The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-07-23
LIGHTLY'S SUCCESS.

When went into the club the other
night found Lightly turning over the
pages Of the Christmas number Of All the
World. His face would have afforded a
tine study for picture of contentment,
and my first thought was that he must
have an article or story in the magazine,
for Lightly is something of writer, and
whenever he gets anything published
which is not very often-he bores us all
for weeks afterward telling how 1t hap
pened
AS soon as he caught Sight of me he beck
oned me to his table, and thought That I
was in for at least half hours punish
ment. But 1t turned out for once that I
was interested in his talk
Have you seen itf" he asked, tapping
tho cover of the magazine and giving lit
tie eager laugh as he spoke, which con-
flrrned my impression that he must DO in
luck.
NO" answered, "Have you any
thing in itf"
"Anythinga" he almost shouted. "Why,
man, wrote the whole numberl"
AT this I began to wonder If his brain
never too stronghold not suddenly given
way. As you well know, All tho World
is one of the most conservative periodicals
as l will admit that have found to my
own sorrow in the past-and it was pre-
postcrous that 1t should make up whole
number, and Christmas number at that,
from the work Of ono man. And 1t was
clear to my mind that Lightly would not
have been that one man in any event.
While trying to think Of something
quoting to say took the magazine and
glanced over tho table of contents. 1t was
ono Of Lightly's fancies which did him
no good in literary way, TO have dozen
or moro pen names. He used these indis-
crilninatcly, as the humor moved him, and
1t happened that knew most of thcm
So you may judge of my surprise when
tell you that every poem, story, article and
essay in the entire magazine was signed
by some ono of the many names TINT /
knew he used. Tho first WAS Christmas
poem signed G. o. Lightly, then Christ
mas story signed r. s. Weaver. This, he
had once explained to nc, stood for the
story weaver
Then an article on ".Jcrusalem-Ninc-
teen Hundred Years Ago." Christmas
Past and Present" and the usual run of
such material as editors have fallen into
the habit of serving up for the holiday Is.
sue. None of the topics wore new, nor, so
far as l could discover in u hnsty glance,
were they treated with much brilllancy,
The signatures wero all composed upon
the same pucrile plan as the one | have
given.
Poor as much of the stuff probably was,
/ still could not believe that Lightly had
written it all, much less secured its publ.
cation in single number of All the
World. l turned to him for an cxplana
ton.
''Draw up chair no said, with what
thought an air of some condesccnsion.
II can afford to fly high tonight, so let
us have bird and bottle quietly in this
corner while tell you all about it,
''Of course, " he said rs soon as we were
fairly settled, this is all on the quiet
should not tell oven you il you We're not ono
of my best friends and If did not mean
presently to ask a great favor of you. You
know, +" ho continued, chow people have
been talking about the science of hypno.
tism for months pastt"
l nodded my assent, and he went on will
an uninterrupted flow of words.
well" ho said, II CHANGED some time
ngo to be thrown in contact with an adept
in this art, or science, or whatever you
arc minded to call it. / recognized al
once the value that knowledge Of il
might be to me in making fiction, and
asked the fellow to give mo some insight
into it. This he did for n consideration
and to such good purpose that l was soor
able to practice the science to some extent
presently found that it was not difficult
for me to gain hypnotic influence over
any man Of less robust physique than my
self, but l rarely attempted to use the pow
err.
when l finally did, 1t was wholly
/ without reconciliation, and 1t happened
in this way: A few weeks ago-in fact
i. just as they were making up tho Christ
: mas numbcr-I happened into the Office OF
: All the World, and while there offered Al
dcson this poem" Lightly put his finger
on tho printed page as he spoke, but went
on without pause:
Addison put me off with some stool
/ remark about being full of material, q
having more than he could handle, and die
not even look at the poem. This ncttlet
me considerably, and it suddenly occurred
/, to mo that ADDISON was "A smaller maj
!. than myself, and that ought TO give hin
n good thrnshlng for his impudenec.
''Thcn 1t Cnmc to mo all at once that
could hypnotic him and make him accep
my poem. laslcd him to send his nssist
: ant away, rs l wanted to speak to hin
privately, When we We're alone, Mt one,
began the effort to make him subject Il
/, my will, In less time than ] am tCllnl
You had him completely under my iuilu
/ cncc, and he had accepted the poem anC
! promised it the initial place in the mum
u Der.
"Then the thought came to me to TT,
my power li,tlc further Calling mes
4 senger, l sent to my rooms for bundle o
manuscript and sorted ont from it every
Y thing that would do for Christmas mum
8 Der. You know he added parcnthetically
- that always kecpa stock of material d
:, hand ready for all needs and Seasons
4 took these Christmas things up one b
one, and brought them to his attention
n and he accepted each one and made plac
r for II in this holiday number.
: ="Then he called his assistant in an
! gave instructions for making up the copy
:. and / took him away with me and CAV
/. him royal good time for a week. She
/. he got back to the office, it was too late /
/ make any changes, and so you see I'll
r number has come out with nothing bl
u my work And very good number it il
At too, he concluded complaccntly.
But what do you expect to gain by itf
4. / asked. Tho story will come out, an
}, 1t will do you no good but quite the r.
}, verse
l. You are all wrong, replied Light
/ quietly. 'Thc story will not come on
II You can see that ADDISON must be the Ii
Is man to tell it. And he could have 10 .
d ject in doing 50, especially as the numb
: has already mudc such good impression
y With that he took from his pocket capi
:, of u half dozen Leading papers and revie'
i and showed me comments that were II
IL only favorable, but 1attering In the c
II trome.
=. Paid forf" said l. not little disgui
Is ed with the Whole business and part
ularly at being made IL conildant Of.
:; Yes, " he laughed, but it goes just {
same. And now, he added, with sliy
IS show of hcsitaney, for the other mt
Il ter -
. Go ahead" l answered not very q
: ciously, considering that l was dini
y with him. Il might as well hear it
- now,
lc You asked me what I expected to GA