more verses; something,
say, about "the folks back home."

Sincerely yours,
REUBEN SMALL.

BEULAH, N.H.

DEAR MR. SMALL:--

I accept your offer of five dollars for my maiden effort in
Christmas cards with thanks, and will try my hand at
something more popular. I am not above liking to make a
"wide appeal," but the subject you propose is rather a
staggering one, because you accompany it with a phrase
lacking rhythm, and difficult to rhyme. You will at once
see, by running through the alphabet, that "roam" is the
only serviceable rhyme for "_home_," but the union of the
two suggests jingle or doggerel. I defy any minor poet when
furnished with such a phrase, to refrain from bursting at
once into:--

No matter where you travel, no matter where you roam,
You'll never dum-di-dum-di-dee
The folks back home.

Sincerely yours,
REBA LARRABEE.

P.S. On second thought I believe James Whitcomb Riley could
do it and overcome the difficulties, but alas! I have not
his touch!

DEAR MRS. LARRABEE:--

We never refuse verses because they are too good for the
public. Nothing is too good for the public, but the public
must be the judge of what pleases it.

"The folks back home" is a phrase that will strike the eye
and ear of thousands of wandering sons and daughters. They
will choose that card from the heaped-up masses on the
counters and send it to every State in the Union. If you
will glance at your first card you will see that though
people may read it they will always leave it on the counter.
I want my cards on counters, by the thousand, but I don't
intend that they should be left there!

Make an effort, dear Mrs. Larrabee! I could get "the folks
back home" done here in the office in half an hour, but I'm
giving you the chance because you live in Beulah, New
Hampshire, and because you make beautiful pictures.

Sincerely yours,
REUBEN SMALL.

DEAR MR. SMALL:--

I enclose a colored sketch of the outside of the cottage
whose