Evening journal., 1912-08-02
My Career
By ESTHER VANDEvEER

My name is Arietta Hope. consist
Of 400 pages. with a good deal on a
page. l am OF two kinds. printed mat
ter and girl The girl part is heroine
and the paper part is book. But since
the heroine part is the living half
consider myself Arietta Hope.
My maker Is a woman OF thirty-fve,
an age at which one may be expected
to have attained 20 a correct knOwl-
edge OF her sex. Yet since she did not
issue me under her own name. but the
assumed name Of man. Edgar Har-
ding. she is not only unknown TO those
who have read me. but unless she is
betrayed by certain feminine traits
displayed IN me she Is supposed 10 be
Marceline. When my maker had fn-
ished me she sent me the round OF
publishers through the express COM
panles. so that she did not make her
self known TO them. However. she re-
quested as an especial favor that they
would seAd her the criticisms Of their
readers" these persons being employ
ed to read manuscripts and report 70
The publisher whether each in their
opinion would be a profitable book for
them to publish. The publishers usu-
ally paid very little attention 10 my
makers request. though a few did.
These criticisms were almost always
where the reader" had made some
facetious remark about the story. The
frst one my maker received was as
follows:
"Mr. Harding has written a long
story purporting 20 portray woman.
The author must have written tho
book with mirror before him. Wheth-
er he has portrayed himself or not is
not apparent. but certain IL is that
ne has painted a man in petticoats.
Arietta Hope gives every evidence ~
having been constructed by one Of the
male sex. ] would decline IT,.
Long after the receipt of the criti-
cism my maker made the acquaintance
Of this critic and found him TO be a
young man still Ia his teens
My maker having spent two years
upon me. at the same time studying
different women from whom she drew
certain feminine traits which she in
stilled into me. was much discouraged.
II the representative Of "A prominent
publishing house had mistaken her
heroine for a petticouted man. what a
dreadful failure she must have madel
she put me IN a closet aud looked me
up with the intention Of never taking
me out again. But some one told her
that Dodson x Co were looking for
novels-not OF the fashy type, but stud
les OF character-and she decided TO
submit me 70 them. So | was sent by
express. letter going by mail beg
Ring the firm 10 give her some idea of
the merits and demerits-especially the
lstter-of the story. The manuscript
was returned 10 her. accompanied by
letter. In which the writer courteously
explained TO her that more than 90 per
cent OF the novels published were read
by women Women required stories
that showed the feminine touch Mr.
HHrdinE had shown high literary ex-
cclence. but he had not succeeded IA
portraying a woman.
My maker determined that when she
sent me out again she would adopt
AIAuAAlht hNli 0t t'iN hAd0t n
new title page. with Edith Granger on
1t instead of Edgar Harding. and dis
patched me 10 the Parkington Publish
ing company. she was again success.
ful in eliciting a courteous reply. which
included the readers report Il was as
follows
'srhe author has given a picture OF a
woman who is sure TO antagonize her
own sex Arletta Hope Is altogether
TOO feminine for n heroine. In reading
about her We would surmise did we
not know to the contrary. that she had
been drawn by man. so many OF
those volatile traits common to WON
en- are found IN ner-traits that men
love TO ridlcule"
Good gracious" exclaimed my max
er when she read this Then I've
Jumped from the frying pan into the
fre%'
My maker determined up IN one more
effort. and II that failed she was re-
solved 10 burn me. She sent me to
Lttleton Brothers. Within a few days
she received a letter from the firm
stating bluntly that they would not
care to publish me at their own risk
but If she would pay the cost Of pub
lication they would put their imprint
on the title page Of the book. publish.
ing il as their own.
My maker having all a womap's Gu
riosity. desiring TO discover who was
right about the book. accepted the con
ditions. She sent the publishers a
check. and they published me.
was long while getting before the