The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-15
THE LOST WORD.

Copyright. 1902. by Daily Story Pub. Coz
It IL an intensely annoying and most
taftalixing experience to grope blindIy
Tor word that obstinately evades and
eiudes you. that for an infit1itesrnal frac.
tion OF second reveals section OF itself
TO your straininE mind. then nockinely
FADES away. You believe. you actually
feel. there must be such a word. and you
even have distinct impression Of the
tafhs. sort Of shadowy idea Of Its
material shape. and more; your memory
supplies you with its initial letter: but
In vain; you are halted. balked. utterly
and absolutely unable to grasp and fast
en- on to the evanescent entirety.
had the experience. for three months
| went hunting for a word: word l
knew by instinct and intuition must exist.
The trouble originated in an attempt
by me to write novel.
Before started this novel had an
idea, rather superficial idea. meagerly
logical idea-that novels In general were
easy to write and that this novel in par.
ticular would prove the correctness OF
with an abrupt suddenness that COM
pletely carried me off my feet, and al
most out Of my mind. and I believe I'm
gasping yet.
novel. with the simplest kind Of plot.
requires the brain of mathematician
In its handling: or else you're liable to
call the heroine Emma In one place ana
Susan In the next. II you haven't a firm
architectural grasp of the subject you
are apt to incarcerate the villain I'm one
chapter. kill him in another. and resur-
rect him. triumphant, in third. II the
component parts are not all prearranged
with constitutional precision. and pre-
and central idea of your theme, and fly
off on a wild goose chase after extrane-
Gus and irrelevant will-o-wisps OF
thought
Now. mathematics and I are strangers,
or at least II we are not strangers 1t Is
only by elongating the word to its ut
most we could be called acquaintances;
we've been introduced, and that's all.
seemed to gee: we occasionally bow in
passing. but neither one feels offended IL
either one omits the bow. Figures al
ways did bother me, except the figures Of
pretty-but that's something else again.
Though realizing my prior imperfect
conception of the magnitude of the at
tempt. and appalled, dismayed; yet I
did not quit. but bought dictionary. en-
gagged stenographer and stuck type
writerfully to the task.
the ending Of one paragraph, and the
beginning of new one I approached it
bIithely. gayly. gladly. and started in on
it. The words evolved themselves from
nectingly. felt no fear. the novel was
drawing sight-drafts on my mind. which
were being promptly honored; everything
was lovely. The words seemed tongue
and grooved together; there was nothing
missing, nothing lacking Word on word.
verb adverb and adjective, sentence on
sentence-the para graph piled up and ap-
preached completion. 1t recorded eli
max in the novel. and every word fitted
nicely. snugly, ilun1inatingly. until finally
I naodad inst word a Vprh-fOr the
logical completion of the paragraph.
And then 1t was / shouldered my gun
and started out on still hunt for that
lost verb. I dived into my brain and beat
about in 1t until 1t was sore from the
agitation. I ramsacked books. encyclo-
pedias and dictionaries ! pressed friends
into service. and even felt inclined to
advertise in the newspapers. Happy idea
] once recovered pug dog that way
likewise faded daguerrotype of my
srandmother's half-aunt. Yes. would
advertise, and accordingly l did. as per
the following. which appeared In the
.'LOST-A word. verb. concentrating
In It's meaning the expression of a des-
perate determination to accomplish the
apparently hopeless; liberal reward If re-
stored stintmpaired and ready for use; all
rfeeeived numerous replies: some witty,
some witless, some wise and some other-
wise. was indeed extremely surprised
to discover how many people had suffered
likewise. and who. approaching my vex-
alton. cheerfully forwarded their sympa-
thies per mail
But nevertheless my word was not
Forthcoming. / even entered into a min
uteIy particular correspondence with some
of the respondents. explaining precisely
the style of word / wanted, but none of
them could deliver the goods.
SUNDAYS story. THE HOUNDS" by @,