The third commandment of the Dictionary-Gods forbids us to use slang. Sometimes the criticism of slang is intelligent often it is like the fond parent in Walt Mason's poem, "The Purist," who admonished his son "Using slang is just a habit, just a cheap and dopey trick, if you hump yourself and try to, you can shake it pretty quick." This is only a slight exaggeration of what many "purists" say. They tell us to cut it out! The same scholars who insist that common words are great words are continually denouncing slang because it is common. For my part, if I can get more pep

into a sentence that needs pep by the use of a bit of slang - I use the slang.

My words may seem radical. I do not think they really are. Though they may savor of treason against the "King's English," they are not meant to be entirely lawless. Rather they are meant to rule out the old law and introduce a new. They are not Bolshevistic merely democratic. We have heard much, in the last three years, of many kinds of democracies. Why not have a democracy of words, where each word must support itself, without leaning upon a family tree. Why not choose each word on its own merits, without regard to class, color, or previous condition of servitude? DES MOINES, Iowa.

Lloyd McFarling.

In the role of a wooer of the poetic muse, I have read and re-read the "Argonautica," the "Iliad," the "Odyssey," the "Eneid," "Paradise Lost," the "Divine Comedy," the dramas of Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. I have learned of the moderns from Browning to Noyes, from Longfellow to van Dyke. I have familiarized myself with Braithwaite's "Anthologies of Magazine Verse." I have sought to know fables and legends, sagas and ballads, Vers Libre, Vers de Société, War Verse, Peace Verse, and all the rest. I have studied text-books galore on rhetoric and versification. Permeated with this knowledge, I have woven verse with nicest art as much as lieth in me. I have tremulously consigned samples of my skill to the tender mercies of some of the smaller magazines. Back they come, after a longer or shorter period, and in various stages of preservation. "What the dickens is the matter with them, anyway?" I question, after careful perusal of each rejection slip.

I found my answer this summer. The Atlantic Monthly has revealed the secret of acceptable poetic expression. Its method of procedure reminds one of the little girl who, hearing her elders say that "a secret must be kept inviolate," wrote her secret on a slip

of paper and hid it in a bed of violets. This secret is infolded in a short story, and it is surrounded with the aroma of a summerreading number.

The story tells of a successful business man, presumably more than forty years of age, who has had no time for literature or nature or art since he left his bookish youth behind him, to become engrossed in business. For years he has not given a thought to the books that he used to love. One day, on a week-end, the first faint glimpse of the sea, caught as he is being bowled in his car alongside the marshes, recalls Xenophon and his ten thousand Greeks. He hears again their shout at the sight of the sea, and wonder of wonders! a poem comes to him all unsought! It flutters across his mind as suddenly and as quietly as the salt air from the sea sweeps across his face. He orders his chauffeur to stop the car and he captures his prize with fountain-pen and pocket memorandum book. It is a complete poem almost. One stanza is lacking. This comes later, by the sweat of his brow. In confident innocence, he sends his windfall to a leading magazine. Just a week later he receives a wedding-invitation-style of acceptance letter -heavy, cream-white, publisher's name en

graved. It contains an appreciation of his poetic power, an expression of pleasure in accepting his poem, and, best of all, "a check for thirty bucks."

Shades of all the poets of all the ages!" I exclaimed as I read, "my eye in a fine frenzy rolling." Have I spent my time and strength for naught? Is the thing such a mystery, after all? Something that comes you know not how like the "flu," and grips you and that is how you know you like the "flu" again? Must I with

have it

-

patience still wait for it and the "thirty bucks," likewise? What good times I might have had while waiting for the train of thought! What fortunes I might have won and lost in Wall Street. Classics, anthologies, and text-books, I abjure you! All hail, Atlantic, I swear by you forever! Henceforth, I attend strictly to business. My sub-conscious mind must evolve the "Vision Splendid" when and where it will. I am waiting, calmly waiting for the fire the "check for thirty bucks." LOWELL, Mass.

and

L. A. Wallingford.

I doubt if writers generally realize the extent of the trade-journal writer's field. I estimate that of the thousands of trade and class journals in the United States and Canada there are perhaps fifteen hundred that buy manuscripts, spending for contributions from a few dollars a year to a good many thousands of dollars in some cases. Many of these journals are published weekly and pay for general news as well as for special articles adapted to their needs. In Ayer's "American Newspaper Directory" there are trade journals listed under more than three hundred classifications, ranging from Accounts and Advertising to Writers and Yachting.

So far as remuneration is concerned, the trade-journal rate of payment is high enough so that a writer may net an income of at least a hundred dollars a week. The average trade journal pays half a cent a word for articles, and various rates for photographs, generally a dollar and a half or two dollars apiece; but there are many trade journals which pay a higher rate. If a trade-journal writer does his work well he can build a reputation which in time will bring him enough requests from editors to keep his time fully occupied. I myself at this writing have on hand enough definite orders for special articles to keep me busy for three or four months. There are at least half a

dozen trade magazines for which I write regularly that pay me a cent a word; three others pay me as much as three cents a word; and at least ten others average about three-fourths of a cent a word. For photographs I am paid in some cases as much as five dollars apiece.

Experience for several years as a newspaper reporter and long experience in tradejournal writing enables me to turn out at least six thousand words of copy a day, when I drive myself; but I do not attempt to average more than five thousand words a day. This makes my production about twenty-five thousand words a week, for I always spend at least one full day in gathering material. Each week I send out from fifteen to twenty photographs, and I have now reached the point where about eighty-five per cent. of this product finds its way into print. My rule is to write each article for some special publication. Those that come back have to be rewritten before they are sent to any other journal.

A writer planning to enter the trade-journal field should obtain copies of as many trade journals as possible and study their contents with great care. Thus he can get an idea of the specific requirements of each publication, and if he can meet these requirements he is certain of success.

THE WRITER.

Published monthly by The Writer Publishing Co., P. O. Box 1905, Boston, 6, Mass.

MARGARET GORDON, . . . EDITOR.

THE WRITER is published the first of every month. It will be sent, postpaid, for $1.50 a year. The price of Canadian and foreign subscriptions is $1.62, including postage.

All drafts and money orders should be made payable to the Writer Publishing Co. If local checks are sent, ten cents should be added for collection charges.

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.

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 from the publishers.

* The rate for advertising in THE WRITER is two dollars an inch for each insertion, with no discount for either time or space; remittance required with the order. Advertising is accepted only for two cover pages. For special position, if available, twenty per cent. advance is charged. No advertisement of less than one-half inch will be accepted. .. Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed.

The publication office of THE WRITER is Room 52-A, 244 Washington street, but all communications should be addressed:

THE WRITER PUBLISHING CO.,
P. O. Box, 1905, Boston, 6, Mass.

and inspiring lesson in patriotism, urges young writers to keep on with their work, and never to think that the stories they send to magazines are not read. This is a great mistake, she declares, for the publishers are just as eager to find new authors as the writers are to see their products in print. Taking for granted that one has talent, Miss Montague believes one of the greatest assets that a writer can have is an intense interest in humanity and the power to enter into the viewpoint of the other person. "Learn to see things with the eyes of those about you," she concludes, "and get away from selfconsciousness. People are so fine and life is so interesting that there is always something new and worth finding."

Edward W. Bok, in his recently published "Autobiography," also assures authors that all submitted manuscripts are read carefully; and yet, why should authors be so insistent that the manuscripts they submit to editors shall all be read? They are offering the manuscripts for sale, and if the editor to whom they are submitted can see at once that he does not want to buy them, why should he read them? It is the old question over again, but the editor's real business is to buy the stories that he desires to publish, and an examination to determine that point is all that is necessary, and all that authors have any right to ask.

A good rule for business correspondence is to write a separate letter for each of several unrelated subjects instead of one letter taking them up one after another, so that the letter referring to any special subject may be referred at once to the man or the department immediately concerned, for prompt attention. If a letter to the editor of a large magazine, for instance, has a paragraph about a manuscript, and a paragraph about a subscription order, and a paragraph about an advertisement to be printed, the letter must go to three different persons, one after another, and the result is delay and possible inattention to some of the matter in question. Similarly, in making notes and memoranda, writers will do well not to bunch

them in any way, but to make each note separate, so that it may be handled without reference to any other matter. For notetaking purposes a loose-leaf notebook, or even a bunch of slips or a memorandum pad, is better than an ordinary notebook. Notes so made on separate slips can be handled or filed independently, or combined with other notes on the same subjects, with no trouble whatever, whereas, if a number of notes on different subjects are made on the same sheet of paper or an ordinary notebook page, they cannot be used conveniently, and there is always danger that a note may be overlooked, or hard to find when it is wanted.

The item published in THE WRITER brought us an avalanche of contributions. Some confusion resulted from the mistake made in printing "Book Ageney" instead of "Booking Agency." Ours is not a publishing office, and we do not handle books in any way.

It is the policy of this office to read all copy submitted as soon as possible and return at once all that is unacceptable. Sketches that have sufficient merit for production are submitted to our producers with request for opinion, and estimate as to the time required for production. We find that the writer you speak of submitted excellent material, which has been recommended for production, and there is a notation in our file that we sent him a card to that effect, which seems to have been lost in the mail. We will write to him again.

We should like to say in THE WRITER that we have had much unsigned material sent to us. We have now a generous collection of manuscripts without the slightest indication of authorship, which we should be glad to return to the writers if they had not so modestly concealed their identity. We make every effort to read and report promptly and to return to writers alt copy received with return address.

1920, by John Doe," using, of course, your own name. If the matter is not printed, this, of course, amounts to nothing, excepting a notice to the editor that you wish to retain the copyright. If the matter is printed with the copyright line, you must complete the copyright or be subject to a penalty. Some editors might reject matter thus restricted rather than run the risk of the penalty in case the copyright is not completed, to which the publisher also is liable.]

Can any reader of THE WRITER tell me whether Wallace P. Stanley, who wrote "Down the Bay" and "Our Week Afloat," which were published by the old BelfordClark Publishing Company, of Chicago, is still living? I infer that his home was in Warren, R. I., as his stories are of a trip up the Warren River, and of boys traveling in a small boat about Narragansett Bay. G. R. F.

THE MANUSCRIPT MARKET.

I This information as to the present special needs of various periodicals comes directly from the edi tors. 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." ]

Munsey's Magazine (New York) is in the market for short stories, and at this time the editors would particularly like to get something humorous.

Everybody's Magazine (New York) is looking for humorous stories, and for stories of the sea and of outdoor adventure. The editors particularly want really short stories of the various types stories of from 2,000 to 4,500 words.

Smith's Magazine (New York) is well supplied with material and has no special manuscript needs at the present time.

The chief need of the Smart Set (New York) just now is for non-fiction material. The Smart Set receives a great many short stories every month, and not a few of them have merit, and it also receives a large number of interesting poems, but there is a chronic shortage of effective essays. Those

that come in are either too extravagant or too formal, and whenever essays are asked for the magazine is deluged with pretty pieces in the whimsical style of the Atlantic Monthly, which the editors say often have merit but simply do not belong in the Smart Set. The editors of the Smart Set in particular would like to print an article now and then about music, but so far they have been unable to find an author capable of writing what they want in this line.

The present need of Ainslee's Magazine (New York) is for plotful, colorful fiction (with woman and love interest) of from 5,000 to 8,000 words, and for short, distinctive verse.

The Touchstone (New York) is particularly interested in the American short story and any articles about the best of modern art. The Touchstone is intended to be a record of American progress in all the arts as well as in homemaking, and the editors are just as interested in the work of the unknown writer, painter, sculptor, or musician, as in the work of those better known.

Town Topics (New York) is always open for short stories, skits, poetry, and satire.

The American Boy (Detroit) is in the market for good short stories (preferably not more than 5,000 words) which are really well written, showing original, distinctive handling of themes interesting to boys. Stories that carry, in an incidental way, worth-while information for boys on interesting phases of school life, industrial life, and American government are especially desired. Also Independence Day, Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, and Christmas stories.

The Southern Trade Press Service, Box 1671, Atlanta, Georgia, is in the market for brief ideas, plans, and methods which have been used by retail merchants to build up business, curtail expenses, increase the efficiency of their help, stimulate trade, advertise their stores, dress their windows, etc. Literary merit is not necessary, but the ideas and plans described must be absolutely practical, must never before have been published,