At one time during Jim’s youthful and turbulent career, he received a printed rejection slip from Bob Davis of Munsey’s Magazine, which had the following scribbled on the bottom:
“Keep at it, kid, you’re bound to win!”
These eight words were to prove themselves priceless to Jim Curwood during the time when everything he wrote seemed to appear so black and foreboding. For it is seldom that an editor will take the time to write words of encouragement to aspiring authors. However, it seemed that Munsey’s liked Jim’s work even though it did not quite reach its standards. The kindness handed him by Bob Davis was something which the boy never forgot.
Here and there among Jim’s many files of correspondence, private papers and manuscripts are to be found many such words of encouragement from various “big time” editors of that era. Brief notes from men who knew that the young man was really a “coming big name.” It was these same notes that kept the fire burning within Jim’s heart, and drove him on when his ambition and energy lagged.
Probably one of the most amusing incidents in all of Jim’s hectic career was the first and last time he was ever guilty of plagiarism.
It seems that in Jim’s still somewhat immature career, he wanted publication so badly that he found a way of achieving it, though it was not quite an honest or ethical one. He had come across a poem that he enjoyed very much. A poem that was as old as the yellow paper upon which it had been printed. It was entitled “A Fragment,” written by the internationally famous Lord Byron. So, in his rather great haste to reach the top rung of the ladder of literary success, Jim changed the name of Byron’s poem to, “A Prayer,” and submitted it to a magazine as his own work.
Then one day, weeks later, he received a check for fifty cents from the magazine which had accepted the poem for early publication. This brought high elation to the young man even though the real thrill was lacking.
Several days after publication of the poem in the “big magazine,” the final blow to Jim’s elation came. For it seems that Fred Janette’s mother recognized the bit of verse as that of Lord Byron’s famous “A Fragment.”
“Never will I ever forget the expression that came over Mrs. Janette’s face when she saw that which I had sold to be my own.” Jim remarked in later life. But somehow she seemed to think it best not to say anything to him about it at the time. However, a few weeks later she admitted to him that she had recognized the poem to be Lord Byron’s. She was even good enough to explain to the editor of the magazine which had published it begging him not to say anything to Jim. She believed that if the magazine’s editor had accused Jim of plagiarism, a truly great career might have been shattered, hardly before it had actually begun to get a good start.
Having derived no decidedly great thrill from what he had done, it dawned on Jim that not only had he cheated himself, but had equally cheated his parents and his friends. For Mr. and Mrs. Curwood firmly believed that the published verse had actually been their son’s.