“By the gods! that fish shall flounder on thy deck, or I shall flounder beneath the waves!” cried the impetuous Roman. He squared himself and gave a mighty jerk, but fell sprawling on his back at the feet of the laughing queen, and when he looked up and saw nothing but a little dried herring dangling among the ropes above him, he blandly smiled and dryly said: “He was a monstrous fish while biting, but between his bite and my jerk, he has wonderfully shriveled. But he’s the oldest looking fish and has the loudest smell of any that ever perfumed the royal barge.” And so many an ambitious Antony sits in the stock exchange of the great city and drops his hook in the sea of speculation, and he fishes and fishes with his little wad of hard earned cash, until some shrewd manipulator, just to change his luck, takes the little wad off and gives the line a heavy pull, and when our guileless Antony thinks he has hooked a million, he jerks and falls at the feet of fickle fortune, and finds dangling in the air above him only the dried herring of a shrivelled hope, and there is nothing left but the aged look of an empty purse and the smell of a dream that is vanished! [Illustration] [Illustration] LEISURE HOURS For Conference Between the Magazine and its Readers. When The Taylor Publishing Company made its announcement of the forthcoming appearance of BOB TAYLOR’S MAGAZINE, its statements were received with interest by all, with enthusiastic approval by many and with predictions of disaster by sundry Jeremiahs and Thomases. For the last named class the fact that a Southern magazine had not succeeded, though many had been projected, was sufficient reason for the conclusion that none could succeed, and possible success versus probable failure was discussed throughout the length and breadth of the land. Meanwhile, Governor Robert L. Taylor and his co-laborers in the enterprise, imbued with a belief in the feasibility of the venture, with the idea of the vital necessity to the people of the South of a literary periodical which might adequately and fittingly represent the literary life and customs and romance and ideals of the South, and with an indomitable intention of firmly establishing such a useful vehicle of thought and expression, proceeded with their organization. Literature in regard to BOB TAYLOR’S MAGAZINE was prepared, a campaign of publicity was inaugurated, articles and stories were secured for the first number, paper was bought, and an issue of 10,000 copies was determined upon, as amply sufficient for the first number.