Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-07-16
THE TICKL EMORE.
BOOM
BY r. s. CHASE
Copyright, by shortstory Pub. Co.

he udu SoTVeu Luo usual weary dp-
premiership to letters, during which
his only extravaganza was postage
stamps, and his superlative luxury
three meals day, when the publica-
ton of his striking tale, king Sub
terfuge, the Subtle" first brought him
into prominence. At the very thresh-
old of fame he encountered the auto
graph collector. His greatly augment
ed mail now brought him fresh COM
missions, fat checks and flattering
words of praise and encouragement,
but also, in the proportion of twenty
to one, requests for his autograph
from that incomprehensible class that
attaches value to this simple product
of the writer's art.
Had his success been less sudden,
and the resulting demand for the more
legitimate product Of his pen been less
overwhelming, a pardonable vanity
might have induced him to yield to-
these requests; but as it was, he took
the advice of his friend Coolpitcher,
the comedian.
Never, dear boy" said that vet
eran in popularity, ION your blessed
life. Ignore EN-. Don't make your
self too cheap"
In this counsel Coolpitcher was en-
tirely consistent with his own prac-
tice; for though he had never been
niggardly of his autograph, and had,
indeed, given 1t freely during long
and checkered public career, chiefly,
in the form of 1.O.U.'s, he had never
made it at all cheap to it's re-
cipients. Ticklemore adopted it forth
WITH employing the requests which
continued to crowd his letter box as
pipe lights, and utilizing the re-
turn postage stamps they occasionally
contained for the forwarding of manu-
script to his publishers.
1t was not long before it got abroad
that the distinguished Mr. Tickle
more had never given his autograph
to any one, even going to the length
Of signing private notes with a rub
Der stamp, and Of making verbal con-
tracts only, to the jeopardy of his Pc
cuniary interests. This singular fact,
circulated widely in the newspapers
by his astute publishers as a literary
note, stimulated his admirers to re-
doubled energy in the pursuit Of 50
unique a possession. More than one
hotel man privately wrote the distin-
guished name in an old register, and
then employed some disinterested per-
son to discover it.
The few genuine autographs that
had survived from earlier years had
been long ago absorbed by collectors,
and the situation thus created was Of
inestimable value, for advertising pur-
poses, to the authors delighted pub
fishers.
That Coolpitcher's advice was likely
to be source of direct profit to the
author himself never occurred to
either Of them; nor was it so at first,
save in the small economy in postage
stamps that It occasioned until the
growth of Ticklemore's income ne
cessitated the opening of bank &C.
count. This expedient was agreeably
forced upon him in very few months
after the publication of King Subter-
fuge, the Subtle" which ran nimbly
into edition after edition.
Upon the evening of the day on
which Mr.. Ticklemore made his first
deposit, there appeared in a leading
daily paper that had published a
standing offer of $500 for a genuine,
authenticated autograph, photo-en-
graved fac-simile of his signature, and
an announcement that the original
could be seen at the Paragon office
There, behind strong plate glass, and
jealousy guarded by husky police
man, Tinklemore beheld the signature
he had furnished the bank for COM
parison. Later he received a note of
apology from the president saying
that, while he was the last man to
accuse a brother Official Of underhand-
ed conduct, simple Justice to himself
demanded the statement that, for his
part, he was incapable of converting
public trust to private ends, while
the cashier, whom he met that even
ing in society, said with some bitter
ness that it was hard position for an
upright man to be mixed up with peo-
pie whose moral sense was a minus
quantity. From which Ticklemore in
ferred that they had divided the spoils.
At the months end, when he called
for his book, which had been sent in
to be balanced, the young man who
handed It to him said: l l5 s...
you need not have troubled to
bring in your book, Mr.. Ticklemore,
since see you have no checks out"
"Ah, but I have" he replied, ''lots Of
them" And indeed, charmed by the
novelty of the thing, he had written
an unnecessarily large number, in
payment of divers small bills. None
of these had been presented for pay.
mont.
He could not account for this. and
when at the end Of the second month
he again received back his book with