where his wife is handling feature work for the Indianapolis Star. Mr. Ross says he has no literary methods. He writes because he likes to write, and he tries to write well because that is the kind of writing that he likes to read. His writing is of necessity done at night, and he limits his time by his ability to stay awake. Most of the result of these efforts, he says, goes into the trash basket and makes what he finds to be excellent material for kindling the furnace fire. Mr. Ross adds that a good part of whatever success may come his way as a writer will be due to the friendly criticism and encouragement of Booth Tarkington.

Ernest L. Thurston, author of the story, "Dry Sedge," which was printed in the Youth's Companion for April 16, is a New Englander by birth, but has spent most of his life since boyhood in the District of Columbia. Mr. Thurston says that he can hardly remenber when he did not wish to write and that as a young fellow he wrote many Nature sketches which were accepted. He then went to college, where he was trained in engineering, and after that came many years of educational work, during which his writing was largely confined to mathematical works, including a couple of textbooks, and some minor educational articles. About five years ago Mr. Thurston undertook general writing, and since that time he has had considerably more than four hundred manuscripts published. His educational experience having equipped him for such work, he has written a large number of stories for older boys and girls, and recently he has written an increasing amount for older readers. He has also written educational and child-welfare articles, some Nature material, and a few general articles. Much of his adult work has a background of engineering construction, or of forestry, and his short stories have largely an outdoor setting. The characters in "Dry Sedge" are entirely fictional, but the setting is based on a careful personal study of the pine wilderness of New Jersey, and much of his writing has a touch of personal experience. Mr. Thurston says he has developed a fairly regular routine. His plotting is largely done during morning

tramps in the country, when he is also absorbing atmosphere and gaining contact with others he meets along the road. As a result of his engineering training he is especially interested in anything in the construction line that he comes across. Following the morning tramp, he spends from five to seven hours at his desk, broken only by luncheon. He composes directly on the typewriter, writing the first draft to any length, intent only on working out his plot, and in getting in sufficient atmosphere and action. This he condenses to the length desired, or necessary, cutting out less important material, and eliminating waste. His second draft is often his final one, but at times he may rewrite a manuscript several times to get the effect he desires. Mr. Thurston has contributed to newspapers, to a wide range of juvenile and young folks' magazines, and to a number of general magazines, such as the People's Home Journal and Short Stories.

BOOK REVIEWS.

CHATS ON FEATURE WRITING. By H. F. Harrington, With an Introduction by Chester S. Lord. 611 pp. Cloth. New York; Harper & Brothers. 1925. "Chats on Feature Writing" is an unusual and very valuable book. Professor Harrington of the Medill School of Journalism in Chicago has secured advice about writing special feature articles from more than thirty well known writers of such articles - Irvin S. Cobb, Kenneth L. Roberts, Frank Ward O'Malley, René Bache, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Will Irwin, Walter Prichard Eaton, Burges Johnson, and others which he gives as presented at meetings of the "Blue Pencil Club of Professional Writers" in informal talks about writing and placing manuscripts. Beginning by showing the importance of putting impulse to work, Professor Harrington devotes successive chapters to Germinating Ideas, Developing a Specialty, Handling Material, Interesting the Reader, Manuscript Revision, Marketing the Manuscript, and Writing as a Business. In all of these chapters the successful writers quoted tell about their methods, and there are also suggestions about making manuscripts salable from editors answering such questions as "What factors influence you in accepting a manuscript?" In the chapter on Manuscript Revision there are fac-similes of first drafts and completed manuscripts, showing the changes made. Part II of the book reprints special articles of various types, with inter

pretive comment, and there is a chapter giving information about syndicates and syndicating. Part III includes a list of useful books and periodicals. The book is illustrated with halftone portraits of many writers. W. H. H. THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NEWSPAPER. By Leon Nelson Flint. 470 pp. Cloth. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1925.

Every newspaper reporter, editor, and publisher should read and re-read this book, giving it the most careful attention, and every one who writes for the press should study it. Other books discuss newspaper ethics in a general, abstract way, but "The Conscience of the Newspaper" is an encyclopedic concrete presentation of the innumerable problems of conduct that confront newspapermen in their daily work, citing definite actual cases with all necessary detail, recording the action taken, and giving the author's comments and conclusions. The reader may not agree always with the author who is professor of journalism at the University of Kansas-but Professor Flint's standard is high and his decisions in the main are right, and in any case he will set the reader to thinking seriously, and with right-minded newspapermen that is enough to bring about good results. The cases cited are not imagined, but have been gathered from newspapers of all grades in all parts of the United States. The first division of the book discusses such subjects as accuracy, truthfulness, impartiality and fairness, mercy and discretion, decency, responsibility, trustworthiness, handling the news of anti-social acts and right and wrong of suppression, and opportunities for independence and courage, condemning faking,_distortion, and the improper use of "color." The second part sums up the principles of journalism, and the third part forecasts the newspaper of tomorrow. An appendix gives codes of ethics formulated by editorial associations and by individual papers. The book will interest the general reader as well as newspaper workers, and general reading of it will make the criticism of newspapers much more intelligent.

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W. H. H.

MARY OF MAGDALA. By Archie Bell. 310 PF. Cloth. Boston: L. C. Page & Co. 1925. It is interesting to know something of the "inside history" of Archie Bell's romantic story of the life of Mary Magdalene, the Bible's notorious sinner, who later became penitent and the first witness of the Resurrection. As originally written, the manuscript had 125,000 words, and its title was "The Other Mary." To avoid confusion, the publishers suggested the present title, and the suggestion was accepted by the author. They also told him that the manuscript must be cut to the average length of a book of fiction at

the present time, which is from 70,000 to 80,000 words, and Mr. Bell got it down to 90,000 words. The book, which is issued for the St. Botolph Society, has a frontispiece in photogravure from a painting by W. St. J. Harper.

THE HOUSE ON THE Downs. By G. E. Locke. Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 305 PP. Cloth. Boston: L. C. Page & Co. 1925.

Mr. Locke is a skilful writer of detective stories, and those who have read his earlier books, The Red Cavalier," "The Scarlet Macaw," and The Purple Mist," will look forward with pleasure to reading this new tale, which relates the thrilling experiences of an Australian novelist on a visit to England, with two murders and a host of queer doings besides.

BOOKS RECEIVED:

[THE WRITER is pleased to receive for review any books about authors, authorship, language, or literary topics or any books that would be of real value in a writer's library, such as works of refer ence, history, biography, or travel. Space can be given only to books of special interest to readers of THE WRITER, and there is no space in the magazine for the review of fiction, poetry, etc. All books received will be acknowledged under this heading. Selections will be made for review in the interest of THE WRITER'S readers.]

THE POCKET OXFORD DICTIONARY OF CURRENT ENGLISH. Compiled by F. G. Fowler and H. W. Fow ler. 1,000 pp. Cloth. New York: Oxford University Press. 1925.

THE ABRIDGED COMPENDIUM

OF AMERICAN GENEALOGY. First Families of America A Genealogical Encyclopedia of the United States. Edited by Frederick A. Virkus, under direction of Albert Nelson Marquis. Vol. I. 1148 pp. Cloth. Chicago A. N. Marquis & Co. 1925.

THE COMPLETE LIMERICK BOOK. By Langford Reed. 154 pp. Cloth. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

THE EDITOR AND HIS PUBLIC. Robert H. Davis and George Jean Nathan. Bookman for May.

SOME YOUNGER ENGLISH NOVELISTS. Hugh Walpole. Bookman for May.

How OLD IS GENIUS? Alexander Black. Bookman for May.

CRITIC CRITTURS. Frank L. Packard. Bookman for May.

ELLEN GLASGOW'S ARROW. With portrait. Grant Overton. Bookman for May.

THE DOCTOR LOOKS AT BIOGRAPHY. Joseph Collins. Bookman for May.

GETTING INTO SIX FIGURES. VI. George Barr McCutcheon. Arnold Patrick. Bookman for May. MARIANNE MOORE. With portrait. William Carlos Williams. Dial for May.

HONORÉ DE BALZAC. With frontispiece. Hugo von Hofmannathal. Translated from the German by Kenneth Burke. Dial for May.

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN VERNACULAR. Fred N. Scott. McNaught's Monthly for May.

SHERIDAN FORD AND JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER. Don C. Seitz. McNaughton's Monthly for May. NEW JERSEY AUTHORS. With portraits of John Cotton Dana, Coningsby Dawson, Joseph C. Lincoln, and Harvey O'Higgins. Max J. Herzberg. Charm for May.

FURTHER EVIDENCE OF REALISM IN THE FRENCH NOVEL OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. F. C. Green. Modern Language Notes for May.

EZRA POUND. Harriet Monroe. Poetry for May. JOSEPH AUSLANDER. Gustav Davidson, Leslie Nelson Jennings, and Frank Ernest Hill. Measure for April.

NEWS AND NOTES.

Edna Ferber has given the Pulitzer prize of $1,000, which was awarded to her for her novel, "So Big," to the Authors' League fund for the care of needy writers and artists.

Wladislaw Reymont, winner of the Nobel prize, who is seriously ill at Nice, has decided to use the 550,000 francs prize money for the founding of an Académie de Goncourt in Poland.

An annual prize of about 5,000 francs has been offered by Henrick Willem van Loon for the best Flemish book of the year.

Pensions for writers are proposed in Bohemia. There is no compulsion about the scheme, but writers and composers would be invited to participate in it. A writer at the age of twenty-four would pay a dollar a month for a guaranteed annuity of four hundred dollars at fifty-five.

A memorial to Joseph Conrad, novelist of the sea, will constitute one unit of the thirteenstory annex of the Seamen's Church Institute of New York.

It has been found that the brain of Anatole France weighed only 1,017 grams, as compared with a normal weight of 1,390 grams, but although the brain was below the average weight the convolutions were deep and numerous.

Basil King, who went abroad a few months ago for a year's stay, has returned to this country. "Never before in coming back to the United States," Mr. King said, "have I had so strongly the impression of the youth and freshness of this country. I am vinced that Europe has given out all that it has to give."

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The twentieth year of the course in journalism at the University of Wisconsin will be celebrated this Spring. The first instruction in journalism was given at Wisconsin by Professor Willard G. Bleyer in the Fall of 1905 as a new course in the English department. Some thirty-five students studied news writing in this class. Instead of one class in news. writing twenty journalism courses are now offered. Instead of thirty-five students, 350 enrolled last year. Instead of one instructor from the English department there are now six teachers of journalism.

"Edith Wharton," by Robert Morss Lovett (Robert M. McBride & Co.), gives a brief outline and study of Mrs. Wharton's work.

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Adventures in Criticism," by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, is published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

"Troubadour," by Alfred Kreymborg (Boni & Liveright), is an autobiography.

"The Life of Thomas Hardy," by Ernest Brennecke, Jr., is published by Greenberg, Publishers.

"Walt Whitman," by George R. Carpenter, is published by the Macmillan Company. "Walt Whitman," by Gerald Bullett, is published by the J. B. Lippincott Company.

"Figurative Language," by George H. Reibold, is published by James Knapp Reeve, Franklin, Ohio.

Synonyms and Antonyms," by Edith B. Ordway, is published by George L. Sully & Co.

The London Times, under the Managership of Moberly Bell," an unofficial narrative, by F. Harcourt Kitchen ("Bennet Copplestone"), is published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

"A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales," by Jonathan Nield, is published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

"Is It Good English?" by John o' London, is published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

The Newer Spirit," by V. F. Calverton (Boni & Liveright), and "The Creative Spirit," by Rollo Walter Brown (Harper & Bros.), deal with a general discussion of the function of criticism.

"Johnson the Essayist," by O. F. Christie, is published by the George H. Doran Company.

"Practical Graphic Figures," by E. G. Lutz (Charles Scribner's Sons ), is a book on the technical side of drawing cartoons and fashions.

"The Muse in Council," by John Drinkwater (The Houghton Mifflin Company ), comprises a series of essays on the theory of poetry and the practice of some poets.

"Dora Wordsworth, Her Book," by F. V. Morley, is published by the Houghton Mifflin Company.

"The Book Review Digest," edited by Marion A. Knight and Mertice M. James, is published by the H. W. Wilson Company.

"The Amateur Photographer's Handbook," by A. Frederick Collins, is published by the T. Y. Crowell Company.

Frank-Maurice, 15 West Thirty-seventh street, New York, is the name of a new publishing firm.

The Siebel Publishing Corporation, 32 West Twentieth street, New York, a new publishing firm, will use a contract drawn up by H. B. Stern, the attorney for the Authors' League of America, embodying new features which should prove more satisfactory to the author than any yet evolved.

William A. Heacock, who has been operating the National Press Bureau and the Newswriters Training Bureau in Buffalo, offering instruction in newspaper writing by mail, is in bankruptcy, with liabilities of $18,070.70 and assets of $115.06.

The will of Amy Lowell, besides making other bequests, gives to Mrs. Ada Dwyer Russell, her friend and companion, the use of her beautiful estate "Sevenels" and the income from a trust fund of $100,000 during Mrs. Russell's lifetime. At her death "Sevenels" is to revert to Miss Lowell's estate, but Mrs. Russell may dispose of the trust fund as she pleases. Mrs. Russell is named as literary executor of the estate, and to her is given the right to decide whether any of the unpublished manuscripts of Miss Lowell shall be printed. If she should decide to publish any of the manuscripts, Mrs. Russell is directed to take ten per cent. of the trust fund and use it to finance the publication. Proceeds from the sale of any of the works, the will specifies, are to go toward establishing the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship," of $2,000, to be awarded annually to an American poet and to be used by him to study art and poetry abroad.

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Lawrence ("Larry") Evans died at Tucson, Arizona, April 26.

Ralph D. Paine died at Concord, N. H., April 29, aged fifty-three.

Dr. Samuel Valentine Cole died at Norton, Mass., May 6, aged seventy-three.

Herbert Quick died at Columbia, Missouri, May 10, aged sixty-three.

Amy Lowell died at Brookline, Mass., May 12, aged fifty-one.

Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer died in New York May 12, aged seventy-six.

Sir H. Rider Haggard died in London, England, May 14, aged sixty-eight.