"'Glad to see you, Sir,—hope you'll continue your contributions,—Uncle Job,—good idea, Sir,—love the little ones? So do we, Sir,—work very hard for them,—don't pay at all,—poor business,—pure charity,—that's all.'
"'But you don't mean to say,' I exclaimed, 'that your contributors are expected to work from charity?'
"'Glad to pay them, if we could, but we can't afford it,—more contributions than we can use,—best authors in the country write for us,—pure love for the little ones, I assure you.'
"'Will you give me my manuscripts?' I said. 'I do not vouchsafe to bestow my time and thoughts for nothing. If you do not pay, I can offer them to others who do.'
"'You won't find a child's paper in the United States that pays,' he growled. 'We don't care for contributions. Me and my partner writes most of the articles ourselves.'
"'Will you give me my manuscripts?' I said again, anxious to put an end to the interview, and disgusted with the fellow's falsehood.
"'Hallo! Mortimer, do you know where them are?'
"'Sorry I can't oblige you,' said a fat man, dirtier and greasier than the first, emerging from an inner den; 'they're gone to press.'
"'If you tell me any more lies,' cried I, becoming furious, 'I shall take measures that you will not at all relish. If you will not give me my manuscripts, I shall take them'; and, suiting the action to the word, I snatched them from a shelf, where they lay conspicuous, and carried them off without further parley.
"This cured me for a while of all literary ambition. But the unquiet spirit within me would not rest, and during the following summer I wrote a sentimental tale, full of aspirations, large adjectives, and soft epithets. It was accepted by a well-known monthly, then supposed to be in the height of its prosperity. This was a grain of comfort, and I looked forward confidently to a long future of remuneration and renown, when a letter of regret arrived from the fair editress, returning my story, and explaining, that, being unable to meet her engagements, the magazine had been sold to pay her debts.