simplest, and pleasantest, and easiest to please you ever met with. He loved everybody. And everybody loved him. What chance had Mr. Franklin. what chance had anybody of average reputation and capacities against such a man as this ?"

Sergeant Cuff, the Great Detective.

"A grizzled, elderly man, so miserably lean that he looked as if he had not got an ounce of flesh on his bones in any part of him. He was dressed all in decent black, with a white cravat 'round his neck. His face was as sharp as a hatchet, and the skin of it was as yellow, and dry, and withered as an autumn leaf. His eyes, of a steely, light gray, had a very disconcerting trick, when they encountered your eyes, of looking as if they expected something more from you than you were aware of yourself. His walk was soft; his voice was melancholy; his long, lanky fingers were hooked like claws. He might have been a parson, or an undertaker, or anything

else you like, except what he really was."

It should be said in conclusion that these characters and the incidents indicated are woven together with an almost matchless skill. The bare bones of this outline give little suggestion of the fascinating mystery story which has been produced by the gifted writer. Some one has said that every great man was once an unpromising boy; by the same token every great novel was once a puny little germ of thought. The man or woman who can cultivate this germ until it develops into a book that is worth reading will experience infinite satisfaction, if not fame and fortune. And if this imperfect at ́tempt at an analysis of one of the classics of fiction should aid in leading to such a result, the literary diagnostician will feel amply repaid for his labor. George Barton. PHILADELPHIA, Penn.

66

are no pennies in American money. A penny is an English coin, worth two cents. Penny postage" means two-cent postage, not one-cent postage, as many seem to think. In the plural, by the way, "pennies" means distinct coins; "pence," quantity in value.

Don't think that your language is elegant because you say: "Loan me ten dollars." "Lend" is better than "loan" in such a case. Leave "loan" for use as a noun. is better not to borrow, anyway.

It

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P. O. Box 1905.

old journal, Notes and Queries, in his Reminiscences." The rejection slip read: "T. C. The lines commencing On Linden, when the sun was low,' are not up to our standard. Poetry is evidently not T. C.'s forte." Whether this is encouraging to authors or not is a question, but it illustrates the fallibility of editors.

Magazine editors, by the way, could learn what kind of poetry really appeals to the great mass of the plain people by reading the verses and poems printed in the "Query" departments of papers like the New York Times Saturday Review and the Boston Transcript. There is every evidence that people read, and remember, and preserve the poetry that is printed there, and that it possesses real human interest. It is very different, it may be said, from most of the poetry that is printed in the magazines.

A queer competition for playwrights has been arranged by the Academy of Positivists, one of the most ancient Florentine literary associations. A big money prize is to be awarded to the dramatist who deals most successfully with Article 157 of the Italian Criminal Code, which prohibits the unauthorized entry, forcibly or by stealth, into another man's house. This is treated as an act of breaking the peace which is visited with sundry fines or terms of imprisonment. Every competing play must bear the title: "Article 157," and the title must not be changed until after the first production of the winning effort. The latter, however, is to retain the said title forever. American playwrights will no doubt be permitted to compete.

The August People's Magazine says: "Name and address should be plainly written on every manuscript, as the accompanying note is occasionally lost or mislaid. For this reason a few stories are being held at this office. Compliance with the above request will insure speedy return of manuscripts not accepted." It is better both to

write the name and the address of the author at the top of the first page of every manuscript and also to send with the manuscript a brief letter giving the same information and the title of the manuscript. Then, if the manuscript is sent to the composing room, the editor has the letter giving the information which he will need in corresponding with the author or in sending check.

Under the heading, "An Editor's Grind," the editor of the Christian Index tells of an experience with a carelessly-prepared manuscript. "Recently," he says, "there was placed in our hands the manuscript of an article to be put into the paper. It was long, and when we went to read it, we found it very badly constructed - full of abbreviations of the worst kind, and the punctuation much awry.' No printer could have used it. We read it over once carefully. Then, in order that it might go to the printer in a decipherable condition, we dictated it to our stenographer, who was to write it out fully - for it contained much matter well worth printing. This was our second 'going over' it. When the stenographer had finished it we had to go over it a third time, to see that she had made no mistakes. When it comes from the printer's hand, it must go to the general proofreader, who will correct the most glaring errors, but it will still be ours to go over it carefully again, to make sure that all errors are eliminated. All this, in order that a good article may be presented to the readers of the Index without blemish." Every editor has similar experiences. If readers knew how much editorial work is required on manuscripts in general to make them acceptable, they would simply be amazed. Occasionally a manuscript is submitted that is letter-perfect, but that is the rare exception to the rule. The average manuscript is insufficiently punctuated, carelessly typewritten, and often poorly spelled, while lapses in grammar and rhetoric are numerous. Before a manuscript can be sent to the printer, whose function it is to "follow copy," all such defects must be attended to, and that means hours of hard work for

the editor. Writers should take a hint from this. Naturally if an editor gets a good manuscript that requires but little work on his part, he will give it preference over other manuscripts of equal value over which he must labor to make them presentable in print. In other words, it pays writers to take pains with their manuscripts, since by lessening the amount of labor which editors must do upon them, they will increase the likelihood of their acceptance.

W. H. H.

"NEWSPAPER ENGLISH" EDITED.

Charles M. Kimball, wealthy Polish manufacturer, seeks divorce from his wife.

The people of Newton are incensed over the insistence of the railway company in running convertible cars only between Newton and Boston.

Lieutenant Adams said he did not remember of making such a statement.

WRITERS OF THE DAY.

Richard A. Haste, who wrote the story, Flanking the Enemy," published in Pearson's Magazine for August, lives in Chicago. He was born in Waupaca, Wis., about fifty years ago. He took the law and political science courses at Ann Arbor University, and was graduated from the law course in 1885. He practiced law for twelve years, and then got into the newspaper business, through politics. He bought the Sunday Forum of Superior, Wis., and through it and the courts conducted the first systematic campaign for honest government in the state. He then became an editorial writer for the Duluth Herald, and afterward managing editor of the Minneapolis Star, and then editor of the St. Paul Globe. He left the Globe for special magazine work. As an industrial expert - during which time he was on the editorial staff of the Northwest Magazine, Opportunity, and the American

Mutual Newspaper Association - Mr. Haste spent five years in the employ of the railrads, investigating the resources of the Test from the Peace river to the Rio Grande. Much of the material gained in this experience found a place in the current magazines in this country and in London, 1 at the greater part of it was syndicated and used by the daily and weekly newspapers. Mr. Haste is now interested in irrigation, and writes for recreation. He is writing a series of stories for Pearson's Magazine, the first of which appeared last February. He had an article, "Evolution of the Fourth Estate," in the June Arena, and another, "Courtesy as a Business Asset," in a recent number of Harper's Weekly.

Della Campbell MacLeod, whose story, "The Peach and the Colonel," was printed in the Red Book for August, was born on a Mississippi plantation twenty-six years ago. She was assistant literary editor of the New Orleans Picayune for two years and a half, after which she came to New York, where for two years she has been doing "free lance" work on various newspapers and magazines. Miss MacLeod writes under the pseudonyms of "Rose MacRae " and Campbell MacLeod," as well as under her

autobiography, history, and collection of all his poems that he believes are worth perpetuating. To discourage tourists, merely curious, who climb the mountain to inspect the surroundings of the eccentric poet, he has nailed to the gate a board sign that reads:

"The view is a great deal better ten miles further on."

Proofs of the first volume of the definitive edition of his works have been delivered to the poet. In this first volume he tells for the first time the true story of his writing what is generally considered by Americans his finest poem, The Bravest Battle," that begins:

"The bravest battle that ever was fought -
Shall I tell you where or when?

On the maps of the world you will find it not;
It was fought by the mothers of men."

"A few years ago," writes the poet, 'when living in my log cabin in Washington, some ladies came to inform me that I had been chosen to write a poem for the unveiling of an equestrian statue of a hero, the hero of the bravest battles that ever were fought.

When they had delivered their message I told them that the beautiful city was being disfigured by these pitiful monuments to strife, and that I hoped and believed the last one of them would be condemned to the scrap heap within the next century. I reminded them that while nearly every city in the union had more or less of these monstrosities, I had seen but one little figure in honor of woman; that of a crude bit of granite to the memory of a humble baker woman in a back street of New Orleans who gave away bread to the poor. I finally told them that if they would come back next morning I would do my best to have a few lines about the bravest battles that ever were fought.''

Munroe. In regard to his calling Kirk Munroe says: "I always wanted to write books for boys. I began when on the plains by sending letters to the Boston Advertiser. I served an apprenticeship of thirteen years as a newspaper reporter for the Sun and Times and as editor of Harper's Young

I

People before I dared to write a story. gave up a position paying me $3,000 a year to enter upon my life-work, and was jeered at for my folly by most of my friends, besides being told by one of the elder Harpers that it was impossible to make a living by writing books. My first book was finished when I was thirty years of age, and until that time my entire life was devoted to preparation for that event. Since then I have supported myself and my wife most comfortably by writing alone, having no other source of income. We came South to live twenty years ago, because I could write better in warm weather than in cold, and because of the opportunities for leading an out-of-door life all the year round. My first book was published in 1886. Since then I never have had a manuscript rejected."

Mr. Munroe is compelled to refuse the offers of small publishers each year. He has had offers more or less flattering from every publishing house of any standing in the country, besides many from England, where most of his books are brought out simultaneously with their American appearance. Some of his books have been translated into French, Russian, Dutch, and Spanish.

His workshop is in the third story of a tall windmill tower, and from it he commands such a delightful view of sea and land that he is compelled to draw the curtains in order to work. His favorite pastimes are yachting, camping in a wilderness, and running swift waters (rapids) in an open

canoe.

The appreciation of this favorite author's work is well illustrated by the fact that he receives from one to a dozen letters from boys and girls daily. His most notable of all the thousands thus received was from a Western boy who, as Mr. Munroe says, "naïvely informed me that his favorite authors were Kirk Munroe, Dickens, and Walter Scott."

Mr. Munroe has thus far issued thirty-five volumes. When asked concerning his methods of writing, he said: "I write very slowly, about a thousand words per day with lead pencil, using both sides of my

paper, and carefully counting my words. When the whole thing is finished I make a fair copy, sometimes a typewritten one, but preferably in long hand." He says he can work best in the morning from nine to one o'clock.

The members of Mr. Munroe's family show a decided inclination toward literature. His wife is a daughter of Amelia Barr. His eldest sister married Mrs. Stowe's only son. His younger sister married Herbert Putnam, librarian of Congress, and his only brother, the editor of Brooklyn Life, married the youngest daughter of Samuel Bowles, of the Springfield Republican. Alice May Douglas, in Zion's Herald.

Tennyson. Canon Fleming's account of how Tennyson came to write "Crossing the Bar" appears in the just-published biography of that churchman. The poet when ill on one occasion had a nurse who was devoted to him. "When he was getting better, she said to him: 'Oh, I wish, sir, you would write a hymn.' 'I don't like hymns,' was the somewhat abrupt reply. With a woman's tact and wistfulness, she merely said: 'Oh, I wish you would,' and there the matter rested. The persuasiveness she threw into those simple words was not lost on Tennyson. He began to get better, and one day on the journey from Aldworth to Farringford his Crossing the Bar' came to him like a flash."

CURRENT LITERARY TOPICS.

Payment "After Publication." Among the minor periodicals there are some that pay before publication as a matter of principle, and there are others whose business managers are shrewd enough to know that a check for five or ten dollars with the letter of acceptance will often buy a story that twenty-five or thirty dollars would not touch if payment were indefinitely deferred, but with the greater number the information given to the author is that "payment will be made upon publication." This seems to mean any convenient date thereafter with the best of them, and with the others a