Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1905-02-23

81 had at first some ScrupleS in writing
to you" wrote Maynard to Fiske in the
early stages Of their correspondence, "as
your ever welcome answers always con-
tanned many fine marketable ideas tina:
hated to see wasted on a single unre-
munerative, If 'appreciative reader.
81 said to myself as read them over,
"a woman who can write letters like
those is bound to have career, and
then came a check from your house for
my latest poem, and was sure Of it.
at then occurred to me that when you
became famous would come a demand
for your Life and Letters and that If
I encouraged you now, could supply the
! demand then 1t is for this reason
! that my letters have Of late assumed a
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.
"I 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-
ton when the letters are eventually pub
lished. beside; incidentally hurting the
sale of the bt.sb."
The idea which was thus conceived as
a joke was carried out in semi-serious-
ness Editor and contributor wrote each !
other of their plans, their failures and |
successes, of the interesting people they |
met Of their impressions Of notable per-
sors and events.
Fiske wrote to Maynard in one Of his |
letters:
Our scheme is going to be great /
success; and when our Lives and Let !
ters' are ready to come out they Will /
have the added charm of novelty. Nc
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
me afternoon grinning office boy
brought II a card to Fishe as he sat dt
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 Fishe
ITS come at last! I hope he's a great
deal bigger than am. It'll be over
sooner" and he went cut to meet the
man who thought he had been writing
to q girl.
But the man was 4 girl.
And the girl was a 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 glance. CT her intel
lectual equipment ard her sympathetic
nature he had a stack of evidence filed
under lock and key in his private
drawer.
If the man had bean old and ugly, |
Maynard would have thought he was
lorrid; and she might have said or done
Or thought a great many disagreeable
rhings that never even occurred TO her.
She took him all in with a satisfied look,
rs he stammered forth his apologies and
his explanations, and she was glad the
assistant editor was q man
Don't say another word" she inter
rupted, with an amused smile. "It's all
right; dare say can bear it if you can"
And they bore it very well.
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?"
mo" replied Fiske; 81 will confess;
they're all fastened with rubber bands"
"Im so glad!" cried Maynard. Coed
night"
Maynard staid nearly a month in the
city and she and Fiske managed 10
spend a good deal of the time in each
others "readjusting their re-
lations," they called it. BY the time
Maynard went home the relations were
pretty we'll readjusted.
Dear me-" she sighed, one evening !
toward the end of her visit, some of the-4
most delightful experiences in our lives
will never get into our letters"
"Oh, yes" said Fiske, "they will form
endless subjects for future correspond
ence, and think how much piquancy our !
ridiculous blunder will give to the earli- |
er chapters"
After Maynard's return the corre- {
spondence was not allowed to languish Y
on either side. But while Maynards let
tiers were much the same frank COM {
ment on books, ideas and events as be-
fore, the letters that Fiske wrote grew v
more and more personal,in their charac- l
ter At last Maynard gently intlmated I
In reply to one more fervent than usual v
that she feared their letters were be- {
coming of nature no longer to interest I
the great public to whom they expected /
to appeal in their Lives and Letters" {
ooh, | don't know, wrote Fishe, in re- i
ply, "look at the Browning Lettersy"
And so they were married, 8
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{