Being something of a realist, I believe in depicting life in a book of fiction very much as I see it around me-made up of little things with here and there an important happening. I usually choose in my mind the kind of girl I wish for my heroine. Shall she be quiet and reserved, or gay and a bit aggressive? Shall she be in straitened circumstances, with a character to be developed through the necessity for economy, or shall she be perfectly comfortable as to money, but with other forms of trial to be met? In what kind of a family does she grow up? What is her father like? Her mother? Has she brothers and sisters? Where does she live? All these questions settled, I know the girl a little better. She began by being a mere acquaintance; she is now a friend.

I have in the back of my mind a little bit of a moral which I wish to emphasize slightly, oh, very slightly! Just a touch of that indirect influence which our anti-suffrage friends value so highly! And my readers do not seem to mind it. I believe it does them good. We writers for the young have immense responsibility upon our shoulders or our pens. My aim is this, and it proves me to be an idealist as well as a realist: I hope and pray that no girl or boy will hold lower ideals of life because of having read a book written by me, but that on the contrary their ideals may be higher. I wish them to lay down the book strengthened and settled, and with just a bit more of that very necessary commodity which we so mistakenly call Common Sense.

It seems to me rather better that a story for the young should not be one long string of exciting or harrowing events. It can be made interesting without these. Sincerity of pur

pose and honest interest on the part of the author accomplish it. If my people seem to be alive to me and I am truly interested in what they do, they are pretty sure to be alive and interesting to my readers. Of course they must meet with troubles, large and small. Life cannot be for them one long unbroken course of pleasure, else it would not be life, but I shrink from depicting in great detail the agonizing sorrows of the young. It does no good. I think it does harm.

And so I work along and the plot seems to work itself out. Sometimes the tale is stronger than I am. I decide that my characters shall do thus and so, and they decline to do it. In "Alan Ransford" I fully intended that they should go on a certain date to Atlantic City. Their trunks were packed and standing in the hall, but the family would not budge. I had to give in and let them stay at home. All sorts of unexpected and important things began to happen which developed the story in a different way, and two weeks later they departed for Atlantic City, quite willing now to do as I desired. In my latest book, Cyntra," in which the heroine is an English girl who comes to make her home with her American father, I brought her across the ocean several times and landed her in three different places, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and finally New York, before I found that her father really lived in New York, and before I discovered what her stepmother was like. Until she reached the apartment in New York where her family lived I did not know any more than did Cyntra herself how very nice the second Mrs. Waring was.

This may give the impression that one must be in a measure the slave to a self-acting pen, but even if such an implement of magic existed I should not wish to own one. For I believe that there are no more necessary qualities for the fully equipped writer than restraint and self-control. We must let ourselves go, but we must also keep a sharp lookout on the speed register. This is not easy, but no good work is easy. It is the result of patient and careful effort. We cannot all be geniuses, but we can all "take pains.

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publication of the Directory in instalments will now be repeated, with changes to bring the information up to date and many additions, including information, secured from the periodicals direct, as to their manuscript needs, rates of payment, and other matters of practical interest to contributors. This will add largely to the bulk of the Directory, so that the alphabet will not be finished for several months. The intention is to keep repeating the matter, with monthly corrections and additions, in THE WRITER, so that it will be continuously up to date. Subscribers for THE WRITER will therefore have before them all the time the very latest authentic information about the manuscript market.

It is gratifying to see the wide-spread interest in good writing shown by the comments from Indiana, Colorado, and California on Eugene Parsons' article, "Omitting the Superfluous," which are printed in this number of THE WRITER. Other comments, not put in formal shape for publication, have also been received, and it is evident that Mr. Parsons' article in the December WRITER has attracted wide attention. Even his critics, no doubt, agree with him in the main, although they take exception to some of his principles, and in some cases find fault with their expression. Mr. Parsons favors colloquial expression - as the editor of THE WRITER does - rather than extreme precision, and this accounts for his use of the every-day "beats," "reckoned," and "what for." His main contention that much writing is marred by superfluous words-is right, and his standing as an advanced student of English, a trained editor and critic, and an authority on Tennyson gives weight to his opinions about English. He would be the last, probably, to make any claim that his opinions should be laws or that his English is impeccable. Human liability to err, by the way, is illustrated by the fact that Mr. Corcoran in his severely critical article clearly wrote "infallibility" where "fallibility" was so clearly meant that the word was changed in editing the copy. As for Mr. Parsons' quotation from Larz Anderson, the ex

pression of which is much improved by the suggestion of Miss Shafter, the idea would be still better expressed if which" before "flash" were changed to "that, to match

the "that" after "traits. The use of "which" in a clause co-ordinate with a long clause in which "that" is used is a common

error.

Referring to Gertrude Atherton's assertion that most of the stories for which the magazines are alleged to be paying very high prices are inferior to the work good reporters can do and are doing, the San Francisco Chronicle whimsically says: "But think of the great advantage which reporters have in chronicling facts. A writer of fiction is limited to the probabilities, whereas facts are under no restraint whatever and can violate the probabilities every day in the week." In saying this the Chronicle calls attention to a really important difference between reporting facts and writing fiction. Truth often is stranger than fiction, as we have so long been told - SO strange sometimes, in fact, that presented in the guise of fiction it would not be accepted by the reader. The writer of fiction is compelled all the time to consider the plausibility of what he writes, and if it is not plausible it fails, even though it may be based on truth. Sometimes fiction writers say to editors: "This story may seem unreasonable, but it is based on events that actually happened within my own knowledge." That makes no difference to the editor. If the story seems unreasonable to him he will reject the manuscript, because he knows it will seem unreasonable to the reader.

W. H. H.

if they are timely and are accompanied by photographs. The American Boy preaches the religion of "Do," not that of "Don't, " so that the teaching of all manuscripts should be positive, not negative.

Ainslee's Magazine (New York) is seeking short stories under 5,000 words.

Ambition (Scranton, Penn.) is fully stocked with manuscripts at the present time.

American Motherhood (Cooperstown, N. Y.) wants good short "home" stories, and very short, very interesting, and naturallytold stories for little children.

The Associated Sunday Magazines and Every Week (New York) need just now human interest articles of from 100 to 500 words. They should be accompanied by fine photographs.

Case and Comment (Rochester) has plenty of material on hand for present needs.

The Boys' Companion (Chicago) would like to get in touch with writers who can cover the ground of the magazine. It likes good, live stories for boys and other articles adaptable to their different departments. It is now in search of a live, rural boy's story that is within its means.

The Century (New York) desires stories with probability and action, stories with a discriminating style, that do not wallow in words, and have intelligent observation and ingenious ideas behind them. It also wants humor and short poems of fourteen to twenty lines that are not "fillers," but justify themselves.

The Christian Endeavor World (Boston) would like some strong short stories.

Collier's (New York) is in the market for short stories of about 5,000 words, serials of from 50,000 to 75,000 words, jokes and short humorous poems, and good photographs which have a news interest and tell a story. The editors buy few articles aside from those which are contracted for in advance

from regular contributors. An article must be exceptionally good, have a strong news interest, and be written in an interesting breezy style to meet with their acceptance. They do not care for discussions or for argumentative material, even if it treats of current events. Collier's standards are high, and it likes to see only an author's best work. The editors are always glad to welcome the new or comparatively new writer who has something to say and knows how to say it.

Detective Stories (New York) — Street, Smith, & Co.'s new magazine-wants good detective stories of all lengths - short stories of from 1,500 to 6,000 words; novelettes of 21,000 words; serials of about 36,000 words. A higher rate will be paid for the short stories.

The Churchman (New York) says that it does not present a market for the average "hack" writer at all. It seldom pays for material, and then at a very low space rate. Writers for other religious periodicals should not send material to the Churchman unless they understand the especial needs, phraseology, and tastes of the Episcopal Church.

Home Progress (Boston) would like just now some articles of from 1,000 to 1,500 words in length on amusements for children; personal observations of nature; and counts of travels in the British Isles and of English home life.

ac

The House Beautiful (Boston) wants original ideas on house conveniences or decoration; also descriptions and photographs of small, practical, and inexpensive gardens.

WRITERS OF THE DAY.

Mary Louise Anderson, whose poem, "An Autumn Evening," appeared in the Christmas number of Harper's Magazine, and whose book of poems, "The Child and Other Verses, came out in November, is the only child of the late General A. D. Anderson, and was born at the house of his father, the late Governor Charles Anderson of Ohio. She never went to school, having her education

from tutors and private instruction under the guidance of her mother. For the sake of her health her childhood was spent in North Carolina at the country home of her grandfather, Governor Rencher. There she roamed the woods and fields on horseback, attended by a faithful negro groom, and dreamed in lovely old gardens which reflected the old-world gardens of her grandfather's years of diplomatic life abroad. There, too, in the fine old library she early learned to love the classics. Later at Chapel Hill, the seat of the State University, her education was continued by private instruction from members of the University faculty. After traveling abroad, Miss Anderson went to New York, where she now lives.

Stephen Vincent Benét, whose poem, "The Hemp A Virginia Legend," appeared in the Century for January, is a freshman at Yale University. He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, but has lived most of his life in Bernicia, California. His present residence is Augusta, Georgia. Besides the poem in the Century, Mr. Benét has had poems in the New Republic and the Poetry Journal, and he has in addition had a book of verse, entitled Five Men and Pompey," published by the Four Seas Company, of Boston.

Lewis Parke Chamberlayne, whose verse, "Leaves from the Anthology, came out in the January Century, is a Southerner. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, and brought up in Petersburg, and was educated at the University of Virginia, where he wrote a great deal of verse and some prose for the college magazine and annual, and won several prizes for translations from the classics. After graduation, Mr. Chamberlayne began teaching, mostly in large boys' boarding schools in Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, still sticking to Latin and Greek. He then went to Germany for three years' work in philology. For two years after that he was instructor at Amherst College; then he returned South, and has since been professor in the University of South Carolina. Professor Chamberlayne spent one summer as a newspaper reporter, and has written many

editorials and book reviews. He has had work published in the Sewanee Review, the Independent, the Chautauquan (now merged in the Independent ), the Library of Southern Literature, the Century, and Collier's, not to mention editorials, book-reviews, translations, stories, and articles done for the Columbia State and for college publications.

Oscar C. Appleton Child, who wrote the poem, “A Wish," which Harper's printed in its January number, is a Bostonian at present living in New York, where his business is selling cast-iron cutting machines. Mr. Child is a beginner in verse-writing, the poem in Harper's being his first in a leading magazine, although he has had other acceptances. Most of the verses he has written have been printed in newspapers, many in the New York Times and the New York World. He has also had considerable light verse in the magazines publishing such matter.

A. E. Dingle, who had a story, "That Parson," in the December Red Book, has been writing for about three years and has to his credit some thirty short stories, a booklength novel, three novelettes, a serial story, and a "fact" article. Captain Dingle's stories are all founded either upon experiences of his own or those of men with whom he has sailed during his twenty-two years of seafaring life. He says he has sailed around this old ball of dust in pretty much every kind of craft, from an Arab slave-dhow up through the gradations of windjammers to a big four-masted square-rigger, and thence to the biggest battleship at that time. in the navy of Japan.

Weekly. "Night Flower" deals with the great Pennsylvania Station in New York, and the story came to Mr. Pape while he was in the station listening to that mighty megaphone receiving a train caller's announce

ment.

Mary Patterson, who had a story, "The Bear and the Honey," in Harper's Magazine for January, is Mrs. Raymond Patterson, of Washington, D. C. Her husband, the late Raymond Patterson, was the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, and a writer of international distinction on political topics. Mrs. Patterson was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, and educated at the Western College, at Oxford, Ohio, but she has now lived in Washington for more than twenty years. Since the death of Mr. Patterson, she has written a syndicate letter for newspapers from Washington, and verses and short stories for magazines, and has adapted for children the stories of "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which were brought out by the publishers of John Martin's Book.

Grace M. Peters, whose poem, 'Romance, in Collier's for December II, is her second to be published, is the daughter of Commodore George H. Peters, U. S. N., retired. With him she visited Europe, China, Japan, and the Philippines, and when he retired and settled down in Washington she lived there for a while, but she soon tired of purely social life, and three or four years ago went on the stage, and she says her profession now is not writing, but acting. Miss Peters' first poem was published in Sunset, and she has had in addition brief articles on domestic science in Good Housekeeping, and some articles in socialist papers.

William Thomas Whitlock, whose story, "Big John's Thanksgiving Dinner," was printed in the Youth's Companion for November 26, has been writing short stories since 1896, his first published story having appeared in the Youth's Companion. Most of his work