Читать книгу The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work - Virginia Penny - Страница 23

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Some of our periodical literature is futile and unsatisfying. It is light and trivial in its nature. It may delight a few hours, but then follows the reaction—a dull and heavy sinking of the heart—a sluggish dreariness—a neglect of duty—a disdain for the actual realities of life. The prose of most magazines is only love dreams—the poetry froth. Such light nutriment is unfit for the souls of women—such ethereal diet can never satisfy the cravings of an immortal mind. But some improvement has taken place in part of our magazine literature, and a few of our reviews equal those of any country. Subjects are as numerous as the objects around us, and suited to all moods and diversities of mind. To the contributor, I would say: Your writing will be likely to find readers—whether it be grave or gay—sad or sprightly—witty or jovial; whether one making a draught on the imagination or the judgment; whether one displaying your own attainments, or calling to aid the opinions and acquirements of others; in short, one of thought, fancy, or facts. Your friends may like your ideas draped in poetry, or the more substantial dress of prose. One is like gold, the other like iron. One serves for ornament, the other for use. The true poet is a gifted person; a heaven-born talent does he or she possess. If you have good descriptive talents, you can write stories, laying the scenes in far-away countries that are not much known, and yet eliciting some interest. And as to the subjects of a moral caste, their name is legion. Magazine writing furnishes a palatable way of drawing attention to individual foibles, or furnishing a satire on the inconsistencies and exactions of society in general. If you attempt to write natural stories, let your scenes and events be such as occur in every-day life. It has been suggested that a good publication, like the Atlantic Monthly, conducted entirely by women, would do great good, but we fear it would not be supported. I was told, however, by the gentleman who has charge of Harper's Magazine, that two thirds of the articles are contributed by women, and they receive better prices than men would. The Saturday Press says that Harper's Magazine pays its writers $7.50 to $10 per page; the Atlantic Monthly, from $6 to 10; the Knickerbocker, $3, which is equal to $5 for Harper and $6 for the Atlantic; the North American Review, $1.50 per page. The prices mentioned are said by one supposed to know, to be exaggerated, and made the exception, not the rule. Mr. H. C. Carey, in an article styled "Rewards of Authorship," writes: "I have now before me a statement from a single publisher, in which he says that to Messrs. Willis, Longfellow, Bryant, and Allston, his price was uniformly $50 for a poetical article, long or short—and his readers know that they were generally very short; in one case only fourteen lines. To numerous others, it was from $25 to $40. In one case he has paid $25 per page for prose. To Mr. Cooper he paid $1,800 for a novel, and $1,000 for a series of naval biographies, the author retaining the copyright for separate publication; and in such cases, if the work be good, its appearance in the magazine acts as the best of advertisements. To Mr. James, he paid $1,200 for a novel, leaving him also the copyright. For a single number of his journal, he has paid to authors $1,500."