3. Write your name and address not only at the top of the manuscript
itself, but also on the back, so that they may be prominent when the
manuscript is folded up. Write boldly on the first page the exact length
of the article in words.

4. Enclose a stamped and addressed envelope--not a book-post wrapper;
manuscripts which see much of the world (and your earlier manuscripts will
probably see a very great deal of the world) become damaged and ruinous by
travelling in a book-post wrapper. Be sure that the envelope is
sufficiently stamped, and be sure also that it is large enough to hold the
manuscript.

5. Never send out a dirty or ragged manuscript. The editor is prejudiced
by the first sight of such a manuscript, for he knows at once that it has
been refused elsewhere.

* * * * *

Her manuscript decently dispatched, the aspirant will feel happy and well
satisfied till shortly before the earliest hour possible for its return.
Then begins suspense. She will sit awaiting with counterfeit calm the
postman. She hears his tread on the pavement outside; he mounts the steps,
knocks; there is the gentle concussion of a packet against the bottom of
the letter-box. Is it the article returned? She still keeps hope. Even
when one day the large envelope, addressed in her own writing, is put into
her hands, she says to herself that the editor has only returned it for a
few trifling modifications....

Invariably the thing does come back, sooner or later, with some curt