The Dickinson press., 1895-09-21
AT AN END.
(By Emma M. Wise.)

(By Emma Nj. Wise.)
Esther Lindsay was nineteen when
her first story was published. 1t was
not the first one she had written, by
any means. Ever since she had been
able to form the alphabetical charac-
ters and join them legibly, her fertile
brain had been weaving all sorts Of
possible and impossible romances,
many of which she had forwarded to
publishers in various parts of the
country, believing, with all the fervor
of her youthful egotism that her crude
sentiments still more crudely wrought
would inspire in some editors soul
the same faith in her greatness which
she herself already possessed.
But somehow her contributions al
ways fell short of the mark of excel
lence necessary to insure them q fa-
vorable consideration, and manuscript
after manuscript was returned to her
and was securely locked away in the
lower drawer of her old fashioned bu-
reau, which had been dedicated with
a good many tears Of disappointment,
as repository for all rejected Offer
ings at the shrine of literature. BY
the time she was nineteen there was
probably a hundred OF more of these
hO 00tI
to be ignominiously forgotten or to be
resurrected and revised when her
mind should become sufficiently ma
tured to sift out whatever meritori0us
material there might be in them aud
use it to good advantage.
She worked steadily for more than
three months on her "Story of the
Steamer Kendr;ck." One night she
finished rewriting 1t for the twenty
first time, and the next day she sent
1t to Jesse Arnold, editor of the Iron
ton Inland Weekly, with a five-line
note asking him to read it carefully,
and even If lie could not use 1t. to let
her know what he thought of it.
OF all the editors in the land she
seemed to have chosen him as her
most favored target; why, she could
not have told, for she had no personal
acquaintance with him, and his letters
accompanying returned manuscript
had been even more curt and forbid
ding than those Of his brother pub
fishers. But, for all that, each unhap-
pily-end.ns venture only added fresh
fuel to her zeal to secure f0othold
among the ranks of the Inland Week.
ly's contributors and compel it's chief,
by sheer force of her importantly, to
acknowledge her developed or poten-
tial ability.
Her "Story of the Steamer Kend-
rick was not n work of genius; but
there were phases Of the plot that
were strong and passages that were
unusually well conceived and exc
cuted; and, after reading it three
times, Jesse Arnold, who was n con-
scientious editor, decided to keep It,
He accepted it with that feeling of un-
certainty with which an insurance
man issues q policy on an extra-haz-'
ardous risk, and congratulated him.
self on his shrewdness with equal de-
light when it turned out to be pre-
ferred. The public liked the STORY.
and several critics who condescendei
to review the Inland Weekly, praised
1t. Perhaps Editor Arnold himself
was more fully aware of the glaring
absSrdities in the piece he had brought
out than were any of it's readers, and
each favorable comment that came to
his notice only made them all the
more apparent. At last he concluded
to write to his unknown literary pro-
tege and warn her against certain
errors which might be pardoned in q
young artists first story, but which,
II often repeated, would be q serious
drawback to her advancement in her
art. Before he did so, however, she
sent him another hastily written story
and a letter, which was strange ium.
bic OF gratitude to him for bringing
her before the public, thankfulness
that She had been SO we'll received,
and unstinted expressions of steadfast
neiief that she was fairly launched ON
a sea of success where wrecks and
disasters were an impossibility. In
conclusion. she limited that he ought
to he eternally grateful to her for oil.
lowing him to print a story which
would, In all probability, shed 'luster
round his own reputation as we'll M
her own.
That evening he wrote the contem
plated letter.
You are in danger of being spoiled, ,
he said, in part. "You need advice
and l feel that l have the right Il
ADDRESS you in the capacity of censor
; Remember you are in an up.to-5at,
world. and the litrature that will lty
Will be the very essence, the embodi
ment Of that world. Visionary. ideal
istic sketches such as yours may max
very good reading, but they are no
the true stuff. You have unquestione
ability. but If you wish to succeed 70
msst sat ana Ep MoSeh It tS te hg S a
puppets that you have manipulated II
the most part in your Story of tt
Steamer Kendrick.' Take your her
for instance. 1t may be quite cor
forting for time to come in conhc
through the medium of printers liz
and paper, with an Apollo, ment
Hercules, spiritual god and fina
ctal CrOesus; all combined in OF
American man, and q New Yorker
that, but I doubt If any of us wou
relish closer acquaintance with hir
he would lie apt to prove unpalatabl
Besides, he would be an excresence {
the human race, and after your secor
or third story the public would ha,
none Of him. So take warning. Nal
your hero q real manLfull Of impe
iections II need be-and let the 60,
take care of themselves"
Esther Lindsay read and reread Il
yAAA ~