"What should be a man‟s or a woman‟s reason for taking literature as a vocation, what sort of success ought they to desire, what sort of ambi-tion should possess them? These are natural questions, now that so many readers exist in the world, all asking for something new, now that so many writers are making their pens "in running to devour the way" over so many acres of fools-cap. The legitimate reasons for enlisting (too of-ten without receiving the shilling) in this army of writers are not far to seek. A man may be con-vinced that he has useful, or beautiful, or enter-taining ideas within him, he may hold that he can express them in fresh and charming language. He may, in short, have a "vocation," or feel con-scious of a vocation, which is not exactly the same thing. There are "many thyrsus bearers, few mys-tics," many are called, few chosen."
