Hints to Writers, No 3.
By Editor
MANUSCRIPT. In writing for the press, write only on one side of the sheet. The reasons for this practice are, that it is more convenient for the printers, there is less liability of mistakes in setting the type and reading the proof, the copy is less liable to become defaced, and above all, if it should be necessary to set the article, as is frequently the case, in the shortest possible space of time, the sheets can be divided and distributed among many hands. It may seem to some like a waste of paper, and especially of postage, to send articles written only on one side of the sheet. For this difficulty we can very easily suggest a remedy. Suppose you write an article covering four pages of foolscap. If you write on both sides of your paper, you use only one sheet; but if you write only on one side, you use two sheets, and double the weight of your letter. But you think that one sheet is all you can afford to use, and the postage on that is all you want to pay. What shall be done? Answer: Boil down your four pages of manuscript into two. Then you can write on one side only, still use a single sheet, pay corresponding postage, and have an article which it is safe to say, would be increased in value in inverse proportion to its length: being half as long, it would be twice as good. This boiling down process is good treatment for an article, and good practice for a writer. But to reap the benefit of it, the writer must do the work himself. Otherwise, he not only meets with a loss on his own part, but makes labor for others. A good deal of this work is done at this Office. The kettle is constantly over, and many an article goes in, as the writers are well aware. Some shrink but little, while others leave no residuum whatever, and when the boiling process is accomplished, are nowhere to be found. The liberty our correspondents grant us in this respect is gratifying; but we would rather they would do it themselves. Give us the articles ready condensed. A cake of maple sugar is preferred by any of us to six quarts of sap. It is recorded of Murray, the grammarian, that on one occasion when at school he prepared an essay, very elaborate both in composition and penmanship. He congratulated himself that he had a production which would be pronounced very nearly, if not quite, perfect. But when he came forward to the professor’s desk to receive his criticisms thereon, the professor reading over the first sentence, asked, “Murray, what do you mean by this?” Mr. Murray then stated in plain and simple language what he meant. “Then,” said the professor, “why didn’t you say so?” And drawing his pencil heavily over that, he proceeded to another sentence: “Murray, what did you mean by that?” Murray then gave, in direct language, his meaning. “Then,” said the professor again, “why didn’t you say so?” Thus he went through the essay; and, at the close, about two fifths of the perfect production was left. The rest would have been there, if, in the most direct and plainest language, he had said what he meant. This rule is indispensable: First know yourself what you mean, then say it, and stop.