The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-08-29
TheGoose That Laid
the Golden Egg
By F. A. Mitchell

II have heard that you won youl
wife from the fact that you were q
successful author" said Dawson to his
friend Sturdevant. "If a man wants tc
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 l am
not surprised that it required differ
ent sort Of prominence to secure Mrs
Sturdevant. She is a very bright wo
man and would naturally look up to
q man Of Your caliber."
Sturdevant glanced at the ceiling
then at the floor. then out through the
window.
YES" he replied, my wife is a
smart woman, but she has no reason to
admire me-" a.. a. .orr . .. ~
''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,
90 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 anaIyzed. This story that I 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"
II have always been rather imprac-
teal, and Dora is the very reverse.
When I met her 1 was ambitious to
write a successful novel. She listened
to my talk, sympathized with me. but
I could see that she considered me In
the clouds.
"'You don't seem to think I'm up to
the work Of successful scribblingT
said to her one day, miffed at her want
of enthusiasm.
az think you're not down to it, she
replied.
"'What do you mean?'
"'Oh, that would take too long to
EXPLAIN
"She might have truthfully added. y
wouldn't attempt to try to fire it into
as stupid a brain as yours"
IT was engaged at that time on my
story, The Goose That Laid the Golden
Egg"
Il believe 100000 copies were sold?"
Dawson broke in.
"Three hundred thousand"
"And all the WHILE" Interrupted
Dawson, ut was you who
Don't be in such a hurry. I'm tell
ing this story. 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 I 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. s.-.. .
Three months passed, and l got
check from them for $27.5O. 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 lay the golden
egg, which complimentary remark evil
IDENTIFY referred to the author. Another
three months passed, and got another
check for $6.75. ..
"What was my surprise when the
next quarterly payment was made to
receive $3.50. After that one day when
I was introduced to man he looked at
me curiously and asked, Author OF
"The Goose That Laid the Golden
Egg?"' Surprised. I admitted that l
was and with heart f1utter. The
next day was told by a friend that
nv book was being talked about, and,
stopping at book and news stand, the
dealer told me that he was selling 1t
like hot cakes. I asked him to what
he attributed the sudden increase Of
sales. and he replied:
"The public wants it,
"This satisfied ME that had at
least struck popular vein. and l
hoped to climb the ladder Of literary
fame.
"To make long story short, my
novel was talked about by verybody.
rich and poor, high and low. In six
months I had cleared a small fortune;
then the sales fell to nothing. 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 / 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 1t 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.
u.A, aba .,,.,,t 90 n