The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1905-03-03

nataQ TO see wasted on single IuIc-
munerative, if appreciative, reader.
Il said to myself as read them over,
a woman who can write letters like
those is bound to have a career and
then came a check from your house for
my latest poem, and / was sure of it.
1T then occurred to me that when you
became famous would come demand
for your Life and Letters and that if
/ encouraged you now, could supply the
demand then 1t is for this reason
that my letters have of late assumed
tone and character so closely reSemb
ling your own inimitable epistles. The
result has exceeded my expectations.
Your recent letters have been fine.
They are really literary productions.
81 have thought it best, however, to
inform you Of what | am doing in order
that you may not allow yourself to fall
below the high standard you have set
yourself, and so to injure your reputa-
tion when the letters are eventually pub
lished. besides incidentally hurting the
sale of the book"
The idea which was thus conceived as
joke was carried out in semi-serlous-
ness. Editor and contributor wrote each
other of their plans, their failures ana
successes, Of the interesting people they
met. of their impressions of notable per-
sons and events.
Fiske wrote to Maynard in one OF mis-
letters:
''Our scheme is going to be a great
success; and when our Lives and Let
ters' are ready to come out, they Will
have the added charm of novelty. No
body writes letters nowadays. When we
pass away, we shall be the only people
dying with literary remains worth en-
balming Even if we do nothing note
worthy in the meantime, We shall al
least have accomplished the remains
Over a year had passed without the
two correspondents meeting or anything
occurring to undeceive them in regard
to their mutual misunderstanding, when
one afternoon grinning office boy
brought in card to Fiske as he sat at
his desk in the Symposium Office. On
the card was written in the well-known
hand. Maynard Barlow"
For Miss Fiske," snickered the boy.
Great Scott" murmured Fiske.
Its come at last! l hope he's great
deal bigger than | am. It'll be over
sooner" and he went out to meet the
man who thought he had been writing
to girl.
But the man was girl.
AND the girl was man.
If the girl had been old and ugly,
Fiske would have thought she was love-
ly, so great was his relief But the girl
was young and pretty and stylish, too.
That he saw at a glance. Of her intel
lectuab equipment and her sympathetic
nature he had stack of evidence filed
under lock and key in his private
drawer.
If the man had been old and ugly,
Maynard would have thought he was
horrid; and she might have said or done
or thought great many disagreeable
things that never even occurred to her.
She took him all in with a satisfied look.
as he stammered forth his-apologies and
his explanations, and she was glad the
assistant editor was man.
Don't say another word" she inte--
rupted, with an amused smile. "It's all
right; dare say can bear it if you can"
And they bore it very we'll.
There's one thing that bothers
me. though said Maynard, as they
parted that evening after the theater,
have you got all my letters tied up
with pink ribbons, as you wrote?"
NO" replied Fiske: 81 will confess;
they're all fastened with rubber bands"
I'm so glad!" cried Maynard Good
night"
Maynard staid nearly month in the
city, and she and Fiske managed to
spend a good deal of the time in each
others company -"readjusting their re-
lations," they called it. By the time
Maynard went home the relations were
pretty we'll readjusteG
"Dear me-" she sighed. one evening
toward the end Of her visit, "some of the
most delightful experiences in our lives
will never get into our letters"
ooh. yes," said Fiske, "they will form
endless subjects for future correspond
ence, and think how much piquarcy our
ridiculous blunder will give to tie earll-
er chapters
After Maynard's return the corre-
spondence was not allowed to languish
or either side. But,while Maynard's let
ters were much the same frank COM
ment on books, ideas and events as be-
fore, the letters that Fiske wrote grew
more and more personal in their charac-
ter. At last Maynard gently inIimated
in reply to one more fervent than usual
that she feared their letters were be-