The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-19

Copyright. 1913. International Ne
BY Ebert HUBBARD

Copyright 1918. International News
| Service)
! IL was only about two hundred years
4 ago when men were still awaiting them
selves In England Of the benefit Of the
clergy" The word clergy" means
clerQue, or cleric-clerk.
| The clergy kept the records. beca use
| they were the only men who were edu-
cated--the only men who could read
and write.
! The first colleges in America were
| founded for the sole purpose OF edu-
| eating clergymen, 1t was the idea that
! a man who could read and write was In
! possession of very superior quality
/ OF intellect; just as in 1875 we said
| no one could operate the typewriter
who did not have the piano touch.
| The good writer today must not be
very much wiser than the reader. Lit
erature is self-discovery. The things
we like are the things we recognize
as our own. In order to make man
| pleased with you, you have to make
| him pleased with himself.
| The poet need no longer strave in a
Rarret. getting his living through
| quasi mendicancy or the uncertain
| favor of a patron. Advertising has
opened up field for any one who can
push a pen, shake the literary brush
| piles and put salt on the tail OF an
| idea.
| Twenty five years ago the advertis-
! ing man was unknown. The proprie-
| tor of a store wrote his own ads, and,
OF necessity. inertia prevailed to such
degree that an sd once written
was run in the paper until the type
wore out. The idea Of "A new adver-
tisement every day was a thing un-
! guessed,
A. T. Stewart wrote his own adver-
| tisements He wrote them In the i'm
! personal style, simply: Mr. A. T.
| Stewart begs to inform the people of
| New York that he has just received a
| few cases of Irish linens, especially
selected for him in Belfast. These
will he opened on the sidewalk. in
front Of the Palace OF business, and
ten per cent below the figures which
| the same goods will bring after they
are carried into the store"
| To hire a man just to look after your
advertising would have been regarded
! Gs rank extravaganza that time.
| The argument would also have been
made that no man could write about
/ things unless he were an expert In
| Divert Using would have been regard
| that IA few simple rules apply, and
! that the outsider often gets better
| perspective than the man who is close
! up against the game.
| Life consists either IN being in and
| looking out or In being out and look
| ing in And the man who Ia outside
| looking in has a little better view.
| often, than the man who Is Inside
| struggling with details, perplexed, ag-
! gravated. worn, and wondering wfe-
t Their he will ever get his money back.
| There are now upward Of twenty
| thousand men in America preparing
advertising copy. Some OF these men
| command sa aries OF princely magni-
/ tude saw n thousand dollars a month.
| and there are q dozen or SO whose
/ figure Is just an even hundred dollars
/ day.
There ia no doubt. however. that
| the genius required In writing adver
/ tisements has been more or less over
| rated, and there is soon TO be a
| swinging back OF the pendulum, we
must understand the truth that writ
| ing Ia more or less a knack.
Dean Swift said that a good man
could write on any subject and make
the theme interesting. Then" said
! Stella, write ME an essay on
| broomstick" And straighrway the
dean accepted the challenge and wrote
| an immortal thing In literature.
/ Charles Lambs essay on Roast
| Pig Ia another example OF good writ
| ing about nothing in particular.
! Both Charles Lamb and Dean Swift.
( II they lived today would he writing
| advertisements for department stores,
and they would be making a deal
| more money than they ever made in
] literature.
| America has Eve thousand men who
! can write just as well as Dean Swift.
/ Charles Lamb. Coieridge. Dick steele