Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-06-07
LIGHLY'S SUCCESS.
How he Combined Hypnotism and
Literature, but Overshot the
Mark.

Literature, but Overshot the
Mark.
When | went into the club the other
night, found Lightly turning over the
pages of a Christmas number of All
the World. His face would have af-
1orded a fine study for a picture of
ccntentmcnt, and my first thought was
that he must have an adele or story in
the magazine. For Lightly is some
thing OF a writer, and whenever he gets
anything published-which is not very
often-hc bOreS us all for weeks after
ward, telling how it happened.
AS soon rs he caught sight of me. he
DeckonCd me to his table. and | thought
that l was in for 1T least a half-hour's
punishment. But it turned out for once
that | was interested in his talk.
"Hav YOU seen it," he asked, tap
ping the cover Of the magazine and Civ
ing Il little eager laugh as he spoke,
which confirmed my impression that
he must be i'll luck.
NO." | answered; have you any
thing in ito"
"Anything?" he almost shouted,
"Why, man, | wrote the whole num-
Der"
At this l began to wonder if his
D~raln-n"vcr too stronghold not sud
denly given way. As you we'll know,
All III" World is One of the most con-
sentative periOdiCalS-as l will admit
that l have found TO my sorrow in the
past-and it was prcpOSterOus that il
should make up the whole number, and
q Christmas number at that, from the
work Of me a And it was clear to
my mind that Lightly would not have
been that n man, in any event.
While trying to think of something
quoting to say. / took the magazine
and glanced over the table of contents.
1t was n Of Lightly'S fancieS-which
did him no good in a literary way-to
have n dozen or more pen names. He
used these Unfortunately, as the hui
NOR moved him, and it happened that l
knew most of them. 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 one Of the many names that l
knew he used. The first was a Christ
mas poem, signed G. o Lightly. Then
| a christmas SIOLN, SlSLIu l. - weave
this, he had once explained to me,
stood for The Story Weaver.) Then an
article on Observation-Disclosures Hun
dred Years Ago" "Christm lS-Past and
Present." and the usual run Of such
material as editors have fallen into
the habit of serving up for the hOli-
day issue. None of the topics were
new. nor, so far as l could discover in
a hasty glance, were they treated with
much brilliancy. The signatures were
all composed upon the same puerile
plan us the one | have given.
Poor as much of the stuff probably
was, | still could not believe that Light
ly had written all, much less secured
it's publication in a single number of
All the World. / turned to him for an
explanation.
Draw up a chair" he said, with
what | thought an air Of some condo
| sceuSiOn. Il can afford to fly high to-
night. so let us have a bird and a bottle
| quietly in this corner, while l tell you
all about it.
"Of COURSE he said. as soon as we
were fairly settled. this is all on the
| quiet. | should not tell ven you. If
YOU were not one Of my best friends,
and if | did not mean presently to ask
a favor of YOU. You know he con
tinucd, how people have been talk ng
about the science Of hypnOtisn for
months past
I nodded my assent, and he went on
With I'm uninterrupted flow OF words
WELL" he said. Il Glanced some time
arC 10 be thrown in contact with an
| adcpt in this art, or science, or what
ever YOU are minded to call 1t. ! rec
| OrniZpd ut OnCe the value that 4 knnWl-
| edge of it might be to me in making nc
| tinu. and I asked the fellow to give me
some insight into it. This he DID, Tor Il
consideration, and TO such good nur-
| rose that | was soon able To practice
! thr science TO some extent. | present
" fornd that il was not difficult for me
70 gain n hypnotic influence over any
man Of less robust physique than my
self, but | rarely attempted to use the
power. u
when I finally did, it was wholly
u,ithnut reconciliation, and it happened
In This way. A few weeks ago-in fact,
inst rs thcv were making up the Christ
mas numher-I happened into the office
| NJ All the World. and willie there olter-
| 1I AlupSOn IlllS DONll, "fS"|'
finger on the printed page as he spohe'
but went on without pause.
"AIdcscn put me off with some stock
rom,rk .bont being full of material, OF
having more than he could handle n
did not even look at the poem. ms
! nettIcd me considerably, ana IL suuueh,
II. occurred to me that Aldeson was =
EGmoIInr man than myself, and that L
"~"bt to give him a good thrashins for
his impotence. Then it came to me al
nt once that | could hypnotic him and
make him accept MY poem. asked
him to send his assistant away, as
wanted to speak to BUN prlEutety
when we were alone, | at once PECAN
tbn effort to make him subject to my
T viii, en- In less time than I anu telling
v w,rI' I had him completely under my
p ptrnl and promised it the initial place
I'm the number. mo IN fry