Journalism for Women | Page 7

happens to be most familiar, telling him that she is anxious to make
a little money (though not dependent on her earnings for a livelihood),
and hopes he will come to a decision on her article at his earliest
convenience; she adds that she has always admired his journal, and
would esteem it a great honour to be counted among his contributors.
She has previously determined to keep the whole affair a profound
secret, but at the last moment she cannot refrain from showing the
production, in strict confidence, to some near and dear one. This person
either pronounces it to be really splendid, or damns it with a polite
sneer; but whatever the event, her own golden opinion of her work is
confirmed. In the act of dispatching the missive she suddenly
remembers that the correct thing is to send a stamped envelope for
return; she does so, only the envelope which she encloses is usually

much too small to hold the manuscript.
So the article goes forth. A few days pass, and the aspirant is beginning
to meditate upon the best manner of spending the money to be received
for it, when lo! it returns....
* * * * *
Needless to say, the aspirant has set about the difficult business of
becoming an outside contributor in quite the wrong way. Before daring
to enter upon the writing of an article, it is needful that she should, in
particular, make a study of four important subjects:--
1. The distinguishing characteristics, policy, and general tone of all the
leading dailies, weeklies, and monthlies.
2. Spelling.
3. Grammar.
4. Composition, including punctuation. I will deal briefly with these
four.
1. The object of the journalistic aspirant is to supply a demand. But in
order successfully to supply a demand, it is necessary to know with
some exactitude the nature of that demand. Of what use to send stuff to
editors until you have determined what sort of stuff they lack? To
obtain this valuable information (since editors do not often issue
circulars defining their wants) the only way is to make a scrutiny of
their papers. Go daily, therefore, to a public reading-room, and examine
attentively, observantly, the contents of the various publications. Ignore
no paper because it has little interest for you personally, or because you
have never heard its name before. The more papers you are familiar
with, the wider your field for the disposal of articles. The outside
contributor can never tell what paper must serve her turn next. At any
moment a subject may occur to her which will suit, say, The Pottery
Gazette and China and Glass Trades Review, and only _The Pottery
Gazette and China and Glass Trades Review._ Study styles and

subjects and idiosyncrasies, and count no detail unworthy of attention.
The importance to the aspirant of this branch of self-training can
scarcely be magnified.
2. Few men and very few women can be trusted to spell correctly every
word in common use. I have seen the MSS. of many of the foremost
women journalists of the day, and have found orthographic errors in
nearly all of them. Of course spelling is not a matter of the highest
importance--a certain great English novelist is notoriously incompetent
in this respect, and relies upon his printers--but it deserves attention.
Bad spelling spoils the appearance of the cleverest article, and raises a
prejudice against it in the editorial mind. And not all bad spellers have
the ingenuity of Mr. Umbrage of The Silchester Mirror, in Mr. J. M.
Barrie's novel, _When a Man's Single_:--
"When Umbrage returned, Billy Kirker, the chief reporter, was
denouncing John Milton [the junior reporter] for not being able to tell
him how to spell 'deceive.'
"'What is the use of you?' he asked indignantly, 'if you can't do a simple
thing like that?'
"'Say "cheat,"' suggested Umbrage.
"So Kirker wrote 'cheat.'"
I think, however, that women have at last learnt to spell words ending
in ieve and eive. They go astray nowadays in ance and _ence_; also in
seperate and irresistable, and in the past participles of verbs ending in
it.
The simplest and best way to cure a case of weak spelling is to hand the
dictionary to some wise friend, and ask him or her to question you. A
quarter of an hour daily devoted to this treatment will effect a
remarkable improvement, even when the patient happens to think there
is no room for improvement.
3. Grammar, I suppose, is taught in girls' schools on approved modern

principles; nevertheless few women seem to have any acquaintance
with it. Yet grammar is not a difficult study, nor a lengthy one, and an
understanding knowledge of its principles is of the greatest assistance
in the formation of a good literary style. This is