Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-12-25
1 THE CHRISTMAS STORY.
WRITTEN FOR THE COURIER.
Collins was perplexed.


Possibly in all his score and half
of busy years Collins had never been
in such state of deep and overwhelm-
ing perplexity before. In all his va
RED and Kaleidoscope newspaper ca
reer he had never wrestled with such
a problem. Sitting at his desk in the
news office of the Daily Arrow, chew
ing the end of an unlighted cigar and
nervously tapping the pad OF copy
paper with his pencil, Collins was the
personification of Respondent gloom.
"Confound it all'' he calculated for
the twentieth time, ''if had ever had
ghost of a romance in my whole lie,
like the other fellows, maybe 1t would
not seem so impossible. But who
ever heard of Christmas story with
out romance and how on earth can
prosaic fellow like me write of love
and devotion that he has never felt.
don't believe there is any such thing
as this kind of love that you read
about, anyway. It's all bosh."
The lamp on the desk gave sym
pathetic sputter and flickered know
ingly, shedding it's smoky rays of
light around the sanctum, Whine only
serving to make the shadows in the
spacious room seem deeper. The old
clock, high on the wall, licked it's ap-
prevail in never varying monotone.
Now, Mouser,' he went on. adj
dressing the Office cat who, with one
spring had landed at his elbow,
barely escaping the lamp, ''if it was
a scoop of any kind say murder or
suicide, or hold-up, or a secret
council session, or an interview with
She most exclusive and unapproach-
able potentate on the globe, well say,
wouldn't we give them all cards and
spades?
"Of course will admit that pos
sess a good healthy, well developed
Imagination and there may have been
times when have had to draw on that
selfsame Imagination to supply va
rious missing links, but that is vastly
different from writing a Christmas
story.
"a Christmas story, you must I'M
derstand, kitten, to be the real thing
must, first and foremostly, be true to
life. The mistletoe has to figure pro-
miscuously and there must be cou
pie of sizzling hot love scenes. But
you see the trouble is it is so easy to
overdraw love scene and make it
appear foolish, especially if fellow
has never actually been there himself
Did you ever stop to think, you saucy-
faced cat, that it is only hairbreadth
from the sublime to the ridiculous?
That is why SO many novelists fail.
They go just beyond the sublime or
else maybe they stop just crossing
this side.
well there is no use talking, l can't
afford to risk my reputation on some
fantastic description of q love scene
that might look all right here in this
semi-gloom, but when it would appear
tomorrow, in glare of printers ink,
would surely fall flatter than pam
cake. But what on earth are we go
ing to do about it?" And here Collins
feet came to the floor with bang and
rising he began to walk nervously
to and fro.
The Daily Arrow had for weeks pub
Iished lengthy accounts of the ex-
elusive Christmas story by famous
writer, the novelist of the hour that
was to be one of the features of their
Christmas edition, and now at the
last moment, the wires flashed the
news that the manuscript had been
destroyed in fire while enroute and
it was too late to be replaced. The
story had been advertised and written
UP so extensively, the authors popu
larity having grown so marked thru
his latest book, that it had become a
town topic and was eagerly looked for
ward to by the Arrows readers. Now
something must be done to counteract
4 in measure the disappointment that
was sure to follow the announcement
of the disaster to the manuscript
There was no time to get other matter
SO the managing editor had turned to
his city editor to help him out OF the
difficulty.
81 "Say, Collins, you write us three
column Christmas story, will you.
Something game, you know, to take
the place of the other one"
what? Me write story that could
fill a vacancy left by a writer like
M What do you think | am, a
budding Shakespeare? Why don't
YOU request me to take trip to Mars
or get an interview with the Man in
the Moon. or something more within
my scope?"
.Oh, come, old fellow" was the hear
ty reioinder, "you are too modest
You know you haven't got an equal on
the force in space writing, and If you
throw in love scene or two, with the
( return of the prodigal son on Christ
mas eve, just as the mortgage on the
old homestead is to be foreclosed, sur
mount it all with descriptive snow
4 storm and have a God bless you, my
children at the climax, but" hastily
II need not try to give you any point
ers, you always were equal to an emer
< gency and it will be an easy matter
for you, you know. Don't forget,
ne concluded putting on his hat ant
oyercoat, "only about three columns
and make it a winner"
Collins was musing, half to himself
as he paced the deserted sanctum. Hi
thoughts had wandered back to hi
early youth and he was trying to ser
y arate the romance from the practica
reality of his busy life. "Of course
there were girls, and some l knew a
college. Nice girls, too. Helen wa
a beauty, but oh, how vain! Then Il
ma was dear, but that was just on
little summer. thought Constanc
was the only one when we jabbere