The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1930-01-30
The Unknown
a. Genius
BY JANE 0SBoKe
~~~~0~~~~S~~s "a

1V1 editor Of Turner'S Short Story
Magazine, had about decided that, JOB
l0r no Job, she could no longer endure
working side by side with Mr.. Jenery
| Snodgrass. She had stood 1t for four
years; she was quite sure that much
of the success Of the magazine was
due to her own discrimination IN Sc
ilecting short stories. But he only
criticized her, and took all the credit
himself.
! That afternoon she began to look
through her desk. There were things
she wanted to destroy or sort or SEND
to be filed before she really broke
with Snodgrass.
!. There was manuscript, written
!on' cheap MANILA paper. It was OBJ
Iyiously written by beginner. Maude
!recalled the day she acquired that
manuscript. The tall, very lean, al
most ferocious young man who had
come into her room, pushed back the
j boy 8, in, the outer, Office. and insisted
that he must see the "fellow that Sc
llected the stories" He had been sur
lprised when he saw that "the fellow"
was a slip Of a girl, then not more
than twenty-five.
That was three years ago. when she
had not been working with Snodgrass
very long. Actually he had looked nun
CRY as he tossed his manuscript down
ION her desk and had told her that he
was SO sure he could write that he
felt he would be In the right to force
an editor to buy. It wasn't his cock
sureness that had made her do what
she had done, but the fact that she
really thought he looked hungry.
OF course she thought the manu-
script was worthless. but she bought
lit-made out fake pay slip for 1t,
walked down the hall. where she TOOK
thirty dollars from her own freshly
paid pay envelope, and brought 1t
back, pretending she had been to the
cashiers.
Well, here was the manuscript. It
was signed John Davis. She had read
1t before; and, finding it, as she
thought, extremely unusual, had
passed it on to Mr.. Snodgrass. OF
course she did not tell him that she
had bought 1t already. But Mr.. Snod-
grass did not decide to buy It; In fact,
he told his assistant that If she wasted
his time again recommending for his
.perusal such a bit Of utter twaddle
as that he would have to get another
assistant.
Still, since she was determined to
leave, she decided to try her luck with
the story again. She read it and con-
cluded that 1t was written in style
=, distinctly original and showed an,
amazing nonconformity to the rules
of most story writer's. It might there
fore appeal to Mr.. Snodgrass as dis
tinctly modern"
She typed 1t on expensive paper
without changing a single word or
punctuation mark. The next morning,
before saying anything about leaving,
she showed the manuscript to him, in
timating that it had just been re-
ceived. Evidently he had forgotten the
manuscript entirely. for early that
afternoon he told Maude that the story
was amazing" and showed earmarks
of a genius. "It's the sort of thing
that Chester Dawdish is writing" he
said. "Just put voucher through to
the cashier. Wen pay FIVE hundred for
that"
But Maude had not the slightest
way of finding the whereabouts Of the
author, and knew only that his name,
or assumed name, was John Davis.
She simply told Mr.. Snodgrass that
the manuscript had come with no ad-
dress, and awaited developments, say
ing nothing for the time being con-
corning her own intention of quitting
her job. So it was decided to publish
this amazing story with great splash
as the manuscript Of an unknown
genius unpaid for because said
genius had failed to leave his address.
For days after the issue of Turner's
Magazine this story was the talk Of
reviewers.
Then one day the illustrious Chester
Dawdish blew into the editorial Of
fees, rushing by the reception clerk
In the outer Office. Mr.. Snedgrass was
overcome with this honor, and then
sat in mute anazement as Mr.. Daw-
dish stood excitedly before Maude
Dale's desk.
'That's my story" he said eagerly,
"and you are the girl I've been looking
for all these years." tt9IrGs 30
There were explanations, and the
successful writer explained more
leisurely that at the time of his first
visit he had actually been starving.
He'd tried to sell the story In every
magazine office in town. but the edi-
tors wouldn't even see him. Later,
when he found success in such gendk
Gus measure, he had wanted to come
back to find this girl who had given
him his first encouragement, but he
had been so excited and so near star
walton at the time that he couldn't
even remember at which of the nu-
merOus magazine offices he had met
with this first success.
A week later Maude Dale resigned
her excuse being that she was about
to wed Chester Dawdish.