articles--well-written, of course--on questions relating to higher
education, university extension, matters of historical research. Harper
& Brothers are glad to get character sketches (not New England
particularly,--you cannot outdo, quite yet, Miss Jewett and Mary
Wilkins,--but there are many other bits of humanity, quaint, odd, or
pathetic). _Scribner's_ and the _Cosmopolitan_ like travels, but they
must be bright and varied; and mechanical articles, young men, but these
must be a direct and forcible presentation of their subjects, and not
rehashes from old books; while the _Century_ will pay you well for some
dainty comic bit for its "Bric-à-brac." Friends of the _Golden Rule_,
_Cottage Hearth_, and _Christian Register_ have assured me that
good--not _goody-goody_--juvenile literature is very hard to get. I know
a young woman who is paid well by the page for all the children's
stories she can write, and her pages are fresh and good, with new
themes and unhackneyed incidents; and a young man who is taking up
themes of interest in our history,--the unprecedented message of a
president which gave no report to Congress of financial or diplomatic
matters for the preceding two years, and the three presidential protests
against action taken in Congress (how many of you know about these state
papers?),--there are a hundred other things, too, which might be told
about in this line,--and he finds no difficulty in getting his matter
accepted. There is an assistant editor not far from Beacon Hill who
keeps track of the clergymen, the prominent families, and individuals in
a certain large religious denomination. Every week she furnishes her
quota of items to an eight-page paper, and she is a pearl of great price
to her chief. The Marthas of the household, "careful and troubled,"
there is a place for in many journals to-day, whether their specialty be
cooking, scrubbing, or lace-work. There is also a chance for those who
possess a large fund of miscellaneous information, in _Notes and
Queries_ and like journals.
"The bearing of which lies in the application of it." Perhaps you may
think, discouragingly, that there is no chance for you in these or any
other specialties, but take my advice and try something awhile--get into
a class and work to become at the head of that class; then, even if you
do not attain the full measure of success you had hoped, you will
certainly have the proud consciousness of having striven, and can
contemplate with pity
Those green and salad days: Can I rehearse
What sweets I ate and what I put In verse?
_Douglas Dane._
BOSTON, Mass.
CONCERNING SONNETS.
A few months ago the pages of THE WRITER contained some interesting
suggestions as to the advisability of a uniform indentation for sonnets
when printed; the writer favoring a New York method, which would bring
out even the first, fifth, ninth, and twelfth lines, setting all the
other lines an equal space to the right of these. I give a quatrain for
example:--
"The early star, soft mirrored in the stream,
Dim vistas of the dewy forest-road,
Yea, even the solemn, high-walled glen, abode
Of mortal dust long quit of deed and dream."
The writer's chief argument for this style was, I believe, that it was
used by a good printing house, and also made a neat appearance on the
page; but the question at once occurred to me, What is indentation in
verse for? Is it not a guide to the eye, to enhance the proper
recurrence of the rhyme (and in the ode to show as well rhythm)? If we
are to have a mere arbitrary arrangement of the sonnet, why not the same
in a poem of regular or inverted quatrains, or of the Persian quatrain,
which is now always given in this form:--
"I sometimes think that never blows so red
The rose as where some buried Cæsar bled;
That every flower the fragrant garden wears
Dropped in her lap from some once lovely head."
Or imagine an édition de luxe of Gray's "Elegy" with every stanza
printed in this style:--
"Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, their destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,
The short and simple annals of the poor."
I could not take much pleasure in a book of sonnets where each page was
thus stiffly arranged, but should greatly prefer the indenting of lines
according to rhyme, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth to be in line,
and the second, third, sixth, and seventh to be set somewhat to the
right of these; should there come, however, a Shakespearian sonnet to be
provided for,--lines rhyming alternately,--or any of those monstrosities
of fourteen lines, which have no regularity of rhyme, let the lines then
be brought to a uniform indentation, and the reader disentangle the plan
of the verse as best he may.
In editing copy or reading proof for a poet, I always follow the
author's preference, if indicated, or if copy submitted is consistent;
but having the matter to determine, I would first look to see if the
sonnets were generally regular; and second, if the sextet (the last six
lines) followed the Italian or the best accepted English forms: this
done, it is easy to determine upon a style,--which would be the one
adopted at the present time by the best English and American printers
(as far as recent books of both countries give any clue), as follows:--
"What we miscall our life is Memory:
We walk upon a narrow path between
Two gulfs--what is to be, and what has been,
Led by a guide whose name is Destiny;
Beyond is sightless gloom and mystery,
From whose unfathomable depths we glean
Chaotic hopes and terrors, dimly-seen
Reflections of a past reality.
"Behind, pursuing through the twilight haze,
The phantom people of the past appear;
Hope, happiness and sorrow, fruitless strife,
And all the loved and lost of other days;
They crowd upon us closer year by year,
Till we as phantoms haunt some other life."
The octet, in the regular form of a sonnet, should stand as above; if
the sextet varies, but is not too irregular, vary the indentation of the
latter, as--
... "the great World-builder has designed
The wondrous plans which Nature's works disclose.
A child who scans the philosophic page
Of some profoundly meditative sage
May see familiar phrases,--then he knows
That his own simple thoughts and childish lore
Are part of the great scholar's mental store."
Should the sextet read as given below, instead of trying to follow the
seemingly hap-hazard rhymes with the setting in or out of lines, it
would be better to print the first eight lines uniformly even and the
sextet at the end to correspond with them:--
"Then human Grief found out her human heart,
And she was fain to go where pain is dumb;
So thou wert welcome, Angel dread to see,
And she fares onward with thee, willingly,
To dwell where no man loves, no lovers part,--
Thus Grief that is makes welcome Death to come."
In like manner, let any irregularity of the eight lines settle the
question of indentation, even though the latter portion of the sonnet
should happen to be according to the best forms.
There are many other questions of style and appearance in getting up a
collection of sonnets, a few of which may be referred to here. A little
English book which I have at hand has the best of all the recent work in
that line, and even runs back, in some cases, fifty years; from a
literary point of view, it is unexcelled. But look at a few of the
mechanical defects: it is printed as a very small 18mo.--all the long
lines of the sonnets with a word or two "turned down," as the printers
say. It is a "red-line" book, which means a large enclosed white space
above and below the sonnet, and very little margin on each side. It has
running titles standing in a lonesome way at the head of each page, and
a folio in the page corner instead of being centred at the foot of each
sonnet; and, to make a bad matter worse, each of these running titles
has a rule beneath it, making the separation more obvious. These are
only a few of the defects. Not the less displeasing to me is another
book of sonnets, printed in octavo form. Not that one objects to a large
margin, but the duodecimo, it seems to me, is much the best size and
shape of volume for the proper display upon a printed page of this
miniature poem, and a handsome old-style or Elzevir letter is the
fittest type, instead of the sombre modern cut, so often used.
_F. D. Stickney._
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
* * * * *
THE WRITER.
WM. H. HILLS. EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
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*** Everything printed in the magazine will be written expressly for it.
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Address:--
THE WRITER,
(P. O. Box 1905.) BOSTON, MASS.
VOL. VI. APRIL, 1892. NO. 4.
It is hard to believe that Dr. Edward Everett Hale will be seventy years
old April 3, but it will not do to contradict the birth record and the
arithmetic, in spite of all his unfailing energy and youthful activity
in many different undertakings. Dr. Hale is one of the men who will be
always young, and it may be in consequence of this that he has written
so many things that will never lose their freshness. One of the best of
them is the chapter in "How to Do It" on "How to Write," which is full
of crisp and practical suggestions. Dr. Hale's rules for writing are
evidently those which have always governed his own literary work; and
while others may not be able to follow them with equal success, they are
worth remembering by every writer. The rules are:
First, _Know what you want to say_; second, _Say it_; third, _Use your
own language_; fourth, _Leave out all the fine passages_; fifth, _A
short word is better than a long one_; sixth, _The fewer words, other
things being equal, the better_; finally, _Cut it to pieces_. Any writer
who will make these rules his guide in daily work will find in them an
important help to literary success.
W. H. H.
THE SCRAP BASKET.
It was proposed by a recent contributor to THE WRITER that authors
should advertise their wares, like other manufacturers. In case the idea
should meet with favor, I would suggest that the practice be carried a
step further in the line of business methods. During the "Robert
Elsmere" craze, a few years ago, a certain soap manufacturing company
advertised a copy of the book with every quarter's worth of soap sold.
It is unfortunate that Mrs. Humphry Ward, whose "History of David
Grieve," it is reported, is not meeting with great success in this
country, did not profit by the hint of the soap company and advertise a
cake of soap to be given as an inducement with every copy of her book.
A. L. A.
WINDHAM, N. H.
THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS.
[Brief, pointed, practical paragraphs discussing the use and misuse
of words and phrases will be printed in this department. All
readers of THE WRITER are invited to contribute to it.
Contributions are limited to 400 words; the briefer they are, the
better.]
* * * * *
"=Cenotaph.="--We are told that a cenotaph is a monument "in memory of
one buried elsewhere"--otherwise, "an empty tomb." A recent number of a
popular magazine contains an article on "Memorials of Edgar Allen Poe."
When the author asked to be directed to the grave of the poet, the
sexton pointed to the cenotaph of white marble in the corner at the
intersection of two streets, and we are told that "the remains" were
"transferred to this more conspicuous spot from the family lot in the
rear of the church." Are not "high-sounding" words too often used
without reference to their suitableness? Mr. Pecksniff called his
daughter "a playful warbler,"--not that she was, we are told, "at all
vocal," but that Mr. Pecksniff was in the habit of using a word that
rounded a sentence well.
P. MCA. C.
EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass.
BOOK REVIEWS.
LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS TO WILKIE COLLINS. Edited by Lawrence
Hutton. With Portraits and Fac-similes. 171 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New
York: Harper & Brothers. 1892.
The friendship between Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins began when
Dickens was nearly forty, and Collins about twenty-five years of age.
Ten years later the marriage of the daughter of Dickens to the brother
of Collins cemented the intimacy then begun, and it continued unbroken
until the death of Dickens, in 1870. Part of the familiar correspondence
between the two men was printed in "The Letters of Charles Dickens"; but
many more letters from Dickens were found after the death of Collins,
and from these Miss Hogarth selected the specimens that make up the
present volume. As Mr. Hutton says in his introduction: "They not only
show their writer as he was willing to show himself to the man whom he
loved, but they give an excellent idea of his methods of collaboration
with the man whom he had selected from all others as an active partner
in certain of his creative works." The replies from Collins cannot be
printed, since it was Dickens' rule to destroy every letter he received,
not on actual business. It is fortunate that his correspondents did not
do the same with his letters, so great is the interest of everything
that he put on paper: as Mr. Hutton happily puts it: "It is greatly to
be regretted that he did not write letters to himself--like his own Mr.
Toots--and preserve them all."
The letters included in the present volume are so interesting that the
temptation is strong to reprint many extracts from them. They give
charming glimpses of Dickens' personality, and illustrate the literary
ideas and methods of work of two famous story-writers. Mr. Hutton
connects the letters with all necessary explanations, and has performed
his work as editor with admirable skill. A good portrait of Dickens, a
better one of Collins, and some interesting fac-similes illustrate the
book.
W. H. H.
EVERYBODY'S WRITING-DESK BOOK. By Charles Nisbet and Don Lemon.
Revised and Edited by James Baldwin, Ph. D. 310 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
New York: Harper & Brothers. 1892.
In this handy little volume are combined instruction regarding
composition, English grammar, and punctuation; a list of synonyms and
antonyms; a list of forms of addresses; information about writing for
the press, proof-reading, writing and printing papers and books; rules
for pronunciation and spelling; rates of postage, etc. The book is a
compilation rather than an original work, and its chief merit is that it
puts together in a single volume a good deal of information of different
kinds, not elsewhere to be found in one book. Its spelling list and its
list of synonyms and antonyms are the parts most valuable for reference;
while the parts devoted to composition and grammar may be studied with
profit by those in need of such instruction. The chapter on "Writing for
the Press" is short and weak, and the book generally is adapted for use
rather by non-professional than by professional writers.
W. H. H.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS; AND HOW HE RECEIVED AND IMPARTED THE
SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY. By Justin Winsor. 674 pp. Cloth, $4.00.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Company. 1892.
Mr. Winsor's rank as an historian is so high that whatever he writes is
read with respectful attention. Especially regarding the early history
of America he is an authority, and probably no one in this country is
better fitted than he to write the story of Columbus. The view he takes
of the life and character of the admiral in this exhaustive study of his
career will surprise those who have looked on Columbus as a hero, with
ideas far in advance of the age in which he lived, and with no blemishes
upon his reputation. Mr. Winsor presents facts, so far as they can be
ascertained, rather than the romantic notions of traditions, and his
picture of Columbus is not flattering to the explorer. In the opening
chapter of the work he gives a review of all the sources of information
about the admiral's life, and shows a respect for the investigations of
Harisse that is undoubtedly justified. Irving's well-known "Life of
Columbus" he treats with scant reverence as an historical work. "The
genuine Columbus," he says, "evaporates under the warmth of the writer's
genius, and we have nothing left but the refinement of his clay."
According to Mr. Winsor's estimate, Columbus was a pitiable man, who
deserved his pitiable end. His discovery was a blunder, and he became
the despoiler of the new world he had unwittingly found. A rabid seeker
of gold and a vice-royalty, he left to the new continent a legacy of
devastation and crime. Finding America, he thought he had discovered the
Indies, and maintained that belief until his death. Claiming to desire
the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, he did what he could to
establish a slave trade with Spain. Slitting the noses and tearing off
the ears of naked heathen are cruelties with which he is charged. In his
early life he deserted his lawful wife and became the father of an
illegitimate son. In his last years his mind weakened, and he became
the victim of wild hallucinations. Such is the man as Mr. Winsor
describes him, in contrast to the demi-god of whom Prescott says:
"Whether we contemplate his character in its public or private
relations, in all its features it wears the same noble aspects." As a
bold navigator Columbus won the fame of a world-discoverer; but he never
knew himself what he had found; and if Mr. Winsor's estimate is just, it
is not altogether unfitting that the name of a more clear-sighted
voyager than he should be given to the world that he discovered.
W. H. H.
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE. Edited by Charles F. Warner, 120 pp. Large
Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
Company. 1890.
PICTURESQUE FRANKLIN. Edited by Charles F. Warner. 123 pp. Large
Quarto. Paper, 75 cents. Northampton. Mass.: Picturesque Publishing
Company. 1891.
At first sight it seems astonishing that such handsome books as these,
with their lavish wealth of costly half-tone pictures, can be profitably
sold at so low a price. They are exceedingly attractive volumes, and
together they make a delightful picture-gallery of New England country
life. "Picturesque Hampshire" was published in November, 1890, as a
supplement to the quarter-centennial issue of the _Hampshire County
Journal_, and its success was so great as to lead to the publication of
"Picturesque Franklin," and to the preparation of "Picturesque Hampden,"
which will be issued in two parts next fall. Not only the residents of
the counties illustrated, and of Western Massachusetts generally, but
every cultivated person will be interested in these books. The
illustrations are so numerous that each volume is really a picture book
of New England life. The illustrations have been reproduced from
photographs by the half-tone process, and they retain all the accuracy
and sharpness of the original photographs. The text explains them
sufficiently, and is generally well written.
W. H. H.
IN FOREIGN LANDS. By Barbara N. Galpin. 156 pp. Cloth, $1.00.
Boston: New England Publishing Company. 1892.
"In Foreign Lands" is a pleasantly-written volume descriptive of
European travel, and tells, in an interesting way, the experiences of a
delightful summer journey.
W. H. H.
NEW HARVARD SONGBOOK. Compiled by R. T. Whitehouse, '91, and
Frederick Bruegger, '92. Revised Edition. 92 pp. Flexible Covers.
Boston: Oliver Ditson Company. 1892.
This new compilation of college songs contains many of the new songs
which have been sung by the Harvard Glee Club during the last three
years. Many of the songs are the compositions of Harvard undergraduates,
and have never before been published. Some of the best-known among them
are: "Boreen," "Holsteiner's Band," "The Hoodoo," "Jay Bird," "The Man
in the Moon's Ball," "Mrs. Craigin's Daughter," "O'Grady's Goat," "The
Party at Odd Fellows' Hall," "The Phantom Band," "Romeo and Juliette,"
"Schneider's Band," and "The Versatile Baby." The book is full of the
rollicking college spirit, and college men and their sweethearts will
find it an unfailing source of delight. It is adapted either for glee
club or home use, and is exquisitely gotten up.
W. H. H.
BRUNHILDE; OR, THE LAST ACT OF NORMA. By Pedro A. De Alarcon.
Translated by Mrs. Francis J. A. Darr. With Portrait of the Author.
311 pp. Cloth, $1.00. New York: A. Lovell & Company. 1891.
Mrs. Darr has translated this work of the Spanish novelist with fidelity
and skill. It is an interesting story, with an unusual plot and a
dramatic climax, and it is told in a peculiar style, which gives to it a
distinctive charm. A good portrait of the author is given as a
frontispiece.
W. H. H.
TRIFET'S HARMONIZED MELODIES. Arranged by Charles D. Blake. 256 pp.
Paper, 60 cents. Boston: F. Trifet. 1892.
Four hundred songs, sacred and secular, comic and sentimental, pathetic
and humorous, are given in this collection, so harmonized and arranged
that they may be played upon the piano or organ or sung with or without
accompaniment. Every variety of song is given, and every one will find
in the book something suited to his taste. The arranger has done his
work well, and the music printer has made the book an attractive one.
The selections range from "Old Folks at Home" and the "Sweet By and By"
to "Comrades" and "Annie Rooney," and the price of the book, considering
the quantity of music it contains, is remarkably low. It will
undoubtedly have an extensive sale.
W. H. H.
A FIRST FAMILY OF TASAJARA. By Bret Harte. 301 pp. Cloth, $1.25.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 1892.
The charm of Bret Harte's stories lies in their originality of
conception, their well-defined local color, and the chaste richness of
their literary style. The power to pique one's interest to the last page
belongs to Mr. Harte above all other writers of stories of American
life. His latest book has all the good qualities of its predecessors. It
tells a perfectly natural story of life in California. The hero is a
newspaper man; the other characters are a man who makes a big "strike"
in land, and becomes suddenly rich, his two daughters, a newspaper
proprietor with an axe to grind and a secret love, a beautiful and rich
Boston widow, and a civil engineer. The denouement is startling, being
none other than the wiping out by a flood of the town which made the
rich man's fortune, and the lesson of the story is the suddenness with
which in the West riches have been made, and also lost.
L. F.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
* * * * *
[All books sent to the editor of THE WRITER will be acknowledged
under this heading. They will receive such further notice as may be
warranted by their importance to readers of the magazine.]
* * * * *
PARAGRAPH-WRITING, WITH APPENDICES ON NEWSPAPER
STYLE AND PROOF-READING. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D., and Joseph V.
Denney, A. B. 107 pp. Stiff paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register
Publishing Company. 1891.
THE PRINCIPLES OF STYLE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 51 pp. Stiff
paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.
ÆSTHETICS, ITS PROBLEMS AND LITERATURE. By Fred N. Scott, Ph. D. 32
pp. Paper. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Register Publishing Company. 1891.
HELEN YOUNG. By Paul Lindau. Translated from the German by P. J.
McFadden. 183 pp. Paper, 25 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, &
Company. 1892.
THE TREASURE TOWER. A Story of Malta. By Virginia W. Johnson. 223
pp. Paper, 25 cents. New York: Rand, McNally, & Company. 1892.
THE LIGHT OF ASIA. By Sir Edwin Arnold. With Notes by Mrs. I. L.
Hauser. 309 pp. Paper, 50 cents. Chicago: Rand, McNally, & Company.
1892.
THE BOOK OF RUTH. A novel. By P. L. Gray. 219 pp. Paper. Bendena,
Kan.: P. L. Gray. 1892.
THE BLUE SCARAB. By David Graham Adee. 348 pp. Paper, 50 cents.
Chicago: Laird & Lee. 1892.
A LOYAL LOVER. By E. Lovett Cameron. 294 pp. Paper, 50 cents. New
York: John A. Taylor & Company. 1892.
MRS. LYGON. A Domestic Detective Story. By Shirley Brooks. 385 pp.
Paper, 50 cents. St. Paul, Minn.: Price, McGill Company. 1892.
A MORAL INHERITANCE. By Lydia Hoyt Farmer. 240 pp. New York: J. S.
Ogilvie. 1890.