Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1884 — Where Unemployed Literary Talent Abounds. [ARTICLE]

Where Unemployed Literary Talent Abounds.

Speaking of the death of prominent literary men, the “Hermit” of the Troy Times says: The question is sometimes asked, how are such important vacancies filled on so short a notice? To this it may be replied that there is such an excess in the supply of literary talent that no difficulty occurs. There are so many able writers hanging round journals and periodicals that selections can be made on a day’s notice. Literary people generally prefer the metropolis, even if they starve. This is nothing new. More than a century and a half ago Johnson went to London to try the chances of a literary life, and he suffered twenty years of painful struggle before he reached a sufficient degree of success to give him a decent living. Thomson, the author of “The Seasons,” went to London about the same time, and published “Winter,” for which he received only three guineas. It was only his good fortune which gave him a tutorship that saved him from the same fate which Johnson endured. New York never contained so much unemployed talent as at the present time, and this tendency must continue to increase.— New York Commercial Advertiser.