Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-18

WASHINGTON, March 15.-How
n successful career of authorship is
begun has at last been divulged
authoritatively. One hundred m
twenty-five members of the Authors
League of America. writers who have
arrived, have immortalized in book
form the story of my Maiden Eff
fort"
Here surely is an illuminating doc
ument for the young geniuses who
realize that destiny calls them to
write. but who sit with reluctant pen
wondering how should begin.
The 125 chapters out of the past
history Of 1875 successful writers tell
Just how 1t has been done success
fully. The only difficulty in draw
ing conclusions Is that a different
conclusion, and moral, may be drawn
from every chapter.
Thus, some writer's began WELD
ing a pen at a comparatively mature
age and struggled from there on.
Others-many of them-began their
careers young and gathered expert
ence all through the years OF youth.
Ono of the former type Is Ray
Stannard Baker. He begun to be an
author at twenty-five when he SOLD
his first story to a short story maya
zine. He was informed that the
magazine paid on publication, and
therefore he eagerly watched for his
literary debut which was to be fol-
lowed by his entrance into the pluto
cratic class. Every month FOR TWO
years and a half. Baker fastened to
buy the new issue of the magazine
and went home anxiously reading
the table of contents. At the end OF
that long period the young authors
name appeared on the cover In the
| distinguished company of Anthony
Hope and Robert Louis Stevenson
The promised remuneration vent
ually came. 1t was a check for so.
Young Baker dropped to earth and
sat down to calculate his profit.
Unfortunately, the SIS gain was over
Swallowed by the $3.50 spent for
| COPIES of the magazine. But" he
saws. ait was a real experience
Cobb Got Early Start.
In the class of those who heard the
call of the muse early in life, Irwin
8. Cobb Is a shining example. He
may surely claim the record for get
| ting the earliest start in the game
He says:
my earliest known photograph
| shows me, at the tender age OF ~
months. lying fiat upon my stomach
IL could lie fiat upon my stomacf
Ithen-scribbling upon a sheet o
paper with a stub of pencil"
Booth Harrington. Arthur Gutter
man, Theodosia Garrison, and many
others tell of suffering in verses II
their earliest years. A love lyric OF
a tragic ode written at the age or 81.
is as good a way as any to burst into
the profession of being an author
their experience seems to say. W.
hasten to add that few of these IN
fantile effasions are reported as SOLO
They were merely maiden EFFORTS
but eventually they led to bigger
things.
Some of the celebrities struck gol(
the first time they seriously tried Il
dig anything out of an edltorla
office. Josephine Daskam Bacoi
tells of selling her first poem to tn
Atlantic Monthly while she was stil
in school. and her next three at
tempts. an essay. story. and poem, t
that magazine and the Century.
Ellis Parker Butler also describe
early success. His first story. writ
ten when he was a small hoy. h
sold to a juvenile publication and re
ceived in payment SO one-cent posta
cards.
Other latent geniuses struggled. l
fact. the majority served a discour
aging apprenticeship to art.
For instance. Fanny Hurst des
cribes how her first short story wa
refused by eleven publications an
was finally printed in a college Joui
nal. Looking back on this first al
tempt, Miss Hurst now regards
as "a supreme example OF Anfractu
osity, Banality. Compact. Incompre
lhensibility, Descipiency, Effusivenes
lFlaccidity, Garrulity. Hyperbolisn
, ~Imbecility, Ju-venescenee, and so o
tor Omega"
Fanny Hurst Labels Herself.
fanny Hurst's first published shoi
stoky brought in SIS with which sh
} purchased a morocco bound not
bod mich she largely and giltl
Nanny. Hurst, Author