In only one department of English journalism have I met with a
decided measure of success; I refer to the juvenile competition
department. This is a sort of thing to which the English are
especially addicted. As a really educated nation for whom good
literature begins in the home they encourage in every way literary
competitions among the young readers of their journals. At least half
a dozen of the well-known London periodicals carry on this work. The
prizes run all the way from one shilling to half a guinea and the
competitions are generally open to all children from three to six
years of age. It was here that I saw my open opportunity and seized
it. I swept in prize after prize. As "Little Agatha" I got four
shillings for the best description of Autumn in two lines, and one
shilling for guessing correctly the missing letters in BR-STOL,
SH-FFIELD, and H-LL. A lot of the competitors fell down on H-LL. I
got six shillings for giving the dates of the Norman Conquest,--1492
A.D., and the Crimean War of 1870. In short, the thing was easy. I
might say that to enter these competitions one has to have a
certificate of age from a member of the clergy. But I know a lot of
them.
VII.--Business in England.
Wanted--More Profiteers
It is hardly necessary to say that so shrewd an observer as I am
could not fail to be struck by the situation of business in England.
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