CHAPTER X
BEGINNING TO SPELL SUCCESS
Another nest of Blue Birds had been formed under Mrs. Catlin’s supervision, and these little girls were chosen to act as agents to secure subscriptions for the forthcoming magazine. They were also permitted to donate short stories or pictures to the magazine and, being so young a branch of the first Nest, felt this was a special privilege.
Aunt Selina had written her interesting Civil War story and had it ready for Uncle Ben, but Mrs. Catlin was still busy trying to arrange her chapters so they would make a good serial.
The Blue Birds had written their pages over and over, and finally Mrs. Talmage said they would lose all sense in the telling if they kept on rewriting. So the pages were taken as they were and corrected by Uncle Ben.
As the various short articles came in to the Publishing House, Mrs. Talmage took charge of them. Many a pleased surprise she had as she read the different articles submitted by the boys, and the suggestions and hints sent in by the girls.
The Bobolinks spent every afternoon at their Publishing House, setting type, trying to run machines, and find out various things about business. The two young men promised by Uncle Ben were not expected until actual work on the magazine began.
So much talk had been heard at various dinner-tables in Oakdale, that fathers manifested enough curiosity in the work to ask for an invitation to the Publishing House. The habit of “dropping in to watch the boys” grew to be regular meetings, and the men enjoyed the social evenings as much as the boys did. Naturally, the work did not lose any of its value by the suggestions and ideas given by the older, experienced business men, but the Blue Birds grew envious over the evident interest shown in the Bobolinks while they were never about.