St. Nicholas/Volume 32/Number 4/Editorial Note
Editorial Notes
Through an unfortunate combination of circumstances, St. Nicholas evidently has laid itself open to the charge of republishing material that already had appeared in another magazine, and, in a measure, of trespassing upon that periodical’s copyright. In brief, many readers of the articles entitled “The Practical Boy” must have recognized in these papers a number of illustrations and a certain amount of text which had already appeared in “The Woman’s Home Companion.” We were not aware of this fact until attention was called to it by the editor of “The Companion,” and therefore whatever blame may justly attach to St. Nicholas in the matter must lie with the author of the series. Mr. Adams was most remiss in failing to notify the editor of this magazine, when offering his series of contributions, that he had already contributed very similar articles to “The Woman’s Home Companion.”
As a matter of course, there is no possible chance of a like experience with future articles of the St. Nicholas series.
Our thanks are due to Mr. Arthur T. Vance, the editor of “The Woman’s Home Companion,” and also to the editor of “Aunt Janet’s” pages in that periodical, for many courtesies shown to St. Nicholas in unraveling the tangle caused by the thoughtless injustice to both magazines on the part of the author of the series.
We hope no St. Nicholas hoy or girl will fail to read Miss Anna Parmly Paret’s “The Founding of the B.A.,” and the very interesting letter from General George Washington to Brigadier-General Forman which the author has cleverly introduced into her story. This letter now appears in print for the first time; and St. Nicholas is proud to present also a facsimile of the original autograph copy which is in the possession of the author. It was written while Washington was a general and the great struggle of the Revolution was still in progress. The letter is in every way an unusually interesting historical document.
The capital little play, “Mrs. Tubbs’s Telegram,” which appears in this number of St. Nicholas, has been published in pamphlet form by the author, and copies of it for use as an acting play may be obtained from her at the price of twenty-five cents each. Her address is Miss Katharine McDowell Rice, Worthington, Mass. Permission to act the play must be obtained from Miss Rice, as the piece & copyrighted.
We heartily commend this little play as a very natural and amusing comedietta which is quite within the acting capacites of every-day boys and girls, And mot the least point in its favor is the fact that the necessary costumes and “properties” for its performance can be easily found, or made up, in any well-furnished home. It demands no elaborate preparation, and would, no doubt, be equally successful] as either a parlor play or a Sunday-school entertainment.
An unusually jolly serial begins with this number, on page 327. For “‘Pinkey’ Perkins” isa real boy, with all of a boy’s animal spirits and love of mischief, and the ventures, adventures, and misadventurcs that are apt to follow upon those boyish traits befall him in full measure. The story grows more and more amusing with each chapter, and it will be continued throughout the present volume of St. Nicholas.
