[ This department is open to readers of THE WRITER for the relation of interesting experiences in writing or in dealing with editors, and for the free discussion of any topic connected with literary work. Contributors are requested to be brief.]

One of the objects of my series of articles on "Preparation for Proofreading" now appearing in THE WRITER was to give the uninitiated some idea of the rights and duties of a proofreader, and incidentally to awaken discussion as to how much attention should be paid to good English. The first "duty" of a proofreader is to rid his mind of colloquialisms, provincial phrases, newspaper parlance, slang, and ungrammatical construction. If he becomes a "bromide," he is lost. I should like to ask your correspondent, Mr. Solomons, if " 'later on" can be used, why not "later along," "later by," "later toward," and so on? Would n't "close down" be admissible, or "closed together"? What do the particles help to make clear? We do not in business fling extra pennies over the counter. Would he, if admitted to the cultivated circles of Boston, feel obliged to take up their boresome Thank you very much indeed," "It is really quite a pleasure to have met you," or if in rural New England to say, "Do you enjoy poor health ?" or "I am some better now, thank you kindly." Perhaps in New York he would begin, "They are quite some persons," or "He is right on the make!" Philadelphia friends would foist upon him "Listen here," "Let me tell you," "Positive-ly," and in the State of Pennsylvania, "Come here once," "I've had dinner alretty," etc. So a man's brain becomes a perfect beehive of bromides people know they are stuffing him soon he is pleading to the magazines that these things are usage ! Remember Lincoln his speech was racy, his writings were models. An earlier President began a message to Congress : "Another year has rolled around, and we are at peace

In the September WRITER, W. J. L. declares his astonishment at two statements made in my August article "A Hack Writer's Work" namely, that in a single day this author friend wrote fourteen little articles of about seven hundred words each, and that eleven out of the number were accepted by one editor. Mark Twain's advice is first to get the facts, then distort them as much as you please to make sure that I have not distorted facts I have appealed directly to the interviewee, who not only corroborates my quotation, but adds that he very frequently writes eight thousand words a day. To be sure, this gentleman in question has had many, many years of experience. uses a typewriter and rapidly. His working day begins at five o'clock in the morning; and when he turns out the large number of words mentioned, he has his material well in mind beforehand. As for having eleven of these articles, or little talks they might be called, accepted by one editor, is that unreasonable when you consider that he knows this particular publication well enough to give the editor almost precisely what he wants? Beulah Rector.

PAWTUCKET, R. I.

THE MANUSCRIPT MARKET.

He

[This information as to the present special needsof various periodicals comes directly from the editors. Particulars as to conditions of prize offers should be sought from those offering the prizes. ]

Prizes and scholarships as provided for in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the Pulitzer School of Journalism, will be awarded for the first time at the Columbia University Commencement in 1917. There are to be nine prizes, totaling $9,000, and five traveling scholarships, valued at $1,500

1. A prize of $1,000 for the best and most suggestive paper on the future development and improvement of the School of Journalism, or for any one idea that will promise great improvement in the operation of the school.

2. A gold medal, costing $500, for the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by any American newspaper during the year.

3. A prize of $1,000 for the best history of the services rendered to the public by the American press during the preceding year.

4. A prize of $500 for the best editorial article written during the year, the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in the right direction.

5. A prize of $1,000 for the best example of a reporter's work during the year, the test being strict accuracy, terseness, and the accomplishment of some public good commanding public attention and respect.

In addition to the five prizes in Journalism, four prizes in Letters are to be awarded as follows:

I. A prize of $1,000 for the American novel published during the year which shall best present the wholesome atmosphere of American life and the highest standards of American manners and manhood.

2. A prize of $1,000 for the original American play, performed in New York, which shall best represent the educational value and power of the stage in raising the standard of good morals, good taste and good manners.

3. A prize of $2,000 for the best book of the year upon the history of the United States.

4. A prize of $1,000 for the best American biography teaching patriotic and unselfish services to the people, illustrated by an em

inent example, excluding as too obvious the names of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

The work for which these prizes in Journalism and in Letters are severally to be awarded must have been done or published in the calendar year 1916.

There are also five traveling scholarships, having a value of $1,500 each, to be awarded. Three of these will go to graduates of the School of Journalism in order to enable them to spend a year in Europe to study the social, political, and moral conditions of the people and the character and principles of the European press. The fourth annual scholarship will be awarded to that student of music in America who may be deemed the most talented and deserving, in order that he may continue his studies with the advantage of European instruction, and the fifth will be awarded to an art student in America who shall be certified as the most promising and deserving by the National Academy of Design.

The Naples Table Association for Promoting Laboratory Research by Women announces a research prize of $1,000 for the best thesis written by a woman embodying new observations and new conclusions based on independent laboratory research in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics. The competition will close February 25, 1917. Application blanks may be obtained from the secretary, Mrs. Ada W. Murd, 283 Wayland avenue, Providence, R. I.

The House Beautiful (Boston) is offering prizes to architects who submit the best plans for a house, to be built at a cost of not more than $3,000, combining economy of plan and construction with the elements of simplicity and good taste.

The House Beautiful (Boston) offers prizes of $25, $20, and $15 for the best letters of not more than 1,000 words, telling of the help and value gained from reading the magazine. The contest will close January 15

A member of the National Arts Club has offered to the Poetry Society of America (New York) the sum of $250 a year, to be known as the National Arts Club Prize, and

to be given for the best unpublished poem read at the meetings of the society during the year. The Executive Committee has decided to divide the amount into two prizes of $125 each, which will be given for the two poems receiving the highest votes.

The Philadelphia Evening Ledger is giving two dollars a day to the woman who sends in the best letter on household or other subjects of interest to feminine readers of the woman's page.

Franklin P. Adams, who edits the "6 Conning Tower" column in the New York Tribune, having called for a poem expressing the joy of the swimmer and offered a whimsical prize for "the best poem couched in the rhythm of the swimmer's movements in, say, the Australian crawl or trudgeon meter " Collier's offers to accept the poem which Mr. Adams nominates as the winner, provide for it an appropriate decoration, and pay the author fifty dollars.

The publishers of the Independent (New York), which recently absorbed Harper's Weekly, have bought the Countryside Magazine.

The American Sunday Magazine will be merged in Hearst's Magazine, beginning with the January issue.

The Housewives' League Magazine has changed its name to the Housewives' Magazine.

The Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia) is in the market for short stories of contemporary American life, serials of from 50,000 to 100,000 words, and some short

verse.

The World Outlook, 150 Fifth avenue, New York, wishes to consider now and within the next few months, for use in 1917, articles, fiction, poetry, items, photographs, drawings, etc., relating to life and progress in foreign countries. It particularly wants material on the West Indies, Panama, South America, Africa, Russia, and any part of Asia. Subjects to which it hopes to give

special treatment during the coming year are The foreign population in the United States; foreign students in our universities; the conquest of the world by modern medicine and sanitation; the romance of the world, including manners of courtship in various lands, marriage, domestic life, polygamy, divorce, widowhood, the position of woman, etc.; labor throughout the world, including factory conditions, wages, strikes, cost of living, etc.; biographical stories of known or unknown heroes; humorous aspects of the contact between Oriental and Occidental life; "the woman adrift," referring to the women in all lands who are independent, or working outside the home, perhaps homeless, parentless, divorced or widowed, or bed-ridden, imprisoned, or imprisonable, leaders, feminine captains of industry any women who for some reason or other are not living the traditionally recognized life of woman; American industry abroad, the invasion of foreign lands by the phonograph, sewing machine, Standard Oil, steel, cash register, automobile, etc.; also the invasion by religion, education, and Western civilization. In fact, anything that vividly interprets life abroad will be welcomed. The World Outlook wants no preachments or essays. It wants specific information, not generalization and theory. Statements should be well illuminated with incidents, illustrations, anecdotes, human interest stories. The narrative style should be used wherever convenient. Lightness of touch, force and brevity are desirable. Material may run from 200 to 2,000 words. His torical matter is not desired. Stories and articles which emphasize the change from old to new are especially acceptable. Material submitted will be passed upon and paid for or returned promptly, regardless of the length of time before publication. Rates vary from one to four cents a word, the amount depending upon "strength, not length." The World Outlook is greatly in need of good fiction, on such subjects as those mentioned. It also pays for valuable information, though not cast in literary form. It pays for workable suggestions. Excep

tional foreign photographs are always wel

come.

current events

Pach Photo News, Inc., 47 West Fortysecond street, New York, is in the market for up-to-date interesting photographs of such as a great state ceremony, military and naval activity, aviation, national feats, great catastrophes, sensational city events, big society meets, etc. and will pay from one dollar to five dollars for each photograph accepted. A good description of what the picture represents must be attached, and if photographs of prominent people are sent the name must be written on the back. As the photographs are sold to newspapers, promptness in sending is essential.

any

The Illustrated World (Chicago) is looking for photographs, with descriptive text, of what are termed "super-machines" machine that will revolutionize an industry, doing the work previously performed by several men; "that will enable you to pack apples; clean your house; or do the thousand and one things you are personally interested in." Such a machine may be an entirely new device or an old machine with an improvement. The magazine will pay from $1.50 to $3 each for such photographs, and from one to two cents a word for descriptive matter, the price depending on the value of the material to the Illustrated World. The magazine also wants articles covering everything from how to make money to how to cure habits that handicap. "Its readers want

to know how to emulate John Jones, the man around the corner who made a fortune by putting a new kind of twist in a corkscrew; or how Peter Johnson rigged up a device on his furnace that saved him two tons of coal for the winter." If photographs are not procurable, a diagram or drawing may be sent. Suggestions for photographs should always be offered, in addition to photographs sent.

The Sperry Magazine (New York) discontinued publication with the June number.

The National Review (New York) is a new publication devoted to the affairs of American government. The editor writes: "In so far as I know, it is the only independent, non-partisan, non-political journal devoted to efficiency and preparedness in the broad field of national affairs. In brief, the National Review is concerned only with the affairs of government as related to business, national preparedness, and good citizenship. We print no fiction, and for the present are not buying articles. However, in time we hope to afford a good market for any articles of national interest, devoted to the businesslike administration of our government." The office of the National Review is now at 50 East Forty-second street.

A correspondent writes that letters to the National Art Publishing Co., Elmira, N. Y., named in Frances Dewar's article in the July WRITER in the list of concerns that buy greetings for postcards, are not answered.

WRITERS OF THE DAY.

Thomas Jeffries Betts, who wrote the story, "The Golden Glow of Victory," which was published in Scribner's for October, spent three years in China, as well as two years in Japan, so that he has a fairly good first-hand knowledge of the natives, not only as to their customs, but as to the why of them as well. He has confined himself consistently to China so far in his writings, and has a series of three more Liao

Shan stories coming out in the All Story Magazine, while another one will be published in Scribner's Magazine. These stories represent the approved result of about three years' work. Mr. Betts is a recent college graduate and is now taking a course of training in a large New York City bank.

Ernest Blake, whose sonnet, "Recognition," was printed in Munsey's for September, is an Englishman whose real name is Ernest Hendy. He is about forty years of age, and a lawyer by profession, but he prefers literature to law. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford University. His verse is published in many English periodicals, but he is better known for his contributions on ornithological subjects.

Eric A. Darling, whose story, "The Child in the Street," was printed in the Delineator for October, is of Canadian parentage, although he was born in Detroit. Mr. Darling has been writing for magazines for nine years, since he was sixteen, in fact, and in that time has written considerable poetry, as well as many dramatic sketches and comedy skits for the vaudeville bureaus. He has written photoplays since the early launching of this industry, writing for the Universal' Film Co., the Mutual, Lubin, Selig, the Vitagraph, Edison, and Gaumont, among others. He has done newspaper work on the Detroit Tribune, the Chicago Examiner, and the San Francisco Examiner, and a few other papers. He also toured for a while with the SellsFloto Company, and with the Barnum-Bailey Circus Company. He is living now with his parents in Canada.

Charles Divine, who wrote the story, "Home, Sweet Home, and Tracey," printed in Short Stories for October, was graduated from Cornell University in 1912. During vacations he had done newspaper work in Binghamton, N. Y., his home town, and immediately upon leaving college he joined the staff of the New York Sun, from which he recently resigned to devote more of his time to fiction and particularly to a novel upon