The Topeka state journal., 1905-10-08

man interest," though the term has
been so overwOrkeds so often applied
to all sorts of the so-ealled. literature
that real newspaper men call "slush,'
as to be somewhat in disFepute as a de-
scrtptive term. Unless you are q. spe-
clalist, capable of writing technically
on your chosen speciality so informing
ly that other specialists in the same
line will pay you for your writing, you
must find out what is of real human
interest" and learn to- put it on paper
We'll or abandon all thoughts of sue
cessful writing.
TRAVEL LETTERS BY THE TON.
There are many editors who have
read and re-read Views Afoot' who
are sometimes sorry Taylor ever wrote
the letters That is because of the vast
army of imitators their success called
into being.
These fmitators began to make their
appearance in editorial offices, and
their letters began to show UP in the
editorial mail very soon after Views
Afoot' had made hit. Year after
year. ever since. they have increased
in number. I know an editor who
swears it to be his belief that there
are eight millions of people in this
country today or one in every ten,
who either have proposed to tramp
somewhere and write articles for his
paper about what they see while walk
ing, or are getting ready to do so.
with a proposition to do this his nat
urally sweet temper begins at once to
turn sour, and no matter how balmy
the temperature, the air suddenly be-
comes chilled in his immediate vicinity
He says most of them begin something
like this:
Il have called, Mr.. Editor. to pro
pose something really new and novel
for your paper. I want to go to Ire
land Cor Japan. or some other country
that has hapn written n 6p2ff70 r7t7
tramp over the roads Cor wheel over
! them, as the case may be) to see and
study the people-to get out of the
beaten track, as it were. and write
I letters for your paper"
Sometimes when the aspiring cor
respondent desires to be facetious, he
says he wishes to travel ''on Shanks'
horses. Then this particular editor,
though not often gruff in the way he
turns people down, is prone to cut the
story short.
For he knows, as Greeley knew, by
bitter experience, that to give the aver
] age aspiring traveller permission to do
as he wishes is to insure the reception.
later, of a lot of the dullest, dreaVfest
copy imaginable, utterly worthless sor
publication purposes, and fit only for
the waste basket or for foolish
W0uld-be contributor to pay return
/ postage on. He said, and he knows.
that you would be surprised by the
wide variety of people who seek, with
/ out ever ndVlng the SllgnIeSL training
for the task, to initiate Taylor. Some
of them have no idea that they are try
7 ing to initiate him; there are those
among them. as my editor has learned
! by qr estioning them, who have never
! heard of Taylor, incredible as this may
seem Invariably however when he
/ has questioned him further, he has
/ found that the asDirant knew all about
/ the work OF some later literary tramp,
( ana was planning to work along the
/ same lines.
Not all the variations of the letters
1 of travel type need the money that
/ might be got from the sale of their
writing. Many Of them declare they
wish to write solely to fill up the time
while on their travels, and keep them
selves. from being homesick. from dy-
ing of ennui.
A large percentage Of them, how
ever. want to pay the expenses of the
trip by their writing Some plan to
make their travel letters, like Taylor S,
stepping stones to q literary career
Many of them are women. some rich,
some poor, and, of course, the number
Of these, both men and women who
want to write just plain travel articles,