Excerpt from The Ups and Downs of a Mail Order Aspirant: Described in a Series of Ten Letters Dear Father: Undoubtedly you have been wondering, and mother has been worrying, as to why you did not hear from your wandering boy - the kid that strayed away from turnip fields and corn husks to find for himself a foothold in the city. Well, I haven't been swallowed up in this giddy whirl of dissipation - perhaps because the munificent salary which I am paid for standing behind the counter measuring off yards of dress linings would not permit me to enter it. I suppose mother has been worrying about my health, but I want to assure you that I have not been sick, but I have been, and still am, very ambitious; - scheming would be a better word. Scheming and planning to make a lot of money so that I can come back and add to father's somewhat scanty acres, the rich, fertile meadows which he has coveted ever since I was old enough to notice the longing eyes he cast upon it -...