The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 252: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

964 issue. The editor is never pleased. Every copy that comes into his hands is a disappointment. He wishes it could have been better, and the only solace there is for him is to make a re- newed effort with the next number. So that every issue is a disappoint- ment to the editor, and he begins a new life with the hope that the next num- ber will see his ideal realized. But there isn’t any ideal number for an editor—the ideal is only something to strive for. Also you must remember that the stories in a single number of a maga- zine, good or bad as they may be, are the result of infinite labor just in the matter of selection. You ought to be thankful that you haven’t had to wade through a ton or more of stories in order to get those stories. And while you only have to. read.a story once, and can quit it when and where you please, the editor has to read it first to buy it, and then must put infinite labor on it before it goes to the printer, and then see it again in type in proof-sheets. So, after all, you get a lot for fifteen cents. Wouldn’t it be fine if I had, say, twenty authors, and each would write on order an ideal story in some partic- ular vein. Suppose I could say, ‘Smith, write me a ripping sea story,” and Smith did. And to Brown: “'A’ mystery story that will crinkle their hair, with fine characters and fine plot, and something entirely new, that will hold them.until daylight and make them miss their Ele- vated train,” and Brown would. The other eighteen could be all working at different sorts of stories, and the editor could have what he wanted just when he wanted it. And every month we would have a sea story as good if not better than “Treasure Island,” and‘a love story equaling if not surpassing “ The Lit- tle Minister,’ and a mystery story that would make the “ Sign of the Four ” look as interesting as a Babylonian cuneiform. THE ARGOSY. For the April number I have picked out of the fiction garden a fine book- length novel entitled The Well Shooters BY GEORGE WASHINGTON OGDEN It is a tale of the oil fields of Okla- homa, and Ogden, who wrote ‘* Home Place,” a book published last fall, knows what he is writing about, knows how to write, and does. I have never seen before a good story of the oil felds — any oil fields —and I never could understand why “ shooting wells ” could not be as thrilling and as interesting as mining for gold. The story opens with an old “ well- shooter” engaging a young man as a helper, explaining that the business takes nerve. Then there is a woman who has a fine claim and a fine daugh- ter, and there is mystery and intrigue and high finance and good, clean work and daring, and when it is all over you realize that you have. met several hu- man beings and know them and will re- member them as long as you live. Ogden wrote “Sheep and Sang Froid,” and “ One Grand Machine for to Hear,’ “A Forty-Four Caliber Joke,’ and other short stories, and you know what a genius he has for plotting and giving you characters who are alive. | always suspect that Ogden knew at some time the very people in his stories—they are portraits. This book-length novel is the long- est we have had for months, but it isn’t a line too long to suit me. Incidental- ly, it is the sort of a story I like to read myself, along with good sea stuff and real adventure. I also trust that you will all like it, but anyway, we have A Bout with the Man of Destiny BY ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE an extra long novelette and a histori- cal romance of early American days, involving an American who went to GEomichbooks (E@)