writing poetry one must be as fluent and as talented, in writing for the newspapers, as Edgar Guest, or Walt Mason, or Jimmie Montague, all of whom get large incomes from the syndicate publication of their verses, or in writing for the magazines as Carolyn Wells, or Clinton Scollard, or some of the other writers whose verse has vogue. As for books of poems, publishers used to shy at the idea of publishing them and say there was no money in them. They even declared that the books of well known poets were published largely at the expense of the authors and were not financially successful. Of late years the views of publishers have changed somewhat, and some books of poems produced at the publisher's risk have brought to the authors good sums in royalties, but it remains true, probably, that the sale of the average book of poems will not pay the cost of publication.

A poet may begin by contributing to the newspapers. After he has gained some reputation, and especially if his verses are widely reprinted in newspapers through the country, he may write something that he can sell among the magazines. When he has established a magazine reputation, perhaps some publisher will consent to bring out a volume of his verses. If his object is to make money by book publication he should wait until he can find a publisher who will produce a book of his poems without any expense to him. Any poet, or near-poet, who has produced the material for a book can find a publisher who will make the book at the author's expense charging him more, as a rule, than he could get the book made for by a big printing house, but the sale of such books is generally limited to the kind friends of the author, and the poet who pays the cost of publishing his book of poems seldom gets his money back. As for 'song poems," the innocent person who pays for having them set to music and published might as well throw his money off the end of Narragansett pier.

LITERARY SHOP TALK.

[This department is open to readers of THE WRITER for the relation of interesting experiences

in writing or in dealing with editors, and for the free discussion of any topic connected with literary work. Contributors are requested to be brief.]

Some years ago, when I was considering the question of engaging in life insurance work, I came across the experience of a solicitor who checked up on the financial results obtained in relationship to the number of interviews held and found that each interview thus considered averaged him one dollar and a half. Thereafter he found encouragement from tabulating his day's work as "X" calls made at $1.50 each. Regarded in this light each interview had a distinct money value, which to him was an incentive to continued activity and an encouragement as to results obtained quite in contrast with his former "What's the use?" and consequent discouragement when interviews were seemingly nonproductive of good results.

Busy now in the writing field, I have found this a method which has its advantages here as well as in the case mentioned. While primarily my writing is a side-line, taken up as a diversion from regular lines of work and pursued with a view to self-improvement, there is a decided stimulus to continued and painstaking effort when one realizes that each article prepared and submitted has a relative monetary value. This method of appraising the value of one's work may be used also as a criterion by which to judge as to the progress being made toward the goal of quality and worth-whileness, by a simple comparison between present and past results. Is the percentage of rejections decreasing; is the average cash value increasing?

The optimistic viewing of each "returnedwith-thanks" slip as having a real cash value is a healthy antidote to the depressing "Is the game worth the candle (postage)?" attitude of mind which would "make cowards of us all," even if cash returns may not have been the primary object in becoming a writer. TORONTO, Ont. Fred S. Shepard.

Only one periodical, as I remember, has stories the interest of which does not depend upon the plot. That magazine is for adults and no periodical, I believe, prints for children narratives touching their own lives with

an appearance of truth, and with companionable child characters.

I attempted to write such a story as I had in mind, and tested results by reading it to children of about fourteen years. My success was evident.

I then sent the story to one of the most widely approved periodicals for youth and received, with its return, in place of the printed slip, a courteous letter from which I give the following quotation: "Your idea is a pleasant one and Irma is a very attractive child, but we fear our readers would find the plɔt rather slender."

Verily the plot is the thing wherewith to catch the editor. Marion Horsford.

CHARLOTTE, Vermont.

A London newspaper trying to find the novel with the shortest chapter concluded that the prize went to Bulwer-Lytton, in whose "What Will He Do With It?" the chapter headed "Denouement" consists of only one word "Poodle," but an English critic has hastened to announce that the shortest chapters in existence are in Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy," for in Chapters XVII and XIX Sterne put nothing but dashes.

THE MANUSCRIPT MARKET.

[This information as to the present special needs of various periodicals comes directly from the editors. Particulars as to conditions of prize offers should be sought from those offering the prizes. For full addresses of periodicals mentioned, see "The Writer's Directory of Periodicals." ]

The Penn Publishing Company (Philadelphia) takes especial pleasure in promoting young writers who give promise of ability, and, as an instance of what the Company has done in this respect, calls attention to Temple Bailey, who had written only short stories until Mr. Shumaker suggested to her a certain type of book. Today she is one of the foremost novelists and nothing that she writes is without a publisher. Her two latest books have sold more than 50,000 copies each, and her short stories find immediate acceptance. The Company, of course, welcomes authors whose reputations are already established, but it is really more keen for the new people, as it

finds their development and the promotion of their books so interesting that it will take a chance on anyone who shows evidence of ability.

Life (New York) is interested in short dialogues or jokes, short prose articles of less than 500 words, and ideas for cartoons. Life is at present overstocked with verse and long material.

The National Pictorial Magazine (Windsor, Ontario) wants articles of general worldwide interest, preference being given to those of British setting, either in England or her colonies, and some short stories with a bright, cheerful outlook.

The Popular Magazine (New York) needs manuscripts of all lengths. Fiction should be stories of contemporary life, preferably of American life about Americans, embodying a cheerful and almost romantic view, but at the same time clinging rather closely to a realistic presentment as regards detail. Good Western stories are wanted — not the hackneyed type, but something unusual and original. Stories of the war are not wanted. Just now the magazine is looking for new authors capable of writing a series of either short or long stories, and the editor says that the more stories an author sells to the magazine, the more valuable he becomes. Decisions regarding short stories are reached within a week, and on longer stories within two weeks. The Popular Magazine pays on acceptance and pays good prices.

Adventure (New York) needs stories with real action in them. This does not mean melodrama, but stories where the characters act instead of merely talking, and where the main plot does not turn on psychological theories.

The Editorial Department of the Methodist Book Concern, 420 Plum street, Cincinnati, Ohio, is in need of stories and articles for a paper for girls in their teens, publication of which will begin in January, 1922. The paper has not yet been named, but the publishers are seeking wholesome, vigorous stories with plenty of adventure and action, in which the ethical lesson is an integral part of the plot

The Independent (New York) is always glad to consider timely, readable articles ɔn subjects of general news interest, not exceeding 2,000 words, and, if possible, accompanied by photographs. The Independent has a department called "A Little of Everything," covering a wide range of subjects religion, art, literature, popular science, invention, etc., for which the editors are always on the lookout for short interesting articles, of from 100 to 500 words. For this department, photographs, with captions of 100 words or so, will also be considered.

The People's Popular Monthly (Des Moines) is looking for a serial of 40,000 words, which will show a genuinely big man or woman contributing to the upward trend of his own community and finding his own happiness there. The editor would also like a few holiday stories, but with these exceptions the magazine is buying practically no fiction, and will not be in the market again until fall.

The advertising department of the Famous Clothiers, Madison & Halsted streets, Chicago, publish, two or three times a year, a little magazine called the Saturday Evening Ghost, and need at least one story for each issue. Stories should contain from 2,000 to 2,400 words, and should be of a very humorous nature, with lots of personality in them.

The Ladies' Home Journal ( Philadelphia ) is oversupplied just now both with fiction and general articles.

The Furniture Age (Chicago) especially needs stories concerning successful display advertising, sales and business promotion ideas tried and proved by furniture merchants

Young People (Philadelphia), an eightpage weekly story paper for people more than eighteen years old, is in the market for good short stories, not exceeding 3,000 words; serials, of not more than eight or ten chapters; general articles on interesting subjects, with illustrations or photographs; and biographies.

The editor of Fashionable Dress (New York) would like to get in touch with a writer who is an authority of the subject of beauty, toilet preparations, etc., and also with some one who is capable of handling an Entertainment department in the magazine.

A press notice sent out by Dorrance & Co., Inc., publishers of Philadelphia, indicates that they would like to receive the manuscript of a good book of etiquette-"a manual of manners" for the women of the United States.

Today's Housewife is so well supplied with manuscripts of all kinds that the editors will not, in all probability, buy anything until after the first of September.

Social Progress (Chicago) will not be in the market for material again before next October, as the editor has on hand more literary material than she will be able to use for some time. Social Progress cannot use manuscripts of more than 2,000 words, and prefer

ence is given to manuscripts of from 1,200 ta 1,800 words. Good photographs, suitable for half-tone reproduction, add to the interest of articles and influence their acceptance.

The name of the Parisienne will be changed to the Follies (New York), beginning with the July issue.

Padraic Colum has been elected editor, and Carolyn Hall, associate editor, of the Measure for the second quarter, beginning with the June number. The editorial office of the Measure is at 449 West Twenty-second street, New York.

Tempo is a new poetry magazine, printed with exquisite taste, published at Danvers, Mass., with Oliver Jenkins, editor, and R. Ellsworth Larsson, associate editor. The first number, that for June, is a very attractive one.

The American Agriculturist (New York) has been sold by the Orange Judd Company to E. D. Dewitt, formerly the business manager of the New York World.

The publication of the Amateur and the International Collector (St. Paul), new magazines of which announcement was made in the April number of THE WRITER, has been discontinued.

William P. Blake, surviving trustee of the Paderewski Fund for American Composers, offers two prizes: one of $1,000 for a symphony and one of $500 for a piece of chamber music, either for strings alone or for pianoforte or other solo instrument or instruments, with strings. The prizes are open only to American-born citizens, or to those born of American parentage. The pieces offered must never have been performed in public, and never before offered in competition. They must be sent under an assumed name or motto, with the composer's real name and address enclosed in a sealed envelope. Each orchestral Score must be accompanied by an arrangement for the pianoforte in four hands. Manuscripts must be sent to Mrs. Elizabeth C. Allen, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Mass.,

between September 15 and September 30not earlier or later.

The American Humane Association (Albany, N. Y.) is offering prizes aggregating $300 for the best essays dealing with the sufferings of animals caught in steel traps. The contest will close in September.

A. W. Bull, of Ithaca, a graduate student of Cornell University, won the fifty-dollar prize offered by J. H. Nortridge, president of the North Ridge Brush Company, for the best written plan to bring the Company's summer vacation offer before students.

The C. J. DeGaris Publishing House, Melbourne, has awarded the second prize of £150 to J. M. Walsh, for his novel, "The Lost Valley," and the third prize of £100 to Mrs. Ada H. Holman, for her novel, "Sport of the Gods," submitted in the Australian novel contest, which closed last September.

Prize offers still open :

Prizes in Letters offered by the Columbia University School of Journalism: For the best American novel published this year, $1,000; for the best play performed in New York, $1,000; for the best book of the year on United States history, $1,000; for the best American biography, $1,000. Also, Prizes in Journalism, amounting to $3.500 and a $500-medal, and three traveling scholarships having a value of $1,500 each. All offered annually under the terms of the will of Joseph Pulitzer. Particulars in April, 1920, WRITER.

Prizes of $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, and $500, and twenty prizes of $250 each for the best twenty-four short stories published by the Photoplay Magazine during 1921. Particulars in August WRITER.

Hart, Schaffner, & Marx prizes of $1,000, $500, $300, and $200 for the four best studies in the economic field submitted by June 21, 1922. Particulars in May WRITER.

Prize of $2,000 offered by the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris for the two best essays on "Tolerance in Economics, Religion, and Politics." Particulars in February, 1920, WRITER.

The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for English Literature, value to £100, offered annually by the British Academy. Particulars in May, 1920, WRITER. Prizes of $500, $250, $150, and $100 for best letters on My Greatest Problem How I Solved It," offered by Physical Culture, New York, contest to close September 1. Particulars in April WRITER.

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Annual Hawthornden prize of £100 offered in England for the best work of imaginative literature in English prose or poetry by an author under forty years of age that is published during the previous twelve months.

Prize of $1,000 for the best essay on "Contributions of Jews to Hygiene," offered by the Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, competition to close November 1, 1922. Particulars in April WRITER.

Prize of $50 offered by Telling Tales for the best lyrical poem submitted by November 1. Particulars in March WRITER.

Prizes of $1,000, $500 and $500 offered by the Francis D. Pollak Foundation for Economic Research for the best essays submitted during 1921. Particulars in March WRITER.

Thomas A. Edison prize of $500 for the most meritorious research on "The Effects of Music," contest to close Oct. 1. Manuscripts should be sent to W. V. Bingham, Director Division of Applied Psychology, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Penn. Particulars in May WRITER.

Prize of $100 offered by the Swift & Company Male Chorus for the best musical setting for the poem, "The Four Winds," by Charles H. Luders, contest to close July 1. Particulars in May WRITER.

American Music Optimists' prize of $500 for the best quintet (piano and strings) by an American composer. Competition will close November 1. Particulars in February WRITER.

Berkshire Music Colony, Inc. prize of $1,000 for the best trio for piano, violin and 'cello, submitted before August 1, 1921. Particulars in September WRITER.

Two prizes, each of $200, offered by the American Historical Association the Justin Winsor prize for a monograph on American history, and the Herbert Baxter Adams prize for a monograph on the history of the Eastern Hemisphere. Particulars in April, 1920, WRITER.

Prize of $50 offered each month by the Touchstone (New York) for the best poem or group of poems submitted anonymously. Particulars in February WRITER.

Two prizes offered by Poetry for the best work printed in the magazine in the twelve numbers ending with that for September $200 for a poem or group of poems by a citizen of the United States, and $100 for a poem or group of poems by any author, without limitation. Particulars in April WRITER.

Monthly prize of five dollars for best criticism of the most distinctive story in Brief Stories (formerly Little Story Magazine), Philadelphia. Particulars in April WRITER.

Honorarium of $50 for the most meritorious piece of poetry published in the Granite Monthly during 1921. Particulars in January WRITER.

Prize of $1,000 for a new air for the Yale song, "Bright College Years," offered by the Yale class of 1899. Particulars in April, 1920, WRITER. Monthly prizes offered by the Photo-Era (Boston) for photographs, in an advanced competition and a beginner's competition.

Prizes of two dollars and one dollar offered monthly by Everygirl's Magazine, formerly Wohelo,

(New York) for stories, short poems, and essays, written by Camp Fire girls. Particulars in October WRITER.

Weekly prizes offered by the Boston Post for original short stories by women, published each day. Particulars in May WRITER.

WRITERS OF THE DAY.

May Freud Dickenson, whose story, "His Daughter," came out in Breezy Stories for May, was born in San Francisco, but went to New York at an early age and has made her home there ever since. She was graduated from Hunter College, New York, in 1909. While in college she wrote for the college paper and took a prominent part in the writing and acting of the college dramatics. On leaving college she went on the stage, and toured the northern and eastern part of the United States and Canada with the "Baby Mine" Company under the management of William A. Brady. In 1912 she married E. H. Dickenson, a graduate of Columbia University and a mining engineer, and accompanied him to Alaska, where they spent a year in the various mining towns along the coast. They then went to Canada, where a daughter was born, in Montreal. In 1917 they went to India by way of Japan, China, and the Malay Straits, and lived out in the jungles, forty miles from the nearest white people, until they were driven in to the station of Jamshedpur by a native uprising. Mrs. Dickenson remained in India for two years and traveled over the country quite extensively, but was finally forced to leave because of the trying climate. After much difficulty due to the post-war transportation congestion, passage was secured out of India on the Natal Line, running to South Africa. There was a typhoon off the coast of Madagascar, and the ship drifted helpless for six days, but reached Durban in safety, and some weeks were spent in Natal and Cape Town, passage for England being secured with difficulty. Here again delays were encountered, but after an adventurous time Mrs. Dickenson crossed to France and sailed from Havre, reaching New York in August, 1919. Mrs. Dickenson has always been interested in writing, and has won several prizes in minor story-writing contests.