Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-05-18

July ana metlculOuSly, making
marks on it to refresh my memory.
Then I saw that the anecdotes fell
into claSSifications - stories about
dogs, cats, ponies, spiders, and so
on. Pretty soon I learned how to
read quickly. would glance at the
beginning and if saw that it was a
story about canary, would jump
to the end to find the climax. If
the story wasn't as good as the ca
nary story I already had, then into
the rejects" it'd 60. At last, had
read them all, and the ones had
selected went to the honorary
judges" The judges agreed that a
story about a pet crane was the
best, but there were also twenty
small prizes. Then I had my first
glimse into the way prize contests
are decided. There was not much
difference between the stories, so it
was agreed to spread the prizes
around geographically. And that
was exactly what was done. One
prize went to Maine, the next to
New Mexico, and so on. And I've
seen that work out many times since
the geographical angle"
One day I got to see the wheels
actually 60 around. Dresser called
me-the cub-into his office and,
Peerlng over the top of the glasses
dangling on his nose, said:
Get the staff together. Bring
them into my office"
A staff conference was held once
week, in this big room, but this
was not the day for it; never be-
lore had he called for conference
to be held in his private office.
1t was not long before we were
filing in. But Dresser kept on work.
ing, never looking up, for he was a
bit of a Snowman.
Finally he turned around, took off
his glasses and quickly popped them
back on again, which was a little
mannerism of his. II started to edit
this story" he said, holding up a
manuscript, land I found this in it.
I'll read it,
A hush fell over US, for we knew
crisis had come.
He began to read aloud. The sum
and substance of it was this: the
magazine had bought the short story
from a then-famous author, and in
the story the woman character had
smoked cigarette.
At the end of the passage he
paused. How did that get by?" he
demanded
There was a good deal of uneasy
shifting. No one knew exactly. It
was just one of those things.
1--WE can change it" someone sug-
gested.
If that could be done I would
not have called you in," he said.
The whole story depends on the
woman smoking. If the cigarette is
edited out, there is no story"
They discussed it in detail, and
that point was true. All kinds of
wicked substitutes were suggested,
but none would do.
She smoked, or she didn't. There
was no halfway.
Someone suggested sending it back
to the author and letting her solve
the problem. But she was in Europe
and the story had been scheduled.
Finally Dresser said, "The point is
far bigger than this matter of a
cigarette. All the women's maya
zines are too nice; they don't meet
life squarely. If we want really to
touch the lives of our readers, we've
got to get down to vitals and stop
being prissy. The woman in this
story is going to smoke"
There was a moments hush, for
all recognized the seriousness of the
situation. 1t might lose the maya
zine a great deal in the way of cir
culation. Certainly hundred min
| listers would thunder.
At last the conference was over.
But the trouble wasn't, for the bust
ness office soon saw a copy of the
story and now there was a confer
ence indeed! This time Dresser had
to go to their office. He had enemies
in the business end, and they made
an issue of this. But Dresser was
fighter and, by sheer force of per-
sonality, won out. Of course the
magazine failed, but this was many
years later. I don't think the ciga-
rette killed it.
I want to return to the feel of
corn growing at night. Growing
weather" we call it. 1t will grow
one-third as much during the night
as it will during the day, we say.
And it would seem to be true. For
when you come out in the morning,
it does look bigger; and when you
cultivate, it strikes you higher on
the thigh. Corn, at night, has a Pc
culiar way of whispering to itself, as
if it knew secrets far beyond what
its masters know. And, if you wan
der near cornfeld at night, you
can't doubt it. Now and then a
night bird flies over, with a rush of
| uyiy,1c ,1,,,Ncf in, uo,,r v,1,,, a~I