Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-26
TRYING FOR THE PRIZES.
Humors of a Short Story Contest That
Brouoht 5000 MSS.


A man who waded through the
flood of $1,000 MSS. submitted in a
recent prize story contest reveals In
the Bookman some of the secrets OF the
charnel house, to mix metaphors In
true contest fashion.
"Of the titles selected" he says, "a
careful estimate showed that the one
in highest favor was The Awakening
with A Little Child Shall Lead Them,
a close second. Titles like The Subju-
CATION of Polly The Recrudescence
of Billy" The Winning of Marjory'-
the thoroughly bromide titles-were
very popular.
LAS for themes. stories of ship
wrecks and other appalling disasters
were often seized upon as especially
worthy of telling. No doubt many of
these tales were true, which made
them seem, in the minds of the tell
ers, particularly desirable.
Then there were the so-called
imaginative tales of haunted houses,
husbands and families into bits and
stories of nurses and keepers who had
frightful experiences with lunatics
who were trying to escape from asy-
lums
There were hundreds Of stories q
was about to say thousands) which be-
gan thus, with a heavenly bit Of de-
scription:
AS the last rays of the setting sun
tinged the world with scarlet beauty,
or The dying sun had just sunk behind
the beautiful hills when Alice March
mont, accompanied by her favorite
greyhound, walked slowly forth upon
the veranda Of her gorgeous old south
ern home in Virginia.
1.-TWO days after the announcement
of the contest story Of 24S words ar
rived, ignorantly written in pencil on
bit of brown paper, entitled My Ride
With Mama and accompanied by this
startling communications:
Send the $1,000 by registered male,
as need it to rase mortgage.
Mrs. J. H. Schultz.
Then a woman who wrote as If
she ought to know better, sent this:
| write to ask a number of ques-
tions regarding your contest: First:
Can l submit a story? Second: VIII
it make any difference If my brother
does the typewriting?
For once the editors sense of hu-
NOR got the better of his manners. and
he replied:
1t won't make any difference to us,
but will probably make lot of differ
ence to brother.
Although it had been plainly Stip-
ulated that no stories over 5000 words
would be considered. doctor in Col
orado (why do so many doctors, law
yers and clergymen try to write fic-
tiOn?) sent in seven novels, badly
written but beautifully typewriter.
not one of which was less than 1SO,0
words in length.
Not only did novels come to this
short story contest, but poems galore.
in every known and unknown variety
of meter. And plays were offered in
profusion, one of which began: Scene:
A winter day in January
Just before the date of closing a
telegram from Toronto came to the
editors. They had been wondering
why they had been feeling so uneasy
during the last days of the competi-
ton: but their fears were set at rest
when they opened the night message,
which read as follows:
Severe illness. ptOmaine poisoning,
prevents mailing story until last mo-
ment. 1t will go in postoffice before
midnight of January l.
1T was signed by lady of whom
the editors had never by any chance
heard.
Next day came another night mes
sage from the south. which also dis
PEELED any further fears the editors
might have had that fine story would
not come into the office:
Have tragic story. based on real in
cident in my husbands life. but no
time for typewriting. Powerful plot.
Shall | send 1t? Answe" Immediately.
New York Sun.