f
10
THE COV?..J.i
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
Rhymers and writers of our day,
Too much of melancholy!
Give us (he old heoric lay)
A whiff of wholesome folly;
The escapade, the dance;
A touch of wild romance.
Wake from this self-conscious fit;
Give us again Sir Walter's wit;
His love of earth, of sky, of life;
His ringing page with humor rife,
His never-weary pen;
His love of men!
Builder of landscape, who could make
Turret and tower their stations take
Brave in the face of the sun;
Of many a mimic world creator,
Alive with fight and strenuous fun;
Of nothing human he the hater.
Nobly could be plan:
Master of nature, master of man.
Sometimes I think that He who made us,
And on this pretty planet laid us,
Made us to work and play
Like children in the light of day
Not tike plodders in the dark,
Searching with lanterns for some mark
To find the way
After the stroke of pain,
Up and to work again!
Such was his life, without reproach or fear,
And at the end,
When Heaven bent down and whispered in
his ear
The word God's saints waited and longed
to hear,
I ween he was as quick as they to compre
hends And when he passed beyond the goal;
Entered the gates of pearl no sweeter soul.
From tne July Century.
BRET HARTES WASTEBASKET.
Ho Used to Fill it with Rejected Drafts
of Everything Ho Wrote.
Writing of "Brot Harto in California"
in tho July Century, Noab Brooks tells
of the etory-writcr'B fastidiousness:
Hartu's first literary work was dona
in San FruneiEco, utter ho had tried his
hand at Bchool-touching in ho interior
of tho statr, and had ventured tenta
tively in other casual pursuits, as was
tho manner of all tho Argonauts of
those days. In 1803, while he was set
ting type in tho ofllue of tho "Golden
Era," a literary weekly paper of some
local renown, ho offered to the editors,
with much diflldonce, occasional contri
butions, which ho had already Bat up in
bis composing-stick. They were short
and unambitious, but they were so
highly approved by tho managers of tho
papor that the young author was en
couraged to otTer more of the Bamo sort.
A year later, Harto accepted a writing
engagement on tho staff of the "Cali
fornian," another litorary weekly, ti.6n
edited by Charles Honry Wobb, better
known to old Culiforniana by his pen
namo of "John Paul." Harto became
editor of this nowepapor in 18G5, when
Mr. Webb relinquished its manage
ment. Another contributor to the col
umns of tho ''Californian" was Samuel
L. demons, who was thon making his
tirst essuys in composition under tho
sinco famous sobriquet of "Mark
Twain." Like Goldsmith's parson, who
was counted "passing rich with forty
pounds a year," thoso two young writers
wore woll contont with a compensation
that would now bo regarded by oithor
of thorn with amused contompt. In tho
"Californian' Hnrto printod nothing
more auibitioiiB than bits of vorss and
Flight local sketches in proso. Tho
titles of sonio of thoBo woro "Sido-Wnlk-ings,"
"On a Balcony," and "A Boy's
Dog." Nearly all of them, I think, wero
hunted up and reprinted in moro en
during form when Haito had becomo
a celobratod author, Ilia celebrity gavo
thoso trilloa an importance which ho
novor droamod thoy would acquire.
Harto always manifested in his work
that fastidiousness in choico of words
which has characterrod him over sinco.
It wnB humorously complained of him
that ho tilled the nowspspor-ollico
wasto-babkots with hiB rejected manu
scripts and produced noxt to nothing
for tho printer. Onco, assigned to tho
task of writing an obituary article that
was not to exceed "two etickfuls," in
longth, he actually tilled a wasto-Laskot
with fragments of "copy" which ho tore
up boforo he produced tho requisite
amount of matter. Going into my own
editorial room, early one forenoon, I
found Harto at my desk, writing a little
ncto to mako an appointment with mo
to dino togother later in the day. See
ing me, ho eturtod up with the remark
that my early arrival at tho office would
obviato the noccBsity of his finishing the
noto which ho was writing, and which
ho tore up as ho spoke. When, this
littlo matter was isottled, Harto had
gone out, crumbling in his hand the
fragments of his untinisned not", I
chanced to look into my waste-basket,
and saw a litter of paper carrying
Ilarte's familiar handwriting; and turn
ing over the basket with quiet amuse
ment, I discovered that he had left
there the rejected manuscript, of no less
than three summons, which any other
man would have disposed of in some
thing liko this order: "Dear Btooke:
Wo will dine together at Louis Din
geon'B at 0:30 p. m. tonight.
COLD SODA,
CHOICE PERFUMES,
BEST CIGARS,
Wilson Drug Store.
G. B. Chapman, Mgr.
S. V. cornorO and Tenth.
WHY EDITORS DUN.
Suppose that a farmer raises 1,000
buBhels of wheat a year, and also sells
this to 1,000 persona in all parts of the
country, a great portion of them saying,
"I will band you a dollar in a short
time," The farmer does not want to bo
small, and says, "all right!" Soon the
1,000 bushels are gone, and he has noth
ing to show for it, and he then realizes
that he has fooled away his whole crop
and its value a due in a thousand little
driblets, consequently he is seriously
ombarrased in business because his
debtors each owing him cno dollar, treat
it as a small matter, and think it would
not help much. Continue this kind of
a business year in and year out, as the
publisher does, how long will ho stand
it? A moment's thought will con
vince anyone that an editor has cause
for presistent dunning. From "Tho
Nowspaper Muker," Now York, May Mb,
1899.
iiRTHli
V
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STAMP PHOTOS
2 dozen 25 cents.
J. d. JIJUSf Photographer
938PStr.
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Specimen VOUCH, etc.. Sent nil nnnllmllnn
.G. & C. Merriam Co., Publishers, Springfield, Mass., U. S. A.
DICTIONARY
The Rock Island playing cards are
tho slickest you ever handled. One i
pack will bo sent by mail on receipt of
15 cents in stamps, A monoy ordor or
draft for 50 cents or sume in stamps will
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John Skhastian, G. P. A
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R'y,
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"What's this protty littlo thing usod "I wonder why they are called
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