The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-16

sire Of literary aspirants to get to New
York. 1t is penned in response to a
letter from Miss Harris of small
Wisconsin town who says that her
friends tell her that she has a talent
for writing. and she wants to know
the best way to obtain literary work
in New York city. Miss Humphreys
reply is full of the soundest common
sense. She begins by telling of her
visit to a newspaper Office where the
managing editor showed her an iron
hook filled to the top with applications
from women Offering to do anything
from editorial work down to addressing
wrappers. Asking him If he ever looks
again at the addresses given in those
letters, he replied:
Never. I only take them out to add
another to the collection" Such a re-
ceptacle, she says, is to be found In
every newspaper office, and what trag-
edies are concealed in those slips of
papers, what want what misery they
represent! Miss Humphreys says in
regard to coming to New York she
can only repeat the famous advice of
Punch concerning matrimony: Don't.
THAT is. don't come to New York.
Among the SaddeSt Of the unWritten
histories of this great town are those
of the women, educated and refined,
who have thrown themselves into the
maelstrom of this city to make their
living by their pens. Within my own
experience have seen faces that were
once young, fresh, and full of hope,
grow haggard and careworn, and the
trim neatness of attire which counts
for so much among American women,
yield to shabby shoes, discolored gloves
and frayed SkirtS-signS eloquent to
every woman of the desperate struggle
to keep up appearances"
Then she gives this aspiring young
H.
literature; she says the world is not
any more in New York than it Is in
Wisconsin; that good work anywhere
is recognized and appreciated and that
to be a Self-Supporting woman in a
small Western town, Is better than to
be wearing her heart out-and Incl
| dentally her shoe-leather-in a vain
ambition to be somebody in New York
and in nine cases out of ten ending in
being nobody-or worse. This Miss
Harris is imbued with the mistaken
idea that Is common to us all, that
she could do wonderful things in some
| other place, that out beyond is the goal
and that all she lacks is the oppor-
tunity. But Miss Humphreys reminds
her that until she has exhausted the
opportunities at hand. and if q writer,
even she has written all the stories
before her eyes with which even Osh-
kosh abounds, she Is most foolish to
go further afield. Good advice this
for anyone, but how useless in most
cases, for young and enthusiastic wo-
men will continue to pour into New
York and the old pitiful tragedies will
be re-enacted continually.
After giving many instances CT the
success of those who have realized the
good material at hand everywhere,
Miss Humphreys says:
There are other instances If one
had time and snare hI1f thocn arn c11f-
f1cient to show that no girl or woman
who wishes to write need venture be-
yond her surroundings in order to find
the opportunity. once heard a journ-
alist say: "a good newspaper man
can make a good newspaper seated in
the impulse to write need wait for
time and circumstance. It is certainly
true that recognition viii come most
speedily to the one who has properly
equipped herself to the ear of the
world. It cannot be compelled"
A Book by Train.
Those who know anything about
the eccentric George Francis Train
when they hear that he has recently
written book about himself, will i'm
agine that it may be worth reading If
only for its absurdity. But the fact
that 1t Will appear from one of the best
publishing houses in the country would
make one believe that perhaps after all
it is serious effort. And such indeed
1t is said to be. The volume is in the
shape Of "reminiscences of q long life,
and as Mr.. Train has travelled extern
sively and has naturally a unique point
of view, the book cannot but be in
teresting. There are those who have
never believed Mr.. Train unbalanced,
merely so clever that he was misun-
derstood. His recollections will be of
interest and may surprise a great
many people, as he is in the habit of
telling the truth, or at all events what
he believes to be the truth.
A Word From Dixon.
Thomas Dixon, the writer Of '"The
Leopard's Spots" has. done that foolish
thing which every writer of fiction, es-
pecially of a first book, would like to
do, replied to some of the criticisms
on his story made by reviewers. What
particularly disturbs him is that so
| many have declared that he has ap-
| pealed to prejudice and has raked up
the wrongs of the past. In defense
| of his position and in denial of these
assertions, Mr.. Dixon whose book
| treats Of the race question in the
| South, says that it is childish nom
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