Humorous stories; Newspapers -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
"I brought over somethin' as he wrote last night to read you, an' show
you how curious his brains do mix up things. He brought it down this
mornin' an' read it to me, an' I asked him to give it to me to read to
you. I was goin' to bring it to you anyway, but then he said as I could
too, so it's all right either way. It's some of his new ideas an' he
said he'd be nothin' but glad to have you hear 'em 'cause he says the
more he lives with me the more respect he's got for your hearin' an'
judgment. He asked me what I thought of it first, an' I told him frank
an' open as I did n't know what under the sun to think of it. I meant
that, too, for I certainly never heard nothin' like it in my life afore,
so he said we could both read it to-day an' I could tell him what we
thought to-night, when he come home.
"Wh--" asked Mrs. Lathrop, with real interest.
"Well, seems he's been thinkin' as it's time to begin to show us how
up-to-date he looks on life, he says, an' as a consequence he's openin'
up what he calls the field of the future. He says he's goin' to have a
editorial this week on beginnin' from now on to make every issue of the
_Megaphone_ just twice as good as the one afore. I told him if he really
meant what he said it could n't possibly be worth no dollar a year now,
but he said wait an' see an' time would tell an' virtue be her own
reward. He says he's goin' to make arrangements with a woman in the city
for a beauty column, an' arrangements with some other woman as is a
practical preserver, an' have a piece each time on how to be your own
dressmaker once you get cut out; I thought that these things was about
enough for one paper, but oh my! he went on with a string more, as long
as your arm. He's goin' to begin to have a advice column too, right
off, an' that's this I've brought over to read you; he says lots of
folks want advice an' don't want to tell no one nor pay nothin' an' they
can all write him an' get their answers on anythin' in the wide world
when the paper comes out Saturday. I could n't but open my eyes a little
at that, for I know a many as need advice as I should n't consider
Elijah knew enough to give, but Elijah's a man an' in consequence don't
know anythin' about how little he does know, so I did n't say nothin'
more on that subject. He's full of hope an' says he's soon goin' to show
big city papers what genius can do single-handed with a second-hand
printin' press, an' he talked an' talked till I really had to tell him
that if he did n't want his breakfast he'd have to go back to bed or
else down town."
"Is the--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.
"Yes, this is it. He done it last night an' he give it to me this
mornin' to read to you. It's to be called 'The Advice Column' an' he's
goin' to head it 'Come to My Bosom' an' sign it 'Aunt Abby' 'cause of
course if he signed it himself he'd be liable for breach of promise from
any girl as read the headin' an' chose to think he meant her."
"But who--?" began Mrs. Lathrop.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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