Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1886 — Uncertainty of Literature. [ARTICLE]

Uncertainty of Literature.

'Why' is it that voting writers harp so persistently on minor,chords? Where there is one poem on homo and sunshine and happy life, tlie-re are a dozen which moan over blasted hopes lot 2‘2), twilight by the moaning sea, withered leavgs, and other subjects of a more or less melancholy nature. * Very few wholesome, cheery', religion* verses are offered, nearly all expressing the writer’s praiseworthy resignation under radntmties whirh never happmed, and his extretmr anxiety to turn his back upon the earth, whielf he designates a* a "valo” or "desert.” The same is apt to be true of prose offerings, n- - -- -- All editors will unite in saving that the rarest and most difficult short sketch to procure is a racy, well-written Thanksgiving or Christmas story; ddiilo the themes of hopeless love and early death are dwelt upon with avidity, By far the most numerous class of short stories offered to magazines and weeklies is that of juvenile sketches. It is a popular fallacy that while it takes a genius to write a society novel, anyhodv can tell stories to children. While this delusion, for such it certainly is, has been productive of a great deal of good juvenile work, by drawing efforts of writers to that field, it also overloads tho mail-bags with a vast amount of inanity intended to nourish the youthful imagination and appeasq its pangs for intellectual entertainment. Try to read one of these stories aloud to half a dozen .mischievous boys and girls and see whether it holds them. There’s the real test. At the bottom of all, the real fact is that the literary market is overcrowded, the surplusage being largely composed of those who, as Holmes say’s, misiake laziness for inspiration. Half a century ago the ease was different. In the first place, literary work was then poorly paid, as may be seen by the $5 checks Hawthorne and Longfellow received ion some of their finest productions, and secondly, the natural' 'consequence - was that thero was but little really good writing. Again, many of the fiehbvsbhat were then oped* to writers have been since trampled over until their flowers are all plucked, andiheir turf plowed up ..for corn and beans. Altogether literature is, as has been well said, a most uncertain staff. While, however, there is much in tlie present condition of things to discourage those who are preparing themselves for this work, it is to be remembered that there is a constant demand, even in the editorial offices of our largest magazines and papers, for bright, wholesome, earnest articles, stories and poems on subjects that tend to cheer and amuse as well as elevate. Of such the market is never full. _ ' ' ■ - . __ ..