My captain calls to me to join the fray, Fame holds her fillet ready for my brow, Love stands with aching, open arms, and Thou, O God, to whom I impotently pray, Art ever ready to receive me—yea, Dost yearn for my poor prisoned soul—then how Becomes it that I linger in this slough Of idle, unclean days, till I grow gray? Bound am I to a corpse, face unto face, Of old iniquities, and dead desire, Which, fair and young, of old did I embrace. Now chains of habit, forged in Passion’s fire, Hold me forever in this durance base: Struggling to rise, I wallow in the mire. CLAUDE FAYETTE BRAGDON. THE COMBINED PRESS. It is all settled. There was no other way. Art was held down by the Jews, who demanded that she come to their terms. So she has given up, not, perhaps, without a bit of a gurgle in her choked throat, but like the new woman she has become, she manfully faced the music with no bit of compromise. She gave all, asking nothing but that she be placed on a basis of “commercial independence.” I quote from the announcement which the factory officials make to her old time friends—those who believed that Art should exist because she _was_ Art, and that she should not be compelled to sell her very soul for the dollars she could earn by working overtime in their sweat shops: “The Combined Press is a literary syndicate formed for the purpose of obtaining for writers commercial independence and liberal remuneration for high class work.” This starts out well, and hereafter all writers who belong shall be given a rating in _Bradstreet’s_. “All contributors, whether stockholders or otherwise, will be given the privilege of receiving in payment the entire cash returns derived from their published matter, less actual cost of service.” This is encouraging, for writers may feel secure in getting some return for their labor; but hopes are dashed in the next paragraph: “Under no circumstances, however, will inferior contributions be accepted from any one, and merit will in every case be given preference regardless either of authorship or membership.” The superintendent of the factory will, of course be the judge as to merit. Regarding the Plan the Sad Tale continues as follows: “One thousand shares of stock will be issued to writers of established merit at $15.00 per share, paid up value. A payment of one-third of this amount will secure each share of the stock, but no certificates will be issued until stock becomes fully paid up, either by assessment or by accumulation of undivided profits.”