“I assure you,” said Mrs. Morse, proudly, “the play is practically Josephine’s own work. It is her idea, clothed in her own language. I am pleased that you find it so admirable for a child to have written——”
“It is admirable—in spots—for anybody to have written,” said the New York gentleman. “And this is the young lady?”
“You are the budding playwright?” suggested the stranger.
“I am not so sure of that,” replied Jess, troubled a little. “I wanted the prize Mrs. Kerrick offered, and I did my best.”
“And your best is very good—remarkably good,” declared the producer. “I have come to see you and your mother about it. I want you to let me have the right to produce the play. Monday I will come with a contract; meanwhile I want Mrs. Morse to accept this check—which Mr. Monterey will endorse for me—to bind the agreement. I take a sort of option on the play, as it were,” he said, and he handed the check to Jess.
“I certainly do,” said the other, rising. “Your play is not like the work of a professional playwright; but a professional writer of plays can take your work and whip it into shape——And I am willing to show my confidence in its final success by risking that sum upon it to start with.”
Jess looked then at the check. It was another two hundred dollars. Jess shut her eyes tight for a moment; then she opened them again to be sure she was not dreaming.
When she opened them she really believed she saw Poverty fly out of the window!
_12 mo, cloth, illustrated, and colored jacket_
A series of books for girls which have been uniformly successful. Janice Day is a character that will live long in juvenile fiction. Every volume is full of inspiration. There is an abundance of humor, quaint situations, and worth-while effort, and likewise plenty of plot and mystery.
An ideal series for girls from nine to sixteen.
JANICE DAY, THE YOUNG HOMEMAKER JANICE DAY AT POKETOWN THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY HOW JANICE DAY WON THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY
_12 mo, cloth, illustrated, and colored jacket_
In Annie Roe Carr we have found a young woman of wide experience among girls—in schoolroom, in camp and while traveling. She knows girls of to-day thoroughly—their likes and dislikes—and knows that they demand almost as much action as do the boys. And she knows humor—good, clean fun and plenty of it.