The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-04-13

However has he managed it % l cried
as remembered the very small sales that
my books on which had spent so much
time and trouble, and which had been pub
lished by some of the first houses in Lon
don, had reached.
The mystery was solved to me as | looked
over the pile of letters which had collected
during my absence. Among these was
thin postal card, addressed in an unfamiliar
hand, upon which was written the follow
ing communication:
DEAR SRA sincere friend considers it
his duty to point out to you that you are
cruelty and scandalously libeled in miser-
able shilling book called "a Disgrace to
Society" published by Messrs. Anderson
Maitland. You owe it both to yourself
and to your friends to take measures to put
a stop to the circulation of these falsehoods
about you
A True WELL WIsHER
Now, as soon as had read this, having
in the meanwhile forgotten all about Ross
and his book, my first impulse was to rush
out to the nearest bookstall and to ask for
a copy of the work referred to. Then sud-
denly it flashed across my mind that | had
the book in my pocket, and remembering
what had seen at Ross rooms | began to
understand the advertising scheme of
which he had spoken so sanguincly, and
which, according to what had seen and
my own impulse at the moment, | had
read the postal card seemed decidedly an
effectual one.
happened to meet Ross that same even
ing just as he was alighting from a hanson
outside fashionable Regent street cafe. As
soon as he saw me he rushed up and cried
out: "What did tell you, old chap? Is
it success, Or is it not? We are printing
the sixteth to SEVENTEEN thousand at this
moment"
81 suppose it is to you | owe this highly
interesting missive? | said, holding out
the postal card that had received.
Ross glanced at it, and turning rather
red said: 81 didn't know that your name
was in the directory, or l would have given
instructions that you were not to be
written to- Not that it matters much now
that the success of the book is assured
Veil, yes, that was the idea, and famously
has worked, as you have seen. We sent
ards to everybody in the Who's Who, in
the clergy list, in the court section of the
.ondon directory and in the law list. OF
curse everybody who received a card
Immediately rushed off to the nearest book
seller to get the book and to find out how
it referred to him. You see, everybody has
more or less of a skeleton in his cupboard,
and there you are, don't you know A
resi- batch of postal cards is going out
onight. Tell me, what do you think of
he idea?"
II don't know" said. OTIS original
ertainly. Perhaps on the point of taste''-
"Oh, taste he hangedn' cried Ross
Money is the thing to be got, and
loney | am getting. That wretched
tile book which dashed off my
typewriter in a fortnight has already
,rought me in over e4O0, and | wouldn't
ell my interest in it at present for twice as
nuch again. And then look what start
t gives me as a literary fellow. Won't the
publishers he after me soon, Ross, the
dvertised or reviewed in the papers, ran
Trough over 100 editions in six weeks?
tell you my fortune is made, thanks to
nat happy thought of mine"
| said nothing and shortly afterward
,uitted him.
His sanguine hopes were not destined to
aeizaton, by curious example of the
irony of fate On the very next day after
had met him a suit for libel was com.
menced against him by clergyman in the
north of England named Burrell, who
having his attention called to a libel on
him in the form of a story in which the
names were so thinly disguised as to be
recognizable by any one of his acquint-
ances, and seeing in the story a malicious
an grossly exaggerated version of certain
circumstances which had occurred in his
family, instructed his solicitor to COM
mence proceedings. While these were
pending the publishers, to reduce their
responsibility to the lowest degree possible,
suspended the sale of the book, in spite OF
the fact that the demand for copies in
creased daily. Very heavy damages were
claimed by the plaintiff The affair was,
however, settled out of court, settlement
which left Ross considerably out of pocket
by his first and last literary venture.
81 never heard of this fellow Burrell in
my life, " he told me mourfully. ''The
story, such as it was, came out of my
head. But of course l couldn't go into
court and give myself away. The laugh
would have been against me-"
And so no doubt it would have BEEN
Idler.