Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1896-01-03

Is Conducted-Some Specimen Letters
Written by the Trade Agents.
OF the numerous trades the followers of
which depend for their livelihood upon
the folly, vanity and snobbishness of their
fellow men one of the simplest and not
least remunerative is that of the biography
manufacturer. To succeed in this branch
of business it is necessary to possess Ger
tain knowledge of mankind, considerable
tact and, above all, a great deal of assur-
ance.
There are various ways Of conducting
this business. One of the commOnest is by
means of the circular letter. This, which
is sent by the biography manufacturer to
any likely victim, announces that Messrs.
So-and-so will shortly publish biograph-
ical cyclopcdia, and that, as the work
would be very incomplete il. it omitted to
mention the addressee, the publishers
would be much Obliged to him if he would
furnish them with his biography at an
early date To this is usually added that
no charge whatever is made for printing
the biography, but we are very anx-
ious, " the letter goes on to say, ito secure
your portrait the cost of which will be
-" The price varies considerably, &C
cording to its size, the status of the biog-
raphy factory, etc. The letter generally
concludes by saying that "your orders and
those of as many of your friends as posi-
bic for the complete work are solicited"
Sometimes the biography is written by
a friend; but, if he is a good friend, the re-
suit is generally much the same as if it
had been written by the subject himself.
The following extract from the life OF
A. B., poet as submitted to biog-
raphy factory, will serve to illustrate this:
Ellis many sided nature is illustrated
by the following incident: One morning
he went to New York to give his foreman
and wOrkmen some instructions in carry
ing out contract for building a Creosote
factory in HobOken. In the afternoon the
Poets club gave him reception, and his
latest epic was the topic of discussion. Lat
er he went to Sheepshead Bay to see his
famous steeplechaser BuCephalus engage
in race there. In the evening he lectured
on Folklore before select literary au-
dience, and aftorward, before the - Attn
letic club, he whipped the champion anna
teur pugilist of the world. "
Sometimes the autobiographer endeavors
to convey the impression that the life was
written by another. Here is II verbatim
copy of such Il biography: - was
born in Portland, Me, Jan. 2, 1854. His
fathers name is John p. Ericsson; by trade
he was a blacksmith. 1 left there when L
was 81 years old went to school until
was Is years Old, and taught school and
did clerical work until was 81 years old,
and then l came west to Kansas to work
f,,Ah 4 EApf ~ act
five years of my life have taken Patents
and Developed them. l took out patent
five years ago it. was machine that done
away with typesetting. l got mar
ried in 1879 to Mary Il. Jones we have
two children"
To this the agent considerably added,
Il suppose you eau write the above from
these data
Most autobiographers attach the utmost
importance to every detail that relates
either to themselves, their family connec-
tions or their friends One of these, for in
stance, describes at length the illness of
his daughter and concludes with, lon
Jan. this beautiful girl left her fathers
handsome residence on Palisade avenue
for heaven'-"her fathers handsome resi-
dence on Palisade avenue" being carefully
inserted in the original statement, show
ing it to have been an afterthOught that
the reader might be impressed with the
desirability of both ends of the route de-
scribed.
Modesty is not one of the autObiogra-
piers characteristics After many pages
relative to his achievements both in gen
eral and in particular, but mostly in partic-
ulal Florida physician asked his biog-
raphers to tell the world what l have
done" A dentist thus ohronioled his
work, "Since removing to Dakota, DR..
Molar's career has been a series of brilliant
successes" Twenty pages devoted to the
achievements, ancestry, personal appear
ance, etc, of wholesale grocer wound up
with the credible statement, Mr.. Soap
andStarch is modest man" That the
agent is the prime cause of biography fac
tory success is proved by the following let
te1s In each instance the agents letter
was accompanied by bulky autobiography
from the subject"
Messfs. 6 Co.:
GENTs-I send you the biogs. Of Mr.. and
Mrs. - under a separate cover. have been
working on Mr.. Walker for a $1,000 order ever
since / haye been in this city, but have not yet
secured it. He is very wealthy and full Of
conccit judging from the biogs. he had copied
from different publications and from what
have observed, but his leg has been pulled UNI
til it got soar (sicl, and now it is hard to get
his name down again. He said he wanted 20
see how we will write his and his wife's biogs.
before he will do anything. l think it will
pay you to write these two biogs. at once and
give them all the iattery possible. You can
not give them too much. Write them extern
svely, and after have the orders you can cut
them down to suit yourselves. Both Mr.. and
Mrs - said that all the biogs. that have
been written about them don't do them JUS
tce at all. They imagine that they are the
greatest people in the state Write above the
biogs. that it is written by the editor in chief
because ! told them that l would have the