Ladies and GentlemenCobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
General
Ladies and Gentlemen
Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
Fiction; Short stories, American
Now Mr. E. Randall Golightly, the pressed-brick magnate, would impress
you as being like that. When it came to amassing wealth--ah, but
there was where he could show you something! Otherwise he offered
for the inspection of an envying planet the simple-minded easy-going
unimportant personality of a middle-aged gentleman who was credulous,
who was diffident in smart company, who was vastly ignorant of
most matters excepting such matters as pertained to his particular
specialty which, as just stated, was getting rich and richer. Out in
the world away from his office and his plants, he had but little to
say, thus partly concealing the fact that on the grammar side at least
his original education wofully had been neglected. He was quiet and
self-effacing, also he was decent and he was kindly.
But when a smart young man representing Achievements came by
appointment, asking for an interview on the general subject of his
early struggles, Mr. Golightly became properly flattered and suddenly
vocal. Achievements was a monthly magazine devoted to purveying to
the masses recipes for attaining success in business, the arts, the
crafts, the sciences and the professions, the theory of its editors
being that the youth of the land, reading therein how such-and-such
leaders attained their present prominence, would be inspired to step
forth and do likewise. Deservedly it had a large national circulation.
Rotarians all over the country bought it regularly and efficiency
experts prescribed it for their clients as doctors prescribe medicine
for ailing patients.
Mr. Golightly was no bookworm, but he knew about Achievements, as
what seasoned go-getter did not? The project outlined by the caller
appealed to him. It resuscitated a drowned vanity in his inner being.
So willingly enough he talked, giving dates and figures, and the young
scribe took notes and still more notes and then went back to his desk
and wrote and wrote and wrote. He wrote to the extent of several
thousand words and his pen was tipped with flaming inspiration. He had
such a congenial theme, such a typical Achievementalesque topic. Lord,
how he ripped off the copy!
In due time a messenger brought to Mr. Golightly sundry long printed
slips of an unfamiliar aspect called "galley proofs." Mr. Golightly
read these through, making a few minor corrections. He told nothing
at home regarding what was afoot; he was saving it up as a pleasant
surprise for Mrs. Golightly and the two Misses Golightly. Anyhow, he
had got out of the habit of telling at home what happened at the office.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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