were natural themselves. Shakespeare understood mankind because he was
himself a man; hence he has portrayed the feelings, the emotions, the
passions with a master's touch, delineating the king in his palace as true
to nature as he has done the peasant in his hut. The monitor within his own
breast gave him warning as to what was right and what was wrong, just as
the daemon ever by the side of old Socrates whispered in his ear the course
to pursue under any and all circumstances. Burns guiding the plough
conceived thoughts and clothed them in a language which has never, nor
probably never will be, surpassed by all the learning which art can confer.
These men were natural, and it was the perfection of this naturality that
wreathed their brows with the never-fading laurels of undying fame.

If you would essay to write for the newspaper you must be natural and
express yourself in your accustomed way without putting on airs or
frills; you must not ape ornaments and indulge in bombast or rhodomontade
which stamp a writer as not only superficial but silly. There is no room
for such in the everyday newspaper. It wants facts stated in plain,
unvarnished, unadorned language. True, you should read the best authors
and, as far as possible, imitate their style, but don't try to literally
copy them. Be yourself on every occasion--no one else.

Not like Homer would I write,
Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
Like myself, or not at all.

Put yourself in place of the reader and write what will interest yourself
and in such a way that your language will appeal to your own ideas of the