The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-01-04
Bromley Gilbert, Story.
By ROBERT BARR.
Copyright, 1887. by the Author.l

The room In which John Shorely ed.
tied The Weekly Sponge In London wa
not luxuriously furnished. but 1t wal
comfortable. A few pictures decorated
the walls, mostly black and white
drawings by artists who we're 80 unfor'
tunate as 10 be compelled to work fol-
The Sponge ON the cheap. Magazines
and papers were Uttered all about,
chiefly American in their origin, fol
Shorely had been brought up in the ed
itorial school which teaches that it Is
cheaper to steal from foreign publioa-
tion than waste good money on original
contributions. You clipped out the
story, changed New York to London,
Boston or Philadelphia to Manchester
or Liverpool, and there you were.
Shorely's theory was that the public
was fool and didn't know the differ
ence. Some Of the greatest journalistic
successes in London proved the fact, he
claimed, yet The Sponge frequently
bought stories from we'll known au-
thors and Dragged greatly about it.
Shorely's table was Uttered with
manuscripts, but the attention Of the
great editor was not upon them. He
sat In his wooden armchair, with his
gaze ON the fire and frown on his
brow. The Sponge was not going well,
and he feared he would have to adopt
some Of the many prize schemes that
were such help to pure literature
elsewhere, or offer 1000 insurance
tied up in such way that 1t would
look lavishly generous to the constant
reader, and yet be impossible to collect
If disaster really occurred.
In the middle Of his meditations a
clerk entered and announced Mr..
Bromley Gibberts.
''Tell him I'm busy now. Tell him
I'm engaged" said the editor, while
the perplexed frown deepened on his
brow.
The clerks conscience, however, was
never burdened with that message, fol
Gibherts entered, with a long ulster flap
ping about his heels.
"That's all right" said Gibberts,
waving his hand at the boy. who stood
with open mouth, appalled, at the intru-
sion. "You heard what Mr.. Shorely
said. He's engaged. Therefore let nc
one enter. Get out"
The boy departed, closing the door
after him. Gibberts turned the key in
the lock, then sat down.
"There, he said. Now we can talk
unmolested, Shorely. 1 should think
you would be pestered to death by all
manner of idiots who come in and in.
terrupt you. :"
IT am" said the editor shortly.
"Take my plan and lock Your door.
Communicate with the outer offices
through speaking tube. see You are
down in the mouth, SO have come tc
cheer you up. I've brought you story,
my boy"
shorely groaned.
my dear Gibberts," no said, eve
have now
"Oh, yes; know all about that. You
have matter enough on hand to run the
paper for the next 10 years. If this is a
comic story, you are buying only seri-
Gus stuff. If this is tragic, humor is
what you need. OF course the up and
down truth Is that you are short Of
money and can't pay my price. The
Sponge is failing: everybody knows
that. Why can't you speak the truth,
Shorely, to me at least? If you practiced
an hour day and took lessons-from
me. for instance-you would be able in
a month to speak several truthful SEN
fences one after the other"
m,.A-aa.-- itsrei.Sd bitterly.
"Ycu are complimentary" he said.
"I'm not. Try again. Shorely. Say
I'm boorish ass. -
swell, you are"
"There, you see how easy it is, Prao-
tice is everything. Now about this
story. Will you'-
Twill not. As you arc not an ad-
vertiser l don't mind admitting to you
that the paper is going down. You see,
it comes to the same thing. We haven't
the money, as you say, so what is the
use Of talking?"
Gibberts hitched his chair closer to
the editor and placed his hand on the
others knee. He went OH earnestly.
Now is the time to talk, Shorely.
In little while it will be too late.
You will have thrown up The Sponge.
Your great mistake is trying to ride
two horses, each facing different di-
rection. 1t can't be done, my boy Make