The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-08-31
CRITICIsE EDITOR. 4 j.
YOUNG WRITER'S WHOSE MANU-
SCRIPTS ARE REJECTED.
Look Upon the Editor as Very In
3 competent Person Edward BOX
Shows How It is Very Natural for
Them to Think So. &. I.

E## eLehg Person s----& Edward Box
shows How It is Very Natural for
Them to Think so
Inere is a popular impression, a
very general one in fact, that the ed
1tor OF q magazine never reads the.
manuscripts which are sent to him by
+ + unknown I'M writer's; that all such manu-
scripts are returned unread, or are
thrown into eapacious waste baskets.
I A great many writer's believe this be-
cause they want to believe it. And,
really, anything becomes plausible if
one only believes it hard enough and
long enough. It would never do for
those who write, and whose writings
are not found acceptable, to believe
anything else; for the brain-children
/ OF writer are as precious to him as.
are the blood-children of a mother to
/ her. Each is perfect in the eyes of it's
parent. Therefore, the editor cannot
nave had any acquaintance with these
bral IN children. II he had had they
would have been Immediately adopted
into the magazine family. So, you
see, the case is perfectly clear and
easily proven against the editor. Here
and there it is conceded that the ed
ltor does occasionally read manu-
script. But that is only when some
FAMOUS name is attached to it. And
some, persons go SO far as to say that
the editor does not read even these
manuscripts. m They prove their ground
again by saying that if the editor had
read the manuscripts by these famous
folk he never would have printed
them. So there the editor is again
trapped. The simple and natural de-
ductlon is, therefore, that he reads no
manuscript at all. If may drift for.
moment intogpersonaI reminiscence,
will recall a case where a consider
ate lady, who had ascertained in some
occult manner that had a great deal
OF leisure on my hands, sent me a
manuscript, and said that, as a test Of
a personal reading, she had left out
every ssa," !" s'and" and '.the. = and it
was for me to supply the words
wherever missing as proof that + had
read the manuscript It was brief
article OF some eleven thousand
words! It so happened, unfortunate
~, that at that particular time was
very busy. It was true that my occu-
patton was not important; it was sim
ply that I was preparing number of
the magazine for my readers! I pre-
sumo could have put the work off for
a: week. But didn't, and the manu-
script went back without the missing
words supplied. see now that it was
mistake For that particular lady
has had me in the pillory in the pub
lie prints a number Of times, and has
clearly proven the case of an unread
manuscript against me. She has thus
far withheld the facts of the missing
words, but, of course, that is an un-f
important detail in proving her case!
/ remember another instance of a very
sweet young lady who inserted some
of her most beautiful ribbons between
the pages of a manuscri pit 1t SO hap
pens that I have no particular taste
for ribbons, and as the members Of
my family do not care for the COM
bined colors of bright orange and a
rose scarlet, I had no special use for
the ribbons and so put them back in
the manuscript. Naturally it was an
other case against me. I was caught
red handed as it were. With the
knowledge of how it is done, any one.
can easily figure out how impossible
it is for a young writer to get into
one OF the modern magazines. This
is particularly true of the young au-
thor of distinct promise The more
ability he shows in his first manu-
script the tighter are the lines drawn
to keep him out And as all the mag
azine editors think and act as one
man in this particular respect it is
easy to see what a formidable front
the young author has to face It is
hard on the young author, allow,
but to give way for an instant would
mean calamity to the argument of the
unknown writer that a writer without
fame cannot secure an audience for
his wares in the magazines Of to-day
And the editor must make good xthe.
unknown writer's argument. In fact,
that is what he is there for, pure and
simple Every publisher OF a maya
zine employs an editor solely to keep
merit and unknown writer's out OF his
period ical! That is all an editor does!
The magazine editor, in other words,
Is a man to be senVied !! He lives a life
Of perfect ease and luxury! His per-
sonal friends write the contents; the
eompositors set the type; the printers
print the magazine, and the publisher