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The Bread Line




[Illustration]




The Bread Line

A Story of a Paper


By
Albert Bigelow Paine


[Illustration]


New York
The Century Co.
1900


Copyright, 1899,
By THE J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO.

       *       *       *       *       *

Copyright, 1900,
By THE CENTURY CO.




  To Those Who have Started
  Papers, to Those Who have
  Thought of Starting Papers,
  and to Those Who are
  Thinking of Starting Papers.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE

      I THE FIRST DINNER                                               1

     II FRISBY'S SCHEME                                               15

    III A LETTER FROM THE "DEAREST GIRL IN THE WORLD,"
          OTHERWISE MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND, TO MR.
          TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK                              29

     IV SOME PREMIUMS                                                 36

      V A LETTER FROM MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK
          TO MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND                         52

     VI CASH FOR NAMES                                                61

    VII A LETTER FROM MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND TO
          MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK                          84

   VIII THE COURSE OF EVENTS                                          92

     IX IN THE SANCTUM                                               108

      X A LETTER FROM MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK
          TO MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND                        116

     XI THE GENTLE ART OF ADVERTISING                                125

    XII A LETTER FROM MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND TO MR.
          TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK                             144

   XIII THE HOUR OF DARK FOREBODING                                  149

    XIV A LETTER FROM MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK TO MISS
          DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND                                158

     XV FINAL STRAWS                                                 165

    XVI AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW                                    176

   XVII A TELEGRAM FROM MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND TO MR.
          TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK                             187

  XVIII GRABBING AT STRAWS                                           188

    XIX A LETTER FROM MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK TO MISS
          DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND                                196

     XX THE BARK OF THE WOLF                                         204

    XXI THE LETTER LIVINGSTONE READ                                  209

   XXII THE BREAD LINE                                               214

  XXIII THE LAST LETTER--TO MR. AND MRS. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE, OLD
          POINT COMFORT, VIRGINIA                                    227




The Bread Line




I

THE FIRST DINNER


This is the story of a year, beginning on New Year's eve.

In the main it is the story of four--two artists and two writers--and of
a paper which these four started. Three of them--the artists and one of
the writers--toiled and dwelt together in rooms near Union Square, and
earned a good deal of money sometimes, when matters went well. The
fourth--the other writer--did something in an editorial way, and thus
had a fixed income; that is, he fixed it every Saturday in such manner
that it sometimes lasted until Wednesday of the following week. Now and
then he sold a story or a poem "outside" and was briefly affluent, but
these instances were unplentiful. Most of his spare time he spent in
dreaming vague and hopeless dreams. His dreams he believed in, and,
being possessed of a mesmeric personality, Barrifield sometimes
persuaded others to believe also.

It began--the paper above mentioned--in the cafe of the Hotel Martin,
pronounced with the French "tang," and a good place to get a good dinner
on New Year's eve or in any other season except that of adversity, no
recollection of which period now vexed the mind of the man who did
something in an editorial way, or those of the two artists and the
writer who worked and dwelt together in rooms near Union Square. In
fact, that era of prosperity which began in New York for most bohemians
in the summer of '96 was still in its full tide, and these three had
been caught and borne upward on a crest that as yet gave no signs of
undertow and oblivion beneath. But Barrifield, still editing at his old
salary, had grown uneasy and begun to dream dreams. He did not write
with ease, and his product, though not without excellence, was of a sort
that found market with difficulty in any season and after periods of
tedious waiting. He had concluded to become a publisher.

He argued that unless publishers were winning great fortunes they could
not afford to pay so liberally for their wares.

He had been himself authorized to pay as much as fifteen cents per word
for the product of a certain pen. He forgot, or in his visions refused
to recognize, the possibility of this being the result of competition in
a field already thickly trampled by periodicals, many of them backed by
great capital and struggling, some of them at a frightful loss, toward
the final and inevitable survival of the richest. As for his companions,
they were on the outside, so to speak, and swallowed stories of
marvelous circulations and advertising rates without question. Not that
Barrifield was untruthful. Most of what he told them had come to him on
good authority. If, in the halo of his conception and the second bottle
of champagne, he forgot other things that had come to him on equally
good authority, he was hardly to be blamed. We all do that, more or
less, in unfolding our plans, and Barrifield was uncommonly optimistic.

He had begun as he served the roast. Previous to this, as is the habit
in bohemia, they had been denouncing publishers and discussing work
finished, in hand, and still to do; also the prices and competition for
their labors. The interest in Barrifield's skill at serving, however,
had brought a lull, and the champagne a golden vapor that was fraught
with the glory of hope. It was the opportune moment. The publication of
the "Whole Family" may be said to have dated from that hour.

Barrifield spoke very slowly, pausing at the end of each sentence to
gather himself for the next. Sometimes he would fill a plate as he
deliberated. At other times he would half close his eyes and seem to be
piercing far into the depths of a roseate future.

"Boys," he began, in a voice that was fraught with possibility, and
selecting a particularly tender cut for Perner, who was supposed to
have an estate somewhere, "boys,"--he laid the tempting slice on
Perner's plate, added a few mushrooms, some brown gravy, and a generous
spoonful of potato, then passing the plate to Perner and beginning to
fill another,--"I've been thinking of--of a--of the--greatest"--pausing
and looking across the table with drowsy, hypnotic eyes--"the greatest
scheme on--_earth_!"

Amid the silence that followed this announcement he served the next
plate. Then Van Dorn, who had been acquainted with him longer than the
others, spoke:

"What is it this time, old man?"

Barrifield turned his gaze on Van Dorn and laughed lazily. He was
handsome, rather stout, and of unfailing good nature. He pushed back his
blond hair and rested his gray, magnetic eyes steadily on the artist.
Then he laughed again and seemed to enjoy it. Van Dorn, who was slender,
impulsive, and wore glasses, laughed, too, and was lost. Barrifield
handed him a filled plate as he said:

"You're just right, Van, to say _this_ time--just right. There have
been--other times; other--times." He was filling the third plate. He
paused and laughed till he shook all over. "Van remembers a pictorial
syndicate he and I once started," he said to Livingstone, as he handed
his plate. "We spent nearly--nearly a thousand dollars and a lot of
time--that is, Van did--getting up some stuff, and then sold one picture
to one paper for three dollars!"

He leaned back in his chair to enjoy a laugh, in which, this time, all
joined.

"And never got the three dollars," added Van Dorn, at last.

"And never got the three dollars," echoed Barrifield. "It was a
beautiful scheme, too; Van knows that--beautiful!" At which statement
all laughed again.

Barrifield began to furnish his own plate now, and became serious.

"This scheme is different," he observed at last; "it's been tried. It's
been tried and it hasn't. The scheme that's been tried"--he helped
himself to the rest of the mushrooms and gravy--"we'll improve on."

The others caught the collective pronoun, and began to feel the pleasant
sense of ownership that comes with the second bottle and a scheme.

"Our scheme will beat it to death." He lowered his voice and shot a
cautious glance at the other tables. "Boys," he whispered, "it's a
_high-class weekly_ at a _low price_!"

He looked from one to the other to note the effect of this startling
announcement. It was hardly manifest. The three seemed to be eating more
or less industriously and without much care of anything else. They were
thinking, however.

"It's a field," observed Perner, at last.

"_Barri_field," said Van Dorn, who sometimes made puns.

Barrifield became excited. He did this now and then.

"Field! It's _the_ field," he declared fiercely--"the only field!
Everything else is full. There's a ten-cent monthly in every block in
New York! And"--whispering hoarsely--"even then they're getting rich!
Rich! But there's only one high-class family weekly at less than four
dollars in the country, and that's a juvenile! What I propose"--he was
talking fast enough now--"is to establish a high-class family
weekly--for the whole family--at _one dollar a year_!"

He paused again. His words had not been without effect this time. The
three listeners knew thoroughly the field of periodicals, and that no
such paper as he proposed existed. His earnestness and eager whisper
carried a certain weight, and then, as I have said before, he was
strangely persuasive. Perner, who had once been engaged in business, and
had, by some rare fortune, kept out of the bankruptcy court, was first
to speak. His "ten years' successful business experience," which he
referred to on occasion, gave his opinion value in matters of finance,
though at present he was finding it no easy problem to keep up with the
taxes on a certain tract of vacant property located rather vaguely
somewhere in the Southwest and representing the residue of his
commercial triumphs. He was a tall, large-featured man, cleanly shaven,
and, like Van Dorn, wore glasses.

"Can you do it, Barry?" he said, looking up with an expression of wise
and deep reflection. "Won't it cost you more than that to get up the
paper?"

"That," observed Barrifield, calmly, "is the case with every great
magazine in the country. The paper and printing cost more than they get
for it."

"They make it out of the advertising, you know," put in Livingstone,
timidly.

Livingstone was younger than the others, and had a smooth, fresh face.

"Of course," snapped Perner; "I know that! But they've got to have
circulation before they can get the advertising, and it takes time and
money--barrels of it--to get circulation."

"We'll furnish the time," suggested Van Dorn, sawing at his meat, "if
Barry'll put up the capital."

Barrifield looked up quickly.

"I'll do it!" he announced eagerly; "I'll do it!"

The others showed immediate interest. Barrifield looked from one to the
other, repeating his assertion as if signing a verbal contract. Then his
gaze wandered off into nowhere, and he absently fed himself and waited
for the spirit to move further.

"I'll furnish the capital," he continued deliberately, at length, "and
it won't be money, either." The three faces watching him fell. "That is,
not much money. It'll take a little, of course. I think I know where I
could get all the money I want--a dozen places, yes, fifty of them. But
this isn't a money scheme. If it was I could get it. I know any number
of men, capitalists, that would jump at it. But that isn't what we want.
We want men who know what a paper is, and can do the work themselves."

"We want a good advertising man first," said Perner the businesslike.

"That's good sense," assented Barrifield, at which Perner felt
complimented and began to assume proprietary airs.

"Those things we can hire," Barrifield continued. "We shall want several
men in clerical and executive positions. The general direction and
management of affairs we shall, of course, attend to personally. We
could get a business manager with all the money we need if we wanted
him, but he'd be some fellow with no appreciation of the kind of a paper
we intend to make, and would try to cut down and stick to old methods
until he choked the plan, just as many a good plan has been killed
before."

The third bottle of champagne had been opened.

"That's exactly right," declared Perner, as he lifted his glass, while
the others nodded. "Half the periodicals running to-day are starved and
killed by the business office. Why, MacWilliams of 'Dawn' told me
yesterday that he couldn't buy that Easter poem of mine just because
there had been a kick down-stairs on the twenty-five he paid me for the
Christmas thing, and--"

"What's your scheme, Barry?" interrupted Van Dorn, who did not want
Perner to get started on the perennial subject of editorial wrongs.

Barrifield filled his glass and drained it very slowly. Then he set it
down and wiped his lips with his napkin. The waiter brought coffee and
cigars. He selected a long, dark Panetela, and lighted it with the air
of one making ready to unburden himself of deep wisdom.

"Did any of--you--fellows," he began, puffing the smoke into the air and
following it with his eyes, "ever hear of a man named Frisby? Did you,
Perny? Did you, Stony?" dropping his eyes from one to the other.

"I have," said Van Dorn. "Runs a paper called the 'Voice of Light,' with
prize packages and the worst illustrations in the world."

"That's the man!" assented Barrifield. "Old friend of mine. Yankee by
birth, and one of the keenest publishers in the country. That paper, the
'Voice of Light,' has a circulation of nearly _one half-million
copies_!"

"He ought to get better pictures, then," grunted Van Dorn.

"Exactly!" nodded Barrifield. "And that's one place we'll improve on
Frisby's scheme."

"I didn't suppose religious papers ever had schemes," observed
Livingstone.

Barrifield grinned.

"Did you ever see a copy of the 'Voice'?" he asked.

"I have," said Perner. "It offers twenty-five dollars' worth of books
and a trip to the Holy Land for one year's subscription."

"That's it! That's the paper!" laughed Barrifield.

"But our paper won't be a religious paper, will it, old man?" asked
Livingstone, anxiously.

"Not in the sense of being ecclesiastic. It will be pure in morals and
tone, of course, and, at the same time, artistic and beautiful--such a
paper as the 'Youth's Friend,' only larger in its scope. It will, as I
have said before, appeal to the whole family, young and old, and that is
another improvement we'll make on Frisby's scheme."

"What's the price of Frisby's paper?" asked Perner.

"Two dollars a year. Poor matter, poor pictures, poor paper, poor
printing, poor prizes, and two dollars a year. We'll give them
high-class matter, high-class pictures, fine printing, beautiful paper,
splendid prizes, all for one dollar a year; and that's where we'll make
the third and great improvement on Frisby's scheme."

"But how'll you do it without money, Barry? That's the improvement we
want," laughed Livingstone.

"That," said Barrifield, letting his voice become a whisper once
more--"that isn't an improvement. _That's Frisby's scheme!_"




II

FRISBY'S SCHEME


Barrifield lighted a fresh cigar and blew more smoke into the air.

"Frisby told me himself," he said drowsily, and apparently recalling
certain details from the blue curling wreaths. "I lent him money and
helped him into a position when he first came here, and he's never
forgotten it. He held the position five years and learned the publishing
business. Then he started the 'Voice of Light.' He did it without a
dollar. He told me so."

Livingstone leaned forward eagerly.

"But I say, old man, how did he do it, then?"

"Nerve. Nerve and keen insight into humanity. The 'Voice of Light' had
been started by some fellows who had spent all their money trying to
build it up on the old lines and failed completely. They had tried to
sell out, but nobody would have it. They had no assets--nothing but
debts.

"Then they tried to give it away. They tried a good while. Frisby heard
of it at last, and went over and said they might give it to him. They
did it. He didn't have a dollar.

"He had some good clothes, though, and he put them on. He put on the
best he had, and he went over to the printers. The 'Voice' owed them a
good bill, and they were glad to hear the paper had changed hands. Their
account couldn't get any worse, and Frisby's clothes and manner
indicated that it might become better. He told them he contemplated
getting out at once a special edition of a million copies. He intimated
that if they couldn't handle such a number of papers he would be obliged
to arrange for them elsewhere. They almost hugged Frisby's knees to
keep him from going. He didn't have a dollar--not a dollar.

"Then he went across to an advertising agency and engaged a page in the
'Great Home Monthly' and a page in the biggest Sunday-school paper in
the world. He asked them the discount for cash, and their special
figures to compare with those of other agencies. They looked at his good
clothes and sized up his talk, which was to the point and no waste
words. They booked his order for four thousand dollars' worth of
advertising--quick, before he changed his mind. He didn't have a dollar.
He told me so.

"He went up to the Cambridge Bible Company--biggest Bible concern in the
world--and asked for cash figures on a quarter of a million Bibles. They
thought he was crazy at first, but they made a figure before he went
away that was less than a third what the same Bible sold for at retail
the world over. They told him they had only half the order on hand. He
said that those would do to start with, and that he would let them know
when to begin delivering. He would send over a check when he wanted the
first lot. They said that settlement on the 1st of each month would do.
He did that all in one day,--he told me so,--and he didn't have a
dollar--not a dollar."

Barrifield paused and looked from one to the other to note the effect of
his statements. The three listeners were waiting eagerly for more.
Livingstone and Van Dorn were watching his lips for the next word to
issue. Perner was gazing into his glass, but there was a slight flush
and a look of deep reflection on his face. Barrifield maintained
silence, and the sense of his importance grew powerfully with each
second. By and by his eyes half closed and drifted vaguely into the
unseen. Livingstone promptly recalled him.

"But go on with the story, old man. What was the next step? It's no fair
play to get us all worked up this way and then go to sleep."

Barrifield chuckled lazily.

"That's all," he said; "the rest is mere detail. Frisby went home and
got up copy for his advertising. He gave the Bible as a premium. It was
a three-dollar Bible; sold at three dollars the world over, and you know
there's not supposed to be much profit in Bibles. Frisby filled up the
pages he had engaged, offering in glowing terms the Bible and the paper
both for two dollars. He got the indorsement of the Rev. Montague Banks,
whose name is familiar to every man, woman, and child between the
oceans, and he sold over _one hundred thousand Bibles during the first
six weeks_! _One hundred thousand! He told me so!_"

Barrifield's voice dropped to an intense whisper as he made this last
statement, and the effect was tremendous. The others stared at him, at
the ceiling, and at each other. They repeated the figures, and added
under their breath various exclamations peculiar to each. Livingstone,
who did not swear except when he pounded his finger or stumbled over a
chair in the dark, only said:

"By gad! old man, by gad!"

"In one day," continued Barrifield, leaning half across the table and
emphasizing each word with a slight motion of his head, "in one day he
got in six thousand dollars cash! Think of it!"

The others _were_ thinking, and thinking hard. Perner was first to
venture an objection:

"But that was a religious paper, Barry, with a Bible for a premium. We
could hardly expect--"

"That's just where you're wrong," anticipated Barrifield. "Ours will be
religious in tone, too, and a home paper besides. It will go to every
household that Frisby's would reach, and to thousands besides who are
not of any particular denomination. We also will offer Bibles, but we
will offer other things too. We will offer watches and cameras, and
premiums for boys and girls--dolls, fishing-tackle, and guns--"

"I should think," interrupted Van Dorn, dryly, "that with a gun and a
Bible we might gather in the most of them."

"Now you're talking sense!" said Barrifield, excitedly. "We'll get all
of them. We'll capture the whole country. Frisby had a quarter of a
million circulation in six months. We'll have half a million circulation
in three months. Mark my words--half a million in three months!"

"But the price, Barry! A dollar a year and a premium." Perner was still
unsatisfied. "How are we going to do it?"

Barrifield regarded him in a superior way.

"The paper itself," he said, "will cost us less than fifty cents a year,
even figuring on a basis of only a quarter of a million circulation.
Most of the premiums can now be bought for less than the other fifty.
Those that can't we'll give just the same, only we'll add on the
difference in the form of postage and packing. Nobody ever thinks of
objecting to a slight additional charge for postage and packing."

He drew forth a paper on which there were figures. A round of chartreuse
was being served, and in its yellow radiance all difficulties dissolved
and all things became possible. He laid the sheet down where every one
could see it more or less distinctly.

"The white paper," he continued, "will cost less than four cents a
pound--less than one half-cent for each copy. The paper is always the
big expense. Every publisher will tell you that. The paper for quarter
of a million copies will cost twelve hundred and fifty dollars, the
presswork about five hundred dollars. Everything else will cost less
than another five hundred, so that a hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars a year will more than cover the cost of getting out the paper;
but say it costs that,--we want to figure full, you know,--and then
another hundred and twenty-five for premiums, or quarter of a million in
all, which will be covered by actual subscription money, to say nothing
of advertising returns, which ought to at least, counting three pages a
week, be not less than one hundred and fifty thousand the first year,
and that will be clear profit to be divided. I've figured it down to
that to be on the safe side. With half a million circulation, of
course, it would be twice as much and no extra cost except for
presswork and white paper. I tell you, boys, it's the greatest scheme
ever conceived."

He ran the items over glibly and pushed the paper across the table for
each to examine in turn. The figures were beautifully made, and seemed
to add correctly. If there were a few minor items, such as postage,
clerk hire, and cost of circulation, omitted, it was probably because
they were too insignificant to be considered. The general feeling was
one of elation. In the spell of silence that lay upon them each began to
dream on his own account, and to build a castle about which shimmered
the radiance of easily acquired wealth. In Livingstone's face there was
a look that did not appear in the faces of his companions. It was not
more eager, perhaps, but it was also tender. He was ten years younger
than the others. Affluence meant much to all of them, but to him it
meant something different--something of which the others did not know.

"But we'll have to have a little money to start on, won't we, old man?"
asked Van Dorn, at last, reflectively, of Barrifield.

"Why, yes; I suppose a few hundred will be needed at the start to pay
such little bills as may be presented. We want to impress everybody with
the fact that we pay cash, don't you see? And discount everything. By
paying the first bill the minute it's presented we'll establish the
necessary credit, of course, and the next bill will be held till we call
for it. Frisby didn't have a dollar,--not a dollar,--but then, the
'Voice of Light' was established, and possibly had some slight income,
besides certain fixtures and connections, all of which we would have to
secure, and probably at some cost. I could invite in all the money
needed--all we need. Of course, it would be better if we could handle
everything ourselves and not feel under any outside obligations. I could
manage a fourth of it all right, or even a third--" He hesitated and
looked dreamily across the table at the others.

Perner was first to speak.

"I'm like Frisby," he laughed. "I haven't got a dollar--in money." He
made this statement in a manner that indicated he might have vast
possessions in real properties or stocks. "I suppose I could manage a
sixth, though, some way," he concluded suddenly, as if to regain a hold
on a golden opportunity that was about to slip from his grasp.

The glamour of prospective riches was upon them. Van Dorn, remembering
an old schoolmate who had prospered in commerce, stated incontinently
that he could borrow anything from two dollars up to two thousand if he
only had a mind to ask for it. Livingstone added hastily that he would
take the other sixth interest, even if he didn't have quite enough money
saved to pay for it right away. At each of these statements Barrifield
assured them that they were talking sense, and that they were as good as
millionaires already. The "Whole Family" had become definite. The
friends were in high spirits as they rose to leave. The waiter who
helped them on with their coats was liberally remembered.

It was eleven o'clock when they stepped out into the winter night.
Barrifield, who was a married man and a suburban Brooklynite, took the
South Ferry car at Broadway. The other three set their faces north in
the direction of their apartments. Van Dorn was a widower, Perner a
confirmed bachelor, and Livingstone also unmarried. They were
untrammeled, therefore, as to their hours and habits.

As they marched up Broadway they laughed a great deal. They were prone
to see the humorous side of life in all its phases, and the new paper
with its various premium combinations furnished a novel source of
amusement. It may be that the champagne stimulated the tendency to
mirth, for the three became really hilarious as they proceeded.

On the corner of Tenth Street they halted. Across the way there was a
long line of waiting men that extended around the corner in either
direction.

"What's that?" exclaimed Perner.

"Why, don't you know?" said Van Dorn. "That's the bread line. They get
a cup of coffee and a loaf of bread every night at twelve o'clock. Old
Fleischmann, who founded the bakery, made that provision in his will.
They begin to collect here at ten o'clock and before, rain or shine, hot
or cold."

"It's cold enough to-night!" said Livingstone.

They drew nearer. The waifs regarded them listlessly. They were a
ragged, thinly clad lot--a drift-line of hunger, tossed up by the tide
of chance.

The bohemians, remembering their own lavish dinner and their swiftly
coming plenitude, regarded these unfortunates with silent compassion.

"I say, fellows," whispered Livingstone, presently, "let's get a lot of
nickels and give one to each of them. I guess we can manage it," he
added, running his eye down the line in hasty calculation.

The others began emptying their pockets. Perner the businesslike
stripped himself of his last cent and borrowed a dollar of Van Dorn to
make his share equal. Then they separated and scoured in different
directions for change. By the time all had returned the line had
increased considerably.

"We'd better start right away or we won't have enough," said
Livingstone.

He began at the head of the line and gave to each outstretched hand as
far as his store of coins lasted. Then Van Dorn took it up, and after
him Perner. They had barely enough to give to the last comers. The men's
hands stretched out long before they reached them. Some said "Thank
you"; many said "God bless you"; some said nothing at all.

"There's more money in that crowd than there is in this now," said
Perner, as they turned away.

"That's so," said Livingstone. "But wait till a year from to-night.
We'll come down here and give these poor devils a dollar apiece--maybe
ten of them."

Livingstone's face had grown tender again. In fancy he saw them
returning a year from to-night with ample charity. And another would
come with them--one who would make the charity sweeter because of
bestowing it with fair hands.




III

A LETTER FROM THE "DEAREST GIRL IN THE WORLD," OTHERWISE MISS DOROTHY
CASTLE OF CLEVELAND, TO MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK


     "MY DEAR OLD TRUE: I have both laughed and cried over your
     letter, and I have thought, too, a great deal. It was
     awfully jolly to think of you and those good friends of
     yours dining together on New Year's eve, and there is only
     one way I would have had it different, and that way would
     have seemed selfish on my part, and unfair to the others,
     too.

     "I do wish I might have been near by, though, unknown to
     you, and heard all that passed, for I know you only told me
     the good things the others said, and not all the best
     things--those you said yourself. Or, if you did not say
     them, you thought them, and were only restrained by modesty.

     "I suppose you will get over that by and by, when you are as
     old as Perny and Barry and Van (you see, I am beginning to
     feel that I know your friends, and call them as you do);
     only I hope you won't get entirely over it, either, for do
     you know, True, that is just one reason why I love you--I
     mean because you are fine and manly and modest--just old
     True, that's all. And when I came to