He tried editor after editor with article after article. Sometimes an
editor listened to him and told him to leave his articles; he almost
invariably, however, had them returned to him in the end with a polite
note saying that they were not suited for the particular paper to which
he had sent them. And yet many of these very articles appeared in his
later works, and no one complained of them, not at least on the score of
bad literary workmanship. "I see," he said to me one day, "that demand
is very imperious, and supply must be very suppliant."
Once, indeed, the editor of an important monthly magazine accepted an
article from him, and he thought he had now got a footing in the literary
world. The article was to appear in the next issue but one, and he was
to receive proof from the printers in about ten days or a fortnight; but
week after week passed and there was no proof; month after month went by
and there was still no room for Ernest's article; at length after about
six months the editor one morning told him that he had filled every
number of his review for the next ten months, but that his article should
definitely appear. On this he insisted on having his MS.
Pages:
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618