Evening journal., 1912-02-19
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
WheR ThaCksray Was Glad
to Get American Dollars
By Holland

When William Makepoace Thackeray
visited the United States upon the
second Of his lecturing tours in the
mid-hfties of the nineteenth century,
he made the Offices of Putnam's Mag
azine his headquarters during all the
time that he was in New York city.
His mail from England was sent TO
the magazine Offices. He was in most
intimate personal and professional as
sociation with George William Curtis
and Parke Goodwin, who we're the ed
itors of that magazine. He made them
sort of half promise to write either
series of sketches or a serial story
for Putnam's Magazine after he re-
turned to his home in England. The
arrangement, however, came TO
naught on account of the financial en-
barrassment which caused Putnam 8
Magazine to suspend publication.
Upon one occasion when Thackeray
was chatting with Mr.. Curtis and Mr..
Goodwin he Of a sudden blurted out:
God bless n. p. Whilst" Nothing had
been said at the moment that justified
these words OF praise for the yivacious
and even brilliant American journalist
whom Thackeray thus called by name.
He was asked for an explanation and
he said, practically in these words;
Ihaye the best of reasons for feel
ing very kindly toward N. p. Willis.
I have vivid recollections Of checks
signed by Mr. Willis which OCCASION
ally received--oh, ever so many years
ago The amount which each check
called for was, according to my later
experiences, very small, but as small
as each remittance was It was very
thankfully received because that was
a time when / was working with my
pen very hard in order to get an in
come sufficient to make both ends
meet"
Thackeray was asked by the Putnam
editors what Willis sent the checks
in payment for.
1T must have been about the year
1889" said Thackeray, "at a time,
certainly, when | was writing a great
deal and selling all / could, that I
sent an unsigned sketch to n p. Will
lis, who, l was told, was publishing
a weekly journal in New York. / had
heard of Willis and knew that he was
regarded as a brilliant writer and a
successful publisher. And the first l
heard Of my contribution was a check
from him and a request that | send
him other articles. / continued to
do that for about a year. Then the ar
| rangement was discontinued, as / now
| remember, because Mr. Willis gave up
the publication of the journal. 1t was
called the Corsair.
In recent years have had a strong
desire to secure these articles as a
matter Of curiosity; I kept no copies
81 . b.. ~ toNt
anonymously, believe. IL occurred to
me just before / came to the United
States on this trip that while / was
in New York | would see if / could
not get files of the publication which
contained these articles | therefore
instructed one or two booksellers t
see If they could not find somewher'
in a secondhand book store or il
some library a file of the journal; bu
I have not yet succeeded in obtainin
H. When this lecture tour is ended
shall spend week or ten days befor
I return to England in trying to sc
cure a file of the Corsair. And per
\ haps | shall enlist n. p. Willis in tn
task"
Mr. Goodwin, from whom / obtaine
this story, told me that both he an
George William Curtis were astonish
ed to learn that William Makepeac
Thackeray had been for more than
year an anonymous contributor to
defunct American literary journa
"That was in the days when Thacb
eray's name meant little or nothing,
said Mr.. Goodwin. But after 'Vanit
Fair was published about six or seve
years later you can be sure that an
American magazine editor would hav
advertised the fact in big letters ths
William Makepeace Thackeray wa
writing for his periodical.
Copyright. 1912, by e. J. Edwards. A
rights reserved.)
Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell {
"The Misfortune Which Cost a World
| Champion His Honors'