The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-01-30
BY ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

This column mas hdu something to
say from time to time concerning the
literary thief.
How he boldly steals.
Or helps himself to anything on the
literary-or ar-literary-counter.
Trims it, cuts it to fit his fancy,
twists it about a little and then hands
it out as his own.
There is an enormous lot of dishon-
esty of this sort.
In books and magazines and news
papers.
Generally, however, the plagarist
is canny.
He does not come out in the open
and pick a peach off the tree against
the wall.
Nor does he ride up in an automo-
bile, snatch 1t through a window and
bear it off in full sight.
But with the scissors, the paste-pot
and the typewriter HES him to some
obscure and secluded corner and there
prepares his faked-up wares for the
market.
He knows better than to work in
the limelight.
There are some famous plagiarisms
in history.
Some celebrated fakes.
And 1t is said now that the plagiar
list is working round the other way.
That recently some of the species
have been writing stories and sending
them in under the name of some popu-
lar writer or celebrity.
Formerly he faxed the latter's pro-
duct under his own name.
OF course. in the first event, he must
take that of some contemporary.
Some one still living.
And it is only the nerviest that thus
dare
Most of them content themselves
with stealing the product and attach
ing their own name thereto.
Such has certain H. P Chandler
done.
| Unknown to the writer.
| But with his name signed to one of
Ella Wheeler WilcoX's poems so well
known to the general public that the
audacfty of the plagiarist is amazing.
Whatever you may or may not think
Of the literary merit of Mrs Wilcox's
output, none can deny its popularity.
It is popular with every class.
You hear her quoted in the drawing
room and the howell.
She has an easy and felicitous man
ner of versifcation and a genius for
taking the common thought, sentiment
or experience and putting it into at
! tractive and Hitting poetic form.
Her product is so well known, es-
pecially to the readers of newspapers
that the person who would have the
temerity to steal it and hand it out as
his, or her own, would be either a CO.
lossal egotist or fool,
Everybody knows the verse by this
writer called Worth While" and
which goes like this
sit is easy enough to be pleasant
! When life flows by like song,
But the man worth while is the one
who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And 1t always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises
/ of earth
Is the smile that shines through
tears"
This is the verse that H P. Chandler
has handed out for his own.
1t is Mrs. Wilcox's poem with just
one word omitted.
This in the third line which she
wrote
"when evarvtbine roes daad u,ro,o 81
Chandler leaves out the word
dead" thus cleverly wiggling out-or
leaving a loop-hole for him to get
through-in case the plagiarism is dis
covered and he is run to cover
Following legal procedure
Which will reverse some Just decis
ion through a careless clerical error
the omission of a qualifying word or q
minor punctuation mark.
This is the thing, as has been said
over and over again throughout the
country in the public prints, that
brings the courts into contempt
Everybody knows it is Juggling with
words.
That it isn't law or justice.
That it is without rhyme or reason
But 1t continues just the same
If H. P. Chandler were brought tt
bat he would probably point to the
omission of this word as confrmatory
evidence that the verses were his own
The meanest thief in the world is he
who steals others ideas
Especially after the ideas have beer
recorded in print
But you'll And this everywhere.
! There is a preponderance Of human
sponges.
Those who sit round and absorb.
You'll find them everywhere. II
clubs, at home. in Offices, factories
shops, at parties, lectures, plays,
Very few people are as Informed
about the play thief as they are O
some of the other fifty-seven varieties
But he is kept tab on by the cam,
manager.
These gentry will attend the openinf
performance of a play and, through
In