English 22.
Joseph A, Cone.
First Year Special.
Theme #9
Feb. 19,
1895.
This drags somewhat at
the beginning. The excursus on money is rather irrelevant; it keeps the reader
aloof too long from the real subject. Your phrasing is occasionally unsure –
your clauses are apt to hang together rather loosely and sometimes your choice
of words is questionable. Take care to avoid circumlocution and cumbrous constructions.
You do not commit too many downright errors in technique
– your faults are rather in
minor matters of taste or judgement which only the most rigorous
self-criticisms can eliminate.
Revise on this copy.
F.G.F.
Why I chose a literary career in preference
to a Mechanical one.
After all is said and
done, I suppose the cause might be sifted down to one thing, money. But to
bring my motives into so narrow a definition as that, sounds rather harsh K sounds
unworthy, and so I have
looked about for other reasons more pleasing to one’s fantastic Not the right word higher
senses. I might go farther and say that money is the end of all human motive;
that the end the student, the educator, and even the institution itself has in
view, is money. In one sense this is true, money lies at the bottom of all
undertakings, for without money nothing could be accomplished, but in its Refers to what?broadest and most pleasing sense, Clumsy we love- like to think of our desires and ambitions (in other ways than for mere profit). Heavy So, admitting that money
is one of my motives for abandoning the life of a mechanic, or tradesman, to
enter the field of literature, I will endeavor to show that I have others equally
as important, and by far more pleasing creditable to a surface
view.
Very close to money lies
fame, we might say, they pull in the same harness. In a measure one is
dependent upon the other, for if a man has fame it becomes easy to get money;
and if he has money, fame will come to him anyway. (That
fame becomes is one of my motives
I cannot deny,) Heavy in as
much as fame has much to do with the majority of editors, to whom I must look
as the medium through which I reach the public. Fame is a questionable thing;
it is so many-sided and misguiding. Whittier wrote, “I do not care for fame.”
Bless his soul! Neither do I. Give me a good sized bank account, with plenty of
leisure for travel and pen-work, and to the winds with fame! But to get this
bank account, with and the pleasures it provides, one must have more or
less fame, so, as a second motive, which really forms a part of my first, that
of money, I will put down fame.
Hand in hand with money
and fame, comes ambition. O, if my ambitions were loaded in freight cars what a
train it would be! My intense desire to be something more than higher an ordinary man
in this life has caused me more than
not a few head-aching nights, and dyspeptic days. More than once Often have I been under the doctor’s care as a
result of “overwork”.. which, by the way, was not day-work, but the work(‘neath
the glare of the “midnight oil”.) A
bit stilted Back in boyhood, and
Do not coordinate here three miles from any neighbors,
I struggled day and night to be an artist and a writer, only to find when I
came to the city, that I was all wrong. The desire, the ambition, were all
right, but the methods, wretched! But do I regret those days? No; for every
day, success or failure, goes to make up a valuable experience. However, the
old flame of ambition still burns, and with the excellent start I have made, I
take hope.
Next to ambition, comes
“love for the work”. This, I feel certain, is my strongest reason for pursuing
my present course. I love literature and literary people. No actor could ever
love his play house profession
more than I would love a position
place in literature; The comparison is not well drawn a
position something I may never
obtain. I have often remarked that I would enter the profession of journalism
for less income than I receive as a mechanic;. P.C.
and that I mean to do at the
first opportunity. Some say I would be foolish. Not at all; for my shop life
and my educational Not
the best word perhaps. student life conflict; there is no harmony
between the two; whereas if I were in the right branch of journalism, my nights
of study would be assisted by what I would practice during the day. The two
would work well together. In short, were I doing wholly literary work, I would
work harder, be satisfied with less income, and enjoy myself into the bargain;
for, to me, the man who loves his occupation labors not.
And now I come to the
last reason; the one I dread most to touch upon., talent. I firmly believe I
possess the necessary talent. At twelve, in school, instead of studying as I
ought to have done, I was working out great stories of adventure; one I well
remember being was called, “Nobby Nick of Nevada, or The Boy
Miner”!
Often, instead of doing
the farm work my father set me to do, I was off amongst the hills sketching,
and writing bits of poetry verse about the
scenery, till finally my parents let me follow my own inclinations. My mother was (somewhat
of a) poet K wrote
verse in her younger days, and has always been a fine critic. From her, perhaps,
came my taste in that line Vague
for
writing. My first work sent to the papers was accepted. I received much
encouragement from editors and publishers
older writers. Then came my stumbling block, – education. I could write rough
stories of adventure well enough, could write homespun poems and sketches for
the papers, well enough, and could
write fun for Puck, Judge and Truth, well
enough, that was not enough
sufficient. Too many enough’s here It was a
higher grade of literature that I longed to enter, and now, believing that I
have all the necessary qualifications in all except education, I have turned my
whole time, energy and means in that direction.
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