of the * New York Times/ Mr. Page, the philanthropist and tempe-
rance advocate, and, I think, Senator Frye, of Maine, The marvel-
lous letter did its wonted work; all the people were moved, all the
people wept; the tears Sowed in a steady stream down Dr. Holland's
cheeks, and nearly the same can be said with regard to all who were
there. Mr. Page was so full of enthusiasm over the letter that he
said he would not rest until he made pilgrimage to that prison, and
had speech with the man who had been able to inspire a fellow-
unfortunate to write so priceless a tract.
Ah, that unlucky Page!—and another man. If they had only
been in J"ericho, that letter would have rung through the world and
stirred all the hearts of all the nations for a thousand years to come,
and nobody might ever have found out that it was the omfoundedest,
orazenest, ingeniousest piece of fraud and humbuggery that was ever
concocted to fool poor confiding mortals with!
The letter was a pure swindle, and that is the truth* And take
it by and large, it was without a compeer among swindles. It was
perfect, it was rounded, symmetrical, complete, colossal!
The reader learns it at this point; but we didn't learn it till some
miles and weeks beyond this stage of the affair. My friend came
back from the woods, and he and other clergymen and lay missionaries
began once more to inundate audiences with their tears and the tears
of said audiences ; I begged hard for permission to print the letter in
a magazine and tell the watery story of its triumphs; numbers of
people got copies of the letter, with permission to circulate them in
writing, but not in print; copies were sent to the Sandwich Islands
and other far regions.
Charles Dudley Warner was at church, one day, when the worn
letter was read and wept over. At the church door, afterward, he
dropped a peculiarly cold iceberg down the clergyman's back with
the question—
'Do you know that letter to be genuine?*
It was the first suspicion that had ever been voiced; but it had that
sickening effect which first-uttered suspicions against one's idol always
have. Some talk followed—
< Why—what should make you suspect that it Isn't genuine*'
* Nothing that I know of, except that it is too neat, and compact
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