The Argosy, March 1907 — page 158: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

& is 2 me, “ ee my anes a ore SS aoe asoet 98 he ee eS Boor a 2S es ss — —s Si a i . = pe ha « a a Ouest sae Ste ol THE ARGOSY. a = Oh, “Tom!” cried the girl, blushing |. “And be very careful not to lose it,” | rosy red with pleasure, “you flatter me too much. Oh, but I do hope it will be a success.’ She looked at him wistfully. Tom nodded his head vigorously. “You can just bet it will, little girl. I don’t claim to be the seventh son of a seventh son, but I’m going to prog- nosticate that the first manager we offer it to will jump at that play the minute he sees it. Ill get busy retypewriting it right away. We can’t let them see this. rough draft, you know.” “Of course not, but you needn’t re- typewrite it, Tom. Jl attend to that. I’m a better typist than you are. You're so.untidy and careless in your spelling.” Four days later, when Tom called on Cecilia she had the manuscript all ready for him. Tom looked at the closely typewritten pages admiringly. She had made a very neat job of it, typing the dialogue in blue ink and the stage business in red. “Tt looks fine,” he commented. “ I’m glad I left the job to you, dear. I should have made a botch of it and I guess the appearance of a manuscript counts for quite a little, nowadays. Now, if you'll get your hat and coat we'll go right out and sell it.” But “selling it” be quite so simple a matter as Tom had prophesied. They first visited the office of a big theatrical manager on Broadway. Here they were received by a cold-mannered young man who déclared that it would -be absolutely impossible for them to see the great manager in person. “Mr. Snowman never sees unknown. authors,” he explained. ‘“‘ He hasn’t the time. If you have a play to submit, you might leave it with me and we will let you have a verdict on it.” “When?” eee Tom and Cecilia in eager chorus. ‘In about six weeks,” replied the cold- mannered young man. “ You can either call again or we will write to you.” ‘“T guess we’ll call,” said Tom, hand- ing over the precious manuscript with a sigh of disappointment. it’s read carefully, won’t you, please?” ‘Oh, certainly,” said the cold-man- nered young man. did not prove to ‘You'll see that: Cecilia admonished him. “Yes, madam.” “You might call Mr. Snowman’s per- sonal attention to the second act,” added Tom confidently. “It’s very strong.” ‘“T’ll be careful to remember that,” said the young man. “Of course we shall expect to have both our names on the program in big letters,” said Cecilia firmly. “It isn’t. vanity, you know. It’s a matter of busi- ness. We want to get our names be- fore the public as much as possible, you see.” “Of course,” assented the cold-man- nered young man. ‘“ There won't be any trouble about that—if we take the play.” As they reached the sidewalk, Cecilia. uttered an exclamation and turned as if about to reenter the. office. ‘““What’s the matter?” anxiously. ‘How stupid of us!” said Cecilia. ‘“We quite forgot to ask him anything about the price. Don’t you think we ought to pin them down in piace and white?” Tom smiled—a smile of superiority. ‘“Never mind about that, dear,” he said. ‘‘ We can attend to that later. If they don’t offer us a fair price, we needn’t let them have the play, you know.” With the utmost impatience they waited until the six weeks had expired and then they*paid a second visit to the manager’s office. The cold-mannered young man rec- ognized them immediately and handed them a familiar-looking package. “Mr. Snowman is very sorry,” he said. And that was all. It was a dejected pair that walked up Broadway that afternoon. They were also inclined to be indignant.’ ‘“T don’t believe that they even looked at it,”’ said Cecilia. “It’s wrapped up in the same paper as when we gave jit to them.” “Oh, I guess they looked at it all right,” replied Tom _ bitterly. ze shouldn't be surprised if they’ve copied the best parts: of it and stolen our plot. I’ve heard of such things being done.” “Oh, I don’t think they’d dare, Tom,” asked Tom COMICHOOKsS-con