The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-25
REJECTED ADDRESSES
UNUSUAL MURAL DECORATIONS DE-
vIsED BY A YOUNG WRITER.
Missiyes with which Obliging Editors
Accompanied the Return of Au-
thor's Manuscript.

tering the free knights of scribbledom.
there is a curio collection which is per-
haps unique in New York city. The walls
of thousands of other rooms may boast
their relics of travel, their barbaric in
struments and weapons. or, coming nearer
home. their etchings, amateur photo
graphs. old prints, posters. musical scores
and what not; but all such collections are
now familiar and ordinary; in them there
is no originality The young who in
habits the Fourteenth-street upper cham
Der has turned his mind from the COM
monplace. and has departed from all con-
noisseur traditions.
He is writer of short stories, who. in
the last two or three years, has attained
considerable success; and his collection
has been gathered from the fields of lit
erature-"the battlefelds of literature
as he himself expressed 1t. About his
four walls runs an unashamed dado of
Letters Of Rejection" those niissives,
brutal, characterless or urbane, as the
case may be. with which the journals and
magazines of America are pleased to es-
cort on their homeward journey manu-
scripts sent back rejected. Almost all OF
the prominent monthlies and weeklies, and
indeed most of the leading dailies, are
represented there; some appear quite fire.
quently. Duplicates are for sale" ex-
planned the collector, cheerfully, as he
showed us about There is everything
from bits of pasteboard or copy paper
stamped Returned with thanks" or "Un-
available, to personal letters from the
editorial inner offices of some of the great
magazines. These latter, however, are the
ShakSDeara autographs 10
auk's eggs of the exhibit, and serve
rather to emphasize the variety of speci-
mems comprised than, to any appreclable
degree, to lend their own color of regal
purple TO the collection. By far the COM
monest forms the printed slips and
the letters In imitation typewriting. Yet
My friend and 1 both remarked on this
to the collector.
SENTIMENT THE SAME.
Yes he acknowledged, after some
Election. 'ff you take them all together
there is considerable breadth of treat
ment shown, but then, again, If you OBJ
serve carefully you can't but notice what
an astonishing uniformity of motif there
is" We certainly noticed it, and grinned
Now, take that bit of scribbling paper
scrawled over by the Office boy. any
would say that it is from the Gadfy." II
reserve the right of judicious alteration
and editing.) Returned unavailable
with thanks-many regrets 1t is jerky,
nervous and abrupt-distinctly impression
istic in tone and manner. On the other
hand, take this from the Century. Its
composition is dignified and elaborate:
We regret that the offered manuscript
SO many questions enter into-previouS
acceptance of similar manuscripts-super-
fluffy of matter-return of manuscript
does not necessarily mean-the editors
ask that the absence of criticism be kindly
Ca1 -urffh hon for
This is quite plainly from the dignifed
school. But the difference is only in the
manner or treating tf1e. idea. The theme is
the same in both of them
1t took some time TO go the rounds of
the walls, but with the collector himself
guide we were at length able to pass
from the general aspects of the collection
to its more particular features. Before
going into details, however, there is one
curious generalization that may be made;
with few exceptions the dailies send the
briefest miSsives, the weekles the next In
length, and the monthlies epistles of some
volume. That sketchingly quoted from the
Century may also stand for those from
Harper's and Scribner's. But that of Har-
per's is noteworthy in another respect;
the same form is used for the Monthly.
the Weekly. the Bazaar and the Round
Table. and the titles of all four appear in
the letter press of the rejection. Thus,
when would-be contributor sends man.
uscript to one of their periodicals its re-
fusal comes from the whole quartet.
That's one of the blows that
almost killed father" commented the coll
lector. I'm boomb-proof as far as regu-
lar. single-shell artillery goes, but when
il comes to going up against shrapnel,
weaken. And here's another of the same
sort-Aiunsey. A rejection from them in
cludes rejection from Munsey Junior, the
Puritan and the Argosy. When hrst got
one of these felt as If I'd touched off an
avalanche Yet, with such just causes CT
complaint aside, one cannot but be struck
| by the almost unanimous editorial desire
4
been given. Though the Letter of Re-
lection be stereotyped, it is almost in
variably attempt 10 keep up the spirits
of the writer and-what is much more TO
| the points often, too, a warning against
some of the mistakes which, in general,
hurt his chances of success McClure's
| is generous almost to cordially. The Cos
| mopolitan besides encouching it's enforced
nonacceptance in terms quite chattily
| genial appends a list Of rules-really tips
| for contributors. Other magazines do
much the same
WAYS OF PUTTING 1T.
Among the weekles the Ladies Home
Journal, Saturday Evening Post (Phiiadel-
phia) and Golfers have forms not varying
much from the common. OF the comics,
| Judge politely remarks that 1t is Obliged
| to return much excellent matter because
| unable to find room for it. Pucks insert
| is somewhat similar-"It's their envelope
that gives you the cash" interpolated the
| collector 1.-The motto on their crest is
| What fools these nlortals be-. you know,
| and that is stamped right across the seal.
One of my first attempts was made on
| Puck and that legend scored my youth
| full feelings that L didn't have IL in me to
| go I'D against them again for almost two
| years" I.ifeEs missive is blue. which, from
| the recipients point OF view, is doubtless
| ridiculous excess. And among other OBJ
| servations they make the remark that
| any number OF reasons may render a con-
| tribution unsuitable Just how many rea-
sons is left to the bruised vanity of the
| contributor"
The collector settled himself rumina-
| lively on the corner of the typewriter
| table You know / didn't collect from
the beginning. AT first i was too much
| engrossed in Literature, with a double
sized capital L. When these little docu-
| ments humains-or inhumains, i might bet
I ter call them--came back accompanying
my own / used TO curse them immoder-
/ ately and throw then into the wastepaper
! basket; in the shortsightedness OF youth
| the value / attached 20 them was consid-
/ erably less than nil. And, to tell the
| truth even when did begin to save them
and stick them UP on the WALL started
I in that corner over there. was not with
the idea of making a collection % them
Ii was rather sort of fippaut defiance OF
fortune, for one day IL occurred TO me in
/ a moment of brilliant idiocy, that as she
4 woman might not the 5rst