The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-01-02
TheGoose ThatL
the Golden Egg
By F. A. mitchell

Il have heard that you won your
| wife from the fact that you We're a
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 a gaudy
uniform is the easiest way with the
ordinary type of woman. But | am
not surprised that 1t required diner
ent sort of prominence to secure Mrs.
Sturdevant. She is very bright wo-
man and would naturally look up to
man of your caliber."
lSturdevant glanced at the ceiling,
then at the floor. then out through the
window.
EYES," he replied. my wife is a
smart woman. but she has no reason to
admire me-
'That's modesty for you"
"You don't know anything about wo-
men. John. You say 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 l won
my wife on account Of my literary
standing is balderdash. I'll tell you
the basis of 1t IL you like"
please do So"
II have always been rather imprac-
teal, and Dora is the very reverse.
When / met her l was ambitious to
write a successful novel. She listened
to my talk. sympathized with me, but
l could see that she considered me In
the clouds.
"'You don't seem to think I'm up to
the work of successful scribbllngr
said to her one day. miffed at her want
Of enthusiasm.
81 think you're not down to It, she
replied.
"'What do you meanT
"'Oh. that would take too long to
explain.
''She might have truthfully added, 4
wouldn't attempt to try to fire 1t into
as stupid brain as yours"
81 was engaged at that time on my
story The Goose That Laid the Golden
Egg"
81 believe 100000 copies were sold?"
Dawson broke In.
"Three hundred thousand"
"And all the WHILE" interrupted
Dawson, 1T was you who
Don't be In such hurry. I'm tell
ing this story. put $1,000 into the
venture. | intended to spend 1t all on
the printing and binding, but Dora
persuaded me to have 1t illustrated
SO paid 500 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 $3.50. The pub
lie didn't clamor for the goose that
laid the golden egg worth cent One
reviewer said that 1t was easy to pick
out the goose that didn't lay the golden
egg, which complimentary remark evil
IDENTITY referred to the author. Another
three months passed, and ] got anothe.'
check for $6.75
What was my surprise when the
next quarterly payment was made to
receive $50. After that one day when
! was introduced to man he looked at
me curiously and asked, Author of
'The Goose That Laid the Golden
Egg Surprised. admitted that
was and with heart hutter. The
next day was told by 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. l asked him to what
he attributed the sudden increase of
sales, and he replied
1.-The pubic wants it
This satisfied me that l had at
least struck popular vein, and
hoped to climb the ladder of literary
fame.
ITO make long story short, my
novel was talked about by everybody,
rich and poor. high and low. In six
months had cleared small fortune:
then the sales fell to nothing. l had
made some money. but no literary rep
utation.
Dora and were married and went
to Europe on bridal trip One day
while on the voyage over l was twit-
ting her on her want of appreciation
Of my ability to succeed as an author,
when she said:
The reviewer who said that il was
easy to pick out the goose that didn't
lay the golden egg was half right.
Now listen to me.
One day after your novel had fall
en- hat,' she went on, 4 concluded to
try to stir up an interest in it. l went
10 all my friends and told them there
was hidden meaning in the title and
asked them to guess what 1t was. They
all went about propounding the query
to their friends. 1t got noised about
that there was mystery in the book
that did not appear on the surface,
L REINFORCED the position by PROFOUND
ing the query whether the goose was
a goose or a gander This set people
to Quarrelinw nc fo whafhar tbo ~