be dated ahead, because we'll start on them about the 1st of October.
But the third issue can come in in regular place, and by the time we get
to the third round of the first issue, and the second round of the
second issue, and the first round of the third issue, we'll have all the
names in this country; and by the second round of the third issue they
will all be on our subscription books, and we'll have--even counting
that only one out of four families subscribe--we'll have four million
subscribers, and at least three million dollars in the bank to get out
the paper with for a year, to say nothing of the advertisements, which
will bring in on a circulation like that at least twelve thousand
dollars a page, or, allowing three pages, about one million eight
hundred thousand dollars a year in round numbers."
The clams had come and gone, and the meat had been served. Barrifield
made a feeble attempt to do the honors, and Livingstone shaped his lips
as if to speak. Neither effort was successful. The four sat silent,
looking far beyond the fear of penury and the dreams of avarice into a
land where mountains were banked with jewels and all the rivers ran
gold. Indeed, the face of Livingstone seemed glorified by a sort of
ecstasy. The revulsion fell first upon Van Dorn, and wakened in him that
spirit of the ludicrous which was never far distant from any of them.
"It's all right, of course," he began with assumed gravity. "We're
certain to be millionaires when we get to going, but what I want to know
is whether, in the meantime, we can stand off the printer."
The others laughed.
"You see, I know printers," continued Van Dorn. "I had a cousin who was
a printer, and I've seen fellows try to stand him off. He nearly always
had his sleeves rolled up, and when a man came to stand him off, he used
to walk back to the sink, with the fellow following and talking; and my
cousin would wash his hands under the tap while he listened, and then
wipe them on the towel that hung over it. You never saw a printer's
towel, did you? Well, it isn't a very cheerful thing, and my cousin was
just about as cheerful as it was. He'd stand there and listen, and wipe
and listen, and not say anything, while the fellow'd talk and talk and
look at that towel that hadn't been washed since the shop opened. Then
he'd look at my cousin and say some of the things over again in a
discouraged sort of a way, and commence to miss connection and slip
cogs, and pretty soon he'd sneak off, and my cousin would give one more
wipe on the paleozoic towel, and then walk back and say a few things to
the press-boys that would knock chunks out of the imposing-stone. Now,
what I want to know is if we can go to that fellow with his sleeves
rolled up and get the second round of the first issue or the first round
of any old issue without the money down."
Van Dorn's remarks slackened the tension somewhat, and after
considerable banter all around, Perner explained that they would only
want accommodation on a hundred thousand copies or so of the first round
of the first issue for a few days until subscriptions began to flow in.
Frisby, he reminded them, had found no difficulty in getting a million
copies without a dollar, and Perner felt sure that, with the present
competition, almost any of the big printing-houses would hug their
knees, as Barry had put it, to get the work. There would be some small
bills for stationery and composition right at the start, perhaps some
for the engraving. These they would discount and settle on presentation.
"We'll have to pay our advertising man's salary, too," he said, "and
with this scheme we want to get a good, energetic man and start him out
soliciting at the earliest possible moment. He can get enough contracts
on the basis of even a million circulation to pay for all the rounds of
the first issue, and we can use those contracts as a basis of credit,
too, if we have to."
This remark created a visible sensation and a fresh regard for Perner's
business experience and energy, which was gradually becoming the
backbone of the whole enterprise. Barrifield meantime had pulled himself
together and was smoking with his usual deliberation.
"Boys," he said, "we've got the biggest thing on earth. We could win
either way, hands down--either with premiums or cash for names. But we
want to be certain--certain! We don't want any possibility of failure.
And to make assurance doubly sure, I am in favor of using both."
This made something of a sensation. Perner showed combative tendencies.
"We can't afford it, Barry," he said with conviction. "We are already
giving twenty-five cents out of our dollar to the fellow who sends the
names, and if we give even fifty cents more for a premium we'll have
only twenty-five cents left."
Barrifield leaned back and closed his eyes.
"We could afford it," he said, "if we didn't have five cents left.
Counting even only a million and a half a year return from the
advertising, we could, by producing the papers in such quantity, still
pay all expenses and have a hundred thousand or so apiece left at the
end of the year. It isn't a good plan to try to make too much the first
year. It invites competition. I believe in going moderately and being
sure--don't you, fellows?" turning to Van Dorn and Livingstone.
Van Dorn looked over at Perner anxiously.
"I shouldn't wonder if Barry was right, old man," he said in a
conciliatory tone.
"We don't have to pay for premiums, you know, until we have money coming
in to do it with," added Barrifield.
"That's so," said Livingstone,--"that's so! We'll have both! Suppose we
go now, fellows," he added, rather anxiously; "I've got a letter to
write."
"Stony's always got a letter to write," commented Van Dorn.
The others nodded, but said nothing.
They arose from the table in vast friendship with each other. The repast
had been bountiful. In after days it was referred to as the great
dinner.
Also--sometimes--as the last dinner.
VII
A LETTER FROM MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND TO MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE
OF NEW YORK
DEAR OLD TRUE: I am simply in a whirl. The copies you sent
of the 'cash for names' circulation plan have set me to
going till my feet no longer seem to touch anything. I have
covered all my stationery with figures, and my desk fairly
reeks with millions. You know I never cared much for figures
before, and I was never very good at them when we went to
school together, especially fractions; but there are no
fractions about this--it's all just tens and hundreds and
thousands and millions,--a perfect wilderness of
decimals,--and I enjoy them so much that I get up early in
the morning to play with them. I have taken all the figures
you sent me, showing the cost of paper and printing and so
on, and calculated over and over, and then divided by two,
and sometimes three to be on the safe side, and even then I
don't know what we shall do with all the money.
"I'll tell you, True--we'll build things. We'll build
hospitals and asylums and libraries, and first of all we'll
build a great place where those poor men who now get a cup
of coffee and a loaf of bread can get a good warm meal and
have a bed to sleep in afterward. And we'll build one like
it for poor women, too. And then, by and by, we'll build a
great, beautiful place where artists and writers, when they
get old, can live in ease and comfort, and not have anything
to pay unless they are able. Not in the way of charity, I
mean, but as the just reward that wealth owes to those who
have given their years and strength to make the world better
and happier. Only, wealth never understands and realizes its
debt. But we will, True, because we know, and Van and Perny
will help, and Barry, too. And then, when we have grown old,
perhaps we will go there to stay. I am not quite sure about
that, but it would be beautiful, I know, for it would be
like the houses we are going to have side by side, only on a
larger scale; and then, it would be in the country, where
there are green fields and fresh air and big trees and clear
brooks. We will have beautiful grounds reaching in every
direction, like those around Windsor Castle, that I once saw
when in England. And everybody will do as they please, and
read and write and paint what they like, or sit in the sun
and shade, and so drift out of life as gently as the brown
leaf falls and floats out to the eternal sea.
"I do not mean to grow poetic, True, but I have always
thought about such a place as that, and to me it has seemed
just as I have tried to make it appear to you. I know you
will understand, too, and your artist fancy will conceive
things of which I do not even dream. I never hoped that it
could be possible for me to realize this vision, though it
has always been very near my heart, and once I even spoke
about it to papa. But then, he isn't rich like that, and,
besides, our family is large and the boys have to be started
in life.
"I was perfectly crazy at first to tell papa about the 'cash
for names' plan, and should have done so if you hadn't
pledged me to solemn secrecy. Of course, I know how
dangerous it would be for any other paper to find it out
before you get started, but I know papa would not tell a
soul if I told him not to. Only I am glad now that I
couldn't, for he is so conservative, you know, in his
business methods that I am sure he would have laughed at the
plan, and perhaps proved to me in some way that it wasn't
practical-- I mean, of course, he might have _made me_
believe it wasn't practical, for he knows so much about
business and is always so matter-of-fact that I can't argue
with him at all. Then I should have been discouraged and
uneasy, instead of overflowing with happiness and dreams.
"I am glad you are going to have a good man to solicit
advertising right away; and how fine it is that he can get
those cash contracts before the paper starts, so you can
have ample means right from the first! It all seems so
simple and easy now that I wonder people have not done these
things long ago. But it is always that way--the simple
things are the great ones and the last to be found out. It
isn't often, either, that those who discover them get the
benefit, and that seems too bad; but it is a comfort to feel
that at last genius is to have its just reward, especially
when it is the genius of those near and dear to us, and when
through it so many others will be benefited and made happy,
too.
"I am awfully interested in what you have told me now and
then about your picture of the bread line, and the little
sketch you made of it on the margin of your last letter is
delightful. I hope you will not let it go unfinished, though
I know, of course, you are very busy and have so much to
think of. But painting will be a rest to you, sometimes, and
a change; and then, I like to think of you at your work,
too. Besides, it must be completed when I come, you know,
and that will be--well, no; I'm not quite ready to fix the
exact date yet, because, you see, you will have so much to
do for a while, even after the paper is started, that I
think we would better wait until it is fairly under way
before you try to leave, even if that should not be much
before the holidays.
"We can wait and see, and when the time comes I shall be
ready, for papa doesn't believe in grand weddings, nor I,
either, and I shall have very little preparation to make.
Some day, when the 'second round of the third issue' is off,
and the 'first round of the fourth issue' is started, when
the subscriptions are whirling in like snowflakes through
which you are gliding smoothly and well to fortune, then you
may write to me, True, that you are coming, and I will be
ready. I know that June is the month for weddings, but it is
always June in the heart where love is, and, besides, New
York is at its best in winter and spring, and when summer
really does come we can go where our fancy takes us.
"True, when you went away, and we said to each other that we
would wait until you had made a place for yourself in the
world,--until you had 'arrived,' as you called it,--the time
of waiting seemed long. That was three years ago, but, after
all, they have been swift, sweet years, even though we have
not seen each other often. For little by little and step by
step you did 'arrive,' until we both knew you had the solid
ground of success under your feet. The joy of battle made
the days go quickly to you, while the joy of watching you
has been sweet to me. So you will not be impatient now, for
this new triumph which will come still more quickly will
make the weeks go even faster, and while it is not my best
ambition for you, and only a means to an end, I still
rejoice with you and am proud of you in it all. Good-by,
True.
"With all my love,
"DOROTHY.
"P.S. Papa just came in with the little roll from you
containing proofs of the title and department headings.
They are beautiful. He noticed all the pages on my desk
covered with figures, and asked me if I were estimating the
cost of a new Easter bonnet!
"DORRY."
VIII
THE COURSE OF EVENTS
Matters seemed to start with an exasperating lack of rapidity--so much
so that in midsummer Perner declared they seemed considerably farther
from the first issue now than they had been on the night at the Hotel
Martin. It is true, he had a "dummy" put together, all blank except the
first page and the department headings, while at the printer's there was
almost enough matter to fill the blank columns, if only Stony and Van
would talk less and complete the drawings they had started.
He said despairingly one morning to Barrifield, who had dropped in for a
moment:
"We ought to be running a semi-annual instead of a weekly. I think we
could just about get out two issues of the paper in a year."
Barrifield assured him that they were doing beautifully, and that
matters would go like clockwork when once they got started. For himself,
he declared that he was getting along swimmingly, and displayed a number
of more or less impossible premiums which he had pursued by mysterious
and exciting methods to that guarded and hidden chamber which he still
referred to in hushed tones as the "inside." He had also made a
discovery in the way of an advertising man whom he described as being
the very man for the place--in fact, a jewel!
"Recommended by Jackson, of the Jackson & Marsh Advertising Agency," he
announced triumphantly, "and by Rushly, of the 'Home Monthly'--been with
them two years and had the benefit of Rushly's training. Says
Bates--that's his name--is a great hustler."
"Why doesn't he stay with the 'Home,' then?" Perner spoke rather
impatiently.
"No chance of advancement. Rushly is head man there and certain to stay.
Bates wants to begin with a new paper that is sure to go. I was talking
to Jackson to-day about what we were going to do and he mentioned Bates.
Jackson, by the way, thinks our scheme great. He'd take stock in it in a
minute if we'd let him."
"Did he say so?"
"No; of course he couldn't do that, but I could tell by the way he
talked. There'll be no trouble, though, about getting all the time of
him we want on our advertising."
"Did he say that?"
"No; I didn't ask him. But he was as friendly as _could_ be, and gave me
a lot of good advice about advertising and advertisers. He said we ought
to have a man like Bates, and then put those matters entirely into his
hands. I gathered from him that there was a sort of an inside circle
that worked together, and that unless a man was in it he didn't have
much show."
"Bates is in the ring, of course."
"Of course! And in addition to securing advertising contracts for us, he
can place our ads too. Jackson said he would do better for Bates on a
cash discount than he would for anybody."
"But I thought we were going to get credit?"
"Of course, until the advertising is out. That's cash, you know, and
when it's out we'll have money coming right in to pay for it. That's the
way Frisby did."
"Did you mention that to him?"
"Why, no; but--well you know I look prosperous. That's what Frisby did,
too, and he didn't have a dollar. Jackson said Bates could also help out
with the business management."
Perner brightened.
Barrifield rose to go.
"We can't get him any too quick, either," he added. "You've got your
hands about full. I can see that!"
In fact, Perner was beginning to look worn. It had been decided some
weeks previous that a time had arrived when one of them must devote
himself wholly to the affairs of the forthcoming publication, and as
Perner was to be editor as well as manager _pro tem._, besides having
but little cash to put in, as he had confessed in the beginning, he was
selected for the sacrifice. A stated salary was agreed upon, which
amount was to be applied each week on his stock subscription in lieu of
cash. How he was to live on the comfortable-looking, though intangible,
figure that he passed each Saturday to his credit on stock until such
times as returns began to assume definite form, he did not, with all his
business experience, pause to consider. He began at once the task of
shaping their more or less formless fancies, and the equally difficult
one of subsisting on the returns from certain labors already concluded
and disposed of to those periodicals here and there which, in some
unexplained manner, have assumed the privilege of holding matter to suit
their convenience and paying for it on publication. These checks
fluttered in now and then, and were as rare jewels found by the wayside.
He was still confident of success. If his enthusiasm and flesh had
waned the least bit, it was because realities hitherto unconsidered were
becoming daily more assertive and vigorous. Of these there were many.
From the moment of his return from breakfast--two hours earlier than he
had ever thought necessary in the old days--there were men and also
women waiting to see him. The fact of the "Whole Family" had become
known, even as the hunted stag becomes known to birds of prey in the far
empyrean, and solicitors of all kinds had begun to gather at the first
croaking note of rumor.
There were those who wished to advertise it upon illuminated cards set
in frames to be placed in country hotels and railway stations; there
were others who would announce it by a system of painted signs sown
broadcast on the fences; and still others who for a consideration would
display the good news upon dizzy mountain cliffs and the trees of the
mighty forest, where even the four-footed kingdoms might see and rejoice
at the glad tidings.
Of those who solicited for publications there were a legion. Monthlies
and weeklies of which Perner had not even heard marshalled their clans
and swooped down in companies, battalions, and brigades. All of these he
could turn over to Bates when he came on: the printers, engravers,
contributors, and the people with circulation schemes were enough for
him.
As to the latter contingent, Van Dorn and Livingstone relieved him
somewhat, and rather enjoyed doing so. It was in the nature of a
diversion to them to listen to these wordy emissaries of the east wind,
who unfolded more or less startling schemes that ranged all the way from
a house-to-house canvass for subscribers, through various voting
contests, up to the securing by lobby an act of Congress adopting the
paper as the official organ of some forty millions of school-children.
It was more pleasant to listen and to discuss with this garrulous
advance-guard of fortune in her various guises than to pursue her more
ploddingly at the easel. This gave some relief to Perner, though, on the
whole, he would have preferred seeing them at work. Livingstone, it is
true, did work feverishly at his painting now and then, for as much as
an hour or more at a time, and between him and Van Dorn the various
headings and one or two other drawings had come into being. But there
was still much for them to do, and their seeming inability to get down
to business, now that matters were really under way, was sometimes, as
he had hinted to Barrifield, altogether discouraging. Later in the day
he abused them roundly.
"How do you expect we are going to get out a paper once a week?" he
asked. There had come the lull which precedes lunch-time, and Perner was
standing in his door and glaring at them with undisguised scorn. His
disarranged hair and the light on his glasses gave him the appearance of
a very tall beetle. "Once a week! Do you know what that means? It means
not once a year, nor once a month, but every seven days! Here we've been
going nearly seven months, and you haven't got pictures for one issue
yet! How in the world do you expect to get out from six to eight
pictures a week for the next issues? That's what you've got to do, you
know, until we get started and money is coming in to buy outside work
with. Even then we can't depend on that for the class of stuff we want.
You could do it, too, without turning a hair, if you'd just puncture a
few of these wind-bags that come along, and get down to work!"
"Oh, pshaw! Perny; there's plenty of time," said Van Dorn, pacifically.
"Stony and I are Committee on Circulation."
"That's so," said Livingstone. "We had one man to-day who wanted to put
copies of our first issue into seventeen million packages of starch for
distribution throughout the entire civilized world. Van told him it was
a stiff proposition."
"He didn't see the joke, though," complained Van Dorn, in a grieved
voice, "and he looked at us pityingly when I told him we had a better
scheme."
"You didn't hint at what it was, of course," said Perner, anxiously.
"Not much! He'd have gobbled it up in a minute if I had."
Perner dropped into a chair and stretched out his feet.
"When Bates comes we'll turn a lot of these fellows over to him," he
mused aloud. "The rooms below us are empty. We'll get them and put him
in there. Then we can all get down to work."
"Those rooms will more than double the rent, won't they?" asked Van
Dorn.
"Yes; but we can't have that gang up here, even if it trebles it. We're
not going to have any too much money, either, to run us through. The
engraving bill came in to-day, and the letter postage is no small item.
There'll be a bill for composition on the 1st, and it'll be a good deal,
because we've changed the style of type so often. Then, Bates's salary
will commence right away, and he'll probably have to have a
stenographer, and an allowance for incidentals, and a desk and some
other furniture. You see, Frisby had a lot of things when he took the
'Voice' that we'll have to buy, and it's like building a house--it
always takes more than you expect it to. Of course, when we once get
started we'll have money to throw at the birds, but, whatever Frisby may
have done, it's beginning to be pretty clear to me that we'll have to
throw a good deal into other places before that time comes. You and
Stony had better be hustling on a little outside work, too, so, in case
of another assessment--"
They drifted over to the Continental for lunch, where presently
Barrifield joined them. The Continental was handy and it was also
cheaper than some of the places they had heretofore frequented.
Barrifield was aglow with a sort of triumphant excitement.
"I've just seen Bates," he began, as he seated himself. "Great! Told me
more about advertising in five minutes than I ever dreamed of. I could
hardly get away from him."
"Why didn't you bring him along?" said Livingstone.
"Well, you see," said Barrifield, lowering his voice, "he'd been out
hustling all the morning, and he'd had a drink or two,--they have to do
that, you know,--and I didn't know but he'd want to talk too much. He's
all right, though. The smartest man I ever knew couldn't do business
well until he'd had a few drinks."
"That's so!" assented Perner. "There's lots of people that way. When's
he coming?"
"Monday. And I engaged a circulation man, too."
Barrifield paused to note the effect of this remark. The others were
regarding him questioningly. They had not calculated on an expense in
this direction for the present.
"He doesn't cost anything, either," he added triumphantly.
The look all around became one of pleasure. Barrifield explained.
"An old war-horse," he said. "Been circulation manager for some of the
greatest publications in the country. Retired from the business years
ago. Been speculating more or less since, and not doing much of anything
lately. Great traveler, and used to write, too. Money probably to live
on now, and wants to get back into the smoke of battle for the mere joy
of the thing. He happened into the 'Home' office while I was there, and
heard we were starting the 'Whole Family.' Said he'd be delighted to
come and help us out until we got to going, and then we could do what we
wanted to with him. I closed a bargain on the spot. He can take a big
load off of you fellows. Great, isn't it?"
"Bully!" said Van Dorn. "I suppose he'll want to buy some stock later
on, though."
Barrifield looked wise.
"That's what I suspected," he admitted. "Well, if he does us a good turn
now, we might let him have a share or two later, eh, fellows?"