The sun., 1902-10-19
CONDENSJNG NOVELS.
4 New Trade which IL IN Growing Demand
and Requires Brains.

| There goes one OF those condeneers.
said the publisher pointing 10 atall. slender
| young fellow wearing glasses and with
| number Of books under his arm. His
business is condensing novels. and when a
man becomes an expert al 1t he doesn't
| have to look for work.
This has been a very busy world for
! some time. There are thousands Of peo-
| pie who want to keep up with the novels
Of the day. but haven't the time TO read
/ them as they are originally written.
| So there are hundreds Of readers and elocu-
tionists who go about reading condensed
| novels to literary circles. clubs. church
societies aud private families.
Tho demand for readers for private
families il growing astonishingly. The
readers 60 to this house or that one night
a week or possibly twice a week. The
head Of the house invites IN a few friends,
or maybe he and his family have the read
ing all to themselves.
They don't want a continuous perform
ancc: tnev must have a, least ono story
an evening IT the stories they want are
too long for one evening they must be cut
| down TO Al the time.
THAT fellow who just walked into the
ferryboat tackled 'The Cisis' a little while
ago. The order vas to cut the book down
to two hours.
"He found 1t took eight hours TO read It as
H. was written. n took him over month
working regularly part Of every day or
evening TO cut il down. Then the people
who hired him made up their minds that
IL must Ire shorter. so he had 10 go 10 work
TO hack it down Ia one hour and a quarter.
sl .t,ls - slx..sx
He did il. although II was fearful job.
II took him longer 10 cut OF that last forty
minutes than il did 10 get rid of the first Fix
hours.
1t requires more brains sometimes TO
cut book down than il does To write II In
the first place. Nothing of Importance
must he left out All the strong features,
the pretty scenes, the amusing dialogue
and So on. must he left in.
1T is really surprising. however, how
had read the original Crisis and then
heard the condensed story you would have
to Cudgel your brain a little to make Out
exactly what is missing
There's a knack about II, as there is to
anything else The condenser must first
read the story carefully Ia get it's general
effect. Then he very often reads II 10
study the mechanism.
At first reading he has seen passa ges
that may be dropped and no one be much
tha wiser. On SECOND TedulfR ne rHk"S
out even more, and pretty soon he has the
| thing cut down perhaps half.
Very likely he will now take a copy Of
the book and cut all the pages loose. The
pages he has marked out he throws away
and tho fragments Of pages he pastes to-
gether 10 make the requisite number Of
linee for n page
He knows just how many minutes II
takes to read two pages, that Is. both sides
Of the sheet. Counting up the sheets he
finds the number Of minutes there still are
in the slaughtered book
He is now getting ,hings down 10 work
ing basis apd here II is that his real genius
comes out\ He plays strange tricks with
that story al he goes oil, and ne often sur
prises himself at the things ne dares take
out. Every now and then he reads the
cOndensat ion to some member Of his family
or TO some friend who has read the book
and on whose Judgment he can place some
reliance.
-They tell me il is really most engrossing
work. while II ia very fatiguing at the same
time. That fellow who went into the ferry
boat Just now Is an enthusiast. He makes
far more money than many Of the chaps
who writo the original stories Honestly,
I don't know but what he deserves H.