"See here," he said, "here are some extracts from the newspaper. It is a letter addressed to the editor:—
"'It is with genuine satisfaction that your plan for the establishment of a newspaper has been received. I am convinced that under your charge it will furnish us with a great deal of amusement, and will serve to lighten materially the gloom of our hundred days of darkness.
"'The interest which I, for my part, take in it has caused me to examine the effect of your announcement upon the members of our society, and I can assure you, to use the consecrated phrase of the London press, that it has produced a profound impression upon the public.
"'The day after the appearance of your prospectus, there was on board an unusual and unprecedented demand for ink. The green cloth of our tables was suddenly covered with a deluge of quill-pens, to the great injury of one of our servants, who, in trying to remove them, got one under his nail.
"'Finally, I know that Sergeant Martin has had no less than nine pocket-knives to sharpen.
"'Our tables are groaning beneath the unaccustomed weight of inkstands, which had not seen the light for two months; and it is even whispered that the depths of the hold have been often opened to secure many reams of paper, which did not expect to issue so soon from their place of repose.
"'I shall not forget to say to you that I have some suspicions that an effort will be made to slip into your box some articles, which, lacking complete originality, and not being wholly unpublished, may not suit your plan. I can affirm that no later than last evening an author was seen bending over his desk, holding in one hand an open volume of the "Spectator," while with the other he was thawing his ink by the flame of the lamp. It is useless to recommend you to keep a lookout against such devices; we must not see reappearing in the "Winter Chronicle" what our ancestors used to read at breakfast more than a century ago.'"
"Well, well," said Altamont, when the doctor had finished reading, "there is really good humor in that, and the writer must have been a bright fellow."
"Bright is the word," answered the doctor. "Stop a moment, here is an amusing advertisement:—
"'Wanted. A middle-aged, respectable woman to help dress the ladies of the troupe of the "Theatre Royal of North Georgia." Suitable salary given, tea and beer free. Address the Committee of the theatre.—N. B. A widow preferred.'"