text:
The Pearl/Volume 7/Miss Coote's Confession, or the Voluptuous Experiences of an Old Maid.

In a series of Letters to a Lady Friend.

LETTER VII

My Dear Nellie,-

In my last letter you had an account of some pretty everyday larceny, but in this you will read about a pretty young lady who was also a thief by nature, not from any necessity; in fact, it was a case of what they call in these degenerate days Kleptomania; no wonder when downright thieving is called by such an outlandish name that milk-and-water people have almost succeeded in abolishing the good old institution of the rod.

Miss Selina Richards was a cousin of Laura Sandon, my old schoolfellow and first bedfellow at Miss Flaybum's; bye-the-bye, can you explain or did you ever understand how girls can be fellows, but I know of no other term which will apply to the relationship in question. Is there no feminine to that word? It certainly is a defect of the English language.

Well, being on a visit to Laura when I was about eighteen, she mentioned the case to me, saying that her cousin Selina was such an inveterate thief her family were positively afiaid to let her go anywhere from home for fear she should get into trouble, and that her parents were obliged to confine her to her room when they had visitors in the house, as the young thief would secrete any trifles, more especially jewelry, she could lay her hands upon, "and you know, Rosa, what an awful disgrace it would be to an the family if she should ever be accused of such a thing."

Rosa.- "But have they never punished her properly, to try and eradicate the vice?"

Laura.- "They confine her to her room, and often keep the child on bread and water for a week, but all the starving and lecturing in the world won't do any good."

Rosa.- "Have they never tried a good whipping?"

Laura.- "It never seems to have entered the stupid heads of her father and mother; they are too tender-hearted for anything of that kind."

Rosa.- "Laura, dear, I don't mind confessing to you I should dearly love to birch the little voleuse; ever since I left school our last grand seance at the breaking-up party has quite fascinated me - when I think over the beautiful sight of the red bleeding posteriors, the blushes of shame and indignation of the victims, and above all the enjoyment of their distress at being so humiliated and disgraced before others. We often enjoy our old schoolbirchings in private, and a little while ago I administered an awful whipping to our gardener's wife and her two little girls for stealing my fruit, etc., and effected quite a cure, they are strictly honest now. You are coming to see us soon, can't you persuade your uncle and aunt to entrust Selina to your care, with the promise that I am to be thoroughly informed of her evil propensity; on second thoughts I think you should say you have told me, and that I offer to try and cure the girl, if they will only give me a carte blanche to punish her in my own way. You will have a great treat, we shall shock the girl's modesty by stripping and exposing her, you win see how delightful the sight of her pretty form is added to the distressing sense of humiliation we will make her feel; the real lovers of the birch watch and enjoy all the expressions of the victim's face, and do all they can to increase the sense of degradation, as well as to inflict terrible and prolonged torture by skilful appliance of the rod, and placing the victim in most painful, distended positions to receive her chastisement."

Laura.- "What an ogress of cruelty you have become Rosa!"

Rosa, kissing her.- "So will you my dear, with a little more experience, you are much older than me, but really younger in that respect; by judicious use of the rod a club of ladies could enjoy every sensual feeling of pleasure without the society of men. I mean to marry the birch (in fact I am already wedded to it), and retain my fortune as my independence."

Laura.- "What a paragon of virtue, do I really understand you pander to your sensuality without intercourse with men?"

Rosa.- "Come and see, that is my only answer to such a dear sceptic, only manage to bring the pretty voleuse with you, and you will have every reason to be satisfied with your visit."

Laura was quite successful in her application to the parents of Selina; they thought the visit might perhaps result in some good to their daughter, and readily gave all the required assurances as to liberty of inflicting punishment for any little dishonesty we might detect.

On their arrival at our house Selina was alloted a small room to herself, whilst Laura asked and was allowed to be my bedfellow again. Nothing was put out of the way, as I was so thoroughly assured of the honesty of all about me, and felt certain that if Miss Selina did steal anything, she could only secrete it and would have no opportunity to dispose of the plunder, so we might be sure to recover all our lost property.

Miss Richards had received a very careful education, and, in general, was a most interesting young lady, and apparently very modest and retiring.

Several days passed very pleasantly, and it almost seemed as if Missie's fingers had forgot their cunning. I was just beginning to fear we might lose our victim for want of a fair opportunity, but it turned out to be only a kind of natural shyness, which would disappear when she found herself quite at home.

Things began to vanish, my jewelry seemed much preferred, first a small diamond ring, then an opal brooch set with pearls, gloves, scarfs, and any small articles walked off mysteriously, but no one could ever detect her even setting her foot in my room in the day time, and so Laura and I determined to watch at night. We usually went into Selina's room the last thing - before retiring ourselves, when her eyes were invariably closed.

Our resolve was put in practice the first night, and about two hours after we were supposed to be safely asleep, the creaking hinge of the door gave us a slight admonition of the stealthy approach of someone.

We could hear no footstep, but caught a glimpse of Miss Prig putting her head just inside the door to see all was right.

We were motionless, our heads being well within the shade of the bed curtains, whilst a dim moonlight partially lighted up the rest of the chamber. The little voleuse, as stealthily as an Indian, actually crawled on her hands and knees to the dressing table, and then without raising her body, groped with her hand on the top of the table for anything that might be lying about; in fact, we could see nothing of her as we were in bed, but could plainly hear the slight movement of the articles as they were touched or moved.

Off went the bedclothes, with a cry, "Now we have her safe, the sly thief." I sprang to the door and cut off her retreat, whilst Laura acted the policeman, by sternly arresting the confused prisoner.

Turning the key in the lock, we at once laid her over the foot of our bed, with her feet resting on the floor, and turning up her nightdress, administered with our hands a good slapping till she fairly screamed for mercy.

"Oh! Oh! Pray, Miss Coote, forgive me. Let me go, I won't come here again. Oh! Ah-r-r-re! Indeed I won't," struggling and writhing under our smarting slaps. We could see even by the faint light how red her bottom was, and at last we released her with the assurance of a full enquiry next day, and advised her to give up all she had stolen or it would be worse for her.

By my orders, she was confined to her room in the morning, and Jane acted as gaoler. After dinner, about six o'clock, she brought the prisoner before me in the punishment room.

To make my proceedings more impressive, all the establishment were present, except Charlie the page, who being masculine, I did not think it would be decent to have him admitted.

Miss Coote.- "Selina Richards, you stand before me a convicted thief caught in the act. Have you restored all your booty, you sly young cat?"

Selina (with a crimson face and downcast eyes).- "Oh! Oh! I have indeed, ask Jane, she has searched the room and can't find any more but what I gave up to her. Ah! Miss Coote, I don't know how I could have done it; I'm so ashamed of myself and sorry to have been so wicked. Oh! Oh! What shall I do?" quite overcome and bursting into tears.

Jane.- "If you please Miss, I've got everything but your ring, that I can't find anywhere."

Miss Coote.- "you bad girl, I know your character; don't think you can deceive me by your feigned tears and repentance. What have you done with my ring, eh?"

Selina (appealing in great and apparently genuine distress and consternation).- "Oh! I have never seen it. Indeed, I didn't take that, Miss Coote. Ah, you must believe me, I am so degraded to feel how guilty I am. I had the brooch, but have given that and everything else up to Jane."

Miss Coote.- "I don't believe what you say about the ring, and will birch you well till you really confess the truth. Now strip the little thief, and examine every article of clothing as it is taken off. Shake out all the braids of her hair, she may have it there."

Notwithstanding her confusion, I noticed a slight gleam of satisfaction pass across her countenance, for which, at the time, I was puzzled to account.

They proceeded with the undressing, and I could not help noticing her continued satisfaction as each garment was overhauled, as much as to say, "You haven't found it yet," which convinced me she had the ring very cunningly secreted somewhere, but for the life of me, I was quite at a loss to think how she could have disposed of it, as Jane assured me there was not a chink in her room where it could possibly be put, she had even ripped up the bed in her search.

At last they let down all the braids of her hair, and she stood in her chemise, blushing crimson at the exposure, her usually damask cheeks as rosy as ripe cherries. She evidently now considered the search at an end, as she kicked off the drawers and protested against my order to "remove the last rag."

"Oh! Oh! Pray don't expose me, there can't be anything in that."

Miss Coote.- "But there may be somewhere else."

The suddenly abashed look that came over her face convinced me I was now getting near a discovery. Her legs were closely nipped together, and she covered her hairless mount with her hands.

Miss Coote.- "Give me a birch Jane, I'll make her jump," then taking the switch in hand cuts smartly over Miss Selina's knuckles, "remove your hands, Miss Prig, now jump will you," repeating the blow on the naked bottom with such effect that the poor girl screamed with pain, but still kept her legs close; again the rod descended with a terrific undercut, "won't you open your legs and jump Miss." This time it was effective; with a fearful scream the victim threw herself down on the carpet, but she was unable to prevent the escape of the ring which rolled out on the floor.

It would be impossible to describe the poor girl's distress and confusion now her guilt was so thoroughly established; she was crimson all over, and tried to hide her face in her hands as she cried for shame; her bottom had some fine looking red marks, and also in between her thighs, which the last cut had inflicted.

Miss Coote.- "Look at the little thief, she thinks to hide herself by covering her face, she doesn't care about exposing all her private parts, or using them to hide my ring, what a disgustingly clever trick; Jane, put on her chemise and drawers; if she does not care I do, and like to do birching decently with all propriety."

Jane and Polly lift her up, and put on the required articles, then as she stands before me still sobbing with shame and pain, I had never seen a more delicious looking victim; she had such a beautiful brunette complexion, her almost black hair hanging all down her back to her loins, pretty white rounded globes with dark brown nipples looked impudently above her chemisette, which only reached a little way down her thighs; it was tastefully trimmed with lace all round, and seemed to draw attention to her beautiful thighs and legs, the latter set off by blue silk stockings with handsome garters and lovely boots.

Jane whispers in the culprit's ears, and Selina humbly kneels before me, saying in broken accents:-

"Oh! how can I speak to you, dear Miss Coote. I - I - have so disgraced - myself. Will - will - you ever forgive me. Oh! What shall I do - will you punish me properly and cut - the - the - awful propensity out of me - indeed, dear Miss Coote - I can't help myself - my fingers - my fingers will take the - things - even - when I don't - want them," as she kisses the rod and bursts into a torrent of hysterical tears.

By my orders the victim is well stretched out on the ladder, as I generally preferred it to the whipping post, and having armed myself with a very light rod made of fine pieces of whalebone, which would sting awfully without doing serious damage, I went up to the ladder for a commencement, but first made them loosen her a bit, and place a thick sofa bolster under her loins, then fasten her tightly again with her bottom well presented, the drawers pinned back on each side, and her chemise rolled up and secured under her arms; poor Selina seemed to know well enough what was coming, it checked her tears, but she begged and screamed piteously for me to forgive and wait and see if she ever stole anything again.

Miss Coote, laughing.- "Why, what a little coward you are. I should have thought such a bold thief would have more spirit, and I have hardly touched you yet; you won't be hurt more than you can fairly bear; you would do it again directly if I don't beat it out of you now."

Selina.- "My arms and limbs are so dreadfully stretched, and my poor behind still smarts from the three whacks you gave. Oh! Have pity! Have mercy! Dear Miss Coote."

Miss Coote.- "I must not listen to such childish nonsense, you're both a thief and a dreadful liar; Miss Selina, will you - will you - do it again," giving three smart stinging cuts, the whalebone fairly hissing through the air as she flourishes it before each stroke to make it sound more effective.

Selina.- "Ah! Ah! Ah-r-r-re! I can't bear it, you're thrashing me with wires, the blows are red hot. Oh! Oh! I'll never, never do it again!" her bottom finely streaked already with thin red lines, the painful agony being greatly increased by the strain on her wrists and ankles as she cannot restrain her writhing at each cut.

Miss Coote.- "You don't seem to like it, Selina, but indeed it's for your good, how would you like to be branded B.C. with a really red hot iron, you'd sing a still different tune then; but I'm wasting my time - there - there - there - you've only had six yet, how you do howl you silly girl!"

Selina.- "Ah-r-r-r-re!" with a prolonged shriek. "You're killing me. Oh! I shall soon die!" her bottom redder than ever.

Miss Coote.- "You'll have a dozen whalebone cuts," counting and cutting deliberately till she calls twelve, then giving a little pause as if finished; she lets the victim compose the features with a sigh of relief, and just then gives another thundering whack, exclaiming, "Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! you thought I had done, did you, Miss Prig; it was a baker's dozen you were to get, I always give thirteen as twelve for fear of having missed one, and like to give the last just as they think it is all over."

Selina.- "I know it's well deserved, but oh! so cruel, you will let me go now; pray forgive me, indeed, you may depend upon me in the future," still sighing and quivering from the effects of the last blow.

Miss Coote.- "You're not to get off so easily, Miss Prig, your bottom would be all right in a few minutes, and then you would only laugh when you think of it. The real rod is to come, look at this bum-tickler, it's the real birch grown in my own grounds, and well pickled in brine these last two days, to be ready for you when caught. It will bring your crime to mind in a more awful light, and leave marks to make you remember it for days to come."

Selina.- "Pray let me have a drink, if I must suffer so much more, my tongue is as dry as a board, Miss Coote, you are cruel, I am not old enough to bear such torture."

Miss Coote.- "Be quiet, you shall have a drink of champagne, but don't talk about your tender age, that makes your crime still worse, for you have shown such precocious disgusting cunning, far beyond your years."

She has the refreshing draught and the rod resumes its sway.

Miss Coote.- "You bad girl, your bottom shall be marked for many a day; I'll wager you don't steal as long as the marks remain. Two dozen's the punishment, and then we'll see to your bruises, and put you to bed. One - two - three - four," increasing the force of the blows scientifically with each cut, and soon beginning to draw the skin up into big bursting blood-red weals.

Victim.- "Mother! Mother! Ah! Ah-r-r-re! I shall die. Oh! kill me quickly, if you won't have mercy." She writhes in such agony that her muscles stand out like whipcord, and by their continued quivering, straining action, testify to the intensity of her pain.

Miss Coote, laughing and getting excited.- "That's right, call your mother, she'll soon help you. Ha! Ha! She didn't think how I should cure you, when your papa gave his consent for me to punish you as I like. Five, six, seven," she goes on counting and thrashing the poor girl over the back, ribs, loins, and thighs, wealing her everywhere, as well as on the posteriors. All the spectators are greatly moved, and seem to enjoy the sight of Selina's blood dripping down, down till her stockings are saturated and it forms little pools beneath her on the floor.

The victim has not sufficient strength to stand this very long, her head droops, and she is too weak to scream, moaning and sighing fainter and fainter, till at last she fairly swoons, and the rod is stopped at the twenty-second stroke.

Miss Coote is quite exhausted with her exertions, and sinking on a sofa, fondly embraces her friend Laura, describing to her all the thrilling sensations she has enjoyed during the operation, which the flushed cheeks and sparkling soft large blue eyes of Laura show she is beginning to duly appreciate.

Mademoiselle Fosse and the servants lay Selina on the floor, and sprinkle her face with water, whilst one of them uses a very large fan most effectively; her lacerated bottom is sponged with strong salt and water, and she soon shows signs of regaining animation. Sighing and sobbing, "Where, where am I? Oh! I remember, Miss Coote's cut my bottom off. Oh! Oh! Ah! How it smarts and burns!" They pour a little liqueur down her throat, and she is soon quite conscious again, and cries quite hysterically over her pickled state.

Mademoiselle.- "Now for the finishing touch. Mary, fetch that pot from the kitchen, and bring the bag of feathers."

Selina (piteously).- "Oh, haven't you done yet? What have I to suffer?" wringing her hands in apprehension.

Mademoiselle.- "Here it is. We won't keep you in suspense," taking the brush from a pot of warm tar, held by Mary. "This will heal your bruises, and prevent the flies getting at your sore bottom, this warm weather."

They make her stand up, and Mademoiselle paints all over her posteriors, and the lower part of her belly inside her thighs, and even the crack of her bottom, with the hot stuff, regardless of the great pain she is inflicting.

Selina (shrieking in fearful distress and shame at this degradation).- "Ah! This is worse than all, you're actually scalding me; my skin will peel off," dancing about in excruciating agony.

Mademoiselle (laughing).- "My dear, it is to heal and keep your skin on. We're going to cover you with nice warm feathers. You never felt so comfortable in your life as you will presently."

The ceremony was both amusing and exciting, but it would be impossible to describe the poor girl's misery and dreadful shame. Her shrieks and appeals of "Oh! Ah! It will never come off," especially as they lift her up and roll her bottom and front in a great heap of feathers, taking care to shove them in everywhere, so as to thoroughly cover all the tar.

This is the finale, and she is led from the scene of her punishment and degradation; but that was not all; every day for nearly three weeks she had to strip and exhibit her feathery bum for inspection and laughing remarks. I need scarcely say the ordeal she went through effected a radical cure of the Kleptomania.

Do you not think, dear Nellie, my plan would cure the Kleptomaniacs of the present day? It would be well worth a trial.

Yours affectionately, ROSA BELINDA COOTE.

(To be continued.)


text:
The Pearl/Volume 7/Pleasures of Memory.

Sweet is the memory of the scenes In boyhood I enjoyed, Hot vigour thrilling in my veins, By no fruition cloyd.

So innocent a child I seem'd That Catherine, Jane, Eliza, Would treat me as a girl, nor dream'd That I was e'er the wiser.

I many a naked frolic spied, Nor seem'd a whit to care, With changeless glance serene I eyed Their sexual members bare.

All fear'd the strict severities Of Mistress and of Master, Who thought to crush propensities That only throve the faster.

But when I was thirteen I grew Too big a boy for this, The girls grew timid - well they knew I might do more than kiss.

No longer Jane would offer me The clean shirt nice and warm, And turn me up and cuddle me, Without supposing harm.

And Catherine never called me now The bathroom door to keep, The while she bathed, lest any came And say, "You must not peep."

Nor Harriet, when she climb'd the trees, Would let me now stand under, All seem'd to guard their modesties With care that made me wonder.

But fostering Venus kindly led Her young disciple still, Although I kept my maidenhead Sorely against my will.

For though from British blood I sprung Yet born in India's land, I felt while callow, raw and young Cythera's guiding hand.

And night by night, when fast asleep, Wits, nerves upon the stretch, My melting heart I could not keep, I was an amorous wretch.

One day I chanced to climb outside My cousin's bathing room, And found a hole through which I spied The place I'd used to roam.

I sigh'd to think how oft the girls Had idly let me in, "It's nobody but little Charles, No matter though he's seen."

Yes, I was their sole favourite, No other boy was suffer'd To share in many a luscious sight To me so freely offer'd.

"Those joys (thought I) are now no more!" I started - at that minute, Dear Kate came to the bathroom door, She lock'd herself within it.

"Oh, do I dream, or is it true? And is she going to bathe, And treat me to the fullest view Of all above, beneath?"

She dropt her gown, and one by one She stript her of her clothes, Her smock is all she now has on, "Oh, will she nought expose?"

There now it's off- and Catherine stands, In utter nudity, And neither of her rosy hands Conceals her modesty.

I saw her right before my eyes Naked, stark naked stand, The blooming centre of her thighs As naked as my hand.

What see I now! what see I not! Is Kate a woman grown? She was a little girl I thought, But lo, she's fully blown:

Oh look at her sweet fie for shame, With pouting lips so red. Oh look at her dear frisky game, Her open maidenhead!

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Pearl/Volume 7/Pleasures of Memory.


text:
The Pearl/Volume 7/The Trial of Captain Powell.

For Ravishing Margaret Edson, a child under the Age of 12 Years, at York Assizes, March 31st, 1775.

Mary Edson stated: I am the child's mother. On the Friday before New Year's Day, I perceived my daughter was ill, I asked her what she had done to herself (as she had trouble in making water), if she had fallen and hurt herself; she said no. On Sunday, the 1st January, when I stripped her I saw her shift very much daubed with what had come from her, which gave me a great shock.

Q.- What colour was it?

A.- A yellow colour mixed with red. When I saw her in that condition, I said if you do not tell me what you have done with yourself I will take the skin off your backside. As she would not tell me I got a birch rod, and twining her over my lap gave her bum a sharp tickling, when she said that Captain Powell sent for her brother and her, and he gave her brother a halfpenny to buy some sweets. After the boy went out the Captain barred the door, and then he put his finger up her body and hurt her very much. I was much surprised, and sent for Mrs. Nurser, a neighbour, who advised me to send for Dr. Lee, who lives at Knaresborough. In the afternoon too we asked her what Captain Powell did to her, and she then said Captain Powell unbuttoned his breeches and took out his cock and put it into her. I asked her if she felt anything come from him. She said she thought he made water in her. She said he sat in his chair and took her before him, and she shewed the motion he made in the chair, then he took her upstairs and did the same again.

Q.- From the appearance of the colour on the shift did you think it had the same appearance as that which comes from a man on those occasions?

A.- To the best of my judgment I thought it was. Mr. John Lee, a surgeon, said that Mr. Edson, the father of the child, making application to him to examine his daughter, he attended at his house, when he inspected the child, and found her private parts much inflamed and swelled, which convinced him she had received some injury; there was likewise a discharge from the parts, which made him afraid it was venereal. He attended and administered to her about six weeks.

Q.- Did it appear to you there had been any violence used by a man's penis?

A.- I cannot say I formed any judgment as to the cause.

Q.- Suppose a man had introduced his private parts, would it have occasioned this?

A.- Yes it would.

Q.- Would a finger being put there occasion the excoriation?

A.- Yes it might. If a man had entered the vagina of the child and entered into her body, I should have thought it would have had a different appearance. It would have brought away blood, but I observed none.

Margaret Edson (the child).

COURT.- What age are you?

A.— Ten-and-a-half

Q.— Do you tell lies?

A.— No.

Q.— Will you tell me the truth?

A.— Yes.

Q.— Do you know Captain Powell? Look round and see if he is here.

A.— There is Captain Powell, pointing to the prisoner.

Q.— Now tell us what Captain Powell did to you.

A.— I and my brother was at Mrs. Raper's playing with her little boy; we did not stay long. My brother and I were going home, and Captain Powell said, "Come hither, Peg, come hither." My brother went with me to Captain Powell, and he gave my brother a halfpenny to go and buy sweets. My brother went, and then Captain Powell bolted the door.

Q.— What did he do after that?

A.— He put one hand round my waist and turned up my clothes.

Q.— Where was he?

A.— He was sitting in a chair.

Q.— How was you standing?

A.— On the floor before him, between his legs.

Q.— What did he do?

A.— He unbuttoned his breeches and took his cock out.

Q.- How did you know it was his cock?

A.— I saw it; I saw him take it out.

Q.— What did he do after that?

A.— He put his cock in my arsehole.

Q.— Tell us that again?

A.— He unbuttoned his breeches, took out his cock, and put it in my arsehole.

The jury did not wish to hear any more, and he was indicted at the next assizes for a common assault, and found guilty.


text:
The Pearl/Volume 7/Fowls and Pickled Pork.

The wife of a City gentleman one day found in his pocket a billet from a ladylove of his, asking him to come that evening to supper, and that she had fowls and pickled pork.

The husband came home at his usual time, and told his wife that he had some particular business to transact that evening, which would keep him out rather late.

"Very well, dear, but you can't go out in that soiled shirt, come upstairs and change it," responded his tender better half.

She went with him to their bedroom, and with her jokes and larking soon gave him such a cockstand that he tossed her on the bed and had a good fuck.

Proceeding to finish dressing she again interrupted him with the remark that "he could not go out with such dirty stockings, now John let me pull them off and put on a clean pair for you."

This led to further dallying, especially when she remarked, "how silly his cock looked with its head hanging down, how she had taken the life out of it; la, I wonder if it can stand again dear," as she played with and kissed his limp concern. This led to another loving fuck, which ended by her giving him a rapturous kiss, as she exclaimed, "I believe, John, you have made me a baby at last. Now, my dear, I don't mind if you go and have the 'fowls and pickled pork.'"

But the husband declared "he would be damned if he did now."

''N.B.- The Editor of THE PEARL would advise married ladies not to trust too implicitly in the belief "that if they fuck their husband well before he goes out, they may safely trust him." Our experience is that it only tends to make the men more excitable; we once knew a person (not ourself of course), who would have three different women on the way home from business, and then fuck his wife well when he went to bed, which he would not have thought of otherwise.''


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, Edmund


text:
The Pearl/Volume 7/Lady Pokingham, or They All Do It.

Giving an Account of her Luxurious Adventures, both before and after her Marriage with Lord Crim-Con

PART IV.

I must now return to my liaison with Lothair; he had promised to meet me again in a week, when I hoped to hear the particulars of his drive to Richmond.

We lunched again at the Bristol Hotel, and without having recourse to the tincture, I found him almost as hot and impulsive as before. "Ah! Beatrice," he said, as we lay exhausted on the sofa, after a series of delicious encounters, "I cannot express half the gratitude and devotion I ought to have; for you, not satisfied with making me happy yourself, quite unselfishly advised me how to enjoy the two nuns. But first tell me of that Society of Love, which you promised to introduce me to, and then you shall have my adventure."

So briefly I described to him the Paphian Circle, and took his promise to allow me to introduce him at the next seance.

"I know," he said, "you thought me quite captivated by Miss Arundel, but I never forgot your advice, and resolved to seem to lend myself as a proselyte, accept all the advantages they might offer as baits, and get a thorough insight into all the plans of the Jesuits before I open their eyes, but it is a game that will last a long time. Now, as to the Richmond drive. Lady St. Jerome and Miss Arundel were most vivacious and alluring, as we drove down by road; then we had a beautiful row on the river whilst waiting for dinner, which we sat down to with excellent appetites. I plied the two ladies with wine, and requested them as a special favour not to leave me to myself at dessert, as I did not smoke, and there were no other gentlemen present. Everything was sparkling and agreeable, religion seemed to be avoided by mutual consent, the ladies had withdrawn from the table to a sofa in a recess, where their faces were screened from the light of the brilliant chandelier; they had each had two or three glasses of champagne and seemed very careful not to exceed the limits of decorum, when, taking a fresh bottle, I challenged them to drink to the prosperity of the Christian Church.

"'Ah!' said Miss Arundel, with flashing eyes, 'but what Church do you refer to?'

"'Dear ladies,' I replied, 'you shall word the toast as you please, and I will drain a real bumper to it in your company.'

"'Then,' said Clare, 'we drink to the prosperity of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and long life to His Holiness Pius IX.'

"Their eyes sparkled, and both seemed unusually excited.

"'What would we not do to assure your conversion, dear Lothair,' said Lady St. Jerome. 'Come and sit between us whilst we talk seriously to you.'

"I sat down on the sofa, and being well flushed with wine, impudently put an arm round each of their waists, and said, without thinking, 'Ah! that's mere nonsense; but in truth, I would sell both body and soul for the happiness you and your niece could confer on me.'

"Miss Arundel drew a deep sigh, but Lady St. Jerome softly whispered, as she laid one hand on my thigh, most awkwardly near to an important member, 'Ah! what do you mean? Join our Church, and there is nothing we will deny to you.'

"'Nothing! nothing! you will get indulgences and dispensations for everything then,' whispered Clare, as she laid her head on my shoulder.

"'No! no traffic with priests; I want my indulgence from you, dear ladies, if you care for my soul, now's the time to save me; drive me away in unsatisfied desperation, and such a chance will never occur again. Ah! how awfully I am tempted by the proximity of such charms!' I exclaimed, falling on my knees; and clasping their legs, as I hid my face in Clare's lap.

"They were both trembling with emotion, and I was equally agitated, but I seemed to guess from their looks and manner towards me, the present moment was too favourable for them to let slip.

"Lady St. Jerome was the first to speak. 'Dear Lothair, we do indeed pity your distress. Oh! Oh! for shame, sir, what liberties! Will you? Will you, promise us?' as she fidgeted about in confusion, feeling my hand slowly advancing up her legs beneath the clothes; both my hands were busy, but Clare had closed her thighs, and firmly stopped my advance in silence, whilst her aunt's ejaculations seemed to encourage me more and more.

"'By all that's sacred, I promise everything you may demand of me, they shall receive me into the Church, as soon as they please, if you two will but be ministering angels to my impulsive passions,' I cried, taking advantage of her confusion to gain complete possession of the grotto of love.

"'Clare, dear,' sighed Her Ladyship, 'can we possibly sacrifice ourselves for a nobler purpose; by now subduing his carnal lusts, we shall also draw a lost sheep to the foot of the cross.'

"I felt Miss Arundel's tightly compressed thighs relax in their resistance, and she gave a spasmodic sigh as I victoriously advanced my rude hand also to her mossy retreat. 'Ah! how delicious to have possession of a double set of the loveliest charms, I will kiss you, and enjoy you by turns,' I said in rapture, at the prospect before me.

Lady St. Jerome.- 'Excuse me a moment, dear Lothair, Clare is all blushing confusion, let me spare her modesty as much as possible,' as she rose and locked the door, then almost turned out the gas.

"Pulling up her skirts, I threw Miss Arundel backwards on the sofa, and releasing my bursting weapon, threw myself between her yielding thighs, as I exclaimed, 'You have indeed relieved me of making an invidious selection, as I cannot restrain the heat of my passion, Clare must be the first victim to it.'

"It was almost, if not quite, dark in the recess where we were, but my lips sought those of the lovely girl, her entire frame seemed to quiver under me, and she gave a faint shriek as the head of my cock first touched the lips of her cunny. 'Courage, darling,' I whispered in her ear, 'I won't hurt you more than I can help; open your legs, and give way to me as much as you can, you suffer for a noble object.' As if I did not know she had already lost her virginity.

"Lady St. Jerome had now returned to the sofa, where she encouraged Clare to bear the dreadful pain with all her fortitude. Then Her Ladyship took my affair in her hand, saying, 'Let me, dear Lothair, direct you right. I'm a married woman, and know exactly how it ought to be done.' Her touch only added to my excitement. She kept drawing the foreskin back, and took care to present the head rather above the proper entrance to the vagina, to make me think the resistance I felt was genuine, but it gave me infinite pleasure, and made Mr. Pego spend all over the entrance of Clare's longing cunny. At last, after great difficulty, they let me fairly in, and I begged Her Ladyship to still keep her hand there and stimulate my exertions. I spent three times, each time more excitedly than the last, whilst the dear girl was a constant flood of lubricity, and seemed to melt with love, clinging to me with all the tenacity of her voluptuous furor.

"At last, notwithstanding her entreaties for me to go on, on, on, I managed to withdraw, as I told her she would leave nothing for me to repay all her dear aunt's kindness. 'But, Clare darling,' I said, 'I will still give you pleasure with my tongue.' So I made her give way to Lady St. Jerome, who eagerly slipped off some of her skirts, as she said, to give me greater freedom, but in reality so that she might enjoy herself more. Her pussey was quite wet with spendings, which had flowed in sympathy with our enjoyment.

"Miss Clare was an apt pupil, and quickly arranged herself over her aunt's face, so as to present her excited cunny to my lips.

"Lady St. Jerome had an extraordinary gift of contraction in her vagina, it took hold of my cock, like a delicately soft hand with a frigging motion, as she wriggled and met my thrusts, of the most delicious kind. I grasped and moulded her lovely breasts with both hands, for she held me convulsively to her body, and I had no necessity to clasp her myself. Our conjunction was so exciting that I spent again immediately, under the touches of what I called her invisible hand, then steadying myself I revelled in love and lubricity for more than half-an-hour, both the dear ladies gasping, sighing, and sometimes when they spent giving vent to subdued shrieks of pleasure and dearment. Clare seemed quite as excited as her aunt, who I found was frigging her bottom-hole, and rousing all her lustful propensities to the utmost, with a disengaged hand, as soon as she found I was so safely rooted in herself that one arm could hold me.

"I can't tell you how we finished, for there seemed to be no end to it; however, about eleven o'clock we apparently awoke from a kind of delicious lethargy, into which we had all fallen, and we soon sufficiently composed ourselves to ring for the carriage and start for town; on the plea of keeping out the chilly night air, the windows were put up, and I had one or the other of them astride of my lap and spitted on the shaft of love till the noise of granite pavement under the wheels of the carriage warned us of the near approach to St. James' Square.

"I have promised not to marry, but expressed my wish to be received into the Church by the Holy Father himself soon after Christmas, when I will visit Rome on purpose; this will give me plenty of time to carry on my game, and prove to the Jesuits that I am now quite equal to the tricks they played on me, when they had me down at Vauxe before, and imposed on the weak senses of a poor boy, quite green to the ways of the world. I can love Clare, when I don't think of it, but if I do I should hate her even in the midst of our love transports."

Our time in town was getting short, so at my suggestion Bertram and St. Aldegonde arranged an early day with Lothair, for his initiation to the Paphian Circle.

We were still at Crecy House, and this time the affair was managed under cover of a small private party at the Duke of Brecon's, where we dismissed our carriages, and then drove out in those of his Grace for a country excursion, which of course only extended to Cheyne Walk. Everything was in readiness, and Lothair being admitted as usual, we quickly appeared in the garb of Madre Natura as before.

Partners were drawn for the first dance, my lot fell to the Duke of Brecon, whilst Lothair was drawn by Alice, and Lady Corisande presided at the piano, where her brilliant execution helped to add to the excitement engendered by the lascivious motions of the dance, in which, when the gentlemen and ladies changed partners as they went through the figure, they gave our bottoms a fine smarting spank, which we repaid by sharp little slaps on their extended cocks, soon getting tremendously warm and excited over our quadrille, and at the conclusion could scarcely restrain ourselves sufficiently to allow Lothair to give the usual kiss all round to our palpitating cunnies.

I noticed Lady Bertha very busy whispering to everyone, and soon found out that she was proposing a little bit of extra fun for us, of which the novice was of course to be the victim, whilst both pleasure and profit would accrue to the Paphian Circle.

(To be continued.)


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The Pearl/Volume 7/Progress.

Let those who never tried, believe, In woman's chastity! Let her who ne'er was asked, receive, The praise of modesty!

Again I've been at Church to-day, And eyed that angel stranger; Whose yielding glances seem to say, "I love, but dread the danger."

Too truly sung the Indian sage, That "Father, Brother, Son, To her who feels the sexual rage Are lawful - all are one."

Tho' woman's virtue's true as steel Before you touch her soul; Still let it once the Magnet feel 'Twill flutter tow'rds the Pole!

title: The Pearl/Volume 7/Progress.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, Earls of


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The Pearl/Volume 7/Expostulation With a Fierce Preacher.

Oh, jealous Cotterill, why so warm? Because your congregation, In spite of all you preach and storm, Persist in fornication.

And so you think a ball-room dress Unfitted for a pew, And fain would check the wantonness That gives the breasts to view.

"Indecent" is a cruel word To use to strict church-goers, It's very awful by the Lord To call us rogues and whores.

In pews, like sheep in pens we sit, While you indulge in barking, If sheep will cast sheep's eyes a bit It is not worth remarking.

The ball-room and the play-house gay In India are so rare, That church for those who play or pray Is crowded by the fair.

Poor Cotterill - why then should he grieve Because our glances roam? He merely wants us all to leave Our "Hearts and Souls" at home.

I joy the lecherous girl to squeeze, I joy thy rage to see, So first I sin myself to please And next to anger thee.

The silliest goose that swims the lake Is known to be the Dotterel, That spelling must be a mistake. The name I'm sure is Cotterill!


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, Henry of


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The Pearl/Volume 7/Hymn to the Genius of Woman.

(A statue in the Florentine Gallery.)

Genius of woman, glorious form Of perfect loveliness, I worship thee, with beauty warm, Released from every dress.

Oh smile on him to Thee who bows, Who worships Thee alone; And pays his deep impassioned vows, At none but Beauty's throne.

And bless thou Her whose pencil gave, Thy dazzling limbs to light, Naked, as rising from the wave, They shone all rosy bright.

It was a homage due to Thee, By grateful Chloris paid; For Thou with every conquering charm, Has't blest the golden maid.

And every touch her pencil gave, To each alluring part; Has bound in firmer spells the slave, Of pleasure, love, and art.

Oh sacred, fervent, silent be, Our worship at Thy shrine; No eye profane shall ever see, Thy lineaments divine.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, John of


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, Henry Hill


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, James


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, John


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title: User:PBS/template2


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, Nathaniel


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lancaster, Thomas William


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Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 5.djvu/477

 SCENE I.] WERNER. 441 A life which stood between the claims of others To honours and estates scarce less than princely. SUg, These hints, as vague as vain, attach no less To me than to my son. Gab, I can't help that. 200 But let the consequence alight on him Who feels himself the guilty one amongst us. I speak to you, Count Siegendorf, because I Imow you iimocent, and deem you just. But ere I can proceed — dare you protect me ? Dare you command me ? [Siegendorf ^rx/ looks at the Hungarian, and then at Ulric, w?u> has unbuckled his sabre, and is drawing lines with it on the floor — still in its sheath, Ulr. {looks at his father, and says,) Let the man go on ! Gab. I am unarmed. Count, bid your son lay down His sabre. Ulr. {offers it to him contemptuously). Take it. Gab, No, sir, 'tis enough That we are both unarmed — I would not choose To wear a steel which may be stained with more 210 Blood than came there in battle. Ulr. {casts the sabre from him in contempt). It— -or some Such other weapon in my hand — spared yours Once, when disarmed and at my mercy. Gab. True— I have not forgotten it : you spared me for Your own especial purpose — to sustain An ignominy not my own. Ulr. Proceed. The tale is doubtless worthy the relater. But is itof my father to hear further ? To Siegendorf. Sieg, {takes his son by the hand). My son, I know my own innocence, and doubt not Of yours — ^but I have promised this man patience ; 220 Let him continue. Gab. I will not detain you, By speaking of myself much : I began Life early — and am what the world has made me. At Frankfort on the Oder, where I passed


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Land, Edward


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Landel, William


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Landells, Ebenezer


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Landen, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lander, John


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lander, Richard Lemon


text: Index:How to write a Short Story.djvu

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Author:Zell Miller

Works

 * Floor Statement on the Iraq Resolution, (the Snake Speech) October 2002

title: Author:Zell Miller


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Floor Statement on the Iraq Resolution

Mr. President, I have signed on as an original co-sponsor of the Iraq resolution, and I'd like to tell you [a] story about why I think it is the right path to take:

A few weeks ago, we were doing some work on my back porch back home, tearing out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I uncovered a nest of Copperhead snakes.

Now, I'm not one to get alarmed at snakes. I know they perform some valuable functions, like eating rats. And when I was a young lad, I kept snakes as pets. I had an Indigo snake, a Bull snake, a beautiful colored Corn snake and many others. I must have had a dozen King snakes at one time or another. They make great pets and you only had to give them a mouse every 30 days. I read all the books by Raymond C. Ditmars, who was the foremost herpetologist of the day. That is a person who is an expert on snakes. For a while, I wanted to be a herpetologist, but the pull of being a big-league shortstop outran that childhood dream.

I reminisce this way to explain that snakes don't scare me like they do most people. And I guess the reason is that I know the difference between those snakes that are harmless and those that will kill you. In fact, I bet I may be the only senator in this body who can look at the last three inches of a snake's tail and tell you whether it's poisonous or not. I can also tell the sex of a snake, but that's another story.

A Copperhead will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It could kill one of my grandchildren. It could kill any one of my four great grandchildren. They play all the time where I found those killers. And you know, when I discovered those Copperheads, I didn't call my wife Shirley for advice, like I do on most things. I didn't go before the city council. I didn't yell for help from my neighbors. I just took a hoe and knocked them in the head and killed them. Dead as a doorknob.

I guess you could call it a unilateral action. Or preemptive. Perhaps if you had been watching me you could have even called it bellicose and reactive. I took their poisonous heads off because they were a threat to me. And they were a threat to my home and my family. They were a threat to all I hold dear. And isn't that what this is all about?

title: Floor Statement on the Iraq Resolution


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 EDITOR PUBLISHING COMPANY

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material in the following pages is a series of suggestive talks rather than a scholarly discourse. I leave to others the discussion of polish, atmosphere, and artistic handling; I take for my theme the writing of a short story that will sell.

There are many writers throughout the country, with good educations, with clear brains, and with the ambition to see their work in print, who are failing merely because they are not familiar with the technique of the short story. It is to these that I would appeal.

In the following pages, therefore, I have aimed above all else to be practical. I have written in the first person, without even the shield of the editorial “we.” I have addressed my

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 reader directly, in a desire to impress upon his mind the fundamental requisites of a salable short story. In a word, I have endeavored to point out, more or less systematically, every step by which an idea may be converted into a short story, fit to appear between the covers of a reputable magazine.

L. W. Q.

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Joint Declaration by Members of the United Nations Against Extermination of the Jews

The attention of the Governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxemberg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Yugoslavia, and of the French National Committee has been drawn to numerous reports from Europe that the German authorities, not content with denying to persons of Jewish race in all the territories over which their barbarous rule has been extended the most elementary human rights, are now carrying into effect Hitler's oft repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe. From all the occupied countries Jews are being transported, in conditions of appalling horror and brutality, to Eastern Europe. In Poland, which has been made the principal Nazi slaughterhouse, the ghettoes established by the German invaders are being systematically emptied of all Jews except a few highly skilled workers required for war industries. None of those taken away are ever heard of again. The able-bodied are slowly worked to death in labour camps. The infirm are left to die of exposure and starvation or are deliberately massacred in mass executions. The number of victims of these bloody cruelties is reckoned in many hundreds of thousands of entirely innocent men, women and children.

The above mentioned Governments and the French National Committee condemn in the strongest possible terms this bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination. They declare that such events can only strengthen the resolve of all freedom loving peoples to overthrow the barbarous Hitlerite tyranny. They re-affirm their solemn resolution to ensure that those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution, and to press on with the necessary practical measures to this end.


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386 that Margaret's story was generally true. Her principal desire was now for a divorce from Methuen. The Cumberland; and two curious letters written by him to Cromwell during the journey are printed in the State Papers, vol. i. pp. 526–529. He spent a night at Darlington, which he describes thus: 'My chance was to come into the town in the evening, about six of the clock, or somewhat afore; and when I alighted at my lodging, I think there was not passing three or four persons standing about the inn door. Assuring your lordship that I was scant ascended up a pair of stairs into my chamber but there was about thirty or forty persons assembled in the street afore my chamber window, with clubs and bats; and there they came running out of all quarters of the street, and stood together on a clump, whispering and rounding together. Wherefore I called unto me mine host, who seemed to be an honest man, and I asked him what the people meant to assemble so together. He answered me that when they saw or heard of any coming out of the south, they used always so to gather together to hear news. I told him it was ill suffered of them that were the heads of the town to let them make such unlawful assemblies together in the street; and that it was a very ill example, and hard to judge what inconveniences might follow or what attemptates they would enterprise when such a number of light fellows were assembled. He answered me by his faith the heads of the town could not rule them, ne durst for their lives speak any foul word unto them. But, quoth he, I think myself to be in some credit with them; and ye shall see, quoth he, that I shall cause them to scatter abroad, and every man to go to his home bye and bye. Marry, quoth I, if ye do well ye should set some of them by the heels. No, quoth he, God defend, for so might we bring a thousand men in our tops within an hour; but ye shall see me order them well enough with fair words. And thereupon he went to the route in the street as they stood whispering together, and with his cap in his hand, prayed them to leave their whispering, and every man to go home. And then came they all about him, and asked him who I was, whence I came, and whither I would. Mine host told them I was the King's servant, and going from his Highness in ambassade into Scotland, whereunto one of them replied, and said that could not be true, for the King of Scots was in France. Nevertheless, in fine, mine host so pacified them, that every man went his way; but much ado he had, as he told me. I assure your lordship the people be very tickle, and methinketh in a marvellous strange case and perplexity, for they gape and look for things, and fain would have they cannot tell what.'


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1537.] grounds on which the new petition was founded are not stated. She had, perhaps, ascertained by this time that the rumour of the protracted life of James IV. had been ill-founded; but any means seemed admissible which would liberate her from a disgraceful connection. If not divorced, she might be formally separated; and on Sadler's return to London, Henry, who was bound to sympathize in matrimonial calamities, sent him into France to request James to interpose his authority in his mother's defence.

At the moment of Sadler's arrival the King of Scotland was preparing to return home with his bride. The weak health of the Queen being likely to suffer from a voyage which might possibly be protracted, an application had been made to Henry, through the French ambassador, for permission for herself and her husband to pass through England. There was some hesitation, for the state of the country was critical, and James's general behaviour had not entitled him to confidence. The Duke of Norfolk considered, nevertheless, that the signs of wealth and prosperity which he would witness in his journey might produce a wholesome effect upon him; and the required favour might, perhaps, have been granted eventually, had not James interpreted the delay into refusal, and sailed resentfully for Scotland. As he passed up the Yorkshire coast he received deputations from parties of the late insurgents, and he was heard to say that he trusted, 'before a year was out, to


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388 break a spear on an Englishman's breast.' In such a humour he was not likely to look more affectionately on his mother, or attend to Henry's representations on her behalf. On his arrival in Scotland, 'omitting all manner of his usual pastimes,' he spent his time with unknown intentions in military preparations. Margaret, in addition to her other misfortunes, found herself suspected and hated as a spy of England. She hud contrived to carry her suit for a divorce to the verge of a successful termination in a Scotch Ecclesiastical Court. But Methuen, who lived upon her dowry, which he would have lost if she escaped him, persuaded the King that she intended to retire across the Border, and rejoin the Earl of Angus. James forbade the sentence to be pronounced, and, as the queen-mother declared—but, it is to be hoped, misled by misery—he shared with Methuen the proceeds of her property. Eventually this last grievance was brought to an end. She was parted from her husband; and the rest of her story may be concluded in this place. She struggled on


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a good short story is a cash asset. The demand is steady, the market unlimited, and the prices good. No other form of writing attracts half the attention nor commands half the rates of payment. “Fiction,” says Jack London, “pays best of all, and when it is of a fair quality, is most easily sold.” A literary beginner, I firmly believe, has a much better chance in this field than in any other; and if he possesses a fair education and is in earnest, he has the chance to make a good living and acquire a modest fame.

Every day that passes adds new markets for the short story. Says Frank A. Munsey:

“The great field to-day is for writers of fiction. There is not half enough to go around. Publishers all over the world are reaching out for both short and

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1541.] through life for four years longer; and after the King's second marriage to Mary of Guise she was treated at the palace with some increase of courtesy; but her worst enemies, her pitiable folly and vanity, continued to adhere to her till the 24th of November, 1541, when she was suddenly struck with paralysis, and died—died, we are told, penitent. 'When she perceived that death did approach, she did desire the friars that were her confessors that they should set on their knees before the King, and beseech him that he would be good and gracious unto the Earl of Angus; and did extremely lament and ask God mercy that she had offended the said Earl as she had.'

Well might she lament her behaviour to Angus. She had dishonoured him as his wife, she had driven him from his country to fret out his life in banishment, she had taught her son to suspect and dread the worthiest subject that he possessed; and in this one only point he had remained obedient to her influence. Not only did James share his mother's hate of Angus, but he extended his animosity to his kindred. Almost his first act on his return from France was to order an execution, for which charity must hope, with difficulty, that some just cause existed. He landed in May. In July the Earl's sister Lady Glamis, his brother-in-law the Master of Forbes, and Archibald Campbell, Lady Glamis' second husband, were accused of conspiracy against the King's life. They protested their innocence; they had not


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390 been at the Court or near it: and the people saw in the accusation the offences of Angus rather than of his relations; but they were condemned peremptorily. Campbell attempted to escape out of Edinburgh Castle: the rope was too short, he fell and was killed. The Master of Forbes died on the scaffold, 'attainted of such matter as he at his death did take upon him that he was sackless.' Lady Glamis was burnt alive, 'to the great commiseration of the spectators.' 'The nobleness both of herself and of her husband did much affect the beholders. She was, in the vigour of her youth, much commended for her beauty, and in her punishment she shewed a manlike fortitude.'

The relations between the Scotch and English Governments, meanwhile, were in a condition of negative hostility. As long as the war lasted between France and the Empire, the Pope's much-desired combination against Henry was impossible. It was not till after the pacification of Nice that better prospects seemed to open. Magdalen de Valois died rapidly in the inhospitable northern atmosphere. Her place was filled immediately after by a princess whose steady devotion to the Catholic cause gave consistency to James's weakness. Mary, daughter of the Duke of Guise, and widow of the Duke


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 long stories. Good ones are extremely difficult to find. Prices have gone up and up and up, but the supply does not begin to equal the demand. Nothing appeals to so wide a class or gives so much pleasure. Love, romance, mystery, adventure, will never lose their charm. They are as fresh to-day with the human heart as they were in old Pompeii and countless ages before."

Nor is the call only for stories by well-known authors. The editors of the very best magazines are constantly on the alert for new writers. Mr. Alden, editor of Harper's, says that were it not for these contributors "the magazine would languish in all its fine tissues for lack of the infusion of new blood."

To-day the literary beginner who succeeds is the one who welcomes suggestions. He knows he cannot turn author on the instant, merely by wishing; the wish-appeasing genii are not abroad in this enlightened age. On the contrary he realizes that he must study the profession; must fit himself for the work.

"In my own case," says

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1538.] do Longueville, landed in Scotland on the 16th of June, 1538. Her person was a link which bound the country to France and the Papacy. Her character, at once fearless and cunning, passionately religious, and unembarrassed with moral scruples, qualified her in no common degree for the remarkable part which she was to play. A coadjutor devout and treacherous as herself, and even more able, came forward at the same time, in the person of David Beton, who had succeeded his uncle in the archbishopric of St Andrew's, and had been raised by the discretion of those who had discerned in small services the greatness of his powers, to the dignity of a cardinal. These two, the Queen and Beton, became the supporters of the throne; and, except for brief luminous intervals, were thenceforward the directors of Scottish policy.

In the winter of 1538–9 earnest messages were going to and fro between Holyrood, Flanders, Paris, and Rome; and in the end of March, when the mysterious fleet was arming in the harbours of the Netherlands, English spies reported from Edinburgh that Francis had desired James to have an army in readiness by the 15th of May, either to co-operate with an invading force, or to distract the attention of Henry, while French and Imperial troops were landed at some point on the southern coast. It was added that James had hesitated, and that Beton had in consequence gone to Pans to learn in detail the nature of the proposed measures, and whether or how far Scotland would be supported should the invasion fail, and should she,


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392 after being tempted into a participation in the quarrel, be left exposed to English vengeance. The information was the more important from the caution with which it was given. It spoke of likelihood, not of certainty, and recommended the application of a test to prove its accuracy. 'Let the Duke of Norfolk send to the King of Scots,' the informants added, 'and say by his writings that he trusts the King of Scots will not suffer any men of war to land in his realm against England; and by the King's answer shall be known whether these sayings be true or not.' The communication was laid before Henry, who adopted the last advice; and the skilful Sir Ralph Sadler was again commissioned to Edinburgh, if possible to pour oil over the waters, or at least to ascertain the truth. The language of his instructions was courteous, but plain. The King said he knew by good authority the efforts which were made by the Pope to create a coalition of


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1539.] the Catholic princes against England. He had been obliged to place the realm in a state of defence; and he took the present opportunity of assuring the Scotch Government that the additional garrisons and fortifications at Berwick were a consequence of the threatened attack upon him, and were meant in no way for a demonstration against his neighbours. He believed, notwithstanding, that the Pope, regardless of everything but the success of his own schemes, had endeavoured to entangle his nephew in the conspiracy. The King of Scots, he trusted, would be too wise to condescend to such purposes; 'but because his realm adjoined unto England, and as a prince and king on whose peril they had not much regard,' the Pope and cardinals 'designed to make him a ringleader and chief setter forth of hostility against his uncle, not caring whether both uncle and nephew should consume each other,' so they might have their way. Let James consider whether the conduct of England towards him for the last twenty years deserved that he should lend himself to its enemies. Let him weigh well what the amities of other princes had cost him, and 'foresee what might chance if he should fortune, for other men's pleasure, to attempt any enterprise, specially where the matter which his Highness defended was God's and his Word's own cause.'

The verbal message was supported in a manner to give it emphasis. The Duke of Norfolk advanced from York to Berwick, and his dreaded name carried with it a panic across the Border. The Catholic league gazed


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overend, Marmaduke


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, Charles


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, Constantine


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394 wistfully from Flanders at their intended prey, half drew their swords, and, faint-hearted, thrust them back into the scabbards. They dared not land upon the English shores; and James and his advisers dared not offer them Scotland as a basis of operations. The excommunications, the intrigues, the embassies, the preparations, exploded in vapour. The lesson, as Henry believed, would not be lost. He supposed that James must have seen the risk which he would have incurred, had he been drawn into the dangerous quarrel; and allowing him a few months to reflect, again, at the close of the year, he sent the same ambassador on a similar errand, not only this time to warn the Scotch Government against acts of aggression, but to induce the King at last, if possible, to relinquish Beton and the Papacy; to fulfil his old promise of visiting England, where he might learn of his uncle to reform his own Church. Once more James was reminded how splendid a prospect might open to his ambition, would he really and heartily attach himself to the English alliance. Henry had but one legitimate child; and though he hoped 'by God's grace to have better store of issue,' yet he was now 'stricken in years,' he said, and he was empowered by Act of Parliament to determine the succession in his will. Not from any fear that 'either the French King or the Emperor would now move him to any such attempt as should utterly banish him for ever out of the favour of his Majesty and the realm,' but from goodwill to himself, from a hearty desire for his welfare, and, above all,


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, John (1640-1708?)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, John (1763-1838)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, John (1764-1838)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, Richard


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, in his recent book, "Literature and Life," "I noticed that the contributors who could be best left to themselves were those who were most amenable to suggestion and even correction, who took the blue pencil with a smile, and bowed gladly to the rod of the proofreader. Those who were on the alert for offence, who resented a marginal note as a slight, and bumptiously demanded that their work be printed just as they had written it, were commonly not much more desired by the reader than by the editor."

In conclusion, it may not be amiss to suggest that the short story writer often becomes a novelist. It is true that all who can write short fiction cannot produce a readable book, but a little reflection will show that a large percentage of the novelists served an apprenticeship writing short stories.

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text: Page:How to write a Short Story.djvu/16

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, Robert


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overton, William


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1540.] for the peace and happiness of the two countries, the King of England implored his nephew to meet his overtures with the frankness with which they were made.

There was an element of good sense in James, which might have prevailed had he been free; but he was under the spell of the Cardinal and the Queen, which he could not break, and the Scotch nation was as unmanageable as himself. Sadler carried down the gracious message, but only to fail at the Court and to be insulted by the people. The provost of Edinburgh refused him a lodging for his train; and it was not till the King interfered that they could be entertained. Although in some of the younger noblemen—in the young Earls of Argyle and Ruthven, and in Sir David Lindsay—he found a sounder feeling, the Church on one side, and national pride on the other, were too strong to give a chance of success to the English advances. Policy had


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owain ap Edwin


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owain ap Cadwgan


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 suffering and injustice, he left his native land "without resentment or ill-will," knowing too well that the time would come when Englishmen would do him justice. He died on 6th February 1804, and lies buried near his new home.

If Priestley could have seen that his friend Lavoisier and Bailly (the astronomer) would be sent to the guillotine, he would have modified his views of the liberty, fraternity, and humanity of the French Revolutionists. Priestley received £2000 to atone for mob violence—the Birmingham revolution of three days; for poor Lavoisier and Bailly the only compensation is the sorrow of all intellectual men and women.

In the end, Priestley's political and theological heterodoxy helped to make England what it is. He was scorned in England, honoured in France, and found peace in America. Posthumous honours have been instituted to his memory. A statue at Birmingham, representing him in the act of decomposing red precipitate, was erected in front of the Town Hall; another at Leeds; a chemical scholarship bearing his name is awarded by the Birmingham University; and a beautiful fresco on the walls of the Birmingham Town Hall represents him entering a coach in order to place himself and family out of reach of the infuriated mob, egged on to do their nefarious work of destruction by political and religious foes.

Some idea may be formed of the vastness of Priestley's


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owain, Gutyn


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text: Page:How to write a Short Story.djvu/66

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen of Wales


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Alice


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Aneurin


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 work by mentioning the titles of some of his books: Observations on Air; The First Principles of Civil Government; Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit; On Oratory and Criticism; On the History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Colours; The General History of the Christian Church; the Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity; The Harmony of the Evangelists in Greek; The Rudiments of English Grammar; Experiments on Different Kinds of Air; An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective; A History of Electricity; The Doctrine of Phlogiston Established (one of his last publications), etc.

With all his faults, sympathies with American and French Revolutionists, heterodoxy, prejudices against antiphlogistians, he was a manly man, devoid of mean acts (which cannot be said of many of his foes), a great worker, brilliant experimentalist, a learned writer, a kind and genial friend, and a great controversialist in the domains of theology, metaphysics, politics, and natural philosophy. He was the father of pneumatic chemistry, but more anon. He never could free himself of the false doctrine of phlogiston; but in the words of Voltaire: "oublions les rêves des grandes hommes et souvenons nous des vérités qu'ils nous ont enseignées."

The truths which Priestley contributed to chemistry have now to be described; but, before doing so, it may


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Corbet


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, David (d.1642)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, David (1720-1749)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, David (1784-1841)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, David (1794-1866)


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 THE PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT

you have expended your best energies on your story, and by careful revision have brought it to the highest degree of excellence of which you are capable, it is ready to be dressed up in a fetching manner for the editorial eye. You must now recopy it in such a way that no mark of your workmanship in recasting and reconstructing will show. Fine clothes do not make an acceptance, any more than they make a gentleman, but they command respect in both cases.

First of all, your manuscript should be neatly and correctly typewritten. I don't care how legibly you may write, you can't compare with the printed letters of the machine. Moreover, you are stringing a thousand-word story over great pads of paper, when you might print it on four thin sheets. An editor's

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Edward (1728-1807)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Edward Campbell Rich


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Edward Pryce


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 be remarked en passant that he lived in a great age, an age remarkable for great names, which recall to the mind great ideas: Swift, Voltaire, Rousseau, Johnson, Hume, Goldsmith, Gibbon, Goethe, Schiller, Burns Chatterton, Franklin, Mirabeau, Pitt, Talleyrand, Napoleon, Nelson, Washington, and a host of others more or less great lived in the same age as Priestley; and what pictures these names conjure to the thinking reader!

Although many of his works will perish as time rolls on, his chemical discoveries will remain for ever.

Joseph Priestley's name will live as the discoverer of. It is curious that Priestley himself was so wedded to the doctrine of Stahl—the phlogistic theory—which supposed the existence of a subtle principle, phlogiston, that he did not appreciate the vast importance of his own discovery, and his attitude led Cuvier when pronouncing his éloge (at the time of his death) before the Académie des Sciences, to describe him as "le père de la chimie modèrne qui ne voulait pas reconnaitre sa fille."

On 1st August 1774 Priestley discovered oxygen (dephlogisticated air) from red precipitate (mercuric oxide), which gave chemists a new gas of wonderful properties, only to involve chemical processes into great confusion and deeper mystery. The fire air (oxygen) of Scheele, recorded in his Chemische Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer, brought some light into the chemistry of air; but their discoveries were enveloped in darkness—the jargon of


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title: Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/17


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Ellis


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Francis Philip Cunliffe-


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, George (d.1558)


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 time is economized as much as possible, and he will run through three typewritten stories sooner than plod through one penscript. He knows, furthermore, that the careful, experienced writer will send him type copy, and that the chances are ten to one that the script is full of blunders and errors common to the beginner, who has never studied the subject of writing. Penscripts are signs of inexperience. Editors appreciate this fact, and the sooner young writers do, the better will be their chances of success in literature.

In typewriting a manuscript, it should be doubly spaced. This is done for two reasons. First, it is much easier on the eyes if the lines are not close together. Munsey is said to get three thousand manuscripts each month. Of course, these are handled by a great many readers for the company, but at the same time one man has to read a large number of them. The strain on the eyes will be readily apparent, and the thoughtfulness of the writer who seeks to make easier the task by double spacing his

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, George (1552-1613)


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 THE PLOT

you want to write a short story, and doubt if you have anything worth the telling, go to bed early some night, get up with the sun the next morning, and take a long walk. Now, with the smell of nature in your nostrils, let your imagination run “as wild as a spook on a spree.” Suppose that cloud up there were an air-ship, with a kidnapper aboard, and suppose the boy who had been stolen were the king of Spain. Can't you work out the details of what might happen? Or suppose that girl over there should come to you, silently and mysteriously, and place a roll of greenbacks in your hand, with the words, “To pay for your burial.” How would it end? Or suppose you stumbled over that bush there and dropped into a deep hole, where you lay,

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 lines constructed have been beneficial and productive. The principal centres of the system are Buenos Aires, Rosario and Bahia Blanca, with La Plata as a secondary centre to the former, and from these the lines radiate westward and northward. The creation of a commercial port at Bahia Blanca and the development of the territories of La Pampa, Rio Negro and Neuquen, have given an impetus to railway construction in that region, and new lines are being extended toward the promising districts among the Andean foothills. Beginning with 6 m. in 1857, the railway mileage of the republic increased to 1563 m. in 1880, 5865 m. in 1890, 7752 m. in 1891, 10,304 m. in 1901, and 12,274 m. in 1906, with 1794 m. under construction. The greater development of railway construction between 1885 and 1891 was due, principally, to the dubious concessions of interest guarantees by the Celman administration, and also to the fever of speculation. Some of these lines resulted disastrously. The Transandine line, designed to open railway communication between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, was so far completed early in 1909 that on the Argentine side only the summit tunnel, 2 m. 127 yds. long, remained to be finished. The piercing was completed in Nov. 1909, but in the meantime passengers were conveyed by road over the pass. The gauge is broken at Mendoza, the Buenos Aires and Pacific having a gauge of 5 ft. 6 in. and the Transandine of one metre.

Tramway lines, which date from 1870, are to be found in all important towns. Those of Buenos Aires, Rosario and La Plata are owned by public companies. According to the census returns of 1895, the total mileage was 496 m., representing a capital expenditure of $84,044,581 paper. Electric traction was first used in Buenos Aires in 1897, since when nearly all the lines of that city have been reconstructed to meet its requirements, and subways are contemplated to relieve the congested street traffic of the central districts; the companies contribute 6% of their gross receipts to the municipality, besides paying $50 per annum per square on each single track in paved streets, 5 per thousand on the value of their property, and 33% of the cost of street repaving and renewals.

The telegraph lines of Argentina are subject to the national telegraph law of 1875, the international telegraph conventions, and special conventions with Brazil and Uruguay. In 1902 the total length of wires strung was 28,125 m.; in 1906 it had been increased to 34,080 m. The national lines extend from Buenos Aires north to La Quiaca on the Bolivian frontier (1180 m.), and south to Cape Virgenes (1926 m.), at the entrance to the Straits of Magellan. Telegraphic communication with Europe is effected by cables laid along the Uruguayan and Brazilian coasts, and by the Brazilian land lines to connect with transatlantic cables from Pernambuco. Communication with the United States is effected by land lines to Valparaiso, and thence by a cable along the west coast. The service is governed by the international telegraph regulations, but is subject to local inspection and interruption in times of political disorder.

The postal and telegraph services are administered by the national government, and are under the immediate supervision of the minister of the interior. Argentina has been a member of the Postal Union since 1878. Owing to the great distances which must be covered, and also to the defective means of communication in sparsely settled districts, the costs of the postal service in Argentina are unavoidably high in relation to the receipts.

Shipping.—Although Argentina has an extensive coast-line, and one of the great fluvial systems of the world, the tonnage of steamers and sailing vessels flying her flag is comparatively small. In 1898 the list comprised only 1416 sailing vessels of all classes, from 10 tons up, with a total tonnage of 118,894 tons, and 222 steamships, of 36,323 tons. There has been but slight improvement since that date. There are excellent fishing grounds on the coast, but they have had no appreciable influence in developing a commercial marine. The steamships under the national flag are almost wholly engaged in the traffic between Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the river traffic, and port services.

Agriculture.—In 1878 the production of wheat was insufficient for home consumption, the amount of Indian corn grown barely covered local necessities, and the only market for live stock was in the slaughtering establishments, where the meat was cut into strips and cured, making the so-called “jerked beef” for the Brazilian and Cuban markets. But three years later a new economic development began. In 1881 President Roca offered for public purchase by auction the lands in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, the Pampa Central, and the Neuquen district, these lands having been rendered habitable after the campaign of 1878 against the Indians. The upset (reserve) price was £80 sterling per square league of 6669 acres, and, as the lands were quickly sold, an expansion of the pastoral industry immediately ensued. The demand for animals for stock-breeding purposes sent up prices, and this acted as a stimulus to other branches of trade, so that, as peace under the Roca régime seemed assured, a steady flow of immigration from Italy set in. The development of the pastoral industry of Argentina from that time to the end of the century was remarkable. In 1878 the number of cattle was 12,000,000; of sheep, 65,000,000; and of horses, 4,000,000; in 1899 the numbers were—cattle, 25,000,000; sheep, 89,000,000; and horses, about 4,500,000. Originally the cattle were nearly all of the long-horned Spanish breed and of little value for their meat, except to the saladero establishments. Gradually Durham, Shorthorn, Hereford and other stock were introduced to improve the native breeds, with results so satisfactory that now herds of three-quarters-bred cattle are to be found in all parts of the country. Holstein, Jersey and other well-known dairy breeds were imported for the new industries of butter- and cheese-making. Not only has the breed of cattle been improved, but the system of grazing has completely altered. Vast areas of land have been ploughed and sown with lucerne (alfalfa); magnificent permanent pasturage has been created where there were coarse and hard grasses in former days, and Argentina has been able to add baled hay to her list of exports. In 1889 the first shipment of Argentine cattle, consisting altogether of 1930 steers, was sent to England. The results of these first experiments were not encouraging, owing mainly to the poor class of animals, but the exporters persevered, and the business steadily grew in value and importance, until in 1898 the number of live cattle shipped was 359,296, which then decreased to 119,189 in 1901, because of the foot-and-mouth disease. In 1906 the export of live stock was prohibited for that reason. Large quantities of frozen and preserved meat are exported, profitable prices being realized. Dairy-farming is making rapid strides, and the development of sheep-farming has been remarkable. In 1878, 65,000,000 sheep yielded 230,000,000 ℔ weight of wool, or an average per sheep of, about 3 ℔. In the season of 1899–1900 the wool exports weighed 420,000,000 ℔, and averaged more than 5 ℔ per sheep. The extra weight of fleece was owing to the large importation of better breeds. The export, moreover, of live sheep and of frozen mutton to Europe has become an important factor in the trade of Argentina. In 1892 the number of live sheep shipped for foreign ports was 40,000; in 1898 the export reached a total of 577,813, which in 1901 fell off to 25,746. In 1892 the frozen mutton exported was 25,500 tons, and this had increased in 1901 to 63,013 tons.

The advance made in agricultural industry also is of very great importance. In 1872 the cultivated area was about 1,430,000 acres; in 1895, 12,083,000 acres; in 1901, 17,465,973 acres. In 1899 the wheat exports exceeded 50,000,000 bushels, and the Indian corn 40,000,000 bushels. The area under wheat in 1901 was 8,351,843 acres; Indian corn, 3,102,140 acres; linseed, 1,512,340 acres; alfalfa, 3,088,929 acres. The farming industry is not, however, on a satisfactory basis. No national lands in accessible districts are available for the application of a homestead law, and the farmer too often has no interest in the land beyond the growing crops, a percentage of the harvest being the rent charged by the owner of the property. This system is mischievous, since, if a few, consecutive bad seasons occur, the farmer moves to some more favoured spot; while, on the other hand, a succession of good years tends to increase rents. The principal wheat and Indian corn producing districts lie in the provinces of Santa Fé, Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Entre Rios, and the average yield of wheat throughout the country is about 12 bushels to the acre. Little attention is paid to methods of cultivation, and the farmer has no resources to help him if the cereal crops fail. In the Andean provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca and Rioja viticulture attracts much attention, and the area in vineyards in 1901 was 109,546 acres, only 18% of which was outside the four provinces named. Wine is manufactured in large quantities, but the output is not sufficient to meet the home demand. In the provinces of Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy the main industry is sugar growing and manufacture. In 1901 the production of sugar was 151,639 tons, of which 58,000 tons were exported. The sugar manufacture, however, is a protected and bounty-fed industry, and the 51 sugar mills in operation in 1901 are a heavy tax upon consumers and taxpayers. Other products are tobacco, olives, castor-oil, peanuts, canary-seed, barley, rye, fruit and vegetables.

The pastoral and agricultural industries have been hampered by fluctuations in the value of the currency, farm products being sold at a gold value for the equivalent in paper, while labourers are paid in currency. The existing system of taxation also presses heavily upon the provinces, as may be seen from the fact that the national, provincial and municipal exactions together amount to £7 per head of population, while the total value of the exports in 1898 was only £6 in round numbers. The guia tax on the transport of stock from one province to another, which has been declared unconstitutional in the courts, is still enforced, and is a vexatious tax upon the stock-raiser, while the consumption, or octroi, tax in Buenos Aires and other cities is a heavy burden upon small producers.

Manufactures.—Manufacturing enterprise in Argentina, favoured by the protection of a high tariff, made noticeable progress in the national capital during the closing years of the last century, especially in those small industries which commanded a secure market. The principal classes of products affected are foods, wearing apparel, building materials, furniture, &c., chemical products, printing and allied trades, and sundry others, such as cigars, matches, tanning, paints, &c. In some manufactures the raw material is imported partly manufactured, such as thread for weaving. The lack of coal in Argentina greatly increases the difficulty and cost of maintaining these industries, and high prices of the products result. Electric power generated by steam is now commonly used in Buenos Aires and other large cities for driving light machinery.

Commerce.—The rapid development of the foreign trade of the republic since 1881 is due to settled internal conditions and to the

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, George (d.1665)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Goronwy


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Griffith


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Henry (1716-1795)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Henry Charles Cunliffe-


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Hugh (1615-1686)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Hugh (1639-1700)


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 work will be appreciated. Again, if a manuscript can be made acceptable by changing it somewhat, the space between the lines gives plenty of room for correction. Nothing that will serve to lessen the work of an editor should be left undone.

Now that the story is typewritten, the name and address should be added in the upper, left-hand corner. It is much better to do this with the machine than with a pen, as most people write their names so hurriedly that it is almost impossible to decipher them. It seems to me that there is no reason for a signature on the manuscript, though some disagree on this point. At all events, it is imperative that the name and address, in some form, be on the first page.

The number of words should now be estimated and placed in the upper right-hand corner. This estimate need not be exact; indeed it is foolish to say the manuscript contains 3,449 words, or any other precise number. It should, however, be fairly accurate. Count the number of words in the average line,

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viii

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Hugh (1761-1827)


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 the phlogistic doctrine—according to which metals lose something (phlogiston) when calcinated (dephlogisticated). The true explanation of combustion (oxidation) and deoxidation was left for Lavoisier to interpret. Priestley was the workman, Lavoisier the philosopher. The discovery placed in the latter's hand became perfect and in harmony with the universal laws of nature; and a revolution in chemistry was accomplished exactly corresponding to that effected by Copernicus in astronomy nearly four hundred years ago.

Priestley seemed "to look on all 'airs' (gases) as easily changeable one into the other," a kind of transmutation. During his lifetime he examined the burning of candles, the respiration of animals upon air, the action of living plants on the air, and invented the pneumatic trough (and used both water and mercury therein). He prepared nitrous air (nitric oxide) dephlogisticated nitrous air (nitrous oxide of the dentist), and carbon monoxide. He used mercury in many of his pneumatic researches, collected alkaline air (ammonia gas), vitriolic air (SO2 gas), marine acid air (HCl gas), and fluor acid air (SiF4). In 1772 he proved that common air was a mixture. By burning charcoal in it he obtained fixed air (CO2), which on absorption left a residual (phlogisticated) air incapable of supporting either respiration or combustion. Again, Priestley could not see the importance of his discovery, namely, that air is a mixture of gases.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Hugh (1784-1861)


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 far below the surface, listening to the drip! drip! of water near you. And suppose you became thirsty and crawled nearer for a drink, and instead of water found a stream of red blood gurgling among the rocks. Can't you make a story out of that?

All this smacks of the sensational, I grant, but I am going at this theme in a practical manner. I believe your first story will be sold because of its plot. Nine first stories out of ten are. The language is handled carelessly, the situations clumsily, and the development illogically. Yet the stories go right into the heart of things, and are different from those of the rank and file. So I say, if you want to get into print, your story must have a strong plot.

Write love stories. “All the world loves a lover,” and editors are human. But make your love story one of action. Don't, as many writers do, take a man and a woman and a dozen meetings and an engagement, and call it a story. Make it unique, make it worth while, make it different from the other love

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Hugh (1804-1881)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Humphrey


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Jacob


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, John (1560?-1622)


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 stories of yesterday and the day before. Make it dramatic; melodramatic, if you will. But wake up your reader; startle the editor and make him read it in spite of himself.

It may interest you to know that fully three-fourths of all the stories submitted nowadays are rejected because of weak or trite plot-interest. In this connection, the following statement, issued by the Frank A. Munsey Co. to its contributors, is of interest:

“We want stories; not dialect sketches, not washed out studies of effete human nature, not weak tales of sickly sentimentality, not pretty writing. We want fiction in which there is a story—action, force, complications. Good writing is as common as clam shells; good stories are as rare as statesmanship. We get thousands of manuscripts, alleged stories, in which the story is not worth the telling, meaningless, flat, inane; and yet many of these stories are cleverly told. They lack merely one thing, and that is the story itself.”

In this statement lies the nucleus of

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text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, John (1600-1666)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, John (1616-1683)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, John (1766-1822)


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 all I would say. Your first story is not going to be accepted because it has the grace and polish of a master-hand, but because it has something in it worth the telling. This does not mean that it must be sensational or impossible, by any means, but that it is something out of the rut, something that has not been repeated again and again since the beginning of time, something that shall interest the editor and make the public glad that it has been written.

The prime requisite in the manufacture of all such plots is imagination. You may get your suggestion as you will, in the night-time staring hard into the darkness, from a stray paragraph in a paper, from a scene on the street, or in any other way; but you must dress it up, and smooth off the corners that are impossible, and the edges that are not to be told, and build up the hollow places, all with your imagination.

Your plot must be simple enough to meet the requirements of a short story. In novels and in dramas there are a dozen skeins to be untangled, and a

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title: Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/19


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, John (1821-1883)


text: Biographies of Scientific Men/Priestley

title: Biographies of Scientific Men/Priestley


text: Page:How to write a Short Story.djvu/2

title: Page:How to write a Short Story.djvu/2