So much mall has come to me—a
letter almost every day—that I be
lieve the “old theater rambljes are In
teresting the Rambler’s million read
era I recall a talk with a man who
followed my trade of writing for the
public. He had been at it a long time,
contracted writers’ cramp and had not
•massed more than two or three mil
lion dollars. We were dining at the
Plate of Stew and. after eating hie
dish of beans and folding his napkin,
he said:.
"Harry, as you look Into the fsces
of people In automobiles, see the pic
tures of persons prominent In society
and study the features of screen
actors you must know that human In
telligence Is not high. To succeeds* &
writer two ways are before you. Write
eo that people do not understand what
you write, and they will say ‘He has
an excellent style, very clear and
highly descriptive.’ They will not
have the nerve to say the work is
rotten. Give ’dfa verba aeequlpedatla,
or words a foot and a half long, which
Horace laughed at. Give ’em the
rolling mouthful words which Romans
taught the Aduatud, Nervll and flnl
tlmi and which the Normans further
messed up and put Into the English,
people will say again ’He has style.’
Don’t neglect to put In some Latin
phrases without any excuse whatever.
Nobody knows anything about Latin,
especially those persons who 'took it
at high School and college, but they
hate to be found out. Throw In. Just
as though you knew their meaning,
’quod scrips!,' ‘quails est ipsa homo.’
'mentetn non habeo h&c die and abi in
malem crucem.’ Put In those words
several times and somebody will in
vite you to dinner.
