* * * * *
NEWBURYPORT, MASS., _April 3, 1889_.
MY DEAR SIR: As often as possible I would insert the bright things
where they belong, as they seem to enliven the narrative. If you have
an inconvenient surplus, or a number of things undated, you might make
a chapter of them, or reserve them for the final chapter. It is a good
_rule_, though only a _rule_, not to have breaks in the continuity,
like the "Bagman's Story" in "Pickwick." Readers are apt to skip them,
however good they may be in themselves. You have doubtless often done
so. A good thing is twice good when it comes in just where it ought.
The modern reader is very shy, and easily breaks away from you, if you
only give him a pretext.