay him what the Midland would
have given for the story" replied Mrs.
Dewey, promptly, and let that end
the matter. Iou can wear your old
suit all summer TO offset the loss and /
will make over lny dresses and bonnet.
and none of Us Will go To the seaside,
as we proposed.
Mr. Dewey sighed from the bottom
of his waistcoat, but he wrote n letter,
nevertheless offering to pay for The
story at the MidIand's special rates.
or terms for solicited matter of high
grade. This would be about two hun
dred dollars In due time came the
reply:
Money Is the least satisfactory equivalent
you could offer l really cannot alIorI 10 lose
this unique story. You must either IND IL OF
reproduce IL
Mrs Dewey's eyes flashed when her
husband read tn her this petulant and
unreasonable note. Very wcllr' she
cried. I'VE will reproduce it-at least,
l will And it viii not be the first
story / have written, either. Now,
Payson, l want you to give me, as
fully and definitely as possible, sketch
of the motif incidents and characters
of All in a Nut,hell.' The story struck
you 50 forcibly that you mus be able
To remember a good deal of II IN out
line Give me an idea, too. OF the
method of treatment. style atmos-
phere. etc Cudgel your brains, and
then l will cudgel mine"
Payson Dewey did cudgcl his brains
| He was able To give his wife a reason
ably ADEQUATE idea Of the plot, method
OF treatment and style of composition
| e a -.