so; it was accepted and followed by others of a similar kind.




Chapter VIII

The Art of Corresponding with an Editor



Women contributors are commonly much too fond of corresponding with
editors. When the aspirant dispatches the first article, it is quite
customary for her to send it under cover of a long epistle (not
unfrequently extending to eight pages) in which she gives her personal
history in brief, and a short statement of her literary ambitions,
including in particular her ambition to contribute to "your excellent
paper which I have always admired"; often she adds that though not
dependant (so she spells the word) upon her own efforts for a livelihood,
she is nevertheless anxious to earn a little money; or it may be that she
is in fact thrown upon her own resources, in which case she explains that
she has turned to journalism as the readiest means of providing for
herself. Sometimes she ventures to hope that the editor will judge her
work leniently, since she is only a beginner. Sometimes, with affecting
candour, she avows that she does not expect for a moment to be accepted.
Sometimes she requests that in case of refusal the editor will advise her
where next to send the manuscript. Sometimes she begs for a frank
criticism, and if the editor is foolish enough to justify his heartless
refusal by such a criticism, she pesters the devoted fellow with another
long letter of thanks, in which she timidly suggests that he may be able