He then took an Encyclopædia and filled up the blanks with the names of three great men who appeared, according to that work, to be the leaders in this branch of natural history. His duty thus thoroughly accomplished and his mind at rest, he posted his review, and applied himself to lighter occupations.
Next day, however, the Editor telephoned to him, to the effect that the notice upon which he had spent so much labour could not be used.
“We have just received,” said the Editor, “a page advertisement from Pschuffer. I would like a really good article, and you might use the book as a kind of peg on which to hang it. You might begin on the subject of snails, and make it something more like your ‘Oh! my lost friend,’ which has had such a success.”
On occasions such as these the beginner must remember to keep full possession of himself.
Nothing in this mortal life is permanent, and the changes that are native to the journalistic career are perhaps the most startling and frequent of all those which threaten humanity.
The Reviewer of whom I speak was as wise as he was honourable. He saw at once what was needed. He wrote another and much longer article, beginning—
“The Snail: Its Habitat, &c. Adam Charles. Pschuffer. 21s. 6d.
“There are tender days just before the Spring dares the adventure of the Channel, when our Kentish woods are prescient, as it were, of the South. It is calm ...”
and so forth, leading gradually up to snails, and bringing in the book here and there about every twentieth line.