The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-06-05
Hope Deferred.


imaginative turn, and hau seen Things
ratheDromantically, besides having a
gift Of words. But she had never
thought of writing a story, not even
little poem, such as a great many
school girls write-girls, some Of them,
with little Imagination. and still less
git of words. Then came her valedic
tory which was praised and printed.
and part Of it reprinted in a city paper.
After that she decided to write.
There was plenty to write of and she
was buoyant, full of enthusiasm and
young. 1t seemed but natural to her
that she should write Tor the young at
first believing that with added skill
she would be fitted later for a mature
audience. To write sldllfully for the
young is hardly the lesser art; but
she did not realize this, nor the value
nor charm Of her work.
She was surprised, very much sur
prised, and oh, so delighted, when
there came to her, perhaps a fortnight
later, brief and apprehensive note
from the editor of The Juvenile, and
a Check-not a large one. for they did
not pay much in those days of a quar-
ter Of a century back; but the letter
and the check made her blood dance
and bound and culver and sent her far
out into the fields, to lie in the tall
grass and look up at the sky, and to
whisper over and over to herself that
she was an author! an author! real
live author who wrote for this great
new publication for the young which
from the far away city had sent her a
check for her first story, and had asked
for more! Dear heart! it is good to be
young and alive, looking up to the
sky and to feel that somewhere in the
big world there is a place for us.
1t seems almost too bad that she did
not persevere. So many have persevered
with so much less encouragement. A
fair start and an open way-why was
it that love must come along just then
TO divert and hinder. True, she did not
undertake the second story, but the
came evening she met Tom for the first
time, and that night as she lay looking
out at the stars, she was not so sure
that being an editor was the best thing
In the world, after all She finally gave
it up, and told Tom all about it when
she became engaged to him and Of
course Tom told her that when they
were married she should write stories
all day long if she wanted to.
That was easy for Tom to say. No
doubt he meant it, too, at the time.
But you see, during the first year there
was the little new home to fix up, and
during the next year there was a little
new baby to cuddle and care for, while
with other years there were other little
new babies and cares. and the house
grew larger, and more leaves were add
ed to the extension table, though the
lingering hope of one day finding time
to write did not wholly die until the
second and perhaps even the third baby
came along.
She gave up the idea then altogether,
and with what seemed an added rea-
son, for her first story sold to The
Juvenile had never been printed!
True, she had heard that for one rea-
son and another magazines sometimes
delayed publication for as much as four
or five years, and she was rather
pleased at first that perhaps her oldest
her boy. would be able to understand
by the time mothers story" appeared.
They watched for it together at last;
but when seven years had passed since
it was written she began to despair OF
it ever appearing. When eight or nine
years had gone their way she put the
matter out of her mind altogether, and
regarded herself as fortunate that she
had not adopted literature as a calling.
The manuscript had doubtless been
forgotten and destroyed She would for
get, too.
Not so with tho children. The tradl-
ton Of story that their mother had
written and sold to their favorite pub
LEGATION was every precious to them
and each number of The Juvenile was
searched carefully and with fresh
pang Of disappointment as each month
passed and added itself to the years
that brought them to manhood and
womanhood, with lives and homes and
cares Of their own.
She was all done at last-she and
Tom. The house was much too big fol-
them now, and the table had been mar
rowed down leaf by leaf until it was
Just where it was when they began
more than twenty-five years before
She was still in the prime Of life, and