The New York Commercial Advertiser offers a prize of $75 for the best short story or sketch, limited to 2,500 words; a prize of $50 for the best full-page illustration, suitable for publication in the Christmas number, 1891; and a prize of $50 for the best Christmas carol or ode, suitable for publication in the Christmas number, 1891. The competition will be open until September 15, 1891.

Miss S. F. Price, who has collected, under the title "Songs of the Southland," some of the choicest poems of representative Southern writers, is a resident of Bowling Green, Ky.

Miss Tucker, otherwise "A. L. O. E.” ( A Lady of England), and one of the most popular of the English religious writers, is now actively engaged in mission work in a city in Northern India. She is described as a charming old lady, living in a pretty little cottage, and spending the larger part of her days in visiting, praying, and singing with the women of the Zenanas.

W. H. Ballou's latest novel came very near striking a snag in the post-office, because it contains a chapter descriptive of the operations of the Louisiana lottery, with a quasi indorsement of the fairness of its drawings.

Miss Nordhoff, a daughter of Charles Nordhoff, of Washington, has finally, in spite of many obstacles, succeeded in mastering the bookbinder's trade. Her first efforts were made in England, but she found she could not be admitted to the craft, because she did not belong to a trades-union. She found the same trouble in America upon her return, and only her continued perseverance won her success.

A volume of "Studies in Literature," by John Morley, will be published by Macmillan & Co. within the next few weeks. It will be uniform with the collected edition of his writings, and will contain, among other papers, the address on the study of literature delivered at the Mansion House, and the address on aphorisms delivered at Edinburg.

The following letter from James Russell Lowell indicates that he will in the spring deliver a course of lectures under the auspices of the Lecture Association of the University of Pennsylvania, by a change of dates arranged with Professor Boyesen:

ELMWOOD, CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

DEAR SIR: Sickness is no doubt as unreasonable as it is inconvenient, and I was much more seriously ill last spring than you seem to think. At seventy-two one easily runs down in a month to a depth from which one is n't sure that he has climbed back again in six.

My complaint was one for my recovery from which absolute rest was prescribed, and, though I followed the irksome prescription faithfully for three months after leaving my bed, I had a relapse at the end of them. I am assured that if I can avoid another for a certain length of time, I may count with some confidence on an entire cure, and surely, from my point of view, this is worth trying for. I regretted, I may say bitterly, to put you again to any inconvenience, but I felt that I could not help it.

I see no reason now, if all go well with me, why I should not come in March. I should indeed feel it my duty. If I can go on gaining as I seem to be gaining now for a few months longer, I should feel safe. Or if I should have some relapses between now and then, and should find that they did not disable me, I should make up my mind to them as something to be reckoned with for the rest of my life, and put up with them accordingly. Therefore I am willing to say that I will come in March (much less risky season for me), "the act of God only excepted," as the bills of lading used to say. I will come if it be physically possible. Faithfully yours, GEORGE HENDERSON, Esq.

J. R. LOWELL,

VOL. V.

Probably few persons unacquainted with the interior of a large printing-office realize how much trouble may be saved to compositors, copy-readers, proof-readers, and even to authors themselves, by attention on the part of the latter to a few minor details. Foremost among these is uniformity. The "copy" is portioned out, a few pages at a time, among several compositors, -enough to make three or four pages of printed matter being given to each. If on one page of copy it is stated that "Mount Washington is about six thousand feet high," and on another that "Mt. Holyoke is about 1,600 feet high," how is the compositor to whom the latter "take" falls to know whether his

No. 2.

the

predecessor has abbreviated "Mount" and put the number of feet in figures or not? To the proofreader it may be said, "Use some judgment; do not spell out numbers if there are a great many of them near together"; but compositor, dealing with parts, cannot view his "take" in its proper relation to the whole. He has to spend his own time in correcting this lack of uniformity, and the proof-reader has to spend the time of the office, first in marking the alteration, and then in revising the proof when it is corrected.

A more serious perplexity to the proofreader occurs when proper names, technical terms, and the like, are variously spelled in copy. Anything with which a person of average intelligence cannot be expected to be familiar should be written with especial care, both as to correctness and legibility. If a reference to the works of the pioneer of English psalmody is written without any apostrophe, it will probably not be printed "Watts Hymns" or "Watt's Hymns"; but "Stephen's Pleading" may not fare so well. Much asking and answering of questions would be saved if titles of books were always written as they are to be printed, either uniformly in italic or uniformly in Roman and quoted, or uniformly in Roman and not quoted.

If it is borne in mind that the eye of the compositor cannot keep far in advance of the word he is setting, and that either to read and study over a passage before setting it, or to alter it after setting it, means a serious encroachment on the time of a "piece-worker," it will be easy to see the desirability of putting in at least the To leave the principal marks of punctuation.

beginning or end of a sentence shrouded in obscurity, to omit or misplace quotation marks, or to use dashes at random for commas, semicolons, and periods is inexcusable; as is also the neglect to indicate clearly where paragraphs are to be made.

Obscurity in regard to paragraphs frequently occurs when insertions are made in the manuscript, and may be remedied by making a para graph mark ("¶") where a break is desired' and drawing a curved connecting line or writing "join" or "no break" at any ambiguous-looking place where a paragraph is not to be made. If these words are written in the same ink as the body of the manuscript, let them be encircled, so as to show at a glance their explanatory character. To the writer of matter containing numerous short quotations, such as the conversational parts of a story, it is all important to have some system about his paragraphing, if he wishes to save time and patience to all concerned, and to himself expense in the correcting of author's proofs. It does not so much matter what the system is, if it is only uniformly adhered to. One good rule, when economy of space is not of paramount importance, is this: Let each quotation begin a new paragraph if the paragraph introducing it contains more than three or four words; make a paragraph at the end of each quotation, unless it is followed by a short narrative sentence having for its subject the speaker of the quotation.

Directions to the printer, if written on a page of copy or an author's proof, should be as brief as is consistent with clearness, and either written in different ink from the matter to be printed or so marked off as to be readily distinguished from it. If not, the compositor will probably set at least a part of the direction before discovering his mistake. On the other hand, authors whose directions are habitually slovenly are liable to see insertions which were really intended for print omitted by mistake.

The place of every insertion, whether of one word or many, should be indicated by a caret, even if it seems to the author, who knows what he himself had in mind, as if no one could be so dull as to feel doubtful of his meaning.

Is it a truism to say that when matter is crossed out, it should be made plain just what

is crossed out? A word here and there left standing in a passage almost wholly expunged is easily overlooked, unless the parts to be omitted are crossed out very plainly. Horizontal lines for this purpose should not be drawn high enough to be mistaken for underscoring of words in the line above. So far as possible, writers should let writing follow "second thoughts" instead of preceding them, and avoid alterations and interlineations as much as possible. It is a common fault of inexperienced writers to take out either more or less than they intend, so that the words left standing do not form anything like a properly constructed sentence. In making corrections in authors' proofs, every alteration in the matter should have a corresponding mark in the margin — not between the lines. If a word or letter is taken out and nothing substituted for it, a dele-mark ("") should be placed in the margin. Queries of the proof-reader can be answered affirmatively by simply drawing a line through the "?," or negatively by crossing out the whole. It is a waste of three persons' time, besides the writer's, to write such an answer as: "I think I have most frequently seen this name spelled with an 'e,’ but as I have not been able to lay my hand on any authority, you may spell it with an i,' if you think best."

A careful examination of a page of print will reveal the fact that in some lines the spaces between the words are wider than in others; the better the workmanship, other things being equal, the less this difference. A short word may sometimes be taken out of a particularly narrow line, and the space distributed through the line, without making the spacing excessively wide; but if the same word were taken out of a very widely spaced line, it would be necessary to fill the space by taking a word, or a part of a word, from the next line. might be possible to distribute the space thus left vacant between the words in this second line, or it might be necessary to disturb the next line; and so on, frequently to the end of a paragraph. Of course, it is sometimes easier to bring over a word from the line before the correction instead of the line after. Now, this process of "overrunning" takes time, and therefore adds to the cost of authors' corrections;

It

and an alteration well worth making near the end of a paragraph may be scarcely worth while if it happens to occur a dozen lines from the end, and if these lines will have to be "overrun." Frequently one change with a little ingenuity

may be made so as to balance another. Simi larly, if words enough to make a whole line are added or subtracted, the correction takes a comparatively short time.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

M. L. Allen

Advertisements occasionally appear in the columns of the daily press of persons, who, for a consideration, offer to criticise, correct, and revise manuscripts. These people invariably have "an extensive acquaintance" with publishers and editors, and profess themselves fitted to tell the young and inexperienced writer just why his articles do not sell, to point out his faults, correct his grammatical errors, cut out his superfluous words, and even to find a market for his wares.

Periodical literature has multiplied wonderfully in the last twenty years, and ten people write for the press now where one did then. Bureaus of criticism and literary information are a necessity, and are doing admirable work. Even experienced authors are glad to avail themselves of the aid which comes in this way, and many a young writer, who really has something to say, but no idea of how or where to say it, would never get into print at all except for the suggestions he receives from some reliable critic. The Writer's Literary Bureau is doing good, effective work of this sort, and is not to be confounded with irresponsible persons, who advertise without name or reference.

An advertisement of such a person met the eye of a young friend of mine who is trying to train herself for authorship. She promptly packed up a story she had written and sent it off, accompanied by its fee, to be read, criticised, and, if possible, sold. In due time a flattering letter came from the critic: "The story was admirable. Required very little alteration. Would, undoubtedly, soon be sold," etc. But no news of a purchaser came, and, after

"Just

"What am I to do?" she asked. think of it. That story has been offered to no end of publishers as my work. I shall never dare send out anything of my own again."

I could not blame her. The manuscript was battered, soiled, worn, black with erasures and alterations, and thoroughly disreputable in its general appearance.

"If it was improved in quality, I would not care for looks," she said, "but just see what that woman has done."

The critic's desire to cut out all superfluous words was so overpowering that the result was somewhat peculiar. I was reminded of the reductio ad absurdum of the old rhyme :

"He that would thrive

Must rise by five."

Then some one said: "He that would thrive more Must rise by four."

So the diminution went on until at last :

"He that would flourish best of all,

He must not go to bed at all."

The pruning process had been carried so far that literally words to tell the story properly were not left. The explanations necessary to the development of the tale were cut out of the opening chapters, and sense was sacrificed by the reckless elimination of words, sentences, and even whole paragraphs.

Conversation had been altered to suit the critic's taste, rather than the peculiarities of the

beginning or end of a sentence shrouded in obscurity, to omit or misplace quotation marks, or to use dashes at random for commas, semicolons, and periods is inexcusable; as is also the neglect to indicate clearly where paragraphs are to be made.

Obscurity in regard to paragraphs frequently occurs when insertions are made in the manuscript, and may be remedied by making a paragraph mark ("T") where a break is desired' and drawing a curved connecting line or writing "join" or "no break" at any ambiguous-looking place where a paragraph is not to be made. If these words are written in the same ink as the body of the manuscript, let them be encircled, so as to show at a glance their explanatory character. To the writer of matter containing numerous short quotations, such as the conversational parts of a story, it is all important to have some system about his paragraphing, if he wishes to save time and patience to all concerned, and to himself expense in the correcting of author's proofs. It does not so much matter what the system is, if it is only uniformly adhered to. One good rule, when economy of space is not of paramount importance, is this: Let each quotation begin a new paragraph if the paragraph introducing it contains more than three or four words; make a paragraph at the end of each quotation, unless it is followed by a short narrative sentence having for its subject the speaker of the quotation.

Directions to the printer, if written on a page of copy or an author's proof, should be as brief as is consistent with clearness, and either written in different ink from the matter to be printed or so marked off as to be readily distinguished from it. If not, the compositor will probably set at least a part of the direction before discovering his mistake. On the other hand, authors whose directions are habitually slovenly are liable to see insertions which were really intended for print omitted by mistake.

The place of every insertion, whether of one word or many, should be indicated by a caret, even if it seems to the author, who knows what he himself had in mind, as if no one could be so dull as to feel doubtful of his meaning.

Is it a truism to say that when matter is crossed out, it should be made plain just what

is crossed out? A word here and there left standing in a passage almost wholly expunged is easily overlooked, unless the parts to be omitted are crossed out very plainly. Horizontal lines for this purpose should not be drawn high enough to be mistaken for underscoring of words in the line above. So far as possible, writers should let writing follow "second thoughts" instead of preceding them, and avoid alterations and interlineations as much as possible. It is a common fault of inexperienced writers to take out either more or less than they intend, so that the words left standing do not form anything like a properly constructed sentence. In making corrections in authors' proofs, every alteration in the matter should have a corresponding mark in the margin—not between the lines. If a word or letter is taken out and nothing substituted for it, a dele-mark ("8") should be placed in the margin. Queries of the proof-reader can be answered affirmatively by simply drawing a line through the "?," or negatively by crossing out the whole. It is a waste of three persons' time, besides the writer's, to write such an answer as: "I think I have most frequently seen this name spelled with an 'e,' but as I have not been able to lay my hand on any authority, you may spell it with an 'i,' if think best."

you

A careful examination of a page of print will reveal the fact that in some lines the spaces between the words are wider than in others; the better the workmanship, other things being equal, the less this difference. A short word may sometimes be taken out of a particularly narrow line, and the space distributed through the line, without making the spacing excessively wide; but if the same word were taken out of a very widely spaced line, it would be necessary to fill the space by taking a word, or a part of a word, from the next line. might be possible to distribute the space thus left vacant between the words in this second line, or it might be necessary to disturb the next line; and so on, frequently to the end of a paragraph. Of course, it is sometimes easier to bring over a word from the line before the correction instead of the line after. Now, this process of "overrunning" takes time, and therefore adds to the cost of authors' corrections;

It