The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1917-10-02
The Results
OF a Blunder
By EDWARD STEWART

Its too bad
Il am dreadfuIIy sorry. my dear
young lady. 1t could not be helped"
Il have been counting Oh this story
to give me literary reputation. You
have ruined all these hopes"
This was ridiculous The story was
below the average
The truth is that Howkins. the edi
tor and proprietor of the magazine. had
no business to go away and leave me.
a scatter Drained yOungster. in full con
troll. had hosts of friends. and my
mind was absorbed with youthful pleas
ureS. rs to my work at the editorial
rooms. HOwkins had arranged every
thing before his departure so that
there was nothing to do but take the
copy for the next issue out of his desk
and send ii TO the composing room
Among other copy | sent up a story
called What's 1t All About" by Miss
Mildred Eaton. | was locking my desk
one Friday afternoon preparatory to
going into the country till the follow
ing Tuesday when "a message came
down from the composing room that
the story What's 1t All About" was
incomplete. called for the copy and
found the last two chapters missing
Here was pretty kettle of fish. |
ransacked the Office without success:
sent for the author and was informed
knew where. What was | to do? Give
up my outing tO-search for a needle in
haystack: Not l. My resolution was
taken. 1t was then 2 o'clock. By |
could skim the manuscript, by could
write the last chapters and be ready
for the o clock train instead of the 3
O'Clock, as had intended.
Had | taken more time and put nv
| mind Oh my work instead of dwelling
on the outing l was to have, afraid all
the while that would miss the train
the last till the next morning. might
have done fairly well. As it was |
made a frightful mess of the job |
miStOOk the hero for the villain and
brought the story TO close by putting
in his mouth high flown, virtuOus
enunCiation. The heroine | made to
the same bench with the hero. | fin
| ished the work at half past 6, gave it
| to composing room messenger who
| was waiting for it and made a dash for
| the train.
Well, the story came out, and with
| it came the author. pretty girl of
| twenty, who sought me in my office
| with tears in her eyes. Had she storm
! ed | could have stood up against her
manfully. AS it was. | could only pre-
| tend to weep. not at the position my
| blunder had placed me. but that
| should have ruined her hopes of liter
| airy fame. | told her that ! seriously
| meditated drowning myself. Since |
| made the threat with my head buried
| in my arms. both head and arms rest
ing on my desk, my whole body shak.
ing cOnvulsively, she feared l would
carry it out. When she raised my face
with her own soft hands and | looked
into her tear dimmed but fOrgiving
eyes, was filed with shame
'My dear Miss Eaton sobbed. let
US hope that out of this misfortune
may come some reparatiOn for you
which. taken at the food will lead to
| fortune. | am one of those fellows
whose lives are chain of lucky and
unlucky incidents. | am constantly
meeting with misfortune-my own
| fault. dare say-but ! always come
out ahead in the game. Write a new
story, and | will use all my influence
with Mr. Howkins to have it published
as a special feature Now tell me
| that you forgive me-
She put out her hand, smiling through
her tears. and went away.
When the first batch of criticisms foi
the number of the magazine came in
| braced myself to bear the references tC
the story had ruined as one about tC
be executed nerves himself for the or
deal With the first | caught a faint
| CLEAN of hope Here it is:
| The story by Miss Eaton, Whats 1t AL
| About?" is, Judging from it's name, what
| it is doubtless intended to be-a puzzle
| What principles are covered under the
| strange ending probably only students Of
| the retrospective school will be able to sx-
| plain satisfactorily. In this respect the
story will excite great interest.
by some critic who was possibly hurry.
ing, as had done. to the country and
| had only skinned the early part of the
| story. for he pronounced the ending
lust what might be expected in this
| inferior class of work" The third
spoke of the pleasant style in which
| whats 1t All About?' was written
| an eaSy way of criticising q story the
critic is too busy to read. Seven critics
gave hypothetical explanations of the
mystery attending the closing chapters
In the whole batch of criticisms there
| was not one which indicated that the
story had been slaughtered by grace
less scamp in hurry to get away on a
| pleasure trip.
In view Of the attention these crit
cisms called to the story the autho.
found no difficulty in securing a pub
Usher for it in book form. 1t was con.
sidered too deep to have a large sale
except among critical, analytical, philo
sophical and skepticaI people, but II
made a name for the author. and she
| has made a fortune
| | suppose / should have had the mod
esty to consider myself well out OF a
bad scrape and acknowledge my fault
| To HOwkins | did: to Miss Eaton l did
| not threw out a hint that seeing the
story as she had written it was doomed
| TO failure | had cOucocted a scheme tC
| make it a success and make her IA
nous Her gratitude gave me not only