New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-27
THE WINNING STORY
orovokes Less Laughter than
Some of Its Rivals.
READING THE MANUSCRIPTS
uould. BE Authors in a Prize
Contest Are Full of IN
conscious Humor.

live 20 tell the tale. II was an anony-
"- corpetition. conducted with the most
A..rlous sense OF fairness. We were
Cor great stories. not great names.
think we found a few. II is worth
SO through thousands of impossible
---s,cs 10 find the one hidden gem. and
Ms hope Of discovery that keeps the
H.rscr;pt readers enthusiasm alive. 4
"-l n humor is a valuable asset. too.
curious little Incidents are forever oc-
..,,r IN a competition of this kind which
~ strong light on certain side Of
sr,,sn nature and tighten the days hard
5radgery
~ unknown writer is always declaring
80, the editor is his enemy. l found. in
-s,rr for these particular editors. that
- we're anything but the foes Of un-
.,-rized talent and / had not been in
| =. o4sce an hour before ! was told 10
sharp lookout for promising new
.,,sors 10 put any manuscript aside that
'-..s,,ed the shadow OF an idea. since
- on these budding writer's would have
soeciaI cncouraging letter sent 10 them
/. nlsce Of the necessary form epistle that
i sert 20 the rank and file.
u GOES without saving that hundreds Of
..,uecriuts entered In a big contest are
,,,sress from the first sentence; yet even
| .,.ss stories received a thorough eXarina-
| ,,or in the hope that at least an idea
| ,orld b. found Indeed II any error was
-.6e A. al 70 was on the side Of too care
a. consideration. We became obsessed
80 the thought that we would pass some
hing By.
fr vi
nc slluring prizes. had not been printed a
ssv before a vast number Of questions
s,,5sd ,b4 ONCE The mail was tremen-
s,gs and while the majority of these let
..-s we're absurd and often even iIterate'
s,eh received a kind and Immediate reply.
Nsnv successful story writer's are poor
1 kitsr writer's.
gsre is a good specimen Of the inane
questions
Dear ST. You say all manuscripts must
/ - tyrewrirten. Now. there ain no type
4 v-fers within twenty-five miles Of my
l arm bur our Bessie knows a corking story
SsseS on a real true incident. and she u
4 vr.te II ,lr for YOU people II she can send
4 in her own penwrtlnE VIII that be
o X And t. this size paper the right
! ~ FOR Her % copy II on2 Answer right
1 away
II
l -.~t. ao1earance when a story Of two
Kindred and forty-eight words arrived ie-
,o-antlv written in pencil and a bit OF
brown paper. entitled My Ride with
Mamma and accompanied by this start
i Ing communication:
s.nd the 5000 by registered male, a. need
-' MRS. j. H. SCHULTZ.
Tb.r woman VINO wrote as II she ought
70 know better sent this.
w-.te 70 ask a number Of questions re-
| Fsrdln- YOUR contest. First. can / SUD-
nj 4 story? Second. VIII Z make any
difference Il my brother does the type
writing
For once the editors sense Of humor got
Tie better Of his manners, and he replied
I, won't make any difference 70 US. but
/ VII probably make a LOT Of difference 20
brother
r must be remembered that this was an
saonynous competition. the anonymity
beng factor for the benefit Of the un-
known writer. vet there came floods Of
letters signed BY these same unknown
writer's who revealed the titles Of their
uories-which happily the editors forgot Al
once
The -elerhone rang necessarily, with no
sf0r, or me speakers part 70 hide his
IDENTITY Bur of course there was no pos
Etl,tv oi uembering contributor
name one minute after the receiver was
hing up In the mean time the manuscripts
vere pouring IN Although IL had been
plsirlv stipulated that 10 stories over five
thousand words would be considered,
doctor r colorado why do so many doc
tors. lawyers and clergvmen trv 70 write
tctlon- sent .- seven novels badly writ
ter 5ut beautifully typewriter not one Of
who, was less than one hundred thou
ss7d words lc lenrth The sealed envelope
ccntairirc ,re writer's real name and ad-
o-sss was forgotten ir hundreds Of in
rarces and other important details were
utterly ignored
- lease seventy budding authors wished
70 know before they posted their master
pieces what the phrase nom de plume
re-nr. and s.z Of them spelled u non de
plume Not only aid novels come 70 this
shor, stor, contest but poems galore, IN
ever known and unknown variety Of
ne,re And plays were offered in profu-
Son one OF which began. scene: A win
isf dsy p January
o. tie titles selected. q careful estimate
slowed Thar The one in highest favor was
The Awakening with A Little Child
shsn Lead Them" close second. Titles
Ike The Subjugation Of Polly. The Re-
cudescence u Billy" The Winning OF
Gsrl5-v 1.-The thoroughly bromide titles
wire very popular AS for themes. stories
u shlrwrecks ard other appalling disasters
were often seized upon as especially worthy
O. telling SO doubt many OF these tales
were true which made them seem In the
ENDS NJ tne teHers. particularly desirable
Itsn there were the so-called imaginative
islts q haunted houses. demented women
7ho carved their husbands and families
INTO hirs ana stories Of nurses ard keep
ers Who had fri-htfm experiences with lu-
rsucs who were irving 20 escape from asy-
'ums Poor disappointed contributors
shose horrible u use the adjective IN
oo-be sensel stories had % 20 back
wish you Welt You tried 70 tell the tale
q action. ~ any rate. and that type OF nc
ton S. .o much more appreciated by the
tired manuscript reader than the deadly
tothIng-doing sort Of yarn, Oh you dis
cpIes Of the school Of Henry James NY
heart IS not warm for YOU al all. for YOU
gave mo 81 many barren hours
There were hundreds Of stories Il was
itou, 70 say Thousands which began thus
With heavenly biz of description
As me last ravs Of the setting sun tinged
ITO world WITH scarlet beauty.
or
The drigg sun had just sunk behind The
Beautiful hills when Alice Marchmont, a.
en0snieG hv her favorite greyhs9uiut