AUTHOR'S TIPS

                       by Walt whitman; one of America's greatest men of letters

For Aspiring Scribes (Article-Feb 1888 'The Signal')

• Don't become a poet.
• Practice your craft and break conventional models.
• First, don't write poetry, second, ditto, third, ditto.
• Carry a pencil and a piece of paper to jolt down daily events.
• Get your hands dirty in mechanics of printing.
• Whack away at anything pertaining to literary life-mechanical part as well as the rest.
• Learn to set type.
• Learn to work at the 'case.'
• Learn to be a practical printer.

---MJN---