,,ten ,,cent ,,pocket ,,series ,,no4 #cbf ,edited by ,e4 ,haldeman-,julius ,hints on ,writing ,short ,stories ,charles ,j4 ,finger ,,haldeman-,,julius ,,company ,,girard1 ,,kansas ,,introduction ,in this ,i have not compiled a guide to rhetoric in the conventional style of the ,correspondence ,schools4 ,my aim has been to convey to you a number of ideas4 ,when you have read the book1 there should remain1 forever fixed in your mind1 this3 ,truth is the final test of merit in literature4 ,copyright1 #aibb1 ,haldeman-,julius ,company ,i4 ,,on ,,correspondence ,,schools4 ,this1 let me say1 is my third attempt to write this booklet4 ,two drafts went into the waste basket4 ,the truth is that ,i found them too stiff and formal1 and in the doing of that which ,i wish to do1 formality must be sedulously avoided1 for1 otherwise1 we run on a rock and get nowhere4 ,it seems to me that the best plan in telling you what ,i have to say will be one in which curtness and directness is observed1 for very direct and brief ,i have always found those to have been who were instructors and not teachers4 ,not in long and labored discourses have ,i found valuable lessons1 but rather in very sudden 8,don'ts0 and 8,do's10 in warnings and in checkings4 ,indeed1 something of that would seem to be the natural way1 especially if you consider how wonderfully children learn from children4 ,youngsters never lecture one another1 yet they teach their fellows all manner of elaborate games with a few simple directions4 ,on the other hand1 not only teachers1 but also parents1 too often flounder in a mist of explanation and so fail to make anything clear4 ,i know that in my own life almost everything that ,i have learned ,i seem to have acquired suddenly4 ,in the midst of much struggle1 a warning word1 a caution shot from someone who knew did what tons and volumes of theoretical instruction had failed to do4 ,there was swimming for instance4 ,as a lad ,i had read books on the art1 diligently going through arm and leg motions at night while balanced on a stool4 ,i had memorized instructions and had filled my memory with facts as to swimming contests among the ancient ,egyptians4 ,then1 one day1 floundering in a pool with a secret vision of a slow and painful death burdening me1 an older lad shouted1 8,push at the water with your feet--push hard10 and lo6 the trick was learned4 ,it was much the same when ,i learned to ride a bicycle4 ,i had made sudden swoops and turns1 had borne down on rocks1 and holes1 and ruts1 with strange accuracy4 ,i had hit all that ,i tried to avoid4 ,then my brother yelled at me1 8,don't bear so heavy on the handle bars10 and a great light dawned1 for ,i saw that my misdirected energy had been my drawback4 ,then1 too1 when learning to shear sheep in ,south ,america4 ,the sheep1 the shears1 the fleece1 and ,i seemed to be dangerously mixed1 and1 while other men about me did their hundred and seventy ewes a day with ease1 ,i sweated and groaned over twenty-five4 ,but a wise old ,irish shepherd who was watching me gave me a hint4 ,as he walked away1 he growled1 8,keep the shears flat on the hide and take big bites40 ,and again the curtain was lifted1 so that that day ,i tallied my hundred and ten4 ,for these and other reasons ,i have always been suspicious of elaborate books of instructions1 and also of professors1 of correspondence schools1 and of institutes purporting to teach this1 that and the other3 how to raise your salary3 how to be prosperous3 how to be a society success3 how to acquire a mastery of the ,english language while shaving3 how to develop the qualities of leadership and rule others3 how to write short stories and become a successful author4 ,and1 indeed1 talking with other men1 ,i find that each holds that his own business1 profession1 or calling1 most certainly cannot be taught by mail1 nor acquired in such manner that the reader of a dozen or more mimeographed letters may hope to make a living by it4 ,on this every man is emphatic4 ,nor scanning advertisements1 lists of men wanted1 do ,i see this3 8graduates of correspondence schools preferred40 ,certainly1 when ,i was an employer in the railroad business1 ,i never employed a locomotive engineer on the strength of a diploma dated from ,scranton1 ,pa4 ,nor have ,i met a banker1 stone mason1 professional hobo1 concert pianist or a farm-hand who1 good at his life's work1 had clipped and mailed a coupon1 received a hundred page book1 and1 from such humble beginnings achieved mastery of his chosen task4 ,further1 being once idle and mischievous ,i made a list of names of several who offer to teach the ,demosthenian art4 ,these1 in the course of time1 ,i visited at 8,department #abcd10 or at the ,cicero ,institute in ,chicago1 or wherever the office was located1 but although ,i have reached the inner circles in giant corporations1 in government houses1 in banking institutions1 ,i failed to pass the guardian stenographer and so reach the orator himself4 ,neither1 on further investigation1 could ,i find that ,chauncey ,depew1 ,ingersoll1 ,billy ,sunday1 ,henry ,ward ,beecher1 ,herbert ,s4 ,bigelow or ,william ,jennings ,bryan ever took lessons in a correspondence school4 ,still pursuing my quest1 ,i also made a list of names of those teaching the art of short story writing1 whether they were hidden in the arcana of correspondence schools1 taught in the marble halls of colleges or universities1 or in the shacks of the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 to find that those names did not appear as authors in the table of contents of well-known magazines1 nor anywhere else where one might reasonably suppose that they would be eager to see their own names as practitioners of the art they professed to teach4 ,nor did it transpire that executives and those who have control of men1 captains of industry or those who weld others to their own desires1 college professors or bishops1 had1 before gaining their present eminence1 risen up one dark morn in a dull ,december to make a test of their efficiency by answering for themselves a list of forty questions as propounded in the advertising section of some magazine1 and1 realizing their lack of ,personality1 had straightway enrolled themselves for a 8correspondence course10 in the course of time to receive a diploma and become a ,gary1 a ,schwab1 a ,wanamaker1 a ,woodrow ,wilson1 a ,harriman or a ,lloyd ,george4 ,no4 ,no4 ,things do not come that way4 ,from all of which1 you can see that ,i do not believe that much good can be done in the way of teaching by mail1 nor even by book4 ,nor can you1 ,i hold1 by reading an analysis of a short story or a novel1 write one4 ,you can no more do that than you can1 after dissecting a human corpse1 construct a man4 ,true1 you may1 with some advantage read the things other men have done1 but it does not therefore follow that you yourself can do them1 even though you have the desire and the will4 ,for instance1 ,i am a very poor mechanic4 ,to handle machinery is a thing distasteful to me4 ,i might read twenty-four books on the method of adjusting a timer on an automobile1 but1 when my own timer gets out of order ,i am dumbfounded1 nor will all my theoretical knowledge stand me in stead4 ,my son1 on the other hand1 who has never read a book on the mechanism of an automobile1 actually rejoices when the car stalls4 ,the light of joy is in his eye and he leaps from the seat and goes to work with enthusiasm1 pooh-poohing such things as ,i tell him from my corner in the car as the result of my reading4 ,he is contemptuous of authority and is all for independent verification4 ,why then1 in the face of all this1 do ,i write this booklet8 ,for1 admittedly1 ,i cannot teach you to write a short story although ,i have written dozens of them4 ,here is the answer4 ,if you have both the ability and the desire to write1 ,i can tell you of some pitfalls to be avoided and can give you a hint or two4 ,i can also give you the result of my own experience1 and that is about all4 ,it may result in something1 and again it may not4 ,certainly during the past year1 ,i have had the pleasure of seeing three young writers get their work in print as a result of some such advice as ,i propose to write here4 ,but ,i shall not1 ,i promise you1 pad the book1 nor copy out stories written by masters in the art1 in the approved way of the correspondence schools and the 8institutes40 ,that would sadly waste both your time and mine4 ,so1 to work4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,key ,,note4 ,in the first place there must be ,sincerity4 ,without that nothing can be done4 ,sincere work will be good work1 and sincere work will be original work4 ,with sincerity1 you will have honesty and simplicity1 both of which are cardinal virtues in the literary man4 ,also1 with sincerity there will be courage4 ,you know1 as well as ,i know1 that when you meet an insincere man1 you detect him at once4 ,were you ever deceived1 for instance1 by the rounded periods of some political rhetorician8 ,perhaps for a moment you may have been carried away in spite of your better sense1 but1 certainly1 the effect was not lasting4 ,examining yourself1 you will certainly remember that before you could persuade others1 you had to be thoroughly convinced of the essential right of the thing itself4 ,in the same fashion then1 you must be persuaded of the truth of that which you wish to be accepted when writing4 ,i do not speak of controversial matters4 ,i write of fiction4 ,you must have so thoroughly identified yourself with your characters that they are as living creatures to you4 ,then only shall they be living characters to your readers4 ,if you have read the ,pickwick ,papers and have learned to know and love ,samuel ,pickwick1 you will know exactly what ,i mean4 ,in that character1 the young ,charles ,dickens lost himself4 ,in creating ,mr4 ,pickwick he was entirely sincere4 ,he watched the character grow from a somewhat simple-minded old gentleman to a lovable1 jolly fellow to meet whom you would walk half round the world4 ,pickwick was real to ,dickens1 therefore he is real to us4 ,observe this too2 he had his faults4 ,mr4 ,pickwick would not have been considered a good or a moral character to many of the 8unco guid0 of today4 ,he often drank too much4 ,had there been nation wide prohibition in ,england in his day1 he would certainly have drunk home brew with ,ben ,allen and ,bob ,sawyer1 exactly as he went to prison for conscience sake4 ,he and his companions enjoyed the pleasures of the table too well for latter-day tastes4 ,he was obstinate on occasion1 just as ,i am obstinate4 ,had ,dickens been insincere1 he might have been tempted to sponge out the bad spots in his character4 ,but then he would have given us something that was not a man4 ,the truth is that we want something of the sensuous and the gross in those about us4 ,none of us want to live with angels and saints4 ,so we reject instinctively as impossible and unpleasant1 those perfect1 etherealized creations some times found in stories--those creatures all compounded of nobility1 courage1 beauty1 generosity and wisdom which insincere writers try to foist upon us4 ,they do not ring true4 ,we detect their hollowness just as we detect the hollowness of the flamboyant boastings of the political orator4 ,indeed1 to a reading man1 the creations of the imagination of sincere writers are much more real than the famous characters of history4 ,at least they are so to me4 ,i read of a ,washington with all his ugly spots carefully painted out2 of a ,napoleon carefully deified2 of a ,garfield carefully haloed2 and ,i mentally reject them as impossible4 ,on the other hand ,i become acquainted with a ,captain ,costigan1 a ,becky ,sharp1 a ,jack ,falstaff1 an ,uncle ,toby1 a ,tom ,jones1 a ,martin ,wade1 a ,peter ,whiffle1 an ,ann ,veronica and they enter into my life4 ,i know them utterly4 ,i meet their twins in life4 ,this woman has the green eyes of ,becky4 ,that man has his aspirations1 leads a life that he knows to be a wrong way but still leads it1 exactly as did ,tom ,jones4 ,or ,i recall a foolish fellow whose interest in life led him into all sorts of odd corners and am immediately reminded of ,peter ,whiffle4 ,but ,i never meet a man who reminds me of ,napoleon or of ,washington1 because there are no such men4 ,in other words1 the sane fiction writer has been sincere--the historian has been insincere4 ,in the effort to give a mere man a heritage of honorable fame1 the historian created something infamous1 something inhuman4 ,,iii4 ,,on ,,character ,,making ,,in ,,fiction4 ,as my own personal character is by no means perfect1 or even complete though imperfect1 it follows that ,i cannot teach you how to draw a character4 ,certainly1 ,i have1 however sketchily1 drawn a few characters in different stories1 but ,i find that they were all more or less an aspect of myself4 ,i have never yet committed a murder1 but ,i have hated some people so fiercely that ,i have imagined the killing of them4 ,so1 the mood being on me1 ,i once wrote a story called 8,ebro0 in which the hero was a murderer4 ,but1 in a way1 ,ebro was myself4 ,again1 once in the long ago1 when ,i was young and beautiful1 ,i started on a wild trip in a small sail boat from the ,straits of ,magellan bound for the ,falkland ,islands4 ,we had been in search of hidden treasure1 which we did not find1 and1 having been in forbidden places1 were forced to flee4 ,now some two hundred miles from shore we ran into a storm and there was much to do4 ,during that storm ,i was terribly afraid4 ,like any other coward1 ,i died a hundred deaths4 ,that experience ,i remembered and it came to light when ,i wished to write the story1 8,my ,friend ,julio10 wherein was portrayed a man much terrified by wind and water4 ,so1 in my imagination1 one way or another1 ,i have broken each and every one of the ten commandments4 ,some1 of course1 ,i have broken in reality4 ,the heroes1 or characters ,i draw then1 as ,i see it1 are merely pictures of myself seen from this angle or that1 the same individual in his varied moods4 ,it is somewhat like the watching of a diamond and seeing different colored rays as the light from this facet or that is caught4 ,in every man are many vices as well as many virtues4 ,each must know himself1 see himself naked and as he is1 without idealistic fig leaves4 ,still1 though ,i cannot tell you what to do1 ,i can chart a few shoals so that you shall not run aground too early in your literary voyage4 ,first of all then1 as ,i have said1 there is the prime necessity of ,sincerity4 ,second1 no man can possibly write anything at all worth while except he see straight4 ,by that ,i mean that most men do actually see things in a distorted kind of a way4 ,i do not mean by this the habit of careless seeing1 nor even of blurred seeing4 ,what ,i do mean is that habit of not seeing at all for oneself1 but seeing through the eyes of others4 ,take1 for example1 the people who have lived in a small town for a great many years and have heard political orators1 ,chautauquan lecturers1 candidates for this office and that talk about the 8handsome men and beautiful women1 the intelligent children and public-spirited citizens0 in the burg4 ,you will find that many who have listened to that kind of thing year in and year out1 do actually come to believe that their fellow townsmen and townswomen are thus and so4 ,they become firmly convinced that theirs is a favored spot in which beauty abounds4 ,of course1 a glance at any well-filled kodak album will reveal the fact that in place of a wide-spread beauty1 there is an incredible amount of vulgar and quite healthy ugliness4 ,or1 again1 if you ask a dozen men to describe the average ,american youth1 eleven of them will conjure up a vision of some long-legged1 square-shouldered fellow unlike anything on earth1 or of some square-chinned1 bright salmon-colored lad4 ,their notions1 you will find1 are derived1 not from their own observation1 but from seeing advertisements put out by wholesale clothing warehouses and makers of men's collars4 ,or imagining the ,american girl1 they will see not what you may see1 girls flabby1 skinny1 awkward1 sloppy1 tall1 short1 lopsided1 sometimes pimpled1 and1 very rarely1 one now and then really beautiful1 but instead1 some baby-faced creature with idiotic simper in the style of a magazine cover4 ,or again they will be led into unquestioning belief when the politician aforementioned who1 ringing the changes upon all the familiar phrases of political oratory1 and intoxicated with his own flamboyant boastings1 perhaps whooping things up for war1 declares that military training has made a generation of square-shouldered1 deep-chested lads4 ,people listening to him1 who make the sign of the cross every time ,the ,star ,spangled ,banner is played1 will be quite oblivious to the fact that a moment's glance into any street will reveal the truth that1 in spite of three years in the trenches1 the young men of today slouch and stoop1 lean and shuffle1 and lounge against corners and posts just as much as ever they did before #aiad4 ,it will never occur to them that the square-shouldered effect of the khaki-clad lad was entirely due to the odd cut of the coat4 ,so1 ,i add this then4 ,,see ,,straight4 ,here is another law1 or commandment1 or guide1 or whatever you choose to call it4 ,i give it to you in seven words4 ,,set ,,down ,,the ,,thing ,,as ,,it ,,is4 ,do that and you get somewhere4 ,fail to do it and you inevitably get nowhere4 ,that rule1 of course1 loops back on the one preceding it1 for before the thing can be set down as it is1 one must be sure that it is seen as it is4 ,the trouble is that so much is about us that tends to distort4 ,pictorial artists1 newspaper men1 moving picture producers are all in league to get a 8feature0 angle on things1 so it comes about that presently we are in such fix that we actually mistrust the evidence of our own senses4 ,not so long ago ,i attended a piano recital in which the performer played several compositions which ,i know so well that ,i could tell you every note in every chord4 ,but the clumsy fellow came a cropper1 turning his minor chords here and there into majors1 dropping his octaves and making a great muddle of things4 ,from force of habit1 or convention1 the audience applauded and the player bowed with happy smile1 whereupon the audience cheered the more lustily4 ,the next day the local paper came out with an account of the affair praising the player in terms which1 if applied to a ,liszt1 would still be extravagant4 ,after that1 you could no more shake the audience in its admiration of the player as a highly skilled fellow than you could persuade it that the moon had turned to green cheese4 ,ignorance won the day4 ,hearing the applause1 even those who knew something of music mistrusted their senses4 ,let a word be dropped in criticism1 and the newspaper report was produced4 ,there it was4 ,what more was needed8 ,a wrong notion was born because of convention1 and fostered because of wilful or ignorant distortion1 with the result that hundreds of young children for years to come would learn music from an incompetent fellow4 ,nor1 probably1 would those children1 with one or two exceptions1 ever learn to play straight4 ,again go to a picture theater in which is being shown a reel or two of ,current ,events4 ,roughly speaking1 you would imagine1 judging from the scenes displayed1 that all that was ugly1 hideous1 vulgar had disappeared from the world4 ,and naturally so1 because active selection has been at work4 ,to get a 8good0 picture1 the camera man and his assistants had seen to it that undesirable sights were avoided or hidden4 ,in the course of time1 seeing hundreds or thousands of such pictures1 the average man arrives at wrong notions as to things about him4 ,indeed1 it is only when the same man goes far from home to another country1 or to a far away city1 that his eye and mind begin to function4 ,then new things strike him4 ,he compares them1 not with the things as they are in his own home1 but with the things he has seen portrayed1 which is a vastly different matter4 ,as a consequence1 he finds the new to compare very unfavorably with the old as he imagines the old to be4 ,then he becomes verbose and a nuisance to those around him1 telling of the glories of things in ,tucumcari or wherever he may have hailed from4 ,he forgets1 or never saw1 that in his native habitat there was ugliness1 brutality1 debauchery1 disease and deformities4 ,so presently1 your traveler returns home1 tells tales of foreign parts and deplores the state of things abroad which are1 after all1 exactly the same as in his own home town4 ,you see1 in the new place his eyes were opened4 ,he was shocked into seeing4 ,in his own town he saw so often that he ceased to see1 or1 being incurious1 saw through other eyes4 ,so ,i have heard men deplore the poverty in rural districts in other countries1 telling of women and children toiling in the fields under a hot sun1 of families that ate little or no meat or fats from one end of the week to another1 quite oblivious of the fact that in their own land also1 children of tender age are taken from school to the field1 and that in thousands of places throughout this country1 sweet potatoes and beans form the staple diet4 ,the same men will make merry at the expense of a simple ,mexican who crosses himself when the thunder roars1 or who wears a charm to ward off rheumatism1 all unconscious of the fact that there are ,americans in plenty who hold that a buckeye carried in the hip pocket will cure piles1 or that the position of the quarter moon foretells dry or wet weather according to the way in which the horns are 8up0 or 8down40 ,verily1 ,i say unto you1 it is the rarest of rare things to find a man who can see straight1 and except he see straight1 how shall he set down things as they are8 ,to take this important matter from another angle1 have you ever looked at a set of engravings by ,hogarth8 ,to be sure there are pictures by other artists1 his contemporaries1 but in them it is clear that there was elimination and distortion4 ,but not so with ,hogarth4 ,he saw things as they were and so set them down4 ,as a result1 his work is as valuable to students of social manners and customs as are the diaries of ,samuel ,pepys4 ,not for him was the false picturization1 the idealistic conception4 ,to be sure the ,london of his day had its fine lords and ladies1 but it had also its filthy beggars1 its distorted and deformed men and women1 its untidy children and haggard workers1 its unfortunates with blotched and pimpled faces4 ,so he gave us what he saw4 ,therefore ,fame crowned him4 ,first he was sincere1 second he saw straight1 and thirdly he set down the thing as it was4 ,pepys too did that4 ,so did ,holinshed and ,fielding4 ,their names live4 ,aphra ,behn played the game the other way and is forgotten4 ,also vanished the names of 8,ouida0 and of ,charles ,brockden ,brown4 ,,iv4 ,,prejudice4 ,still1 let a man set himself deliberately to see straight1 to look at things without either rose-colored or smoke-dimmed glasses1 and even then it is not certain that there is freedom from distortion4 ,just as the children studying music1 of which ,i wrote a few pages back1 were all unconsciously heavily handicapped1 so are we also handicapped through no fault of our own4 ,for one thing there has been grounded into us a certain prejudice called patriotism4 ,it is really a reflex egoism4 ,because of it we are predisposed to look upon our own nation as standing alone on star-crowned heights and to regard all other nations and peoples as being in the gulf of ignorance1 poverty and despair4 ,so we get a one-sided impression4 ,blinded by national self-love1 we see all good in our own people and little but evil in others1 except those others be our allies1 when we grant them some modicum of decent behavior and common sense just so long as1 and no longer than1 they identify their interests with ours4 ,nationally1 we go in for the cygnification of geese on a gigantic scale4 ,as may easily be seen1 carried to excess1 that kind of thing often results in hate4 ,not carried to such lengths1 it means the ridiculing1 as well as the misunderstanding of others1 and in addition the fooling of ourselves4 ,consider the so-called 8comic sheets0 and the cheap vaudeville stage where the ,frenchmen1 ,germans1 ,jews1 ,irishmen1 ,mexicans and all ,south ,americans are used as laughing stocks4 ,the reverse of the situation is seen in common1 cheap literature where the ,american stands as the type of all that is admirable4 ,or1 if you keep an attentive ear1 you will not fail to note that the notion permeates in such strange way that it becomes very generally held1 and even accepted to so wide an extent1 that teachers teach their charges that there exist very strongly-marked national characteristics1 as that the ,dutch are very clean1 the ,mexicans very treacherous1 ,jews very much given to cheat1 ,germans to villainy and rape1 ,italians to idleness1 ,afro-,americans to light-heartedness1 the ,french to immorality1 the ,irish to wit1 the ,scandinavians to pessimism1 the ,swiss to thrift and so on4 ,all of which is idle and pernicious clap trap1 as a moment's quiet reflection will show4 ,for each and every man in his experience has known among his own countrymen those who were clean and those who were dirty1 those who were honest and those who were dishonest1 those who were gloomy and those who were cheerful1 those who were idle and those who were energetic4 ,moreover1 every man knows that his own mood changes as the wind and he who is merry a-,monday may be very sad on ,saturday1 while he who is in the pink of honesty at #i a4 m4 may easily be a thief at #i3cj4 ,yet1 for all the testimony of the daily papers and in spite of the records of the criminal courts1 ninety-nine men out of a hundred are very thoroughly imbued with the idea that their country and its people have a practical monopoly of all the virtues4 ,so1 as might be expected1 the notion gets into literature1 modified it is true1 but nevertheless it gets there4 ,to show it in its most crude form1 ,i give an instance4 ,it happened since ,i commenced this essay4 ,a man called upon me and his eyes were bright and shining with excitement1 for he had what he imagined to be a good plot for a story1 and had cut across lots to tell it to me4 ,it ran something like this and ,i quote his words as nearly as possible4 8,here is a good plot for a short story or a moving picture4 ,there's a young woman on the train1 a ,canadian1 and she is a stranger to this here country4 ,on the car she begins to talk with a well dressed drummer4 ,she is innocent and all that kind of thing4 ,but sitting across the aisle is a soldier4 ,well1 at the depot this here drummer gets the girl to go with him to a hotel and just as they are getting into a taxi1 up comes the soldier1 and #8,biff1' he lands the drummer one that lays him flat4 ,so the girl's safe4 ,after a year or so the soldier comes from the war and finds the girl who is the daughter of a rich man4 ,he's poor of course1 the soldier4 ,well they marry and live happy4444 ,of course1 you can show the ,american ideals in this tale and also use it to bring about good relation between the ,english speaking people40 ,i will not insult the intelligence of the reader by pointing out the utter idiocy of the plot4 ,still1 though the man who told me the story was intelligent1 a lawyer in the government service1 and a reader of the ,saturday ,evening ,post1 the ,american ,magazine1 several daily papers1 and voted the straight party ticket every election1 he failed to see the utter banality of the tale he suggested4 ,but1 it is a fair sample of the stuff with a 8patriotic0 base that many hundreds send to editors1 and1 more or less modified1 watered1 or spiced1 you will at times see something of the kind in moving-picture theaters4 ,so see this then2 there are no characteristic national virtues and vices4 ,make your hero a negro1 a ,chinaman1 an ,eskimo or a ,patagonian4 ,it does not matter which4 ,man is man the world over1 and it is1 despite the old saying to the contrary1 a safe rule to measure other's corn with your own bushel4 ,what you must do is to conceive a character1 then show him1 not acting in any cut or dried fashion1 but in a certain fashion4 ,i say a certain fashion1 but might have said an uncertain fashion1 because your character will be more or less like yourself1 a being with faults1 virtues1 vices1 meannesses1 ideals and hopes1 and in him the potential angel will be mixed with a good deal of the ape1 the tiger and the pig4 ,then1 with your creation endowed with all the virtues and vices inextricably mixed1 you have a character compounded of subtle and profound elements4 ,thus one sees that an action in a given case is indeed problematical4 ,a man1 witnessing overtures that may lead to the seduction of a girl1 a stranger to him1 whether the man was in uniform or not1 would hardly be likely to make an assault upon the supposed seducer4 ,to make him do that sort of thing is but to cater to the basest taste which glories in brute force4 ,what a character would do would depend on many things--on his mood at the moment1 whether he was drunk or sober1 his immediate environment1 his early training1 what he had had for breakfast1 what manner of rascal his grandfather was1 how much money he had in his purse at the time4 ,or it might depend on a mixture of many of these4 ,or again1 the fictional personage might ponder and hesitate1 finally taking no action at all1 which1 as a sensible man and being familiar with the old warning1 8mind your own business10 would very probably be his course4 ,but the character might well be supposed to be wavering in a storm of emotion1 perhaps to be swayed by subordinate characters1 and1 in the end1 some action might be shown which would1 as it were1 grow out of the collision of the characters4 ,for1 bear in mind1 the subordinate characters must not be made mere silhouettes--they also must have their prejudices and motives and ambitions1 and the very form of their minds1 too1 must be made as evident to the reader as if they were in his presence4 ,character drawing1 as you see then1 is a highly complicated business4 ,many1 even among apparently sensible men1 do not suspect this4 ,for instance1 not so long ago1 ,i heard of a poet who declared that he could write a dozen good short stories between ,tuesday and ,saturday4 ,his notion of fictional characters of course was of the allegorical order1 a ticketed dummy in the form of the ,sunday school book or of the transpontine melodrama1 a row of ,mr4 ,goodman's1 ,mr4 ,evil-,livers1 ,mr4 ,close-pennies and so on4 ,it never for a moment occurred to him that the test of good workmanship lay in the ability of the author to make a distinct impression on the reader1 to make him remember the fictional personage as vividly as he remembered characters met in real life4 ,at this point1 should you be earnest in your quest1 really ambitious to go further1 ,i recommend to your reading as masterpieces of character drawing1 ,conrad's ,lord ,jim1 ,thackeray's ,becky ,sharp1 ,cunninghame ,graham's ,minor ,prophet in his 8,brought ,forward10 ,h4 ,g4 ,dwight's ,like ,michael in his 8,emperor of ,elam10 ,uncle ,toby in ,sterne's ,tristram ,shandy1 and the portrait of ,mrs4 ,poyser in ,george ,eliot's ,adam ,bede4 ,or1 failing these1 if you are a very busy man1 buy in the present series1 ,nos4 #da and #gb1 and study the character of ,old ,scrooge in ,charles ,dickens' ,christmas ,carol1 and of ,the ,scab in the ,color of ,life4 ,v4 ,,dangerous ,,enthusiasm4 ,but there is another dangerous shoal1 another literary ,goodwin ,sands strewn with the wreckage of ambitious but unskilled voyagers4 ,for of all people urged to write1 those generous souls eager to lend a hand in the making of a paradise on earth are hardest pressed4 ,the very fact that a young author hates tyranny and injustice in a thorough and unhesitating way1 results in a kind of distortion4 ,for him the evil pit of controversiality and partisanship yawns darkly4 ,in his excess of zeal he paints with pigments too glaringly bright and too muddily brown4 ,he makes his characters too black or too white1 all evil or all good1 according to their position in society4 ,he is afflicted with an egoism of class1 a fault every whit as gross as the reflex egoism called patriotism4 ,his judgment is warped by class prejudice4 ,because he burns with zeal1 because he is carried away with enthusiasm1 there is distortion4 ,his heroes are those poor in this world's goods1 his villains the wealthy1 the powerful1 the aristocratic4 ,that wealth as well as poverty may entail hardship and unhappiness1 the author with sociological bent often refuses to see1 or seeing1 wilfully denies4 ,that worry and weariness and disappointment is not removed when one has mounted a little out of the pit1 is a fact that escapes him4 ,that injustices suffered by wage earners would be no less were the administration of affairs discharged by men taken from their own ranks1 is entirely lost sight of4 ,so there comes about a gross exaggeration and a painting of types4 ,you may see something of this in ,george ,bernard ,shaw's 8,unsocial ,socialist40 ,walt ,whitman sinned in like manner in his earlier days of writing4 ,the fictional literature of advanced movements is full of class consciousness4 ,that kind of thing1 of course1 is fundamentally due to a kind of disguised self-interest once removed4 ,it is really the inordinate love of self1 or of class1 as such4 ,consequently1 it is bad art4 ,and being that1 it accomplishes nothing1 because the reader sees through the ulterior motive4 ,furthermore1 to do that kind of thing is to set down the thing as it is not4 ,for1 as you know1 there are both rascals as well as gentlemen among wage-earners1 just as there are rascals as well as gentlemen among capitalists4 ,there are scoundrelly poor people just as there are scoundrelly rich people4 ,honesty and dishonesty1 truthfulness and lying1 fair dealing and foul dealing are matters entirely apart from rank and position4 ,indeed1 a story or a novel based on such insecure foundation1 must1 of necessity1 ring false from first to last4 ,there will be no health in it4 ,the characters will be shown with glib phrases rolling off their tongues1 talking as no man ever talks who expects to be taken seriously4 ,the dialogue will be false and strained1 and rich man and poor will talk like fourth-rate evangelists1 camp-meeting hot-gospellers or insane tub thumpers4 ,as a terrible example1 turn to the socialistic speech made in a drawing room by ,cashel ,byron1 the pugilist1 in ,george ,bernard ,shaw's novel4 ,the older1 more experienced ,shaw makes no such mistake4 ,contrast ,cashel ,byron for instance with his ,major ,barbara4 ,on the other hand1 to see what a master craftsman can do1 you must take 8,the ,dream of ,john ,ball0 by ,william ,morris1 ,no4 #cg of this series4 ,if you have read it1 you will not have forgotten the good1 earnest priest1 a most uncompromising truth-teller who had so profound a belief in realities and held an equally profound hatred of sham1 cruelty and injustice4 ,looking back1 you will recall in the little story a peculiar vein of pleasantry and delicate fancy with occasional touches of tenderness and of pathos that is extremely attractive4 ,i call your particular attention to that story because it was written by a man actuated by a passionate sympathy for humanity4 ,for ,morris was a radical to be sure1 but his radicalism was tempered by a profound and logical sense of justice1 by devotion to truth and reality and by intellectual ability and clarity4 ,perhaps in the whole field of ,english literature there is no better instance of pure intellect combined with enthusiasm for justice4 ,and yet with all this1 the aim of the story was to lead people to an understanding of the cause he had at heart1 which was socialism4 ,yet withal1 any one utterly opposed to that cause may read the book with keen pleasure1 and not only that1 but will inevitably be led to sympathize with the aims of ,john ,ball4 ,why is this8 ,how does it come that one man burning with zeal for a cause will repel those he seeks to win to his side1 while ,morris won opposing minds to a sympathy with a doctrine they had denounced8 ,if for a moment you try to imagine a ,baptist1 we will say1 writing a book in such fashion that ,catholics will not only read it with enjoyment but by its means will become interested in the ,baptist creed1 the magnitude of the task ,morris accomplished will be manifest4 ,the fact of the matter is that ,morris did his work so well1 felt the joys and the griefs of his characters so keenly1 in a word was so sincere1 that the reader lost his prejudices in the ideal life portrayed and was impelled to identify himself with the creatures of ,morris' fancy in such wise that what hurt them1 also hurt him4 ,both writer and reader overlooked the social philosophy by reason of immense delight in the characters themselves4 ,so also it was with those who read ,dickens' 8,nicholas ,nickelby0 and 8,little ,dorrit0 and both books had so far-reaching an influence that the first resulted in the reformation of the private school system and the second in the abolition of imprisonment for debt4 ,in this connection ,i think that you will gain much advantage and get some good ideas if you will read 8,the ,man of ,property10 by ,john ,galsworthy1 8,the ,growth of the ,soil10 by ,knut ,hamsun1 and by ,cunninghame ,graham1 8,success10 8,brought ,forward10 8,faith0 and 8,progress40 ,i find in this series as valuable1 8,he ,renounced the ,faith10 by ,jack ,london and 8,the ,miraculous ,revenge0 by ,george ,bernard ,shaw4 ,,vi4 ,,murder ,,and ,,violence4 ,a word should be said as to murder1 bloodshed1 suicide and other cheap effects4 ,when you come to think of it1 there is an appalling amount of bloodshed in our literature4 ,i can go to my daughter's book-shelf and take down novel after novel1 turn the pages swiftly with a glance here and there1 to hit upon the murder which ,i know instinctively is there with unerring accuracy4 ,or ,i can pass to the book-shelf in which the boys keep their favorites1 and find brute force galore4 ,men are knocked down1 punched1 run through1 thrown down stairways1 kicked and cuffed4 ,on every other page there is manifest a mighty recklessness4 ,now of that kind of thing ,i am suspicious4 ,looking back in my own life1 which has been far from a quiet one1 many years of which were spent in uncivilized places1 ,i find that ,i have seen but few deeds of violence1 as between man and man4 ,i do not refer to riots1 wars and organized bloodshed4 ,i remember seeing one man killed outright1 one duel with knives1 one saloon rumpus and perhaps four men knocked down4 ,my experience has been exceptional4 ,talking with friends1 ,i find many who tell me that apart from school-boy days1 they have never as much as seen a man knocked down or a blow struck4 ,that1 ,i believe1 is the common experience4 ,many may easily go through life without witnessing a single act of violence4 ,certainly1 the vast majority of men never dream of striking another4 ,the world is prosaic4 ,there are more ,doctor ,primroses in it than there are ,squire ,westerns4 ,men are more given to have a fancy for oratorical tirades and philosophical discussions like ,mr4 ,shandy1 than for fighting and battering one another about like ,everett ,true4 ,it would seem that since the advent of the four-reel thriller in the picture shows1 murder in literature has somewhat gone out of fashion4 ,there has1 indeed1 been a gradual letting down in the matter of violence since the days of ,shakespeare and his forerunners4 ,time was when men and women had to be glutted with horrors and cruelties4 ,nothing less than blood or death would satisfy them4 ,they had to be dazzled with the full brightness of evil lusts4 ,only tales in which lewdness1 cruelty1 love of gold1 shamelessness or vice were portrayed met with favor4 ,no character was unmixed with sensuality in the days of ,massinger and ,ford4 ,the fact is that the early writers1 in constructing a man1 did not dig down deep into the foundations4 ,today it is different4 ,there is a genuine attempt to become acquainted with man in his fullness4 ,especially is this seen in the work of the makers of present-day literature such as ,conrad1 ,grahame1 ,galsworthy1 ,hergesheimer1 ,lawrence4 ,the days are past when1 if it became necessary to portray a man of courage1 there was a digging into the depths of diabolical and unchained nature4 ,unrestrained will is no longer the keynote4 ,the newer and higher idea hinges solely on character4 ,the ,berserker has been retired4 ,of course1 the main idea intended1 was to display evidence of courage4 ,but1 any intelligent man may see1 with a moment's thought1 that the mere fact that a man fights1 is no evidence at all of courage4 ,he may fight because he is a coward1 and fight to the death1 too4 ,for instance1 suppose a man is challenged to fight a duel4 ,the writer who has not dug into human nature will see bravery in the fellow who immediately accepts the challenge4 ,to be sure there is a certain brute courage in the act of fighting4 ,but of two men thus fighting a duel1 one may be much braver than another4 ,a man of imagination1 who foresees pain and death1 is obviously braver than another who has no imagination at all1 just as a boy who fears the dark1 but yet bottles up his fear and goes into the dark1 is braver than a boy without that fear4 ,as is easily seen1 the second boy is not brave at all4 ,and in the case of the supposed duel1 a man who fears public opinion very much indeed1 will fight rather than be counted a coward1 and therefore is actually a coward4 ,so1 as you see1 which is what ,i wish to point out1 there is no outward mark by which we can affirm that a particular action is courageous or the reverse4 ,but if you sit down and write a story in which a character is so well portrayed that the reader will see quite plainly that a man fighting to the death is doing it because of his cowardice1 you will have made a story that will find a publisher in no time4 ,handle the theme well1 and ,i promise you that you shall have no rejection slip4 ,one of the stories that ,o',brien listed as among the best in #aibj was based on this theme1 though it pictured a suicide who coldly and deliberately swam to his death1 not that he feared life1 but because his conscience hurt him1 he having once failed to kill a fellow who was a military brute4 ,perhaps you have read ,stockton's 8,lady or the ,tiger10 a tale in which the reader is left wondering1 is given something to think of4 ,the effect upon the reader is something like the effect left after seeing ,ibsen's 8,doll's ,house40 ,so it would be in a tale such as above outlined4 ,the reader would ponder deeply1 if indeed he would not be torn between two emotions4 ,did the fighter fight because he did not fear death1 or did he fight because he feared public opinion more than death8 ,at first blush1 you may say1 8,it is obvious that he was a coward40 ,but1 consider a moment4 ,is the average man given to subtle distinctions8 ,for instance1 during the war1 when some went to jail for their opinions1 were not many torn with conflicting ideas8 ,were pacifists brave8 ,were they cowards8 ,were they actuated by fear of death or were they courageous enough to defy public opinion and the charge of cowardice1 to give up their own liberty and happiness for conscience sake8 ,take another theme1 or rather angle of the same theme4 ,suppose a character similar to the average man3 somewhat timid1 careful to keep within the bounds of the law1 tied to his business hand and foot1 his expenses keeping neck and neck with his income1 anxious to avoid publicity of an unpleasant nature4 ,yet he is a thoughtful man and a law-abiding one1 and1 therefore1 opposed to all forms of mob law4 ,moreover1 like the most of us1 he shrinks from physical pain1 and cannot kill a chicken without a beating of the heart4 ,we will also suppose that he is violently opposed to war4 ,to him comes one day another1 suspected by a lawless mob doing deeds of violence in the name of 8patriotism40 ,call it the ,ku ,klux ,klan1 the ,american ,legion1 a ,law and ,order ,league or what you will4 ,although trembling1 in an agony of terror1 fearing for his own life1 yet the character we have in mind shelters the fugitive4 ,here you have the opposition between physical and moral courage4 ,the searching mob seeing him pale and fearful would know him for an arrant coward1 and he himself would certainly admit himself to be that4 ,yet1 knowing his motive1 we see that he was essentially brave1 since his fear was subordinated by a conscious effort to the end in view4 ,i believe enough has been said to show why1 if you would write a short story involving the exemplification of courage1 it is not at all necessary to fall back upon brute force4 ,it is somewhat in this connection that ,i would lightly sketch a talk ,i had with a young writer who had submitted a story in which he outlined a 8brave0 feminine character--a woman who had faced a little mob4 ,i had held that the mere fact of facing a mob1 when a woman did it1 was no great sign of courage4 ,but the conversation had not a single beginning4 ,we had talked of other things1 and he had objected to a scene in the novel 8,dust0 in which ,martin had seemed to hold a light regard for woman's comfort in the chapter in which ,rose accused him of caring more for the welfare of a fine-blooded cow than for his own wife4 ,martin1 you may remember1 had held that altogether too much fuss was made by women1 and sometimes men1 about child-bearing--that it was a natural function just as is teeth growing4 ,my young friend held that the whole scene was derogatory to ,american ideals of 8womanhood40 ,then we looped back to his short story4 ,it seems to me that there is a great deal of what the ,english call 8tosh0 about 8womanhood40 ,when ,martin compared the cow with the women to the detriment of the latter1 as far as fuss in the matter of young-bearing1 he was obviously right4 ,on first reading the passage there came to my mind ,whitman's poem in which he tells of his admiration for the cattle in the field because they were so 8calm and self-possessed40 ,like ,martin1 and ,whitman1 ,i hold that both men and women have much to learn from animals4 ,to touch on the other1 and co-lateral branch of the subject of our conversation4 ,i held that the act of the woman who stood in front of a little mob bent on mischief was an act apparently1 but not really1 involving danger4 ,the same act performed by a man most certainly would be courageous1 but not in the case of the woman1 because she would bank upon popular opinion as to the weakness of her sex4 ,the opinion was her protection4 ,she well knew that the rioters would not club her1 a woman1 and it was her 8womanhood0 that she counted on to preserve her4 ,hers then was a spurious bravery4 ,so also is the man-killing woman a fake heroine4 ,a woman may shoot a man1 especially in the case of a so-called seduction1 with the chances all in her favor that she will never be found guilty of murder4 ,pose as a heroine as she will1 yet she knows perfectly well that she may rely on the support of a clamorous1 sentimental and often hypocritical section of public opinion4 ,,vii4 ,,plot ,,and ,,probability4 ,there seems to be little to be said as to plot4 ,i note that the books of instruction1 weighty affairs some of them1 more than a third of which seems to be badly assimilated from some handbook of grammar1 lay great emphasis on plot4 ,i hold that the first and most important thing is to create a character4 ,you will naturally create secondary characters and out of them a situation will grow1 and the situation is the plot4 ,but for the rest of it1 ,i believe that an imaginative man will find ideas for stories in all kinds of odd and unsuspected little things4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells has told us somewhere how he saw a leaf floating on a little pool and that leaf suggested a canoe1 the canoe again suggesting a lone man4 ,from that grew the story of pyornis ,island4 ,turning to other of his stories1 you can certainly discover for yourself what may have been the germ of the idea4 ,there is his fine 8,country of the ,blind10 which every ambitious writer should read4 ,you easily see that the tale grew out of a pondering over the saying1 8,in the country of the blind1 the one-eyed is king40 ,again1 thousands of men have watched hens scratching in a yard and to them has come the thought of wonder as to what would happen were men creatures of but an inch in stature1 with other birds and beasts their present size4 ,but it was ,wells who conceived the notion of making a story out of it1 and a gorgeous story it is1 as any one who has read 8,the ,food of the ,gods0 will admit4 ,then there is ,r4 ,b4 ,cunninghame ,grahame1 king of short story writers1 as ,i believe4 ,i pick up a book of his tales4 ,it is 8,brought ,forward40 ,more properly they might be called sketches4 ,i turn to the first at which the book opens4 ,it is 8,with the ,north-,east ,wind10 a brief but tremendously vivid account of the funeral of ,keir ,hardie4 ,i wish you would read it for yourself4 ,grahame is a wonder4 ,never did a mind figure to itself with more exact detail or greater energy all the parts and tints of a picture4 ,read this1 which is the opening paragraph3 8,a northeast haar had hung the city with a pall of gray4 ,it gave an air of hardness to the stone-built houses1 blending them with the stone-paved streets1 till you could scarcely see where the houses ended and the street began4 ,a thin gray dust hung in the air4 ,it colored everything1 and people's faces all looked pinched with the first touch of autumn cold4 ,the wind1 boisterous and gusty1 whisked the soot-grimed city leaves about in the high suburb at the foot of a long range of hills1 making one think it would be easy to have done with life on such an uncongenial day40 ,and1 while ,i promised to refrain from long quotations1 ,i cannot but help giving you this from the same sketch1 for it seems to me a remarkable description of a crowd of men4 ,i call your attention to ,grahame's way of doing it3 8,john ,ferguson was there1 the old time ,irish leader1 the friend of ,davitt and of ,butt4 ,tall and erect he stood1 dressed in his long frock coat1 his roll of papers in one hand1 and with the other stuck in his breast1 with all the air of being the last ,roman left alive4 ,tom ,mann1 with his black hair1 his flashing eyes1 and his tumultuous speech peppered with expletives4 ,behind him1 ,sandy ,haddow of ,parkhead1 massive and ,doric in his speech1 with a gray woolen comforter rolled round his neck1 and hands like the panel of a door4 ,champion1 pale1 slight and interesting1 still the artillery officer in spite of socialism4 ,john ,burns2 and ,small1 the miners' agent1 with his close brown beard and taste for literature4 ,smilie stood near1 he of the seven elections1 and then check weigher at a pit4 ,there too1 was silver-tongued ,shaw ,maxwell and ,chisholm ,robertson looking out darkly on the world through tinted spectacles2 with him ,bruce ,glasier1 girt with a red sash and with an aureole of fair curly hair around his head1 half poet and half revolutionary40 ,if you do not see that what ,i am insisting on is1 after all1 the main thing1 that is the portrayal of character even in those few light touches1 then my time is wasted writing this essay4 ,i turn to another page and find the sketch1 8,a ,minor ,prophet40 ,it is the tale of a man moved to preach his gospel of ,love and ,fellowship1 and he preaches on1 enwrapped in his subject1 quite oblivious of the fact that one by one his little audience leaves1 and then3 8,he paused1 and1 looking round1 saw he was all alone4 ,the boys had stolen away1 and the last workman's sturdy back could be just seen as it was vanishing towards the public house4 8,the speaker sighed1 and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with a soiled handkerchief4 8,then1 picking up his hat and his umbrella1 a far-off look came into his blue eyes as he walked homewards almost jauntily1 conscious that the inner fire had got the better of the fleshly tenement1 and that his work was done40 ,a fine ending to a fine piece of writing1 indeed4 ,yet for 8plot0 the story has nothing but a man moved to preach and finding no hearers4 ,again1 in 8,the ,bathers10 by ,h4 ,g4 ,dwight1 you have a first class piece of work1 but nothing happens except a brief wrestle4 ,yet the story is both stirring and dramatic4 ,a hundred delicate shades of character and temperament are shown us4 ,but set before the reader is the invisible world of inward inclinations and dispositions4 ,as for probability1 or1 if you will1 plausibility1 about both of which the instructors are anxiously concerned1 ,i do not believe that consideration of either enters into the matter of acceptance by editors4 ,tell a good story1 and whether it deals with pterodactyls or fays1 devils or angels1 it will stand on its own merits as a story4 ,you have seen ,wells bringing the world to an end in many different ways3 you have seen him carving animals into the shapes of men 7,island of ,dr4 ,moreau71 or causing angels to be shot 7,the ,wonderful ,visit71 or leaping into the ,fourth ,dimension 7,the ,story of ,mr4 ,davidson's ,eyes71 or travelling into the year #cj1jjj 7,time ,machine71 but always there is verisimilitude4 ,we know that it cannot be true1 the tale he tells1 but we are willing to believe with him that it is true4 ,for romance is a legitimate field4 ,if you can imagine a rattling good fairy story1 go to it4 ,mark ,twain wrote a good tale about a microbe and ,verne wrote a good one about a trip on a meteor to the farthest edge of the solar system4 ,there is plenty of room in between these for you4 ,true1 just at this present moment the pendulum swings toward realism1 or1 if it has not swung1 at any rate there is a mountain of realistic stuff on hand1 but at any moment a fantastic romance may leap into favor4 ,so close your ears to the short story professors with their warnings against improbability and all that kind of thing4 ,write what you feel you must write1 for if you must write1 you must1 and if you are not impelled to writing1 not all the reading of books1 nor listening to lectures will aid you one whit4 ,,viii4 ,,on ,,sex4 ,william ,marion ,reedy said1 8,in literature just now it is sex o' clock40 ,he was deploring somewhat the insistence upon sex and sex matters that seems to be fashionable4 ,we had a good talk on that1 and1 presently1 that outspoken1 clear-minded writer1 ,frank ,putnam1 joined in4 ,so there were three editors1 neither of whom had puritanical notions1 all pretty much in accord4 ,we came to a rough kind of conclusion that there was distortion of a kind when matters of sex occupied too prominent a place in literature4 ,understand me1 no one of us were other than gross in part ourselves1 but we knew that the part that sex played in our lives was very small as compared with other things4 ,in some ill-defined way it seemed that in literature it should bear about the same proportion that it does in actual life4 ,in life1 there are women who sell themselves1 men who seduce1 women who attract seducers1 and those who get into all kinds of trouble because of sex1 and that being the case1 it is folly to hide it1 or to pretend that things are otherwise4 ,a writer should not be mealy mouthed4 ,but when there is an over insistence upon sexual appetite1 we are forced to believe that it can be explained only by the aberration of a perverted fancy4 ,there is a happy medium between monsters of virtue all correct1 constrained and charming1 and human billy-goats4 ,to be sure there is an impetuosity of the senses1 an upwelling of the blood1 but there is something else4 ,unfortunately1 nationally1 we are given to false modesty4 ,perhaps it is the revolt against that which has made for this over insistence on sex in literature4 ,if so1 it will eventually prove to have been a most excellent thing should it succeed in bringing us to our senses4 ,for1 as matters are1 and according to the accepted standard of 8respectability10 we would give welcome to neither a ,henry ,fielding with his 8,tom ,jones10 a ,smollett1 a ,swift1 a ,w4 ,l4 ,george1 a ,lawrence1 a ,george ,moore nor even a ,shakespeare with his ,sonnets4 ,much less could we have a ,balzac1 a ,de ,maupassant1 a ,murger or a ,moliere4 ,as it is1 we are debarred from much that is well worth while from the pens of foreign authors1 while there is a very active underground trade1 as every man knows1 in stuff that is frankly pornographic4 ,,ix4 ,,so ,,they ,,married ,,and-- ,just now1 ,i turned to a pile of common novels1 the sort that is here today and gone tomorrow1 and opened them at the last page4 ,somewhere there ,i found that 8she floated into his arms10 8the strains of the ,wedding ,march were borne on an afternoon air10 8,you are the only one ,i have lived for10 or some such sentence4 ,i also find that of ten short stories submitted for inspection1 nine deal with the problem of getting a wife4 ,now1 as will be clear to every thinking man1 the problems of life do not end with marriage4 ,rather do they begin with them4 ,marriage is not an ideal state1 the end of grief1 the solution of all problems4 ,in fact1 under present economic conditions1 it is exactly what has been called an egosime a deux4 ,to throw two people together1 in everlasting close proximity1 is a dangerous thing to do at any time1 and in any conditions4 ,the only possible amelioration is a community of intellectual interests between man and wife1 which1 as we know1 is extremely rare4 ,lacking that1 there must be frequent discontent4 ,the two parties to the contract are thrown too much together4 ,the feminine 8moods0 get on the nerves of the man4 ,the very fact that convention prevents the man from having other female friends1 and the woman from having male friends1 exacerbates the trouble4 ,the two become more or less isolated and there is revolt--perhaps openly expressed1 perhaps hidden4 ,the first fierce sexual appetite being satisfied1 8love0 passes into coldness and by a natural transition1 coldness into dislike4 ,then come children perhaps1 and marriage sinks into a stern1 indissolvable partnership with never ending worry and fret for the man1 and unending petty toil for the woman4 ,utter boredom is called virtue and morality4 ,a musty1 fusty old pair1 yawning in each other's faces on a front porch in utter vacuity1 are pointed out by the conventional as a model of contentment4 ,a volume would not exhaust the list of troubles that come when the marriage state is entered4 ,so1 let us in writing1 paint things as they are to the end that the young shall hold no illusions4 ,paint no idyllic picture of love in a cottage1 nor present something that has but the remotest reference to life as it is4 ,edward ,carpenter1 in his 8,love's ,coming of ,age0 has much to say on this subject4 ,the little book is packed full of sound common sense4 ,stories on the relations of the sexes that do not touch on the triangle feature have been written in plenty1 and the ,smart ,set has had many good pages on the theme4 ,but it has been overlooked by ,americans1 that ,william ,makepeace ,thackeray1 a satirist second only to ,swift1 brought a consummate cleverness to bear on the subject4 ,his married couples pass in review before the reader like a series of warnings4 ,we read with amusement1 to recognize with seriousness1 moving among us in life the very characters he portrays4 ,we know his ,miss ,blanche1 acting the martyr1 eyes ever welling with tears1 trying to catch a husband who will sympathize with her sensitive heart4 ,we have seen a ,mrs4 ,o',dowd1 pompous and boastful and proud1 bent on marrying every bachelor she can lay her hands on4 ,we know ,amelias1 wildly jealous1 leading a husband a devil of a time4 ,we remember many like ,helen ,pendennis1 silly country prudes of no education1 full of the harshness of ,puritanism4 ,we recall decent women like ,lady ,castlewood married to drunken and imbecile boors1 and by contrast1 high-strung fellows tied to women who have the minds and the education of a kitchen maid4 ,there are families of ,pontos yawning in solitude1 men whose acquaintances are too vulgar for their wives1 and wives who scorn their husbands4444 ,go to ,thackeray if you would write1 and1 when tempted to dismiss your characters with the reflection that marriages are made in ,heaven1 bear in mind that if such was the case1 ,heaven was often a bad workman as far as generating earthly happiness is concerned4 ,x4 ,sample ,subject ,suggestions4 ,whether ,i was born with a crooked streak1 or whether much travel in odd corners of the world and living with odd people has given me a kind of twist ,i do not know4 ,some times ,i am very sorry for myself3 but ,i cannot see things in the way people tell me ,i should see them4 ,the worst of it is that this disability of mine places a bar between me and my fellows more often than not4 ,for instance1 ,i cannot see anything very noble1 elevating or inspiring in the ritual of secret societies4 ,the 8good lessons0 that others tell me are to be learned in the hidden arcana1 ,i never find4 ,i draw the most extravagantly wrong inferences from the ritual4 ,whenever ,i hear public speakers say nice things which seem to please my neighbors1 my mind goes off at a tangent in a kind of examination as it did the other day when ,i read a story in which much stress was laid on southern hospitality4 ,i very much doubted that there was in the south any more hospitality than in the north1 or the east1 or the west4 ,tramping the roads of the south as ,i often do1 ,i find that one autoist out of twenty-five or so will offer to carry me to the next town4 ,that is about the proportion ,i found in the north4 ,of course1 in the south1 exactly as in the north1 where advantages are to be gained1 or where favors are to be expected1 there is a rush to do honor4 ,if ,i am known as a writing fellow1 ,i am taken to see the show places1 the local sights1 the scenic views4 ,but if ,i happen along dressed as a common laborer1 ,i meet no more hospitality in the south than anywhere else4 ,the watchdog south of the ,mason and ,dixon line is as unfriendly as his cousin in ,ohio or ,minnesota4 ,i tell this1 not by way of persuading you to my viewpoint1 but so that you shall examine at first hand some of the notes which ,i have made from time to time as bases for prospective short stories4 ,given time1 ,i shall make stories around them myself1 but1 if you beat me to it1 well and good4 ,my mental attitude in this respect is much like the hen who cackles when she has laid an egg4 ,she has produced the potential chick1 if foster mothers make it actual1 well and good4 ,so1 if you make a story of any one of these1 you have my benison4 ,first4 ,i read a lecture by ,conan ,doyle in the course of which he assured us that on the other side of the veil we shall meet our soul mates4 ,soon after that appeared in print1 ,i had no less than five manuscripts of stories based on the idea that although lovers were separated here1 there would be a ringing of bells in heaven when they rushed together1 with an eternity before them4 ,now it seems to me that some of us who have had experiences1 and1 in the course of time have been happily delivered from our affinities1 would not be elated over the prospect that ,doyle sets before us4 ,there's a story there4 ,second4 ,a fairly well-written pamphlet foretold a time when ,labor1 uprising in its might would put all executives to work with pick and shovel1 hammer and saw1 when the day of rejoicing would be at hand4 ,my note on this would suggest a story to the effect that a couple of dozen really first-class executives drawn from capitalistic enterprises1 and paid a higher wage than they could hope for in their old jobs1 would marshal the forces of ,labor and win for it the victory it craves4 ,the story would go on to show that ,labor is not willing to undertake the sacrifice that would lead to victory3 that it is mistrustful and too prone to treat its own friends with coldness1 denunciation1 ridicule1 suspicion2 that it is too prone to hot air and sentimentality4 ,the conclusion would be drawn as a salutary lesson to ,labor1 that while ,capital measures all things by dollars and cents1 it is not too stingy to pay a good price for what it wants4 ,consequently it wins1 for money gets the man4 ,third4 ,an editorial told of the good time coming when ,labor and ,capital shall meet face to face4 ,i do not believe in any such good time1 and would do all in my power to prevent such a meeting4 ,my reasons would be that in the past1 ,labor and ,capital have met face to face1 and the clash of countenances was like unto that when two rams meet1 both of whom are enamoured of the same ewe4 ,i project a story then setting that forth1 with the ultimate decision arrived at that ,capital admits it must get all that it can at the lowest price1 and ,labor must get all it can at the least exertion cost4 ,under such circumstances1 it is idle to hope for agreement1 and my story should show both parties putting aside camouflage and agreeing on the issue4 ,fourth4 ,in a secret society1 ,i heard a national official talk for an hour or more on the elevating influence of lodge work1 praising the members present for their attention to duty4 ,my story would show that most men attend lodge as a refuge and a hiding place1 to escape the boredom of home1 wife and children and that lodge work was really nothing but solemn play1 and neither religion nor a substitute for it4 ,fifth4 ,in high wrath1 a man wrote a letter to a local paper denouncing the editor for the stand he had taken4 ,the man then felt that he had stung the editor1 and imagined him squirming under the blows received4 ,write a story showing that under such circumstances a newspaper editor is highly pleased1 for the objecting letter shows him that for once the bombastic nonsense he has written was read4 ,,xi4 ,on ,style4 ,on the subject of style1 the authors of books telling how to write1 flounder solemnly4 ,they remind me very much of ,van ,vechten's tale of the rather massive female who tried to explain a cubistic production to an outspoken doubter and coming a cropper in the effort1 proved that she knew nothing about the subject4 ,the said doubter had declared that 8,there's always a lot of talk1 but nothing is clear40 ,and it is exactly so when self appointed instructors arise to explain 8style0 in literature4 ,perhaps if you get this into your mind it will serve4 ,to tell a story1 two persons are involved--a writer and a reader4 ,it is the business of the writer to win1 to persuade the reader4 ,all the rest follows4 ,the writer must choose the clearest way1 the nearest way1 the most pleasant way4 ,his manner of doing that is his style4 ,next1 how shall style be attained8 ,take ,thoreau for your teacher in this4 ,he said3 8,if you have anything to say it will fall from you as a stone falls from your hand40 ,you know that is true4 ,of course1 different men will have different ways of expressing themselves just as they have mannerisms in their daily acts4 ,but we must remember that one man's style will not fit another man4 ,imitation is idle4 ,that is all ,i can tell you about style4 ,i could wrap what ,i have said above into a cloak of ornamental language or cover it layer upon layer with elaborations as the layers of an onion are about a central core1 but could say nothing else of value4 ,still1 as many books have been written on the subject by master minds1 and as ,i have those books on my shelves1 ,i shall give you in the paragraph that follows1 some idea of what stylists have to say1 and1 that being done1 shall copy for you certain passages from books not very popular and therefore hard to get at1 so that for yourself you may see the extraordinary differences in style4 ,take ,schopenhauer's view4 ,it is to be found in his ,parerga4 8,every mediocre writer tries to mask his own natural style4444 ,if they would go honestly to work1 and say1 quite simply1 the things they have really thought1 and just as they have thought them1 these writers would be readable and1 within their own proper sphere1 even instructive4 8,but instead of this they try to make the reader believe that their thoughts have gone much further and deeper than is really the case4 ,they say what they have to say in long sentences that wind about in a forced and unnatural way2 they coin new words and write prolix periods which go round and round in the thought and wrap it up in a sort of disguise4 ,they tremble between the two separate aims of communicating what they want to say and of concealing it4 ,their object is to dress it up so that it may look learned and deep1 in order to give people the impression that there is very much more than for the moment meets the eye40 ,and again3 8,the first rule for good style is that the author should have something to say40 ,the ,english novelist1 ,sir ,arthur ,quiller-,couch1 in a lecture delivered at the ,university of ,cambridge1 has this to say3 8,as technically manifested in literature it 7style7 is the power to touch with ease1 grace1 precision1 any note in the gamut of human thought or emotion40 ,next take the ,frenchman1 ,comte de ,buffon4 ,it was he who said3 8,the style is the man himself40 ,i think you will understand and enjoy the passage that follows3 8,but when he has made a plan1 when once he has brought together and put in order all the thoughts essential to his subject1 he will see easily the instant when he ought to take up his pen1 he will feel with certainty that his mind is ready to bring forth1 he will be pressed to give birth to his ideas1 and will find only pleasure in writing2 his ideas will succeed each other easily1 and the style will be natural and ready2 the warmth born of this pleasure will diffuse itself everywhere and give life to each expression2 the animation will become higher and higher2 the tone will become exalted2 objects will take on color2 and feeling blended with intellect will increase the warm glow1 will carry it farther1 will make it pass from that which one says to that which one is about to say1 and the style will become interesting and luminous40 ,i cull this for you from ,john ,ruskin3 8,so long as no words are uttered but in faithfulness1 so long the art of language goes on exalting itself2 but the moment it is shaped and chiselled on external principles1 it falls into frivolity1 and perishes40444 8,no noble nor right style was ever yet founded but out of a sincere heart40444 8,no man is worth reading to form your style1 who does not mean what he says2 nor was any great style ever invented but by some man who meant what he said40 ,now here ,thoreau again3 8,we are often struck by the force and precision of style to which hard working men1 unpracticed in writing1 easily attain when required to make the effort4 ,as if plainness and vigor and sincerity1 the ornaments of style1 were better learned on the farm and in the workshop than in the school40 ,reading that1 consider ,jack ,london the virile1 ,robert ,burns the boy on the stone bruised farm1 ,john ,bunyan the tinker1 ,masefield the sailor and bartender1 ,w4 ,h4 ,davies the hobo1 ,caradoc ,evans the boy who was always hungry and tired4 ,the last named mastered ,english through the study of the ,bible4 ,the passage below is taken from his book1 8,my ,neighbors40 ,except perhaps ,bunyan1 no better example could be given of sheer force and precision of style4 8,our ,god is a big man3 a tall man much higher than the highest chapel in ,wales and broader than the broadest chapel4 ,for the promised day that ,he comes to deliver us a sermon1 we shall have made a hole in the roof and take down a wall4 ,our ,god has a long1 white beard1 and he is not unlike the ,father ,christmas of picture books4 ,often ,he lies on his stomach on the ,heaven's floor1 an eye at one of his myriad of peep holes watching that we keep his laws4 ,our ,god wears a frock coat1 a starched linen collar and a black necktie1 and a silk hat1 and on the ,sabbath ,he preaches to the congregation of ,heaven4 8,heaven is a ,welsh chapel3 but its pulpit is of gold1 and its walls1 pews1 floor1 roof1 harmonium1 and its clock--which marks the days of the month as well as the hours of the day--are glass4 ,the inhabitants are clothed in white shirts in which they were buried and in which they arose at the ,call3 and the language of ,god and his angels and of the ,company of the ,prophets is ,welsh1 that being the language spoken in the garden of ,eden and by ,jacob1 ,moses1 ,abraham1 and ,elijah4 8,it is no miracle that we are religious4 ,our ,god is just behind the preacher1 and ,he is in the semblance of the preacher and we believe in ,him truly4 ,it is no miracle that we are prayerful4 ,our ,god is by us in our hagglings and cheatings4 ,bacca ,pehffos prays that the dealers' eyes are closed to the disease of her hen2 ,shon ,porth asks the ,big ,man to destroy his pregnant sister into whose bed ,satan enticed him2 ,ianto ,tybach says3 #8,give me a nice bit of haymaking weather1 ,god bach4 ,strike my brother ,enoch dead or blind and see ,i have his fields without any old bother4 ,a champion am ,i in the religious and there's gifts ,i give the preacher4 ,ask ,him4 ,that's all40 ,now consider a very different style4 ,it is from ,charles ,lamb who came nearer achieving perfection than anyone in literature4 ,his art is so cunningly concealed that it has the appearance of almost careless discourse4 8,i am no ,quaker at my food4 ,i confess ,i am not indifferent to the kinds of it4 ,those unctuous morsels of deer's flesh were not made to be received with dispassionate services4 ,i hate a man who swallows it1 affecting not to know what he is eating4 ,i suspect his taste in higher matters4 ,i shrink instinctively from one who professes to like minced veal4 ,there is a physiognomical character in the tastes for food4 ,c---- holds that a man cannot have a pure mind who refuses apple dumplings4 ,i am not certain but he is right4 ,with the decay of my first innocence1 ,i confess a less and less relish daily for those innocuous cates4 ,the whole vegetable tribe have lost their gust for me4 ,only ,i stick to asparagus1 which still seems to inspire gentle thoughts40 ,at this point ,i spent a full half hour trying to hit upon a paragraph for reproduction here from ,stevenson's 8,virginibus ,puerisque40 ,but without success4 ,you can no more tear a paragraph from that admirable essay than you can take a jewel from its setting and have the thing as it was4 ,so you must turn to his essay for yourself4 ,you should also read his 8,travels with a ,donkey40 ,and1 while you are about it1 do not forget to read much of ,de ,quincey1 and also of ,goldsmith4 ,,xii4 ,a ,neglected ,field4 ,there is opportunity in full1 a vast field to exploit in the writing of juveniles1 to use the term applied to that branch of literature which appeals to the young4 ,it is especially the case in stories appealing to growing girls who1 having passed from the excellent ,john ,martin's ,book stage and into the ,st4 ,nicholas age1 are unwilling to leap forthright into ,gene ,stratton ,porter and ,harold ,bell ,wright4 ,in ,england1 and imported into the eastern states1 there used to be a well edited journal called the ,girls' ,own ,paper1 but it is imported no longer4 ,no one has quite taken the place of ,louisa ,may ,alcott1 or ,margaret ,sidney with her ,pepper ,series4 ,good stories for boys too are comparatively rare1 though the ,youth's ,companion1 leader in this field1 pays well1 is well edited and widely read4 ,lads of a past generation fared far better for reading matter than those of today4 ,there was a border land as it were1 a literature that interested men as well as boys of spirit4 ,the work of ,jules ,verne1 so admirably translated1 is with us and our publishers1 sadly neglected4 ,his books1 together with the stories of adventure by ,paul de ,chaillu1 led millions of lads to higher reading planes4 ,then there was ,harrison ,ainsworth with his semi-historical fiction1 ,ballantyne with his short tales of fire-fighters1 sailors1 lifeboat men and others in adventurous callings1 and ,thomas ,hughes and his host of followers with bright school-boy tales4 ,england has some good work in that direction today1 especially in what is being done by ,henry ,newbolt who writes of old warriors and new1 of deeds of derring-do and wild adventure1 nor should we omit ,frank ,t4 ,bullen with his 8,cruise of the ,cachalot0 and other tales1 or ,basil ,lubbock1 fit successor to ,dana4 ,i particularly urge ambitious writers to look into this field of literature4 ,our lads today are fed up to nausea with tales of ,boy ,scouts1 square-chinned lads who1 single-handed1 routed ,german regiments1 captains of industry in embryo1 amateur detectives and all that sort of thing4 ,what we need1 is1 not to try to rob boyhood of its golden days and to thrust ideas of business success into them1 but to offer them food for lively imaginations4 ,give them reading for reading's sake and not for some ulterior motive4 ,boys do not want 8lessons0 in books any more than they need 8lessons0 in a ball game4 ,there is where ,i would take issue with ,franklin ,k4 ,matthews of the ,boy ,scout movement who1 not so long ago at a publishers' convention1 said that there was a great field for exploitation in the ten million boys hungry for reading matter4 ,so far so good1 but1 urging publishers to cultivate this field1 he quoted the wife of a college professor with approval who had expressed her desire to 8do something to keep the boys sensibly occupied on ,sunday afternoons0 and had added that 8parents do not believe in dare-devil books which would be of interest to boys40 ,now ,i hold that if we are to raise a generation of readers1 we must do exactly contrary to that which is here suggested4 ,consider4 ,if you read the ,matthews' quotation with care1 you catch a faint and fusty flavor that recalls 8best0 rooms with cloth-covered round tables bearing books set at mathematically arranged distances apart1 radiating from a center of imitation fruit1 done in wax1 covered with a glass shade4 ,you will also get a sense of a prim lady handing you a copy of ,samuel ,smiles' 8,self ,help10 with the injunction1 8,be good1 because it's ,sunday40 ,with no respect whatever for anyone's opinion1 when ,mr4 ,matthews and the wife of a college professor1 together with the objecting parents attempt to exercise surveillance over the boy's reading1 and affect the illimitable conceit that they know what is1 and what is not1 proper1 they not only stultify themselves1 but proclaim themselves the enemies of boys1 and1 further1 take the first step towards disrupting an organization that has a power for good--an organization that so far has not been captured for ulterior motives4 ,frenzied with the fashionable fever for prohibition1 they rush to join that ,sect whose chief devotion lies ,in odd1 perverse antipathies3 ,in falling out with that or this ,and finding somewhat still amiss4 ,sturdy of growth though the ,boy ,scout movement is1 be sure that any reptant ,puritanical interference will most assuredly result in labefaction4 ,a boy is an unspoilt man1 and these are the elements that enter into his character3 enthusiasm1 fervor1 courage and generosity4 ,a boy is both unmoral and unreligious4 ,he has a sublime contempt of custom and of conventionality1 and is almost destitute of selfishness4 ,moreover1 he is assured of his right to his own opinion and the correctness of his own choice4 ,that he is a chosen instrument for the emancipation of the human race3 that he1 once untrammeled1 can achieve the triumph of justice over centuries of oppression2 that1 once attaining manhood1 he will right all wrongs1 he is as certain as he is of his own existence4 ,his heroes1 he insists1 shall be endowed with similar qualities4 ,further1 and this ,mr4 ,matthews and the college professor's wife1 with objecting parents1 should mark well1 the average1 normal boy has a deep conviction that parents1 preachers and teachers are narrow-minded old fogies1 either eternally shamming or showing off1 utterly destitute of originality1 and full of silly prejudice4 ,the boys are not far wrong4 ,therefore1 the obnoxious officiousness--but what's the use4 ,as to dare devil books1 can any normal1 sensible man1 not a ,stiggins1 a ,pecksniff1 or a ,uriah ,heep1 put his finger on any book of that class1 that he read when a lively boy1 and say1 8,if ,i had not read this1 ,i would have been a better1 wealthier1 healthier man2 ,i would today have been saner1 holier1 wiser80 ,can any reading man who has lived with those gallant dare-devil creations that he learned to love and admire before he knew ,becky ,sharp or ,hester ,prynne1 or ,corporal ,trim1 say that he would willingly obliterate the memory of any one of them8 ,on the other hand1 mentally reviewing an imaginary parade of boyhood heroes1 does not one's heart beat quicker1 does there not come a thrill of joy as the golden days before disillusionment are recalled8 ,picture the procession6 ,it will do you good4 ,no ,barnum and ,bailey amalgamation of circuses can match1 nor civic pageant pale it4 ,the great iron gates of the boys' ,valhalla fly open with a clang1 and the lank-jawed1 pestiferous prohibitionist flees before the noble throng4 ,all brave in their ,lincoln green1 ,robin ,hood and his merry men lead the way4 ,you see ,friar ,tuck and ,little ,john1 ,will ,scarlett1 and ,alan-a-,dale4 ,jack ,shephard follows1 keen eyed and lithe1 a merry rogue laughing at shackles and handcuffs1 to whom ,houdini is but a pale ghost4 ,dick ,turpin too is there astride of his bonny ,black ,bess1 and ,claude ,duval the gallant1 with ,cartouche1 and ,monte ,cristo mysterically visible in his sack4 ,captain ,kidd with blood stained bandage marches with ,jesse ,james and the ,younger brothers1 and ,phileas ,fogg the imperturbable1 unsmiling and resolute1 touches elbows with ,john ,l4 ,sullivan and ,jake ,kilrain4 ,quasimodo comes1 and ,george the runner and ,beach the oarsman1 ,long ,john ,silver and old man ,pew1 ,gagool and ,natty ,bumpo1 ,gordon ,pym and the ,man in the ,iron ,mask1 ,allen ,quatermain and ,gaborieu's detectives4 ,covered with yellow dust of ,new ,mexico1 glittering with silver and gold1 ride the immortal ,scalp ,hunters and the plainsmen of ,captain ,mayne ,reid1 while the ,iron ,pirate and ,jack ,harkaway go arm in arm4 ,sailors1 fire fighters1 cowboys1 whalers1 smugglers thicker throng4 ,spears1 banners1 bayonets1 lassoes1 boledores1 battle axes and marlinspikes bristle above massed heads4 ,wild1 strange oaths fill the air4 ,steel clashes on steel4 ,then comes a crowd of heroes so compact that with difficulty you pick out one here and there--trim ,midshipman ,easy1 ,harry ,lorrequer1 ,peter ,simple1 ,handy ,andy1 ,percival ,keene1 ,baron ,munchausen1 ,ned ,kelley the iron clad ,australian bush ranger1 ,tracy the outlaw1 ,valentine ,vox1 ,peace the burglar1 ,athos1 ,porthos1 ,aramis1 the ,wandering ,jew4 ,not a woman1 not a seducer1 not a pestilential prohibitionist in all that glorious1 golden1 glittering galaxy4 ,not a saint1 a statesman or an uplifter there4 ,not one could you find to be accused of injustice1 of prejudice1 of narrow mindedness4 ,not one but would leap to quarter-staff1 to bow1 to mace1 to dirk1 to pistol or musket in defense of liberty and freedom4 ,not a solitary religious character would you find1 except it be ,sampson1 admitted by reason of his house-wrecking activities4 ,by all the gods1 if this little book shall result in but one rattling good short story1 one real good tale of adventure1 just one good story for boys that are boys1 and not tight fisted men before their time1 the writing of it shall have been well worth the while and ,mr4 ,haldeman-,julius will have conferred a benefit on his generation by publishing this4 ,so go to it if you can4 ,forget 8moral lessons10 8improvement of the juvenile mind0 and all that nonsense and give the best that is in you4 ,,your ,,market4 ,use common sense when sending your manuscript4 ,read the magazines and mark the kind of story they use4 ,for example1 should you have a story dealing with the egoism a deux called marriage1 it would be of no use to send it to the ,saturday ,evening ,post4 ,similarly1 a tale of business success would find no friendly reception in the office of the ,dial4 ,there are many magazines1 especially the younger ventures1 exceedingly hospitable to unknown writers4 ,i name the ,double ,dealer1 ,vincent ,starret's ,wave1 the ,reviewer1 and ,broom4 ,for established magazines with editors very much on the qui vive for good work1 watch the ,century1 ,smart ,set1 ,little ,review1 ,freeman and ,midland4 ,there are probably many others1 but ,i'm speaking from my own experience4 ,i would advise you to read the editorials and literary criticisms of ,h4 ,l4 ,mencken in the ,smart ,set1 ,glen ,frank in the ,century1 and if you care for this1 my own periodical ,all's ,well4 ,there follows a very complete list giving the addresses of magazines using short stories4 ,adventure1 ,spring and ,macdougal ,sts41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,ainslee's ,magazine1 #gi #gth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,all's ,well1 ,fayetteville1 ,ark4 ,american ,boy1 #adb ,lafayette ,blvd41 ,detroit1 ,mich4 ,american ,magazine1 #cha ,fourth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,argosy ,all-,story1 #bhj ,broadway1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,asia1 #fbg ,lexington ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,atlantic ,monthly1 #h ,arlington ,st41 ,boston1 ,mass4 ,black ,cat1 #bbi ,west #bhth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,broom1 #c ,east #ith ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,catholic ,world1 #abj ,west #fjth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,century1 #cec #dth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,collier's ,weekly1 #daf ,west #acth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,cosmopolitan ,magazine1 #aai ,west #djth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,dial1 #aeb ,west #acth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,double ,dealer1 #bjd ,baronne ,st41 ,new ,orleans1 ,la4 ,everybody's ,magazine1 ,spring and ,macdougal ,sts41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,freeman1 #cb ,west #ehth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,good ,housekeeping1 #aai ,west #djth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,harper's ,bazaar1 #aai ,west #djth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,harper's ,magazine1 ,franklin ,square1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,hearst's ,magazine1 #aai ,west #djth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,holland's ,magazine1 ,dallas1 ,tex4 ,ladies' ,home ,journal1 ,independence ,square1 ,philadelphia1 ,pa4 ,liberator1 #cd ,union ,square ,east1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,little ,review1 #bd ,west #afth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,little ,story ,magazine1 #gad ,drexel ,bldg41 ,philadelphia1 ,pa4 ,live ,stories1 #ce ,west #cith ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,mc,call's ,magazine1 #bcf ,west #cgth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,mc,clure's ,magazine1 #gf ,fifth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,magnificant1 ,manchester1 ,n4 ,h4 ,metropolitan1 #dcb #dth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,midland1 ,glennie1 ,alcona ,county1 ,mich4 ,munsey's ,magazine1 #bhj ,broadway1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,outlook1 #cha #eth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,pagan1 #g ,east #aeth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,parisienne1 #be ,west #deth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,people's ,favorite ,magazine1 #gi #gth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,pictorial ,review1 #baf ,west #cith ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,popular ,magazine1 #gi ,west #cith ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,queen's ,work1 #fbf ,north ,vandeventer ,ave41 ,st4 ,louis1 ,mo4 ,reviewer1 #hji ,floyd ,ave41 ,richmond1 ,va4 ,saturday ,evening ,post1 ,independence ,square1 ,philadelphia1 ,pa4 ,the ,red ,book ,magazine1 ,north ,american ,bldg41 ,chicago1 ,ill4 ,scribner's ,magazine1 #eig #eth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,short ,stories1 ,garden ,city1 ,long ,island1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,smart ,set1 #be ,west #deth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,snappy ,stories1 #ce ,west #cith ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,sunset1 #dfj ,fourth ,st41 ,san ,francisco1 ,calif4 ,today's ,housewife1 ,coopertown1 ,n4 ,y4 ,top-,notch ,magazine1 #gi ,west #dgth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,toutchstone1 #a ,west #dgth ,st41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,the ,woman's ,home ,companion1 #cha #dth ,ave41 ,new ,york ,city4 ,woman's ,world1 #ajg ,south ,clinton ,st41 ,chicago1 ,ill4 ,a word in conclusion4 ,keep your ears open as well as your eyes4 ,you will find it pays to be somewhat of what ,shakespeare called a 8snapper up of unconsidered trifles40 ,on every side of us1 good things are being said1 characters are being revealed4 ,it was but last week when saying something to a lad who was plowing1 ,i being sorry for what ,i took to be very hard work1 he said3 8,why1 ,i love it--turning up the sod1 seeing the different things coming up all the time1 the smell of the earth1 hearing the purr of the plow and the little grunts of the horses--it's fun40 ,if you do not see strength and ecstasy and philosophy in that1 you are hopeless4 ,at a meeting1 ,i heard a business man say3 8,although there was a talkative crowd there1 ,i ate silently1 revolving plans40 ,the five words 8,i ate silently1 revolving plans0 presents a picture4 ,an inexpert writer might waste words in vain putting the idea across to a reader that a man engrossed in his business withdrew from the confusion about him4 ,observe1 the conversation of men is not often clear cut1 sharp chiseled4 ,too often it is a macedoine of tautologies1 contradictions1 slang and inaccuracy1 but let a man think strongly on any one thing1 and ten to one what he has to say comes out clear cut4 ,it is the flake of gold in the midst of much gravel that you must learn to catch4 ,i find this again in my notebook4 ,two girls were talking in a street car and ,i could not but help overhear4 ,it was poor stuff and uninteresting1 with much of 8,i says0 and 8says he to me0 and 8,i says1 says ,i0 but in one place this came like a bright light3 8,i did not hear the reply1 because of the faint rustle of my own movements40 ,the sentence stands perfect4 ,what it conveys could not be better put4 ,once ,i heard an old sailor telling a tale4 ,he was full of oaths and obscenities and he wandered in the telling of it4 ,then this came3 8,as the sun sank1 a patch of trees on the point stood out against the light and it seemed that they had come by magic40 ,a ,texas freighter ,i heard say of a man3 8,he had the gift of friendship40 ,this was said by a child of seven years3 8,she was so proud1 that she became white and tight lipped40 ,if you will examine the examples given1 you will see that each speaker had something to express1 and expressed it directly4 ,there was no stuffing1 no padding4 ,as an example of positive flash of insight1 ,i copy this from the story 8,villette0 by ,currer ,bell3 8,the cook1 in a jacket1 a short petticoat1 and sabots1 brought me supper1 to wit1 some meat1 nature unknown1 served in an odd and acid but pleasant sauce2 some chopped potatoes made savory with ,i know not what1 vinegar and sugar1 ,i think2 a tartarine or slice of bread and butter and a baked pear4 ,being hungry1 ,i ate and was grateful40 ,the passage that next follows1 ,i find in my scrap book clipped from ,t4 ,p4's ,weekly4 ,it is the opinion of an old grayheaded man at ,rydal ,mount who remembered ,wordsworth and who1 in spite of the evidence of many poems1 held that the ,lake poet had no interest in children4 8,he never cared for childer1 however2 yan may be cartain of that1 for didn't ,i have to pass him four times in t' week1 up to the door wi' meat3 and he niver onest said owt4 ,ye're well aware if he'd been fond of children1 he 'ud 'a spoke40 ,now watch how ,mark ,twain does things4 ,his ,huckleberry ,finn talks as the boys that you know talk1 and1 like so many of the unlearned1 he supports his views with a philosophical tag4 ,he is giving his opinion of the ,king and the ,duke1 two rapscallions who were parasites on the lads4 8,it didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars wasn't no kings and dukes at all1 but just low down humbugs and frauds4 ,but ,i never said nothing1 never let on2 kept it to myself4 ,it's the best way2 then you don't have no quarrels and don't get into no trouble40 ,and this1 for scenic description in miniature1 with a record of personal impression is hard to beat3 8,it was a-kind of solemn1 drifting down the big1 still river1 laying on our backs looking up at the stars2 and we didn't feel like talkin' loud and it wasn't often that we laughed1 only a little kind of a low chuckle40 ,one more passage ,i must quote from ,huckleberry4 ,compare it with the brief remark of the plowboy ,i copied for you1 for ,huck might have said what that lad said1 or that lad might have talked as did ,huck3 8,not a sound anywheres--perfectly still--just like the whole world was asleep1 only sometimes the bullfrogs a-clattering maybe4 ,the first thing to see1 looking away over the water1 was a kind of dull line--that was the woods on t'other side--you couldn't make nothing else out2 then a pale place in the sky2 then more paleness2 spreading around2 then the river softened up1 away off1 and warn't black any more1 but gray2 you could see little dark spots driftin' along1 ever so far away--tradin' scows an' such things2 and long black streaks--rafts2 sometimes you could hear a sweep screaking2 or jumbled up voices1 it was so still1 and sounds come so far2 and by and by you could see a streak on the water which you know by the look of the streak that there's a snag there in the swift current which breaks on it and makes that streak look that way40 ,perhaps1 if you have never tried to write a story1 you will think that it is an easy task to put into the words of an unlettered lad a description such as that4 ,but try4 ,if you can come anything near it you will do well4 ,if you can do as well as that your future as a writer is assured4 ,doubtless1 you as a boy loved the still and solemn night1 the creatures in the woods--squirrels1 turtles1 snakes4 ,doubtless1 you too looked with indignation upon the things men did around you4 ,if so1 you have the foundation for a story within you4 ,all that remains to be done then is to set down your own experiences without holding back1 without exaggeration--to set down the things as they were in simple1 plain words2 to remember1 all the time1 that truth is the final test of literature4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note ,in the original the roman numerals indicating a new chapter were out of order4 ,they have been renumbered here4 ,minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice4 ,hyphenation and spelling of proper names have been standardized4 ,spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes3 ,page #e3 8the ,english langauge0 8the ,english language0 ,page #g3 8order ,i am dumfounded0 8order ,i am dumbfounded0 ,page #i3 8of the senuous and0 8of the sensuous and0 ,page #aj3 8those cre tures all0 8those creatures all0 ,page #be3 8,contarst ,cashel ,byron0 8,contrast ,cashel ,byron0 ,page #cd3 8story of ,epyornis ,island0 8story of pyornis ,island0