The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-10-27

fngly handsome and imposing in her an
ger mo; will not sign the receipt, ant
will not take this check. And, what /!
more. will not write you any more books
You have entrapped me- You have taker
advantage of my ignorance and inexperi
ence, and entrapped me so that for five
years shall be nothing but slave to you
and, although am now one of the most
popular writer's in the country, shall be
obliged to accept sum for my books upon
which cannot live. Do you know that
yesterday was offered thousand pounds
for the copyright of n book like 'Jemima's
Vowf'-its large sum; but I have the
letter. Yes, and have the book in manu-
script now; and IL I could publish it, |
should be lifted out of poverty, together
with my poor little sisterr' and she gave a
sob.
But" she went on, 'I cannot publish
1t, and will not let you have it and be
treated like this; l had rather starve. |
Will publish nothing for five years, and
will write to the papers and say why-be-
cause have been cheated, Mr.. Meeson."
"Cheatedr' thundered the great man.
BE careful, young lady, mind what you
are saying. l have witness: Eustace
you hear, 'chedtedp Eustace, 'cheatedp"
81 hear" said Eustace, grimly.
"Yes, Mr.. Meeson, / said cheated and I
will repeat it, whether am locked up for
1t or not. Good-morning, Mr.. Meeson,"
! and size curtseyed TO him, and then sud-
denly burst into "a flood of tears.
In a minute Eustace was by her side
Don't cry, Miss Smithers; for Heavens
| sake don't! l can't bear to see it," he
| said.
She looked up, her beautiful gray eyes
sull of tears, and tried to smile
THANK YOU" she said; Il am very silly,
but am so disappointed. If you only
knew There, will go. Thank YOU"
and in another instant she had drawn her
self up and left the room.
Well" said Mr. Meeson, senior, who
had been sitting at his desk with his great
mouth open, apparently too much aston
ished to speak. well, there is a vixen for
you. But she'll come round. I've known
them to do that sort of thing before-there
are one or two down there" and he ierked
his thumb in the direction where the
twenty and five tame authors sat each like
rabbit in his little hutch and did hat
work by the yard, "who carried on like
that. But they are quiet enough now
They don't show much spirit now. know
how to deal with that sort of thing-half
pay and a double tale of copy-thats the
ticket. Why, that girl will be worth fif-
teen hundred n year to the house. What
do You think of it, young man, eh?"
~ think" answered his nephew, on
whose good-tempered face a curious look
of contempt and anger had gathered, 'I
think that you ought to be ashamed of
yourselfg"
A ArTyr
TIED.
There was n pause-a dreadful pause.
The flash had left the cloud, but the an
swering thunder had not burst upon the
ear. Mr.. Meeson gasped. Then he took
up the check which Augusta had thrown
upon the table and slowly crumpled it.
"What did you say, young man?" he said
at last, in cold, hard voice.
az said that you ought TO be ashamed of
yourself" answered his nephew, standing |
mis- ground bravely; "and what is more, / |
meant it.''
"Oh! Now will you be so kind as to ex-
plain exactly why you said that, and why |
you meant it,"
II meant it," answered his nephew, |
speaking in a full, strong voice, because |
that girl was right when she said that you |
had cheated her, and you know that she |
was right. have seen the accounts of |
'Jemima's Now'-I saw them this morning |
and you have already made more than "a |
thousand pounds clear profit on the book. |
And then, when she comes to ask you for |
something over the bcggarly fifty pounds
which You doled out TO her, you refuse, and |
oifer her three pounds as her share of the |
translation rights-three pounds rs against |
your eleveaH
Go on" interrupted his uncle; "pray go
on"
"Al right; / am going. That is not all.
You actually avail yourself of disgrace
full trick 10 entrap this unfortunate girl |
into an agreement whereby she becomes |
literary bond slave for five years. AS soon
as you see that she has genius you tell her
that the expense of bringing out her book
and Of advertising up her name, ETC., will |
be very great-so great, indeed, that you |
cannot undertake it unless, indeed, she |
agrees to let you have the first offer of |
everything she writes for five years to
come at somewhere about fourth of the |
usual rate OF a successful authors pay
though, OF course, you don't tell her that. |
You take advantage Of her inexperience to |
bind her by this iniquitous contract, know
ing that the end of it will be that you will |
advance her little money and get her into |
your power, and then will send her down |
there to the Hutches, where all the spirit |
and originality and genius will be crushed |
out OF her work, and she will become hat |
writer like the rest of them-for Nelson's |
Is a strictly commercial undertaking, you |
know, and Nelson's public don't like gen.
ius they like their literature duh and holyl |
and it's an Internal shamel thut's what it |
is, uncle" and the young man, whose blue
eyes were by this time flashing fire, for he |
had worked himself up as he went along, |
brought his fist down with bang upon |
the writing table by way Of emphasizing |
his words.
Have you donef" said his uncle.
"Yes, I've done; and hope that have |
put it plain"
Very WELL and now might / ask you, |
supposing that you snould ever come to |
manage this business, if your sentiments |
accurately represent the system upon |
which you would proceedf"
"Of course they do. am not going to |
fnrn cheat for nnvhnIv