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for its possible use."
Thacker looked anxious.
"What kind of stuff is it?" he asked. "Eight thousand words sounds
suspicious. The oldest families must have been collaborating. Is there
going to be another secession ?"
"The author of the article," continued the colonel, ignoring Thacker's
allusions, "is a writer of some reputation. He has also distinguished
himself in other ways. I do not feel at liberty to reveal to you his
name--at least not until I have decided whether or not to accept his
contribution."
"Well," said Thacker, nervously, "is it a continued story, or an account
of the unveiling of the new town pump in Whitmire, South Carolina, or
a revised list of General Lee's body-servants, or what?"
"You are disposed to be facetious," said Colonel Telfair, calmly. "The
article is from the pen of a thinker, a philosopher, a lover of mankind, a
student, and a rhetorician of high degree."
"It must have been written by a syndicate," said Thacker. "But,
honestly, Colonel, you want to go slow. I don't know of any eight-
thousand-word single doses of written matter that are read by anybody
these days, except Supreme Court briefs and reports of murder trials.
You haven't by any accident gotten hold of a copy of one of Daniel
Webster's speeches, have you?"
Colonel Telfair swung a little in his chair and looked steadily from
under his bushy eyebrows at the magazine promoter.
"Mr. Thacker," he said, gravely, "I am willing to segregate the

somewhat crude expression of your sense of humor from the solicitude
that your business investments undoubtedly have conferred upon you.
But I must ask you to cease your jibes and derogatory comments upon
the South and the Southern people. They, sir, will not be tolerated in
the office of The Rose of Dixie for one moment. And before you
proceed with more of your covert insinuations that I, the editor of this
magazine, am not a competent judge of the merits of the matter
submitted to its consideration, I beg that you will first present some
evidence or proof that you are my superior in any way, shape, or form
relative to the question in hand."
"Oh, come, Colonel," said Thacker, good-naturedly. "I didn't do
anything like that to you. It sounds like an indictment by the fourth
assistant attorney-general. Let's get back to business. What's this 8,000
to 1 shot about?"
"The article," said Colonel Telfair, acknowledging the apology by a
slight bow, "covers a wide area of knowledge. It takes up theories and
questions that have puzzled the world for centuries, and disposes of
them logically and concisely. One by one it holds up to view the evils
of the world, points out the way of eradicating them; and then
conscientiously and in detail comments the good. There is hardly a
phase of human life that it does not discuss wisely, calmly, and
equitably. The great policies of governments, the duties of private
citizens, the obligations of home life, law, ethics, morality--all these
important subjects are handled with a calm wisdom and confidence that
I must confess has captured my admiration."
"It must be a crackerjack," said Thacker, impressed.
"It is a great contribution to the world's wisdom," said the colonel. "The
only doubt remaining in my mind as to the tremendous advantage it
would be to us to give it publication in The Rose of Dixie is that I have
not yet sufficient information about the author to give his work
publicity in our magazine.
"I thought you said he is a distinguished man," said Thacker.
"He is," replied the colonel, "both in literary and in other more
diversified and extraneous fields. But I am extremely careful about the
matter that I accept for publication. My contributors are people of
unquestionable repute and connections, which fact can be verified at
any time. As I said, I am holding this article until I can acquire more

information about its author. I do not know whether I will publish it or
not. If I decide against it, I shall be much pleased, Mr. Thacker, to
substitute the matter that you are leaving with me in its place."
Thacker was somewhat at sea.
"I don't seem to gather," said he, "much about the gist of this inspired
piece of literature. It sounds more like a dark horse than Pegasus to
me."
"It is a human document," said the colonel-editor, confidently, "from a
man of great accomplishments who, in my opinion, has obtained a
stronger grasp on the world and its outcomes than that of any man
living to-day."
Thacker rose to his feet excitedly.
"Say!" he said. "It isn't possible that you've cornered John D.
Rockefeller's memoirs, is it? Don't tell me that all at once."
No, sir," said Colonel Telfair. "I am speaking of