and has attained a perfection reached nowhere else in the world. The
rules of success in this department are briefly these: First, to be
strikingly original; second, to write simply and naturally; and third,
to condense into the smallest compass. Be brief. This is the age of
electricity. Many a story of 10,000 words has been rejected when if it
had contained half that number it would have been accepted. Publishers
pay liberal rates for short, good stories. The New York _Herald_
recently paid Mollie E. Seawell $3,000 for a short story. Within a very
short time a magazine has offered a price of $1,000 for the best short
story; another has made the same offer; and a third one of $500. Among
the publications that pay the authors the highest rates are _Harper’s
Magazine_, the _Century_, _McClure’s_, the _Youth’s Companion_, and the
_Ladies’ Home Journal_. There are several others that pay nearly as
much.