Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-08-17
Mr.. NELSON'S WILL.
BY II. RIDER UAGGARD.

1 NOW you, NY HosttIH TINS II fUHifp
OLD PLAY.
Everybody who has any connection with
Birmingham viii be acquainted with the
vast publishing establishment still known
! by the short title OF "Meeson's," which is
| perhaps the most remarkable institution
| of the sort in Europe. There are-or rather
| there were, at the date Of the beginning OF
this history-three partners in Meeson's-
Meeson himself, the managing partner;
! Mr.. Addison, and Mr.. R~oscoe-and people
in Birmingham used 10 say that there were
others interested in the affair, for Nelson's
was IA company" Qimited).
However this may be, Meeson e. Co.. was
undoubtedly n commercial marvel. 1t en-
ployed more than two thousand hands, and
its works, lit throughout with the electric
light, covered two acres and a quarter Of
! land. One hundred commercial travellers,
at three pounds a week and a commission,
| went forth east and west, and north and
| south, TO sell the books of Meeson (Which
| were largely religious in their naturej in
all lands; and five~and-twenty tame au-
thors (who were illustrated by thirteen
tame artists sat-at salaries ranging from
one to five hundred n %year-in vault-like
hutches in the basement, and week by
week poured out that hat-work for which
| Nelson's was Justly famous. Then their
were editors and vice-editors, and heads of
the various departments, and sub-heads,
and financial secretaries, and readers, and
many managers; but what their names
were no man knew, because at Nelson's
| all the employees of the great house were
known by numbers; personalities and per-
sonal responsibility being the abomination
of the firm. Nor was it allowed to any one
having dealings with these items ever TO
see the same number twice, presumably for
fear lest the number should remember
that he was n man and a brother, and his
heart should melt toward the unfortunate,
and the financial interests of Nelson's
| should suffer. In short, Nelson's was an
establishment created for and devoted to
money-making, and the fact was kept
st~udiously and even insolently before the
eyes of everybody connected with it
which was, Of course, as 1T should be, in
this happy land Of IN After all
that has been written, the reader will not
be surprised to learn that the partners in
Nelson's were rich beyond the dreams Of
avarice. Their palaces would have been n
wonder even in ancient Babylon, and
would have excited admiration in the cor
ruptest and most luxurious days of Rome.
Where could one see such horses, such car
riages, such galleries of sculpture OF such
collections Of costly gems as ut the p%alatial
halls of Messrs. Meeson, Addison, and Ros-
coe?
"And to think" as the mighty MeesOn
himself would say, with a lordly wave of
| his right hand, to some astonished wretch
of an author whom he had chosen to over
| whclm with the sight of this magnilicence,
''to hin that all this comes out of the
brains of chaps like yOut Why, young
man, | tell you that if all the money that
has been paid t. scribblers like YOU since
the days of Elizabeth were added together
it would not comenp TO my little pile; but,
mind you, it amt SO much fiction that has
done the trick-it's religion, It's picty us
pays, especially when it's printed
Then the uusophiSticated youth would
90 away, his heart too full for words, but
pondering how these things were, and by
and by he would pass into the Mecson
melting pot and learn something about il.
one day King MeesOn sat in his counting
house counting out his money, or, at least.
LOOKING over the books Of the firm. He VAS
in a very had temper, and his heavy broWs
were Wrinkled up IN Il way calculated To
make the counting hoUSc clerks shake on
their stools. Nelson's had Il branch cS-
! adjustment at sydney. in Australia, which
establishment had. Guti) lately, been pay
ing-it il true nos as well as the English
one. but. still. fifteen or tAcnty per cent.
But now "A wonder had come to pass. \
great London publishing company had
started an opposition house in Melbourne,
and their ''CUtcuea~' NG- more than the
"cutencss' of Mecson. Did Nelson's pub
lliyhan edition cftEc works OF Any standard
]authorat thrcepence per volume, the oppo-
sitiou company brought ont the sane work
at twopencc-halfpcnny; did Nelson's sub
sidlze "A newspaper 70 puff their undertake
ings, the opposition iirm subsidized two &c
cry them down, and 50 on. And now the
results of all this were becotning apparent.
for in the financial year just ended Tie Aus
~traiian branch had barely earned Il bcggar-
ly net dividend Of seven per cent.
No wonder Mr.. Meeson was furious, and
no wonder thai the clerks shook upon then
stools.
This must be seen into, No. 3d. said Mr.
Meeson, bringing his fist down with a banl
on to the balance sheet,
No. 3 was one of the editors: a miid-cyeo
little man with blue spectacles, He hao
once beenA writer Of promise. but some
how Nelson's had got him for its W and
turned hin into a publishers hack.
Quite SO, sir" he said, humDly. 1T is
very bad-it is dreadful to think Of Nee
sons coming down to seven per ccnt,-Scy.
en- per cent? and be helped up his hands.
Don't stand there like n stuck pig, No.
g." said Mr.. Meeson, f~iercely; but suggest
something"
well, sir" said No. 3. more humbly
than ever, for he was terribly afraid of his
employer; II think, perhaps, that some.
body had better go to Australia, and sec
what can be done"
Il know one thing that can be done
said Mr.. Meeson, with Il snarl; "all those
fools out there can be sacked, and sacked
they shall be; and, what's more, I'll GO and
sack them myself. That will do, No. s.
that will do;'' and No. 3departed, anu glad
enough he was to go.
As he went a Clerk arrived and gave &
card 10 the great man.
Miss Augusta SmitherS. ne read; then
with a Crunt, "show Miss Augusta smith
ers ill.,"
Presently Miss Augusta Smithers ar
rived. She was a tall. well formed younl
lady Of abouttwenty-five, with pretty gold
on hair, deep gray eyes, a tine forehead