“Oh, Uncle Ben, there’s one question I want to ask—may we each sign our own name to our page or must we make up a pretend name?” asked Ruth.
“Why, sign your very own name, of course; that is one way of making you keep up to the mark. If you only had a pretend name on your page you might get careless and say, ‘Oh, no one knows who it is, anyway, so I don’t care if this story isn’t as good as it ought to be.’”
Mrs. Talmage and Aunt Selina smiled, for they could see the wisdom of the remark.
“I guess my father will be proud to see my name in a magazine,” boasted Dot Starr.
“All depends on what you tack your name to, Dot,” laughed Meredith.
“It’ll be fine, all right!” exclaimed Dot, nodding her head emphatically.
“Shall we have our names at the top or at the bottom of the pages, Ben?” asked Mrs. Talmage.
“Oh, please, Uncle Ben, do put them at the top! I am afraid no one will stop to read our names if you have them at the bottom,” worried little Betty.
Everyone laughed, but Uncle Ben assured her that the name would be placed directly under the name of the article.
Then, while the Blue Birds watched the boys placing type in the cases, Uncle Ben sat down beside Mrs. Talmage and had a quiet talk about affairs in general.