FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>  
ls who might have been more easily spared." I brushed a hand across my weary brow. It did not feel like cobwebs exactly,--more like cork, sort of light and dry and full of holes. I had been up almost all night, studying over those fifteen manuscripts, applying the principles of criticism, weighing, balancing, measuring, arguing with myself, and rebelling against fate. If Robbie Belle had been there she could have recognized the best story by instinct. Ever since I became chief editor I had depended upon her judgment, because she is a born critic and always right, and I'm not. And now just when I needed her most of all and more than anybody else, there she had to go and get quarantined in the infirmary. "Girls," I said, "do express an opinion. Say what you think. We simply must decide this matter now, because the prize story has to go to press before the first, and this is our only free afternoon. I know what I think--at least I am almost sure what I think--but I want to hear your views first. Adele, you're always conscientious." Adele was only a junior and rather new to the responsibility of being on the editorial board. She glanced down at her page of notes. "Every one of the stories has some good points," she began cautiously. "Most of them start out well and several finish well. Six have good plots, nine are interesting, five are brightly written. Number seven is, I believe--yes, I think I consider it the best. The trouble is----" "Altogether too jerky," interrupted Jo, "a fine plot but no style whatever. This is a cat. See the cat catch the rat. That's the kind of English in number seven. Now I vote for number fifteen." "Oh, but, Jo," I broke in eagerly, for number seven was my own laborious choice also, and Adele's corroboration strengthened me wonderfully. "Jo, it is the simplicity of the style that is its greatest recommendation. You know how Professor Whitcomb has drummed into us the beauty of Anglo-Saxon diction. It's beautiful--it's charming--it's perfect. Why, a six-year-old could understand it. Fifteen is far too sensational for good art. Just listen to this----" Jo was stubborn. "The use of short words is a mere fad," she said, "it is like wearing dimity for every occasion. Now listen to this!" She snatched up one manuscript and read aloud while I declaimed from the other. Adele listened with a pained frown on her forehead, Janet laughed and teetered recklessly to and fro on her frisky chair,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>  



Top keywords:
number
 

listen

 

fifteen

 
interesting
 
eagerly
 
corroboration
 

strengthened

 

choice

 

laborious

 

English


wonderfully
 
trouble
 

interrupted

 

Number

 

Altogether

 

written

 

brightly

 

Professor

 

occasion

 

snatched


manuscript
 

dimity

 

wearing

 
declaimed
 

teetered

 
laughed
 
recklessly
 

frisky

 

forehead

 

listened


pained

 

stubborn

 
drummed
 
Whitcomb
 

beauty

 
finish
 

greatest

 

recommendation

 

diction

 

Fifteen


understand

 

sensational

 
charming
 

beautiful

 
perfect
 
simplicity
 

judgment

 

critic

 
depended
 

editor