Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1917-01-05
TheGoose ThatL
the Golden Egg
By F. A. Mitchell

I wife from the fact that you were
successful author" said Dawson to his
friend Sturdevant. IF a man wants to
win a woman he must raise himself
above his fellow men by doing some
thing that glitters. To wear gaudy
uniform is the easiest way with the
ordinary type of woman. But l am
i not surprised that it required differ
ent sort of prominence to secure Mrs.
Sturdevant. She is very bright wo-
man and would naturally look up to
a man Of your callber."
Sturdevant glanced at the ceiling,
then at the floor, then out through the
window.
EYES," he replied, my wife is
smart woman. but she has no reason to
admire me-
CHATS modesty for you"
"You don't know anything about wo
men, John. You say a woman to love
a man must look up to him. So far,
so good. But she is just as likely to
love him because she looks down on
him The truth is. the sex is not to
be analysed. This story that ! won
/ my wife on account Of my literary
standing is balderdash. I'll tell you
the basis of it If you like"
please do So"
81 have always been rather imprac-
tical, and Dora is the very reverse.
When / met her l was ambitious to
write successful novel She listened
to my talk, sympathiZed with me, but
could see that she considered me in
the clouds.
"'You don't seem to think I'm up to
the work Of successful scribbling?
said to her one day. miffed at her want
! of enthusiasm.
"'I think you're not down to it. she
replied.
"'What do you meanY
"'Oh. that would take too long to
explain .
she might have truthfuIly added, 4
wouldn't attempt to try to fire it into
as stupid brain as yours.
Il was engaged at that time on my
story, The Goose That Laid the Golden
Egg"
81 believe 100000 copies were soldF"
Dawson broke in.
Three hundred thousand"
"And all the WHILE" interrupted
Dawson. st was YOU who
Don't be in such a hurry. I'm tell
ing this story. l put $1,000 into the
venture | intended to spend it all on
the printing and binding. but Dora
persuaded me to have it illustrated.
SO | paid $4OO of the amount for pic
lures. The book was published through
Lampblack & Co.. who put their i'm
print on the title page
'"Three months passed, and | got a
check from them for $275 50 The pub
lie didn't clamOr for the goose that
laid the golden egg worth cent. One
reviewer said that it was easy to pick
out the goose that didn't Law the golden
egg, which complimentary remark evi-
IDENTIFY referred 70 the author. Another
three months passed. and got another
heck for SG.75.
What was my surprise when the
next quarterly payment was made to
receive $3.50. After that one day when
| was introduced to a man he looked at
me curiOusly and asked. Author of
The Goose That Laid the Golden
Egg?"' Surprised, admitted that l
was and with heart futter. The
next day / was told by a friend that
my book was being talked about. and,
stopping at book and news stand, the
dealer told me that he was selling it
like hot cakes. | asked him to what
ne attributed the sudden increase Of
sales, and he replied:
, 1.-The public wants it,
This satisfied me that had at
, least struck a popular vein, and
hoped to climb the ladder of literary
fame.
"TO make long story short, my
novel was talked about by everybody.
rich and poor, high and low. In six
months had cleared a small fortune;
then the sales fell to nothing. l had
made some money. but no literary rep
uta ton.
Dora and l were married and went
to Europe on a bridal trip. One day
while on the voyage over was twit-
ting her on her want of appreciation
of my ability to succeed as an author
when she said:
ne reviewer VINO SAID that II was
easy to pick out the goose that didn't
lay the golden egg was half right
Now listen to me.
lone day after your novel had fall
en- fat,' she went on, 4 concluded to
try to stir up an interest in it. l went
to all my friends and told them there
was hidden meaning in the title and
asked them to guess what it was They
. all went about propounding the query
to their friends. 1t got noised about
that there was a mystery in the book
that did not appear on the surface
REINFORCED the position by PROFOUND
ing the query whether the goose was
q goose or a gander. This set people
to Quarreling as to whether the hero.
Tom Phunnyfeller, or the heroine.