“Will it ever be possible, Mr. Newnes, do you think, to provide the masses with the higher journalism, with a sort of Saturday Review, or Nineteenth Century?” I asked. “I don’t think,” he slowly replied, shaking his head, “I don’t think, Radical as I am, and absolute believer in the sovereignty of the people, that the masses will ever take to any paper which consists mainly of essays or leaders. They want things served up with other interesting matter, and with as much of the personal element as it is possible to give them. The masses still incline entirely to the lighter side of literature. They work hard enough in everyday life, their recreation and their literature must, therefore, be as light as possible.”
“And now, Mr. Newnes, for one more question—a good long one,” I laughingly added. “Having all your life been so successful yourself, as you look round London, with the struggle for existence, and the mingling of classes which makes that struggle for existence still harder, how do you really account for your own wonderful success, and how would you recommend others to be successful too, even though only in a small way?” “I really don’t know how I can answer that question,” he replied. “The only thing is, I have always been struck with the fact that so many people go about with their eyes shut, and do not see the chances which may be before them. They have no idea of doing anything beyond what they may have seen done before, and what they are told to do. They are frightened by originality lest it might be disastrous. I suppose I have been inclined to do things differently rather than the same as other people, and I have always struck while the iron was hot. That, I think, to put it very briefly, is the secret of any success which has attended my efforts.”
Novel Notes.
By Jerome K. Jerome.
Illustrations by Hal Hurst and J. Gülich.
PART XI.
(Copyrighted 1892 in the United States of America, by Jerome K. Jerome.)