The Alvarenga prize of $180 is offered by the College of Physicians, of Philadelphia, for the best unpublished essay on any subject in medicine received by Dr. Charles W. Dulles, secretary of the college, before May 1, 1894.

Miss Adah J. Todd, Ph. D., author of "The Vacation Club," holds a Fellowship in Sanskrit and Philology in the University of Pennsylvania, and will spend the winter in Philadelphia.

The New York Shakespeare Society will begin January 1, 1894, the publication of the Bankside Quarterly, a quarterly magazine devoted to Shakespeareana and the contemporary drama. The editorial conduct will be assumed by members of the society, and the magazine will be published by the Shakespeare Press, incorporated for the purpose of printing editions of Shakespeare and books of Shakespearean and dramatic literature.

The Colorado Magazine has been merged in the New England Magazine.

The interesting story of how " Cape Cod Folks" came to be written is told in Book News (Philadelphia) for October, and a portrait is given of the author, Mrs. Sarah Pratt McLean Greene. Portraits and sketches of Mrs. Miriam Coles Harris, author of "Rutledge," and of "Maxwell Gray," who is Miss M. G. Tuttiett, of the Isle of Wight, are also included in the number.

The Century has arranged with Professor Charles Eliot Norton, literary executor of the late James Russell Lowell, for the publication of the last remaining unpublished literary work of the great critic. The first paper, which will appear in an early number, has to do with "Wit, Humor, Fun, and Satire." A recently discovered unpublished poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson, written on the occasion of the fortieth birthday of Mr. Lowell, will soon appear in the Century.

Frank R. Stockton has written the history of "How I Wrote The Lady, or the Tiger?"" for the November issue of the Ladies' Home Fournal, and tells what came of the writing of the famous story and the condition of his own mind, at the present time, as to the correct solution of the problem whether the lady or the tiger came out of the opened door.

Mrs. Marah Ellis Ryan is visiting Chicago after several months of uninterrupted literary work at her mountain home in the Alleghenies. A new book of hers will be published soon by Rand, McNally, & Co.

E. F. Benson, author of "Dodo," just published in this country by the Appletons, is the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Beginning with the number for October 25, American Gardening is to be published semimonthly by the A. T. De la Mare Printing and Publishing Co. (Ltd.), New York, instead of by the Rural Publishing Co., as before.

The November issue of the University Review (New York) contains papers on journalism in its relation to college men, by Mr. Dana, of the Sun, and Mr. Brown, of the Phi Delta Theta Scroll. In addition, there is a varied assortment of articles of college interest.

The Photographic Times (New York) has long been one of the most useful and interesting periodicals devoted to the photographic art. Its success has in consequence been so great that now the regular weekly issue has been enlarged to sixteen pages of literary matter instead of twelve. Each number will be embellished with a full-page photogravure picture, besides numerous half-tones and other illustrations scattered through the reading pages. The Christmas number, which will be ready December 15, will contain thirty-six pages of literary matter, with a full-page photogravure frontispiece, entitled "Santa Claus," a photograph by Stieglitz, printed in two or three colors, a photograph printed in steel blue, and more than fifty half-tone illustrations. Every amateur photographer needs to have the Photographic Times.

The new Cassell Publishing Company consists of some of the stockholders of the old company, with others. W. L. Mershon, formerly of the Mershon Press, Rahway, N. J., is president and manager; Frank Seaman, vice-president; E. A. Archer, treasurer; and John T. Ryan, secretary and associate manager. The company will continue to be the sole agents of Cassell & Co. (Ltd.), of London. Among the first publications of the company will be the "Life and Later Speeches of Chauncey M. Depew," and a new novel by Sarah Grand.

VOL. VI.

The need of some work which, assuming that a young writer already has a fair knowledge of the ordinary rules of grammar and rhetoric, shall help him to the best way of writing anything, from a paragraph to a cyclopædia, has long been felt. Grammars teach the student how to combine words into a proper sentence. Rhetorics tell him how to combine sentences into proper paragraphs; how to arrange his paragraphs so as to form, for instance, a proper essay or oration; how to avoid common errors and vulgarisms in style; how to attain clearness, force, elegance, and all that. When, however, the student has mastered this, he is con

No. 12.

fronted by the fact that no book has yet been written which will tell him how to write a short story, or a letter, or a novel, or a book review, or a poem, or anything else in the way of literature that he may wish to undertake, in the best and most effective way. He may find set forth in various books the rules and laws of English composition; but when he has mastered them all, he discovers that he has had no instruction in the highest art of writing. He may be able to compose faultless English, but he has not been taught, and he can find no book that teaches him, how to use his faultless English in making literature.

The art of short-story writing, for instance, has never been outlined practically in any book. There is no standard text-book by which an inexperienced writer can test any short story that he has written, and determine wherein it lacks excellence, and in what way it could be improved.

Some may say at once that this is a need that can never be supplied; that the art of literature cannot be taught by rule, or set forth in textbooks; and that there are so many varied ways, for example, of writing a good short story, differing according to the characteristics of the author, or the peculiarities of the tale, that no one writer can possibly describe or indicate them all. As for teaching by example, that is impossible for substantially the same reason that each story is a model only for itself, and the principles involved in its construction would not apply equally well to the construction of any other tale.

To

work. They may be few, and they may be general, but rules of some kind there must be, though they have never been set forth as yet in any book. From its inevitable limitations, for instance, a short story must have few characters, must take a definite and restricted view of its chief character or incident, must be freed from unnecessary details, and must have certain bold outlines which will make a picture for the reader, leaving his imagination to fill in the minutiæ of details. Its scope is necessarily confined. The more details there are, the fewer must be the characters or the incidents. make a very short story—say, one of 1,500 or 2,000 words anything like realistic, there can hardly be more than three or four characters at the outside, and if it is made realistic after the manner of Mr. Howells, sometimes only a single character can be sketched, and only one side of it at that. There is no room for detailed analysis of character, long descriptions of scenery, or extended dialogue. The writer must see the whole story complete in his mind before he writes it down. His characters must be introduced, in the proper stage setting, in the smallest possible number of words. The action must be sharp, quick, decisive. There must be no waste of space. Often the characters of the personages must be indicated by their speech or by their action, rather than by description. The plot must be simple and welldefined, with few incidents, and the arrangement of the story must be such that the interest of the reader, excited at the outset, is increased steadily, or at least maintained, until he has reached the climax at the end.

Such are some of the obvious rules of shortstory writing. They might be extended, and illustrated by example, although illustration by quotation would be difficult in the narrow limits of a book. They could, at least, be illustrated by reference to masterpieces of literature in the way of short stories, and by indication of the details of excellence of these examples. By systematic study of famous short stories an ingenious writer could no doubt deduce a series of rules which would apply generally to shortstory writing. And similar rules could be made for every other kind of writing, commonplace and imaginative alike.

Mr. Newcomer's book* is a step in this direction. It contains many useful suggestions for young writers, and in the hands of a competent literary man it might be made the basis for practical instruction in the art of writingsomething distinct from and beyond the science of grammar or the science of rhetoric. As the preface says: "The object is to show the student, first of all, how simple a thing it is to find material; and, secondly, how easy and delightful it is to work that material into good, interesting, compositions."

This use of the word "compositions," by the way, is something to be regretted. The word and the technical thing it signifies should be abolished and done away with for all future time. Scholars have been taught "composition"-writing from time immemorial, till they have come to regard a "composition" as a distinct species of literature, unlike anything in books, newspapers, or magazines — as, indeed, the average schoolboy's "composition" generally is. "Themes," "essays," theses," "compositions," all should be abolished, and pupils should be taught how to write stories, sketches, letters, poems, and news reports instead simple, of course, according to the ability of the writers, but like real literature, none the less, and as far as possible removed from the forced, unnatural, unreasonable "themes" and "compositions" of the colleges and public schools.

Each sub-division in Mr. Newcomer's book deals with some particular kind of composition —in the broad sense of the word. Specimen subjects and themes are given, followed by observations and suggestions in regard to the manner of treating them. Models are furnished of the various kinds of composition, sometimes taken from writers of recognized merit, often selected or adapted from work actually produced by students. The first 200 pages of the book are devoted to the narration of incidents, description, biography, autobiography, essays, and orations, with brief chapters following on the writing of news, editorials, book reviews, letters, diaries, dialogues, and humor, bring

A PRACTICAL COURSE IN ENGLISH COMPOSITION. By Alphonso G. Newcomer, assistant professor of English in the Leland Stanford, Jr., University. 249 PP. Cloth, 90

cents. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1893.

ing the student, as the author says, "to the threshold of literature proper, of creative literature." "In this department," Mr. Newcomer goes on to say, "anything like an attempt at instruction must prove peculiarly barren of results," - an assertion the truth of which may reasonably be doubted. At all events, he leaves the subject there, contenting himself with a few suggestions regarding the elements of shortstory writing.

The chief difficulty with Mr. Newcomer's book is that it is inadequate. While he has made a useful new departure, he has not got far enough away from the schoolmaster style of text-book into the practical working manual of the writer. It may be that he has undertaken too much in attempting to cover the whole field of literary production in one small volume. A good-sized book could be written on the art of short-story writing alone. It may seem to some, too, that he gives too much space to discussing the principles of writing orations and argumentative discourses. The old writers on rhetoric all spread themselves on this subject, partly because a set oration can be made by rule more easily than any other form of literature, except the sonnet, but the day of the pamphlet has gone by, and comparatively few writers expect to have to write argumentative discourses

or orations nowadays, after they get out of college. The successful writer of the present day is the one who observes accurately, thinks closely and deeply, describes vividly, looks at things in new ways, or possesses imaginative power. All these faculties but the last can be to a certain extent acquired, or at least a small original ability can be cultivated so that it will seem like a strong natural talent; while even the imaginative power can be strengthened by properly directed exercise. Mr. Newcomer's book would have been better if he had gone into more detail in the chapters relating to narration and to description, and to narration and description combined, at the same time condensing the chapters relating to "composition based on reading and thought" into a brief statement of the principles laid down since the time of Aristotle in the rhetorics. His chapters on miscellaneous forms of writing might also advantageously have been more full. All things being taken into consideration, however, it must be said that he has made a very useful and suggestive book; and while it does not fill the need pointed out at the beginning of this article, it does perhaps come nearer to doing so than any other book yet published.

BOSTON, Mass.

William H. Hills.

Why is it that young writers do not make more use of their local papers in the beginning of their efforts to win success in literary work? The local paper, rightly used, may be a valuable training school for the young writer, and many advantages, if little money, may be got from writing for it.

At the very beginning of his literary career an inexperienced writer naturally cannot expect to write matter that will sell. There are exceptions to this rule, of course. Some writers have extraordinary genius, which makes itself evident at the very start. Others may hit upon a

subject, or an idea, or a novel method of treatment which has as much intrinsic value as anything they may ever accomplish in their later work. But these are only the exceptions by which the rule is proved. The average beginner in writing produces, after all, but sorry stuff. He may have talent; he may have originality; he may have ideas; he may really have something to say, but he has all the technique of a difficult profession to master, and until he gets some literary training and experience, what he writes is apt to be crude, not written in the most attractive way, and so, as a rule, unsalable.

On general principles, it is not a good idea for a young writer to work without pay for periodicals that habitually pay contributors. By so doing he lowers the standard of the profession, and in a certain sense takes money away from other writers who have earned a place, by hard work, among writers of reputation, and who ought not to suffer from competition with unpaid labor. Some periodicals will not accept an article without paying for it, even if the author offers it gratuitously. All honor, say I, to editors and publishers who follow such a rule. Their number, however, is unfortunately small. Most publishers of periodicals, even when they are well able to pay for contributions, will take advantage of an opportunity to get literary matter free, and so writers who depend upon their profession for a livelihood suffer from unfair competition with dilettanti and the army of the unbusinesslike, who are satisfied to see their articles in print, although there may be "nothing in 't," in a financial sense, for them. So much poetry, especially,

is offered to editors gratuitously nowadays that the market for poetry is very limited, indeed, and a good many publishers of prosperous and profitable periodicals would feel faint at the idea of paying contributors of "verse." The only remedy for such an unfortunate condition of things unfortunate for authors, at least, if not for publishers—will be found when writers, young or old, refuse to contribute either prose or poetry gratuitously to periodicals that are able to pay for what they print.

While it is not a good idea, however, on general principles for a young writer to work without pay for periodicals that might pay if they would, there is no harm done if he does work without pay for publications that never pay for purely literary matter, and could not if they wanted to. First and foremost in this class is the local paper. The editor cannot afford to buy stories, and sketches, and poems, and essays, no matter at how low a price they may be offered, since he can copy from the literary weeklies and the magazines, without cost beyond a line of credit, much better literary matter of all kinds than any young writers, however talented they might be, could offer him. He has practically the whole range of current periodi

cal literature to select from, since even copyrighted publications are willing to have their contents quoted if proper credit be given, and within reasonable limits, for the sake of the advertisement that the quotation gives. The editor of the local paper can get for nothing all the matter of this kind that he needs, and so he cannot afford to pay for anything of the sort. An enterprising editor, however, always likes to make his paper local and original, so far as possible, and for that reason if a good original story, or sketch, or essay, or poem is offered to him in manuscript gratuitously, he is likely to be glad to get it and to give it space.

That is where the young writer gets a valuable opportunity. He need not be bothered by the idea that he is hurting his own future chances with paying editors, or that he is treating any other writers unfairly by supplying free a demand which they would otherwise supply for pay. He is not hurting any one, and he is helping both the good-natured editor of the local paper who gives him space, and himself, as well.

The direct advantage that he gains comes from the training which "getting into print " inevitably gives to an observant writer, and from getting an audience and establishing a

name.

The first consideration is a very important one. Any article looks different in print from the way it looks in manuscript, partly because type is so much clearer than penmanship, and partly because, thanks to the editor and proofreader, almost every article that is written anywhere is improved in the processes of editing it and getting it into type. This statement may surprise the young writer, with a very good idea of his own ability and a rather poor opinion of the local editor, but all experienced writers will agree that it is true. Even the most ordinary of local editors-and a great many editors of local papers are as able and bright newspaper men as there are engaged in journalism anywhere to-day-knows a great many little things about the technique of writing and printing that the young writer has yet to learn, and with the proof-reader's help the literary fledgling's first manuscript is put into print