"I remember how us three women looked at each other then, like our brains was experimenting with our ideas. And when Mis' Toplady got her butter, we slipped out and spoke together for a few minutes up past the Town Pump. And it was there the plan come to a head and legs and arms. And we see that we had a way of picking purses right off of every day, so be the editor would leave us go ahead—and of doing other things.
"The very next morning we three went to see the editor and get his consent.
"'What's your circulation, same as City papers print to the top of the page?' Mis' Toplady asks him, practical.
"'Paid circulation or got-out circulation?' says the editor.
"'Paid,' says Mis' Toplady, in silver-dollar tones.
"'Ah, well, paid for or subscribed for?' asks the editor.
"'Paid for,' says Mis' Toplady, still more financial.
"'Six hundred and eighty paid for,' the editor says, 'an' fifty-two that—mean to pay.'
"'My!' says Mis' Toplady, shuddering. 'What business is! Well, us ladies of the Sodality want to run your paper for one day and charge all your subscribers ten cents extra for that day's paper. Will you?'