Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-11-14

HiE--uy own ruOLi0T2Ss inc FE,flafKS o.
experiences Of my comra..a7 III asso
ciates, sentences from books / reaC
: and some phases of nature.
At q Thanksgiving eve bah | recoI
Ilect Waiting with a very sGgd-lookln&
young man whom | met there for the
first time The band played one Of
Strauss waltzes. AS we fioated ab0ut
the hall thought TO myself: IF | were
desperately in love with this man anC
he cared for some one else this
waltz would sound like a dirge TO me-
So the next day | wrote little poem
called The Dirge (Which paid for my
sliDpers), which was widely copied
The Waltz-Quadrille, one of my most
popular early verses, was similarly
conceived / had promised the quad,
rifle at q commencement ball at Madi,
son university 70 a man on the eve OF
d journey, who was unable to find me
when the number was called. Although
/ did not have the pleasure of q dance
with MIN, | wrote the poem and sent
way I should have felt had I been in
love with you and had / danced the
waItz-QUadrille with You gust before
your departure from Madison
The editors seemed to wat these
heartwails, and one returned q his
torical poem l ventured to write, say
ing: Send us little heartache verses
those are what our readers like
4 new line Of railroad came through
| the county, and we had three mails q
week and a postoffice only three miles
away. My good single-pacer was sold,
| but my father had taken an old horse.
! ] used to write my daily stint of sew
eral poems, and perhaps a story, and
with a half-doZen manuscripts address
, cd to me as many editors I would
! harness old Burney and drive to the
| postoffce with my brain wares, and
! great was the day when | brought
home check. Harper paid me SIS for
one poem, Leslie sent me a check for
$40 for 10 poems and a short story, the
Saturday Evening Post sent me a set
Of Dickens, all within a period of six
months after my first money success.
1t seemed wonderful to me, and to
the family and to the neighbors.
Until | began to earn money the
neighbors had criticised my mother
for keeping me out of the kitchen and
allowing me to ''scribble" so much.
But when they found me able with one
days work at my desk to hire an as
sistant~ in the house for month, they
began TO respect my talent
The Key to Success.
/ often wish the scores of grown
men and women who write me for
laid and influence" in getting into
print could know just how [ found my
way into the favor of editors. 1t was
by sheer persistence. 1t never Oc-
Cured to me to ask advice Or assist
ance of strangers. I am glad it did
not, for the moment we lean upon any
one but the divine power and the
divinity within us we lessen our
chances Of success. | often receive
letters now from writer's in the west
asking me TO use my influence with
editors in their behalf, saying: you
must realize from your own early
struggle how impossible it is to get
start in an eastern periodical without
a friend at court" No more absurd
idea ever existed. Eastern editors are
on the lookout for new talent constant
ly, and if a writer possesses it, tOgeth-
or with perseverance, he will succeed,
whether he lives in the western desert
or in the metropolis, and without any
friend at court.
[ frequently sent out 10 manuscripts
one post, to have nine come back with
dropping heads. But | sent them forth
on another voyage by the next mail.
kept a series of crude books with
list of the periodicals and the travels
of each poem or story inscribed there
in Many a manuscript took nine or
ten journeys to New York and Boston
before it found acceptance. One
story declined by nine editors (and
ridiculed by the ninth on the marginI
brought SIS from the tenth--the 1arg-
est price I had ever received.
Sorrows and Discomfort.
Much of the very earliest work of
my pen was devoted to poems on
total abstinence-a subject on which
the family was very enthusiastic.
These verses, some so in number, were
issued in book form, during my teens,
under the title of Drops of Water.
received $50 for the copyright, and am
sure Mr.. Rockefeller feels no richer
today with his millions than did with
my book and check.
A year or two later l published, by
subscription, my first miscellaneous
collection, Shells, now out of print.
Much Of my earlier work was tine
tured with melancholy, both real and
imaginary Young poets almost in
variably write of sorrow. Naturally
of happy disposition, had my moods
| of depression, yeritable luXuries of
misery
! There was continual worry at home.
| No one was resigned or philosophical.
! My mother hated her hard-working lot,
| for which she was totally untitled, and
constantly rebelled against it. like a
Gagged animal beating against iron
| bars; while she did her distasteful
tasks with q Spartan-like adherence to
| duty, doubling the dominance of an all
wise ruler who could condemn her to
such a lot Like thousands of others
in the world. she had not learned that
through love and faith only do cOndi
lions change for the better