A Refused Proposal
After Miss Tooker refuses his marriage proposal, she sends Harry a letter in which she promises that she‘ll reconsider his offer, if he makes something of himself. She writes: “Come to me at the end of a year and show me the record of something accomplished, ... and my ’no‘ of this afternoon may be turned into a ’yes.'”Since he was so clever at writing in his college days, she advises him to try and publish a book. Should he publish a book and it become a success, she might have better news for him.
Reading these words, Harry decides that he will do anything to win Miss Tooker’s love. He says to himself: “Write a novel, eh? ... A nice, easy task that. A hundred and fifty thousand words.”
Accepting Miss Tooker’s terms, Harry sends a letter in response, promising that he will do his best at writing a worthy novel. And so, six months later, he finishes his novel “The City of Credit.”
A Refused Manuscript
However, when Harry sends his manuscript to publishers, they continually reject it and return it to him. None of the publishers will accept his novel.Yet, one day, Harry receives a letter from Hutchins & Waterbury of Boston which states that, contrary to his colleagues’ opinions, Mr. Waterbury liked Harry’s novel. After so many refusals, Harry is shocked and surprised, but readily agrees to meet with Mr. Waterbury.
The next morning, Harry visits Mr. Waterbury to discuss his novel. And, while Mr. Waterbury wishes to publish the book, he tells Harry: “[You must] pay for the plates and advertising. ... We will stand for the paper and the binding, and will act as your agents in the distribution of the book.”
Harry agrees to these terms and soon his book is published. Nevertheless, “The City of Credit” proves to be an unsuccessful book.
With the year quickly coming to a close, Harry takes matters into his own hands. He travels from one bookstore to another and buys as many copies of “The City of Credit” as possible.
With a skyrocket of sales, “‘The City of Credit’ [goes] into its second, fifth, twentieth, fiftieth large edition.” Harry’s book becomes a bestseller within just a few months.
Overjoyed at this news, Harry again proposes to Miss Tooker and she joyfully accepts. However, with 250,000 copies of his book hidden in storage, Harry realizes that he can’t marry Miss Tooker until he tells her his secret.
Through this story, Bangs shows that a healthy relationship must be built upon honesty. This honesty, in turn, must be bolstered up by a healthy sense of humor. Honesty acknowledges truth, while humor helps those in the relationship bear these hard truths with laughter and joy.
In “Pride and Prejudice,” Jane Austen wrote: “Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” Just so, relationships should be cultivated with the same honest words and humorous tone in which Austen writes.
