Editor, the Forum:

"Fall of the House of Usher." I like to read Poe when I can concentrate on the charm and beauty of his diction and shut my eyes to the gloomy, funereal pictures he revels in. Reading him seems to me something akin to walking in the semi-twilight beneath the towering forms of our gigantic California Redwoods.

Just now in my reading I was arrested by this sentence: "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime." The words "unredeemed" and "torture" - - used in the sense of twisting were latents to me. Not only had I never got them hitched to the buggy but I never even had a halter on them. They were thoroughly untamed so far as I was concerned. So I took the word "unredeemed" and as it were put it through

its paces like this: "The judge whose harsh and stern manner is unredeemed by any sunshine of humor." And I tried other like sentences on it. I did the same with "torture," - "torturing my kind words into slanderous remarks" and so forth. Now by using these words in sentences several times as we encounter them in our reading, we are driving the latents into the dynamic pen as it were, and if we exercise them now and then they will be of service.

Here is another thought which I have found helpful. I wonder if we lay sufficient stress on the form of our paragraphs. Earle says, "The triumph of modern art in writing is manifested in the structure of the paragraph. . . . The glory of French or

English composition lies in the subtle combination of sentences which makes the paragraph. . . . Macaulay's charm lies in his masterly command of the paragraph." Genung writes, of it: "A continued current of thought; unbroken, undislocated, - this is its ideal."

When my manuscript is completed, I consider each paragraph in this way: I read the opening and closing sentences and see if the thread of thought is maintained unbroken throughout; and when I discover that I have wandered from my theme it is evidence that the work needs revising.

Los Angeles, Calif.

Vinton A. Holbrook.

Editor, the Forum;

Merton Gill, Harry Leon Wilson's famous movie star, announced to an anxious public that his wife was at once his best friend and his severest critic. Well, possibly. Wives vary, and Merton's may have been the ideal wife. But wives are n't always friendly, and frequently they are devoid of critical ability. Some wives are sure that hubby's chef-d'oeuvre is somewhat worse than mediocre; other wives believe that his slightest effort is above reproach. I'm afraid that most wives are biased critics when the work of their husbands is under consideration.

Friends outside the family circle are even more unreliable as critics. In the first place, a friend hesitates about losing a friend, and, even when one insists that one wants the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth of the friend's opinion, the friend is likely to lie pleasantly about the merits of the work under consideration. He may think it a terrible piece of claptrap; then he will probably say, "John, I have read that story you asked me to look over, and I think its great. I did n't think you had it in you." That sounds much better than: "John, I'm surprised at you. I did n't think you'd be capable of anything so monumentally rotten. It's awful. My criticism is: tear it up and start

over." The flattering statement of opinion not only sounds better than the latter piece of honesty, but it is much more likely to coincide with John's own private opinion of his masterpiece. If your friends tell you it's good, it may be good, but it may be very much otherwise.

In the case I have outlined above, the cheerful liar may have had some critical ability. A more dangerous critic is the friend who has no critical sense at all. He will probably tell you that he has seen lots of stuff, no better, in the Saturday Evening Post. When some well meaning friend tells you something like that, I would advise you to take your beloved manuscript home and (a) carefully revise it, (b) go over it again, and (c) perhaps consign it to the waste basket.

Cherish your friends as friends, but beware of your friends as critics of your literary efforts.

My experience has convinced me that the very best critics available are the editors who buy manuscripts. If my scrap of art visits several editors without any encouragement, then I conclude that there must be some flaw somewhere. The editors don't say much, but they can indicate volumes.

Montgomery, Alabama

E. C. Stewart.

Editor.

RAE D. HENKLE COMPANY, INC. - 45 Fourth avenue, New York, is a new firm to enter the general publishing field. Mr. Henkle says: "We have in preparation for early publication several titles, including fiction and non-fiction, and shall gradually expand this list. In fiction we are interested primarily in good, clean material with an American background romance, humor, adventure, or mystery. We are not interested in the erotic or phornographic. And, like every other publisher, we are looking for that young writer who really has something to say and the ability to say it well."

SHORT STORIES- Garden City, N. Y., is in the market for all classes and all lengths of outdoors action fiction. At the present time Mr. Maule is especially eager for complete novels or long novelettes, containing from 40,000 to 60,000 words, with the scenes laid in the West, the North, the South Seas, or any other good thrilling outdoors background, as well as some mystery stories. He is always glad to see short stories with real plots, not exceeding 5,000 words, dealing with adven

ture, the outdoors, mystery, or sports in any place in the world.

THE DELL PUBLISHING COMPANY-97 Fifth avenue, New York, will soon publish a magazine of detective fiction, to be called Crime Mysteries, with Alice Strope as editor. The magazine will use stories, of from 3,000 to 8,000 words; novelettes, containing approximately 25,000 words; and serials, containing from 36,000 to 80,000 words. Miss Strope is particularly interested in stories of the action type dealing with criminals and detectives, but she also wants human interest crook stories, humorous crook stories, and psychological crime stories. The crime element is essential, but Miss Strope adds that it is not necessary to have a detective in every story. THE YOUTH'S COMPANION-8 Arlington street, Boston, Mass., will continue to offer lively interest and a lively audience to young writers of particular promise. The Companion's preference is for plausible, possible, stimulating, and respectable stories, and this includes stories of adventure and mystery, as well as stories of home life.

THE ROMANCE PUBLISHERS-584 Drexel Building, New York, announce the publication, beginning with the April issue, of a new monthly magazine, to be called Sentimental Stories. The magazine is in the market for clean, sentimental love stories, told in both the first and the third person, and for short verse of the same general character.

THE SMART SET-119 West Fortieth street, New York, at present is in need of young love stories, and of out-of-door or far Western stories. All stories must be told in the first person. Mr. Wilson, the managing editor, says that a good serial, which moves fast and is convincing as to the truth of the matter told, would also be read with interest just

THE MICHELIN TIRE COMPANY - Milltown, N. J., is planning to issue a dealer's paper, printing, among other things, stories of successful Michelin dealers. The Company is now in the market for such stories, which should be accounts of "how it is done" rather than "how it should be done," and be of human interest. Stories of interest about users of Michelin tires and tubes, or about the products themselves, are also wanted, and pictures are wanted whenever they are obtainable.

LOUDSPEAKER-203 East Twelfth street, New York, a monthly radio magazine, is in the market for short stories, feature articles, humor, interviews, and photographs; also for

articles, practical suggestions, and photographs which will help the dealer sell radios. Scientific subjects are not wanted, but all material must deal with the radio, preferably with the radio and the home. Manuscripts must not exceed 1,500 words.

THE JUNIOR WORLD-2704 Pine street, St. Louis, Missouri, wants some good adventure or travel short stories and serials suited to boys and girls of from nine to twelve. THE RADIO MAN'S MAGAZINE - 248 West Fifty-third street, New York, wants short radio articles in which women play a big part. CLUES-799 Broadway, New York, at the present time especially wants detective and mystery novelettes, containing between 15,000 and 20,000 words. Such stories must be filled with a maximum amount of action and suspense, but must not contain anything weird or utterly improbable. Short stories should not exceed 5,000 words, and Mr. Happel is particularly desirous to obtain tales containing between 3,000 and 4,000 words.

WEST-Garden City, N. Y., is in the market for Western novels and Western short stories, also short fillers, not exceeding 500 words. The term West includes Western America from Panama to the North Pole.

TRUE EXPERIENCES - 1926 Broadway, New York, is in the market for short, pungent anecdotes, written in the first person, to be used under the general heading, "What has been your most amusing experience?" Jokes are not wanted; only human interest stories that emphasize the comedy element in life — personal adventures and experiences that can be described as comic, droll, amusing, lively, humorous, or mirth-provoking. The main requirements are that the stories must be interesting and evoke a smile, or, preferably, a laugh. Stories should contain from 100 to 500 words, and should be addressed to Life's Little Comedies Department, True Experiences. COLLEGE STORIES Room 410, 250 Park avenue, New York, is in the market for short

stories, novels, and articles stressing the romantic and human interest side of college life. The magazine uses no humor, but it does use verse and poetry that is exceptionally well done and deals with some phase of campus activity.

GLOBE 1 HOTOS- Box 315, Bloomington, Illinois, buys photographs, 5 x 7, or larger, of interesting scenes - not the sort of scenic views which publicity concerns get out animal photographs, and news pictures with pretty girls, if possible. Payment is made at the rate of from $1.50 to $3.00 for each photograph, on acceptance.

TODAY'S HOUSEWIFE 18 East Eighteenth street, New York, now uses no fiction, but prints general articles pertaining to the home, a small amount of poetry, and material for such deparments as the Household, From One Housewife to Another, Beauty, Recipes, Mother and Child, and Money Making at Home.

THE EXPERIMENTER PUBLISHING COMPANY, publishers of Science and Invention, Radio News, the Radio Review, and Amazing Stories, has removed to 230 Fifth avenue, New York. The company announces a new weekly magazine, called the Radio Program Weekly, for which it wants fiction stories with a good radio background, providing themes of particular interest to radio "fans," which are not too technical.

THE WILL O' THE WISP Escanaba, Michiigan, is a new ultra-modernistic magazine, using realistic bits of life and modernistic poetry. No payment is made for manuscripts, but a sample copy will be mailed to prospective contributors.

SOUTHERN LIFE MAGAZINE Biltmore, N. C., is chiefly a sort of booster for local in

THE STANDARD BIBLE SCHOOL WORKER Box 5, Station N, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been succeeded by an annual which is distributed free, so that it is no longer in the market for manuscripts.

BETTER RADIO AND FLORAL HOME - 227 West Main street, Springfield, Ohio, is a combination of the Floral Home Magazine and On the Air and Better Radio, formerly published in Chicago. Felix Anderson is editor of the magazine.

TAVERN TOPICS, formerly published by the Waldorf-Astoria Service Corporation, has been sold to the Nomad Publishing Company, and will be combined with the Nomad with the March issue. 150 Lafayette street, New York, beginning

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