The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-09-28
WRITING AROUND PICTURES.

(From the New Orleans, Times Democracy
1"Once upon time was hack writer and
allaround literary carpenter for short
lived magazine in Chicago" said an old
newspaper man. ut was a fascinating oc-
cupation. There was very little money in
the concern, and we had to resort to a lot
of taking to make show. 1t was before
the days of cheap process illustrations,
but we got lot of old, stock cuts from
bankrupt job printer and l used to pick
out three or four and write a story around
'em. AS they had no earthly sequence or
connection 1t was job requiring consid-
cradle ingenuity, and Pendennis grinding
out his celebrated custom made poems
simply wasn't in it with me. 1 remember
on one occasion I sorted out three pictures
for our leading tale. One represented two
young people wandering in the woods, and
had originally garnished the May leaf Of
soap calendar. That did we'll enough for
the meeting of my hero and heroine. The
second depicted a couple of men fighting
a precipice, and was made as an 'ad'
for the old melodrama "A Life for Life.
1 used it to illustrate the chapter in which
the villain is thwarted in his scheme to do
up the heroine's papa. The last was grue-
some scene in a graveyard, with man
lying PROSTATE before tomb. In order
to work 1t in 1 gave my story a tragic
finale. and made my hero commit suicide
over the grave of his lady love. UnfOr-
tunately the foreman dropped an iron mall
let on this picture, and absolutely ruined
it just before going to press. The only
thing I could find that fit the space was a
wood cut showing man in tree with
big bull dog sitting on the ground under
meath, and as there was no time to scare
up anything else, changed the final chapter
and gave the tale comic ending. After
thwarting the villain, the hero Is chased
into the tree by the bull dog, and while he
is held there a prisoner the heroine runs
of with the French cook. Strange to say,
the story was one of the most popular
things we ever printed. ~
Zone of my duties continued the old
newspaper man, was to lick manuscripts
into shape. We had rule that every line
of poetry had to rhyme, and when it didn't
1 made it. Just to show you how easy 1t
really is, take stanza at random from
the magazine in my hand. Here, for in
stance are the first and last stanzas of
little poem:
cay, love me, DEAR but just today,
The sunshine over all.
The roses crimsonfng the air
Along the garden wall!
There is no hand. may stop the sand
From flowing fast away,
But his who turns the whole glass down
And dreams it's all today.
eff that had been sent to our magazine
l would have made it read:
"Ay, love me, dear, but just today,
The sunshine over ALL
The roses in brave array
Along the garden wall!
For only he may stop the sand
From flowing fast away
Who turns the glass with fearless hand
And dreams it's all today.
See? It's as easy as rolling of log. I
used to. do some pIetfy heavy carpenter
work on serious paters, too, and 1t was
really an exploit in that line that closed us
up. Some politician in New Jersey sent US
in a red-hot contribution unfolding protec-
ton. 1 liked the laaster more than the
manner so I merely died a few pages re-
futing all the propositions and turning it
into an able document for free trade. I
forgot, however, to Erase his signature, and
when it came out it ruled the author. with
his entire constitute cN He didn't do
thing but take the train for Chicago. My
boss told him to 8ffk an action II he@
wanted to, and he said all right, he'd begin
at once. The actioR1 wa brief, but It left
parts Of him, and Whit he was convale6-
cent our creditors sd4eGFthe plant. = swasl
the end 81 1 very psdinising enterprises
often think Of 1t with regret. =