The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-07
//T- ONT you please give talk eN A on your page to girls who
 WV have talent, or think they
 have? I may or may not be

A on your page to girls who
 WV have talent, or think they
 have? l may or may not be
 the only one to write to you on the subject. but l do think there are many who would enjoy such a talk, and De helped by it. How can we tell if we have real talent? I have always liked to write compositions and letters, and so many of my friends and relatives think will be writer, but am not so opti- mistic.
 Mapy people think they have talent Tor something and waste time and money trying to make something out of it, and think the world cold and unappreciative l asked one of my teachers what she thought of 1t, and she said it is too early to tell yet if I have real talent for writing, though had plenty of originality and write well and easily. Now if my talent is not great or I have mistaken 1t want to find it out as soon as possi- bie and bend my energies to something that can really do. If I really have it l am willing 10 work hard and wait
 Even if I never do write a great piece of work, I want to be able to write good stories, not trash, and crude things that so many of our magazines, even some of the highest priced ones, are stopping over with. I read that certain editor said he gets floods of manuscripts. but only about one in thousand is worth anything.
 am 19 years old. Wishing you con- tinuaton of success I am one of your ioval readers. R. F. G."
 This is an interesting letter and one of the best of many I have received along much the same line. Only R. r. G. seems to have root of patience and persistence in her that is not displayed by all young girls, who are eager to rush into print before they have fitted themselves for their work. For be it understood the pos session of talent does not render you immune so far as vigorous effort and al- most heartbreaking toll are concerned. The highest talent, or geniusftself, does not do away with the necessity for tools or for learning to use them. On the other hand in many cases skill almost takes the place of a heaven sent gift. and hard work and perseverance have won out when talent unfortified by either would have been but sorry dependence.
 Let me give a case in illustration of iLiS-dIiu IL IS d true story. A Slrl who had received all the advantages of a lib- eral education. but who had never shown any desire to write, married poor man and found that an increase of income would be desirable. She was good house. keeper, and one day on an impulse she wrote the history of domestic experi- ence and sent it to a magazine. To her joy and a good deal to her astonishment ;% ,Asl slowed in return. Thus encouraged, she wrote more, and little by little worked herself into the position of regular writer on home topics.
 Later on family circumstances threw upon her the entire support of the house. hold and for years she earned enough to Feep the home to educate her children, 10 give them advantages of society and of travel. She never deceived herself into thinking that she had real talent or a particle of the celestial spark of inspira- ton. But she had been trained In her schooldays to write well; she had read widely and thoughtfully; she had educat- ed her powers of observation and of eX, pression, and when the need came to her she was far better prepared to meet it than if she had been an uncultured gen. ius. Always >she tried to make her style tie best possible. even when she was writing of nothing loftier than the cleans ing of pots and pans, and as a result she never lacked for work The best of it's kind, but a poor kind.' she used to say cs her own efforts, but poor or high, they enabled her to give her children the ben cilts they would otherwise have lacked
 This is a good example of what hard work, backed by efficient training, will do even when one has no talent; and l could give number of other anecdotes to prove the point. If enc possesses talent and re-