The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-08-29
My Career
BY ESTHER VANDEVEER

My name is Arietta Hope. / consist
of 400 pages, with good deal on
page. | 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 woman of thirty-five,
an age at which one may be expected
to have attained to a correct knowl-
edge of her sex Yet since she did not
issue me under her own name. but the
assumed name of a 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 TO be
Marceline. When my maker had fin
ished me she sent me the round OF
panles. so that she did not make her
self known to them. However, she re
quested as an especial favor that they
would send her the criticisms of their
readers" these persons being employ
| ed to read manuscripts and report to
the publisher whether each in their
opinion would be a profitable book for
them to publish. The publishers usu-
ally paid very little attention to my
makers request, though few did
These criticisms were almost always
where the reader" had made some
| faeetious remark about the story. The
first one my maker received was as
| follows:
"Mr. Harding has written a long
story purporting to portray woman
The author must have written the
| book with a mirror before him. Wheth
er he has portrayed himself or not is
not apparent, but certain it is that
| he has painted man in petticoats
| Arietta Hope gives every evidence of
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 in 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 prominent
| publishing house had mistaken her
| heroine for petticoated man. what a
1 f,,l Rafi he bax lot
She put me in closet and 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 hashy type, but stud
| les of character-and she decided to
| submit me to them. So was sent by
express, letter going by mail beg
ging the firm to give her some idea of
the merits and demerits--especfally the
latter-of the story. The manuscript
was returned to her, accompanied by a
letter, in which the writer courteously
explained to her that more than 80 per
cent of the novels published were read
by women. Women required stories
| that showed the feminine touch. Mr..
Harding had shown high literary ex-
cellenee but he had not succeeded III
portraying a woman.
My maker determined that when she
sent me out again she would adopt
feminine nom de plume She made a
new title page, with Edith Granger on
it instead of Edgar Harding, and dis
patched me to the Parkington Publish
ing company. She was again success
ful in elieiting a courteous reply, which
included the readers report. 1t was as
follows:
THE author has given picture of a
woman who is sure to antagonize her
own sex. Arietta Hope Is altogether
too feminine for 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 wom-
en- are found In her-traits that men
love to ridlcule."
Good graciousw exclaimed my max
er when she read this. Then I've
jumped from the frying pan into the
fireF
My maker determined upon one more
effort and II that failed she was re-
solved to burn me. She sent me to
Littleton 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 it as their own.
My maker having all woman's Gu
riosity, desiring to discover who was
right about the book. accepted the con
Iditions. She sent the publishers q
check. and they published me.
was long while getting before the
public, but | succeeded In the end
Certain men recommended me because
they said | was a mans woman, anC
certain women spoke we'll of me be
cause they said was a woman's wo
man. This at last gave me a start
| anu aS pttdoCu bCth AhNh ohN wv
men | took in all there was except the
children. Anyway, kept growing ant
growing in popular favor till was
pronounced what publishers call ''phe
. nomenal"
Littleton Brothers were very angry
, because they must pay larger royalty
THAN usual, having published me fol
my author instead of themselves. New
, ertheless. they made fortune out oi
, me. and when congratulated on theil
: foresight they look wise and say moth
! ing. am now in my fourth hundred
Thousand, and the demand for me con
, tnues My maker has built country
| place, where she has retired. spendins
much of her time in declining requests
IF publishers that she write for them.