a light, free-smoking Five-Cent Cigar after
him, and he began to see Weird Paintings on the Dead Walls, and was
Ashamed to walk along those Streets.

[Illustration: LITTLE FERN]

It came out that one of the Frohmans wanted to Dramatize the
Masterpiece, and it was Rumored that Stuart Robson, Modjeska, Thomas Q.
Seabrooke, Maude Adams, Dave Warfield, and Walker Whiteside had been
requested to play the Part of Willie.

Every morning the Author would get up and say to himself that it could
not go on much longer. He felt sure that the Public would come to its
Senses some Day, and get after him with a Rope, but it didn't. His Fame
continued to Spread and Increase. All those Persons who had not Read it
claimed that they had, so as to be in Line, and he had the same old
Floral Tributes handed to him Day after Day.

It was Terrible. He had gone to College and spent a large amount of
Money irrigating and fertilizing his Mind, and he had Dreamed of writing
Something that would be Strong enough for Charles Dudley Warner's
Library of the World's Warmest Copy, in a Limited Edition of 20,000; but
instead of landing with the Heavy-Weights he seemed Destined to achieve
Greatness as the Author of a Boy's Size Poem, bearing about the same
Relation to the Literature of the Ages that a May Howard Window Hanger
does to Pure Art. He was Famous until he couldn't rest, but it was not
the Brand he had Coveted.

He decided to Live It Down. He would Produce something Serious and
Meritorious that would throw "Willie's Good Night" into the Shade. So he
labored for Two Years on a Novel that analyzed Social Conditions, and
every Reviewer said that here was a Volume by the Author of "Willie's
Good Night." The Purchasers of the Book expected to take it Home and
Read it and Weep. When they found that it did not contain any Dark Skies
or Headstones, they felt that they had been Bilked out of $1.50 each. It
was Suggested that the Author of "Willie's Good Night" was losing his
Grip and seemed to have Written Himself Out.

He was not wholly Discouraged. He went out Lecturing on the Occult, just
to prove to People that he had been Misjudged. The Local Chairman always
introduced him as the Celebrated Author of "Willie's Good Night."
Frequently he was Dragged away to a Home to meet all the Big Guns of one
of these Towns that call a Lecture a Show. After he had been on
Exhibition for a Half Hour or so, the same as the Albino or the Man with
the Elastic Sk