es might never be
lost."

Instantly Nort sprung from his chair, for great ideas when they arrived
seemed to prick him physically as well as mentally.

"Say," he almost shouted, "I have it! Let's have the Cap'n write the
story of his life--and, by Jiminy, publish it in the _Star_. Everybody
knows the Cap'n--they'd eat it up."

It was Nort's genius that he could see, instantly, the greater
possibilities of things, and his suggestion quite carried us away. We
all began to talk at once:

"Print the Captain's picture, a big one on the first page. A story every
week. Why, he _knew_ James G. Blaine----"

Anthy leaned back in her chair, her eyes like stars, looked at Nort, and
looked at him.

When we went out that night the old Captain threw a big arm over Nort's
shoulder. The tears were running quite unheeded down the old fellow's
face.

"Nort, my boy," he said, "I love you like a son."

He was happier that night than he had been before in years.

The next morning Nort appeared at the office with a tremendous
announcement, headed: _Captain Doane's Story of His Life_, which would,
on a conservative estimate, have filled an entire page of the _Star_.
And the old Captain, who need never have taken off his hat to Dickens or
Dumas where copiousness was concerned, began to write--enormously. The
dear old fellow, looking back into his own past, discovered anew a hero
after his own heart, and as the incidents jumped at him out of his
memory, he could scarcely put them down fast enough. He filled reams of
yellow copy paper.

With the first article we published a three-column half-tone portrait of
the Captain, his head turned a little to one side to show the full lift
of his brow, and one hand thrust carelessly and yet artfully into the
bosom of his long coat. Oh, very wonderful! The first article, headed,

EARLY MEMORIES OF HEMPFIELD

was really excellent, after Anthy had cut out two thirds of the old
Captain's copy--which no other one of us would have dared to do.

Well, in an old town, in an old country, where the memories of many
people reached far back, where many had known Captain Doane all their
lives, this article instantly found sympathetic readers, and began to be
talked about. We felt it at once in the demand for papers. Later came
the stories of early political affairs in Hempfield and, indeed, in New
England, and stories of the war which were really thrilling. Other
headings were: "_How I Met General McClel