The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-18
ooNOnkslNa Navats,
a New Trade which 10 10 Growing Es.
s# Man0 and ReQaires 0rAlNs,
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New York Sun,
"There'goes one Of thoae conden,
sers," said tho publisher, pointing to
tall alender young fellow wearing
glasses aud with q number Of books
nuder his arm. "Hia business ia oon
densing novels, aud when q man ho.
ocmes al expert at It no doesn't have
to look for work.
"rhis has been n very busy world
for soma time, There are thousands
OF people who want to keep up with
tho novels Of tho day, but haven't
tho time to read them a. they aro
originally written. So there ara hun
dreds If readers and eloeutlonists
who so about reading condensed
novels to literary orioles, clubs, church
societies and private families.
"rhe demand for readers for pri.
vate families is growing sstonish
ingly. The readers 60 to this house
or that one night week, or possibly
twice a week The head Of the house
invites in u few friends, or maybe he
and his family have the reading all
to themselves
"rhey don't want a continuous
performance; they must have at least
one story an evening. If the stories
they want are too long for one even
my they must be out down to fit the
time
"That fellow who just walked
into the ferry boat tackled
The Crisis" little while ago. The
order WAS to out the book down to
two hours.
"He found it took eight hours to
.ead it as it WAS written. 1t took him
over y month, working regularly q
part Of every day or evening to cut
it down. Then the people who hired
him made up their minds that it
must be- shorter, so he had to go to
work to hack it down to one hour
and 4 quarter. What 40 you think Of
thats
"He did it, although it was Il
fearful job. |. took him longer to
cut off that last 40 minutes than
it did to get rid of the first six
hours.
1T requires more brains some
times to cut book down than it
does to write it in the first place.
Nothing Of Importance mnst be left
out Allthe strong features. the pref
,y scenes, the amusing Dialogues and
So on, must be left in.
"lt is reslly surprising, however,
how little that is importint is cut
ont Ii YOU had read the original
Crisis and then beard the condens
eel story you would have to cudsel
your brain little to make out exact
ly what is missing.
''There's knack about it,
there is to anything else. The con
denser must first read the story care.
fully to get its general effect. Then
he very often reads it to study the
mechanism.
"At first reading he has seen pas
sages that may be dropped and no
one be much the wiser. On second
reading he takes out even more, and
pretty soon he has the thing cut
down perhaps half. "Very likely
he will now take copy otthe book
and cut all the pages loose. The
pages he has marked out he throws
away, and the fragments of pages
he pastes together to make the re.
quisite number of lines for page.
"He is now getting things down to
working basis, and here it is that
his real genius comes ont. He plays
strange tricks with that story as he
goes on, and he often surprises him.
self at the things he dsres take out,
Every now and then he reads the
condensation to scme member of his
family, or to some friend who had
read the book, and On whose judg
ment he can place some reliance.
"rhey tell me it is really most on.
crossing work, while it is very fati.
guing at the same time That fellow
who went into the ferry boat just now
is al enthusiast. He makes far more
money than many of the chaps who