THE PULL OF THE PRINTED PAGE

Urged by George III to disclose the reason for her writing "Evelina," Fanny Burney is said to have stated with simpering naivete that she had "thought it would look very well in print". And, fortunately, the gentle lady was right: "Evelina" did look well in print. The formidable Dr. Johnson testified to the truth of that. But the isolated case of this authoress, who, by the way, was really an authoress, does not allow everyone to conclude that his writing must also appear to advantage on the printed page. From every side come puerile messages published by ball players and bankers, doctors and divorcees, cowboys and counts.

Indeed, it is this peril of the ill found pen which alarms F. P. A. in his "Conning Tower". Disturbed by the statement from Mayor Hylan that he is to ornament his already colored career with an attempt at writing, the genial "colyumist" warns the writing profession to stand by its guns--or pens. No writer can at will become a Walter Johnson or a Paderewski or a Chaliapin; why should the leaders in every profession, great or small, attempt to meet the muses on equal terms? The answer is apparent. One has but to read the published prattle of those who from East and West, from North and South respond to the pull of the printed page.