The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-24


gTN SPITE of the claim made by ed
itors everywhere that they accept
manuscripts upon their merits solely, II
is fact that when writer has made
his reputation by clever book or play
he can sell most any trash afterwards
entirely upon his name. 1t has become
a common thing nowadays for man to
write one good thing and then live on 1t
for several years. The consequence is
the magazines are full of mediocrity
widely advertised on the covers and
the daily papers as being by Mr.. So
and So, the author of the best selling
book" This sort of thing in the lit
erary world is as much case of
graft" as a great deal that goes on in
politics. and is exceedingly discOuraging
TO many conscientious writer's. OF
course the writer's are not themselves
wholly to blame for this as once hav-
ing made a hit they are besieged by
publishers and editors to write them
something. and being brilliant to order
is always a difficult task. From Kip
ling down there are few modern writers
who do not trade upon their reputa-
tion and put out stuff that would not
for one moment be tolerated was it not
for their names. A few English and
American writers are entirely above
this sort of thing; Mrs. Humphrey
Ward seldom sends out pot boilers,
but the necessity does not exist in her
case and it should be remembered that
it does not exist in many other cases.
James Lane Allen is an instance in this
country of a man who does not trade
upon his reputation by contributing in
ferior articles to magazines. There are
many others, but alas, the number of
those who do a very large business up
on small capital is great, and is work.
ing injustice to writer's of real worth.
In the current Century is little
story by the Scotchman who wrote
Wee MacGregor." 1t is the verieSt
twaddle and no editor would have read
it through if the name of an author
of a popular book was not attached.
Carolyn Wells, who has been regarded
as the one humorous writer who al
ways struck twelve, is beginning to
send out supposedly funny things that
would not raise the ghost of smile.
And yet this is a matter inwhich there
is not likely ever to be a reform, be-
cause editors know that certain names
sell their magazines and they must
have them, and the temptation on the
part of those who are offered good
prices for almost anything from their
pens, is readily comprehended. But to
the unknown and aspiring writer, who
can write better things than the for
>tunate one who happened to make "a
hit. it appears a great injustice 1t is
seldom, though, that real genius is un-
appreciated for long in the literary
world, and many and many an aSpirant
has lived to see the day when he was
thankful his name did not appear in
connection with something he thought
very good when he wrote it. One should
not be too hard on editors, for their
lives are far from being ideally happy,
and when one remembers all the trash
they must necessarily read in the
course of a year, pity takes the place Of
censure.
Apropos of the appearance in Eng
land of Mrs. Minnie Gresham Machen's
book on The Bible in Browning" pub
lished here by The Macmillan company.
an English woman relates the following
incident, told to her by Browning
himself: A friend of Mrs. Browning, a
young girl, had a painful episode in her
life. To divert her mind Mrs. Brown
ing urged her to write a tale. She did
so, and produced what was mainly her
own story. 1t was successful, and again
and again, urged by Mr. and Mrs.
Browning. she tried to write another
story, but could not. She said: II
have no imagination; give me a story
and l can write it up Soon after.
Mr.. Browning picked up on a boekstall
in Rome an old manuscript Cor it NAV
have been an old printed tale). He
thought it the very thing and sent it to
her. She kept it six months and re-
turned it, saying she could make moth
ing of it. About that time" said Mr..
Browning, STORY CIV. W) wanted a
tale. L sent it to him. He kept it six
months and returned it, saying it would
not do-and then" said Mr.. Browning,
II you have done me the honor to read
The Ring and the Book you know the
story"
The Divine Vision and Other Poems"
is the title of the new volume of verse
by the irish poet and mystic who pre-
fers to be known simply as "A. E."
hitherto he has been bracketed with
Mr.. w. b. Yeats; American readers
have known him only through 'The
Earth Breath, and Other Poems" In
his new volume of lyrics he uses freely
the legendary traditions of Gaelic Ire
land" as does Mr.. Yeats; but "he in
terprets them through a mysticism
which recalls the East rather than the
West"
The Lightning Conductor-Edited by c.
n. and A NJ. Williamson Henry HoIt
x Co., New York For sale by ST. Paul
Book and Stationery company.
A very charming book is "The Light
ming Conductor" When a modern
writer can tell an ordinary love story
in an original way, it is an achievement
and this the editors" have contrived
to do. The book is a series of letters
written by Molly Randolph, fasci-
mating American girl, to her father in
New York, while she and her aunt are
touring Europe Some other letters are
included from the Hon. Jack Winston
to his friends in England, and one or
two more to make the story clear
When Molly and her aunt reach Lon
don they meet an Englishman with
wonderful automobile, in which he
takes Molly to ride. and she falls des-
perateiy in love with the machine