The Rambles of an Idler 



duce novelty has not been lacking, but allowed 

 to lie dormant; or fear has entered the mind, 

 and really-new creations have been shunned 

 because of a vague feeling — or, perhaps, an 

 unmistakable one — that the public might not 

 approve. And this same public must be con- 

 sidered. 



Such impressions and such argument are 

 fatal drawbacks to aspiring authorship. Its 

 message should go forth to the world, whether 

 it likes it or not. Of all bugbears, the public 

 takes the lead; and consideration of a bugbear 

 is fatal to a literary career. So large an entity 

 as the public has no fixed opinion. "Vox pop- 

 uli" is nothing but noise. This public is con- 

 tinually falling to pieces because of its lack of 

 cohesion; and the detached masses are readily 

 kicked about by the cunning, and finally licked 

 into respectable shape by the conscientious. 

 No author should expect to reach the millions, 

 but hundreds scattered through them; and they, 

 it may be, will carry the message — surely will, 

 if it be a worthy one — to their feUows. 



The author who clothes in fitting words one 

 great thought is nobler than he who re-clothes a 

 hundred familiar and, often, out-worn ideas I 



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