The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-07-30
THE TICKLEMORE
BOOM
BY F. f. CHASE

Copyright, by ShOftstoTS iup' No.)
Thomas Ticklemore. author, will
hardly be remembered by the pres
ent generation Of readers OF fiction,
though his vogue some ten years ago
was as great as it proved ephemeral.
He had served the usual weary ap-
premiership to letters, during which
his only extravaganza was postage
stamps, and his superlaiive luxury
| three meals a 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 hatterln2
words of praise and encouragement
| but also, in the proportion OF twenty
20 one, requests for his autograph
| from that incomprehensib 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, 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" 5. id that vet.
eran in popularity, "on your blessed
life. Ignore EN-. Don't make your
self too cheap"
In this counsel Coolpitcher was Ell
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 OU.'s. he had never
made it at all cheap to its 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 literary
note, stimulated his admirers to re
doubled energy in the pursuit of so
unique possession. More than one
hotel man privately wrote the distin.
guished name in an old register and
then employed some dsinterested per
son to discover 1t,
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 a source of direct profit to the
author himself neSer occurred to
either of them, nor was 1t so at first,
save in the small economy in postage
stamps that 1t occasioned, until the
growth of Ticklemore's income ne.
| cesstated the opening Of a 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 q
| standing offer Of $500 for a genuine
| authenticated autograph, phOto-en'
graved fac smile 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 brother official of underhand
| ed conduct, simple justice TO himself
| demanded the statement that, for his
| part, he was incapable OF converting
a public trust to private ends while
| the cashier, whom he met that even
| ing in society. said with some bitter
| ness that it was a hard position for an
| upright man to be mixed up with PEG
| pie whose moral sense was minus
| quantity. From which Ticklemore in
| ferred that they mad divided the spoiis
At the months end. when he called
! for his book, which had been sent In
| to be balanced the young man who
| banded it to him said:
You need not have troubled t.
| bring In your book, Mr. Ticklemore
| since | see you have no checks out"
All but have" he replied Tots 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
| nsent.
He could not account for this, anC
when at the end Of the second montl
| he again received back his book with