After this protracted visit Mr. World and Miss Church-Member left this hall and continued their studies in hall after hall, until more than one half of the twenty-eight halls were visited. Their next objective point was the second grand division of this College devoted to “_The Elements of Success in Authorship._”
My heart trembled at what my eyes saw. The great army of writers who studied in this department came from all countries of the earth. “Can it be true,” thought I, “that so large a portion of our authors get at least a part of their training in the schools of the Devil?”
“O Blackana!” I sighed, “how long have these things been?”
“Since the beginning of literature,” was his cold and brief reply.
“Always so large a percentage of the world’s authors found at that school?”
“It has never been on the decrease,” he continued. “So many have visited these halls that it has been a veritable meeting-place of almost all authors of all lands and all ages at some stage in their careers. Some who came tarried long; others, not satisfied, foolishly drifted to the schools of the King’s Highway which ever carry on their work in opposition to the University of the World.”
Here also, in this second grand division, the subtlest kind of teaching was prevalent. In one sub-division Mr. World and Miss Church-Member read these general laws written in bold letters where all who desired could read:
RULES FOR THE WINNING AUTHOR.
1. Give quality rather than quantity.
2. If you will not compose your best, compose nothing. The world is heavily overstocked with inferior compositions.