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plump; of geese, a gaggle or lag; of wild geese, a flock; of choughs, a clattering; of nightingales, a watch; of swans, a whiteness; of dottrell, a trip; of ducks, a team; of brant, a gang; of pigeons, a company; of larks, an exaltation; of hawks, a cast.

Of serpents, a nest.

Of dogs, a kennel, or pack; of foxes, a skulk; of monkeys, a troop; of wolves, a pack; of lions, a pride; of bears, a sleuth; of buffaloes, a herd; of oxen, a drove; of sheep, a flock; of hogs, a sounder; of swine, a herd; of mules, a drove; of horses, a troop or stud.

Of robbers, a band; of ruffians, a horde; of rowdies, a mob; of troops, a body; of sailors, a crew; of children, a troop; of people, a crowd; of soldiers, a company; of companies, a regiment; of regiments, a corps; of corps, an army; of officials, a board; of lawyers, a bar; of judges, a bench; of delegates or senators, a congress; of engineers, a corps; of barons, a baronage; of beauties, a galaxy; of worshippers, a congregation; of angels, a host. This list is not exhaustive, and no doubt many can add to it. Beth Day.

SOUTH KAUKAUNA, Wis.

BIRTH OF THE "ETCHING."

Once upon a time an author wrote a story of -six thousand words, had it neatly typewritten, and sent it to a leading magazine. After twenty-eight days it was returned with thanks and a thumb mark on the first sheet. After renovation, the story went the rounds of the magazines, the high-class weeklies, and the Sunday newspapers.

Then the author concluded that it lacked humor. He inserted some humor, and the story made another return trip. Then he added a little pathos, more excitement, deeper action, and stronger characters; and after each change the story was rejected.

The author could think of no more changes to make. He knew that the story was goodor had been; and, as a last resort, he took it to a friendly editor, who had not received a call from this particular manuscript, and begged

him to look over it and tell him what was wrong. The editor took the story, and promised to read it as soon as he had time.

Five years afterward, the editor found the story and the time to read it, and proceeded to ornament it with his blue pencil. When the author examined the manuscript he was astounded to find every paragraph, except the

first, crossed out. Now the author had sworn a terrible oath not to add a single word to the story, come what might. He had sworn also to try once more. So he read the sole remaining paragraph, which follows:

"Farmer Gabriel Sumner stood looking at a black speck which moved slowly up the icy mountain side. The wind was rising, and great clouds of snow scudded along before him, often shutting out of view the moving speck. At such times he leaned forward, straining his eyes to their utmost, and held his breath in suspense."

That was all. What could he do with it? After an hour of intense thought, he remodelled it thus:

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***The Writer is published the first day of every month. It will be sent, post-paid, ONE YEAR for ONE Dollar.

**All drafts and money orders should be made payable to The Writer Publishing Co. Stamps, or local checks, should not be sent in payment for subscriptions.

THE WRITER will be sent only to those who have paid for it in advance. Accounts cannot be opened for subscriptions, and names will not be entered on the list unless the subscription order is accompanied by a remittance. When subscriptions expire the names of subscribers will be taken off the list unless an order for renewal, accompanied by remittance, is received. Due notice will be given to every subscriber of the expiration of his subscription.

*.* No sample copies of THE WRITER will be sent free.

The American News Company, of New York, and the New England News Company, of Boston, and their branches, are wholesale agents for THE WRITER. It may be ordered from any newsdealer, or direct, by mail, from the publisher.

Everything that may be printed in the magazine will be written expressly for it.

Not one line of paid advertisement will be printed in THE WRITER outside of the advertising pages.

Advertising rates will be sent on request.

Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed.

THE WRITER PUBLISHING CO.,

282 Washington Street (Rooms 9 and 10), BOSTON, MASS.

(P. O. Box 1905.) VOL. VII.

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Short, practical articles on any topic connected with literary work are always wanted for THE WRITER. Literary people are invited especially to send in suggestions for the "Helpful Hints" department, and items of information about any literary work on which they may be engaged. The chief object of THE WRITER is to be a magazine of mutual help for authors, and its pages are always open for anything practical which may tend in this direction. Bits of personal experience, suggestions regarding methods, and ideas for making literary work easier or more profitable are especially desired. Articles must be short, because the magazine is small.

Editors of periodicals are popularly supposed to lay more or less stress in buying "contribu

tions" on the value of a well-known name, but in making up the quotation-sheets that they send out to the newspapers some of them do not seem to act in accordance with this theory. For instance, Harper's Weekly recently had a quatrain, "Life's Contrasts," signed "T. B. A.". -initials which will be quite generally recognized. In the quotation-sheet the quatrain was credited simply "Harper's Weekly." The editor of Life often omits the names of contributors from the credits on his quotation-sheet, sometimes even when the knowledge of the author's name would increase the reader's interest in the poem. Other editors make the same mistake.

The proper way, of course, in such cases is always to give credit to the author of the quotation as well as to the periodical from which it has been taken. This is the practice of all careful newspaper editors, and it is only just that this should be the rule. In the long run it will be for the advantage of the periodicals. to have proper credit given to the author whose stories or whose poems they have bought. It is strange that their editors do not see this. more clearly, and in consequence use more care in making up their regular quotation-sheets.

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[ Questions relating to literary work or literary topics will be answered in this department. Questions must be brief, and of general interest. Questions on general topics should be directed elsewhere.]

(1.) Would it do to send the accompanying illustration to a story you have translated along with the manuscript? Could another cut be taken from that?

(2.) In translating a story is it necessary to give the name of the author, or is it sufficient merely to say: "Translated from the German," or the Swedish, or some other language?

S. V.

[(1.) An illustration cut from any magazine or periodical can be reproduced either by photographic process or by re-drawing.

(2.) In crediting a translated story the name of the author should invariably be given. "From the French of Victor Hugo," for example, is a good way of putting it. -W. H. H.]

DIALECT AGAIN.

I confess I am quite taken aback at the small whirlwind I have raised by my article on "Dialect," which was published in the January WRITER, and which I protest was written quite in fun. I thought everybody would see that, as a matter of course, I meant the illiterate, whose use of the dialect is common, just as it is in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, anywhere. I have lived too long in the South to wish or attempt to injure the feelings of any Southern person. Many of the Southerners by whom I have been surrounded for years are among my dearest personal friends.

To say I was surprised at the way my little squib was taken would be expressing myself too mildly by far. I was almost hurt to think I was so little understood.

The next time I try to be funny," which is, perhaps, not my forte, I will follow the example of the small children in their first attempts at drawing, who label their efforts, "This is a horse," or a cow, as the case may be. I will, in the inimitable language of Artemus Ward, write underneath, "This is a Goak." Far be it from me to disparage the great and glorious word-painters of the world. I like them, and I like dialect-in reason. And now, dear friends of the pen and pencil, that I have made my explanation, with my politest bow, I hope it will be acceptable to my most courteous critics.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mary A. Denison.

EDITORS AND PUBLISHERS.

I want to speak in commendation of that capital little article, “Both Ends of the Line," which was published in the February WRITER. It is thoughtful, practical, and correct, and ought to be widely read. I also want to say a few words for the publishers I know. They are, with few exceptions, a noble set of men, and uniformly kind and courteous. The editors of the Youth's Companion are princes among their kind; so are those of Harper's Young People, and, in fact, of all of the Harpers' publications. I have had the honor to take refusals from them as well as acceptances, and in all cases my articles come back as spotless as they left my hands, barring sometimes the accidents of mail usage, and generally accompanied by pleasant words from the editors themselves in their own handwriting.

I think no gentleman will ever return a manuscript with no acknowledgment whatever.

It is certainly sometimes very difficult — and Jean Halifax tells why to know just what will be acceptable to the different periodicals. The only way to get at a solution is to send the poem or sketch to one editor after another until it finds a market. In that way I seldom fail to

place all my manuscripts at last, so that a return does not trouble me in the least.

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But," says one, "that's what editors are paid for; they ought to be courteous." No, they are not specially paid for being courteous, only for the work they do as Readers, and as writers for the press. No amount of salary will make a gentleman, if the instinct be not born in him.

Having experienced their courtesy both here and abroad, I came to the conclusion long ago that editors were the hardest worked, and in general the most delightful, people in the world. Mary A. Denison.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

BOOK REVIEWS.

THE COLOR PRINTER. A treatise on the use of colors in typographic printing. By John F. Earhart. 137 pp. and 90 colored plates. Cloth, $12.50. Cincinnati: Earhart & Richardson. 1892.

The most artistic book on printing that has ever come to the attention of THE WRITER is John F. Earhart's monumental work, "The Color Printer." It is a beautiful volume, 84 by 101⁄2 inches in size, containing 137 pages of letterpress and ninety color-plates, printed in from two to twenty colors each. It is handsomely bound in cloth, with edges marbleized and cover stamped in gold and fine colors. Some idea of the patience and technical skill required for the production of such a work is given by the fact that to produce a limited edition of it 625 different forms and 1,625,000 impressions were necessary. The book contains 166 colors, hues, tints, and shades, produced by mixtures of two colors each, with the proportions printed below each color. A great variety of fine color effects is produced by printing colors in lines and solids over gold bronze, printed also in lines and solids. A diagram of complementary colors, accompanied by simple rules for obtaining an endless variety of harmonious color combinations, is one of the most valuable features of the book. Another interesting feature is a miniature landscape printed in ten colors, showing impressions of each block, both separate and as registered into its proper place as the picture grows toward completion. Specimens of embossing done on an ordinary job press are given, together with a description of the very simple method by which the work is done. There are thirty-nine lists of twocolor combinations, containing more than 2,000 different combinations, and forty-two lists of three-color combinations, containing more than 1,400 different combinations selected from the

colors shown in the book. Each of these com binations is marked as being good, very good, or excellent, making it easy for the printer following the book as a guide in practical work to select the best. In selecting these combinations, the author has been governed solely by the natural laws of harmony and contrast of colors. The book, accordingly, will answer the purpose of all those who desire to use colors intelligently and effectively, producing the best results in the simplest manner, without waste of time or material.

To printers ambitious to do the best of color work, "The Color Printer" will be an invaluable aid, and, as Mr. De Vinne has said, there is not a printing office in the country that uses $100 worth of color in a year that will not save the price of the book through using the exact formulas that are given for making tints. At the same time the book is sure to do much to raise the standard of color printing, and to improve the taste of every one who studies its delicate and artistic color combinations. Simply as a work of art, "The Color Printer" will fascinate any one who looks at it; from first to last it is an exquisite specimen of the perfection of the printer's art. Its preparation has evidently been a labor of love with Mr. Earhart, and he has every reason to feel satisfied with his achievement. The price of the book now is $12.50 a copy, but an early advance in price is probable, for the edition is limited, and is selling very rapidly. It would be strange, indeed, if it were not, for the work is a masterpiece of typographic skill, and is sure to be sought after, not only by printers, but by artists and book collectors everywhere, as well.

W. H. H.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF RHETORIC. By Adams Sherman Hill. 371 pp. Cloth, $1.10. New York: Harper & Bros. 1893. No better idea of the nature and purpose of "The Foundations of Rhetoric can be given than by a quotation from the preface of the book.

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"For practical purposes," says Professor Hill, there is no better definition of a good style than Swift's- PROPER WORDS IN PROPER PLACES. Differ as good writers may in other respects, they are all distinguished by the judicious choice and the skilful placing of words. They all aim (1) to use no word that is not established as a part of the language in the sense in which they use it, and no word that does not say what they wish it to say so clearly as to be understood at once, and either so strongly as to command attention, or so agreeably as to win attention; (2) to put every word in the place fixed for it by the idiom of the language, and by the principles which govern communication between man and man,— the place which gives the word its exact value in itself and in its relations with other words;

and (3) to use no more words than are necessary to effect the purpose in hand.

"If it be true that these simple principles underlie all good writing, they may properly be called THE FOUNDATIONS OF RHETORIC. To help young writers to master these principles is the object of the following pages. They are especially intended for those who have had some practice in writing, but who have not yet learned to express themselves well.

"The Introduction sets forth as simply, clearly, and compactly as possible the leading facts of English grammar, including definitions of technical terms. The body of the book is in three Parts. Part I., which treats of Words, is divided into two books: in Book I., proper and improper expressions, arranged for convenience in classes that correspond to the several parts of speech, are set side by side; in Book II., questions of choice between words equally proper are considered. Part II., which treats of Sentences, is divided into two books: in Book I., good and bad sentences, arranged for convenience in chapters that correspond to the five important qualities of style, are set side by side; in Book II., questions of choice between sentences equally proper are considered. Part III. treats of PARAGRAPHS."

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The plan of the book, as any one can see at a glance, is admirable. As for its quality, the author has been for years at the head of the department for instruction in English at Harvard college, and thousands of those who have been students under him, the editor of THE WRITER included, will be ready to testify that no more competent or interesting teacher of the right use of the English tongue has ever lived. Professor Hill's " Principles of Rhetoric" has long been a standard text-book. This new "Foundations of Rhetoric" is quite as practical, and sensible, and closely-written as the older book, and it is an advance upon that in many ways. It is doubtful, indeed, if any better book than this on the practical use of English has ever been written. The student of it will find some valuable suggestions on every page, and innumerable questions about the matters that puzzle young writers most frequently are answered in it. It is in every way an admirable work. Its value is increased by a thorough index, and by an appendix which gives all the rules of punctuation that any ordinary writer needs to know.

W. H. H.

ENGLISH SYNONYMS EXPLAINED IN ALPHABETICAL Order. With copious illustrations and examples drawn from the best writers. By George Crabb, A. M. 638 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: George Routledge & Sons. 1893. Study of the nice distinctions in meaning in words closely allied is invaluable to any writer who desires to use exactly and effectively the language in which he writes. Crabb's "Šynonyms" does something more than put together

lists of words of similar meaning; besides doing this, the author discusses the differences in meaning between the different words, and by illustrative examples shows their proper use. The origin of words is taken into account, and reasons are given why, in certain places, it is better to use one word rather than another, almost, but not quite, its equivalent. No writer, however skilful, can fail to get benefit from careful study of this book. W. H. H. OLIVER Wendell Holmes. By Walter Jerrold. With a portrait. 144 pp. Cloth, 90 cents. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1893.

The cellotype portrait prefixed to Mr. Jerrold's little book is an admirable picture of the "Autocrat." The different chapters of the book treat of Dr. Holmes as "The Man," "The Poet," "The Novelist," "The Autocrat and Teacher," and "The Doctor," with full appreciation of his many-sided ability. As a poet, Mr. Jerrold gives to Holmes the position immediately after Longfellow in point of fame, believing at the same time that in point of popularity he is probably to-day the very first among the poets of America. His sketch of Dr. Holmes' life is the most interesting portion of the book. The volume closes with a bibliography of Dr. Holmes' writings up to 1891.

W. H. H.

BON-MOTS OF CHARLES LAMB AND DOUGLAS JERROLD. Edited by Walter Jerrold. With grotesques by Aubrey Beardsley. 191 pp. Cloth, 75 cents. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1893.

A good portrait of Douglas Jerrold and a less satisfactory one of Lamb increase the value of this dainty little volume. As for Mr. Beardsley's drawings, most of them are meant to ornament, rather than to illustrate, as they might more effectively have done. The editor of the little book has prefixed brief sketches of the two wits whose bright sayings are included in it, and he has made an entertaining collection of epigrams and anecdotes, which is issued by the publishers in most attractive form.

W. H. H.

STUDIES OF THE STAGE. By Brander Matthews. With portrait. 214 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1894.

To writers Mr. Matthews' paper on "The Dramatization of Novels " will probably be the most interesting in this little volume of "Studies of the Stage." It is especially valuable because the author of it is a playwright, as well as an essayist, story-teller, and critic, and his suggestions regarding the methods and the difficulties of dramatization are based upon practical experience. Incidentally, many hints about playwriting are given in the essay. The other essays in the book discuss the dramatic outlook in America, the New York Player's Club, "Charles Lamb and the Theatre," M. Francisque Sarcey, M. Jules Lemaitre, "Shake

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