Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-11-11
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Gossip of the Day Among Editors
Publishers and Writers.

l
Work - Post WheeIcr's where
| nbOuts-Mrs. Cnndee's New story.
NEW YORK, Nov. 1O. Special. If you
nave ever listened much to the gossip Of
writing folk, especially those whose arti-
cles are not much in demand, you know
that they are constantly scoring the edi-
tors of the magazines and the readers of
the publishing houses for not paying more
attention to the ordinary run of casual
contributions. And if you have ever heard
tho editors ana the readers talk together
| you know that they are all the time com.
| planning that there is scarcity of good
things among the casual contributions;
that, although these manuscripts are al
ways carefully examined and searched
through for desirable copy, not one in 100
Is worth publishing. Yet the casual con-
tributors keep right on sending in their
ehusions, and the editors and manuscript
readers keep right on looking over the
same. Every once in awhile, moreover, a
piece of work is found by some writer, till
then unknown to editors and publishers
even by name, that moro than pays for
many previous weeks of hootless search
| thlOuBH ICulllS Oh WOftnlCSS manuscript.
Gems From Indianapolis.
Such thing happened to one of tho
best known magazine editors only the
other day. To be entirely accurate there
was triple find, for three "casual" man
uscripts which possibly reached the Office
in the same mail turned out to be genu-
Inc gems in the short story line. The au.
thor of the first of these stories-a woman
Is not quite novice, since she has sue
ceeded in placing one or two manuscripts
| in the past, but the authors of the other
| two-both young men-had never been
| heard of by the editor and said frankly in
| their lettors that they were just beginning
| to grope their way along the path of i'm
aginative literature. Obviously enough,
| the envelope containing each of these I'M
expectedy good stories was postmarked
indianapolis" and all three were prompt
| ly accepted.
Of the three stories the one by the writer
| who had before this had manuscript &C
cepted was the least desirable, being mere
| ly fairly good story of rather conven-
| tional type and a certain definite CONNER
cial value. The other two were quite out
of the ordinary The scene of one, by
young man who was graduated from
| Princeton few years ago, is laid in Bath
at the time when Bean Nash was tho lead
ing spirit of that old time English water
| ing place and the plot Is built up round
| the adventures Of a certain French prince.
| This story is remarkable for its piquant
style, its admirable atmosphere and that
| Elusive stimulation of reality which is the
| essence of art. The other, whose author is
Harvard graduate now actively engaged
| in farming, depicts country life in mod
est, convincing style-the sort Of style that
| r1Nn l-aG hn lprf h.,tt- h.,
story is told in his enjoyment of tho char
acters and action of the story itself
| Hnmlin GnrInnd's Hard Luck.
Hamlin Garland, who arrived in Chi
cago the other day after futile attempt
to reach the Klondikc, which lasted all
summer and resulted in nothing more i'm
| portant than attaining point from which
| he could safely start home again Just in
| time to escape the early SHOWS, has sent
| his publishers here some remarkably clever
descriptions of his experiences. Some of
| his friends who have seen the manuscript
think he found quite rs good material for
| spirited, robust writing travelling all sum-
mer long first northward in an attempt
to reach the land of gold and then south
ward in his desire to get rs far away from
it as possible, as he would have picked up
had he been successful. These friends
|
telegraph trail starting at Ashcroft, Brit
ish Columbia, which he found deluson
and snare, in a tone that is little less
| than enthusiastic and declare the lines to
| be exceedingly virile and telling. They
say that he has only to keep on doing
work of this quality a short time to add
new and highly credtable laurels as a
strong and vigorous poet of the Homeric
| sort.
But it does seem pity that he should
have been prevented by his desire to visit
the Klondike from witnessing any part of
| Cuba's war drama.
Others In the Same Fix.
Hamlin Garland is by no means the
| only writer DESTROYS of seeing whatever
dramatic and exciting is going forward on
| this earth who missed the Spanish Ameri-
| can war by reason of a Klondike trip.
Frederick Palmer, the young newspaper
man who covered himself with credit in
| Greece when the Hellenes and Turks were
| fighting and whose book, issued early in
the present year, won many favoring com
! ments, is one of these. Mr.. Palmer's first
| experience as q war correspondent was
| eminently satisfactory to himself and his
employers, and had he believed the strain
between the United States and Spain
would eventuate in war could not have
! been dragged to the Klondike with chains
Another writer who might have been
! glad to witness some part of the Spanish
! American war, but was prevented by rca-
son of a klondike trip, is Post Wheeler,
the clever and epigrammatic author of
reflections of a Bachelor" which APP
| peared first in the columns of Tho Press
and later made quite a success in book
form. Mr.. Wheeler is still north and will
probably remain there all through the
coming winter
POstbeIIum Novel.
Mrs. Helen c. Candee, whose work in
the magazines and other periodicals has
attracted some attention, has spent the
better part of the past few months in
writing novel of American country life
| She calls it "After the War, and the hero
is one of those who fought at Santiago.
She is now putting the finishing touches
to the tale, and critic who has seen the
rough draft does not hesitate to say that
! in literary construction and in live human
interest the novel will surely add to this
charming young woman's literary reputa-
ton. Mrs. Candies mother, Mrs. Mary
! @. Hungerford, has been long distin-
guished among the group of older Ameri-
can writers to which Mrs. Sangster, editor
of Harper's Bazaar, and Mrs. Terhune
! (MariOn Harland) belong With Mrs.
! Candee writing is labor of love, as she
has a competency and takes up the pen
only because she feels that she has some