It is when we come to the direct announcements to advertisers, however, that we get perhaps the queerest hints from our American cousins. ‘Advertising rates cheerfully furnished’ appears frequently; ‘Advertisers love it’ is a short and sweet statement regarding one paper; ‘Should be patronised by every live advertiser;’ ‘Advertisers, do you want some return for your money? Read our inducements,’ say others. Then, ‘The modesty of the publishers deters them from mentioning the peculiar merits of the _Courier_ as an advertising medium’—a modesty rivalled by the remark, ‘Rates of advertising so low that we are almost ashamed to announce them,’ which differs from the standpoint of a third, ‘Advertising rates held high enough to make a living for the publisher;’ and the latter appears upon the whole to be the more general sentiment, as may be testified by ‘Don’t send offers under price,’ ‘We only advertise _for money_.’ The last sentence alludes to a species of exchange evidently less popular among the publishers than with their clients. ‘No advertising solicited,’ says the _Westfield Pantograph_, ‘except for cash, or what may be as good. No space to give away or let at half-price.’ More decisive is the _Calhoun Pilot_, which ‘is choice in the admission of advertisements in its columns, and those it does admit, “due bills” of no character will settle for them. Must be in hard cash quarterly in advance, unless good references are given. Save your paper and postage, ye advertisers who have nothing to offer us for our space than your wares and due bills. We don’t want ’em. We have a good article to retail, and nothing but the almighty dollar will buy it. But,’ adds the _Pilot_ more amiably, ‘while this is strictly our rule, our rates are low, and we give value received for all the lucre you place in our possession.’ Still more downright is the declaration, ‘No three-cornered patent pills, second-hand clothing, skunk-hunting machines, or hand-organs taken in payment for advertising.’ ‘The _News_ publishes no dead ads., and gives no puffs;’ ‘No half-cash advertisements accepted, no swindling or bogus patrons wanted.’ ‘Dead-beat, swindling advertisers,’ sarcastically announces the _Troy Free Press_, ‘can have their matter chucked carefully into the stove by sending them to our office. Our space is for sale, and must be paid for at living rates.’ But there is encouragement for honest advertisers given by a _Clipper-Herald_ through whose columns announcements ‘go to that class of people who are honest and intelligent and who pay for what they get;’ and in an equally straightforward assertion elsewhere, the _mens conscia recti_ of the editor rises superior to grammar into the realms of wit: ‘Has a good circulation among a prompt-paying class of people—these be facts!’ Facts or not, there is a distinctive character about Jonathan’s advertisements equal to some of the fiction with which he has supplied us. THE MISSING CLUE.