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Skeptics muttered. "Can it be?" said they, "With 842 books edited, set up in type—only needing advertising and the grinding of the printing press to sell the output— can it be that Mr. Haldeman-Julius cannot spare the time to sell them? Can it be that the Haldeman-Julius 60-page monthly magazine with a circulation of 400,000 must have all cf Mr. Haldeman-Julius' time? Can it be that the Little Blue Books —of which 75,000,000 have been sold in five years—can no longer be profitable?"
Said apostles of Mr. Haldeman-Julius: "Some publishers, with a less high standard than that of Mr. Haldeman-Julius, might succumb to the more or less persistent supplications of the public. But not Mr. Haldeman-Julius! It is unthinkable."
Last week skeptics cursed themselves; for there appeared in the press an advertisement:
AMAZING BARGAIN! 900 LITTLE BLUE BOOKS AT THE ASTOUNDINGLY LOW PRICE OF 5¢
During a Little Over Five Years We Have Sold 100,000,000 Little Blue Books—the Greatest Publishing Record in All History—How Many Millions of Little Blue Books Will We Distribute During the Next Five Years?
Skeptics gnawed their nails in bitterness. "Why, oh why," they railed, "did not we think of that line in May? 'How Many Millions of Little Blue Books Will He Distribute During the Next Five Years? In May that line would have been—genius!"
Apostles of Mr. Haldeman-Julius were silent.
* The Herald makes public boast of its 75-page bulk.
* These rabbits, male and female, known as "Tootsie" and "Tweedledum" respectively, brightened the duller moments of Thaw's life at Matteawan. He pinched them until they squealed, bit them with his yellow teech, chased them with a pole, tossed them 40 feet in air and let them fall on the ground "to see if it would hurt them."