Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1895-09-19
AT AN END.
(By Emma NJ. 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-
tiers 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 ia
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 a repository for all rejected Offer
ings at the shrine of literature. BY
the time she was nineteen there was
probably hundred or more of these
hapless productions laid away, either
to be ANONYMOUSLY forgotten or to be
resurrected and revised when her
mind should become sufficiently ma
tured to sift out whatever meritorious
material there might be in them and
use it to good advantage.
She worked steadily for more than
three months on her "Story Of the
Steamer Kendrick." One night she
finished rewriting it for the twenty
first time, and the next day she sent
it to Jesse Arnold, editor of the Iron
ton Inland Weekly, with a five-line
note asking him to read it carefully,
and even if he could not use it, 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
lishers But, for all that, each unhap-
pily-end:ng venture only added fresh
fuel to her zeal to secure foothOld
among the ranks Of the Inland Week
lys 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 a work of genius; but
there We're 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 a con-
scientious editor, decided to keep it.
He accepted it with that feeling of un-
certainty with which an insurance
man issues 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 condescended
to review the Inland Weekly, praised
it. Perhaps Editor Arnold himself
was more fully aware of the glaring
absurdities in the piece he had brought
out than were any of its 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 a
young artists first story. but which,
( If often repeated. would be Il serious
drawback to her advancement in her
SpVED ~En IL <1S Il
sent him another hastily-written story
! and letter, which was strange jun
BILE Of gratitude to him for bringing
her before the public, thankfulness
that she had been so we'll received,
and unstinted expressions of steadfast
belief 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 be cternally grateful to her for a.
lowing him to print a story which
would, in oil probability, shed luster
round his own reputation as well as
her own.
That evening he wrote the contem-
plated letter.
you are In danger of being spoiled"
lie said, in part. "YOu need advice,
and / feel that l have the right to
address You in the capacity of censor.
Remember you are In an up.to.date
world, and the litrnture that will live
will be the very essence. the embodi-
ment of that world. Visionary. IDEAL
istic sketches such as yours may make
very good reading. but they are not
the true stun. You have unquestioned
ability, but II you wish to succeed you
must turn It to the portrayal Of living