I was coming to that, of course, but in the mean time I could not pay the rent with my writing.

To be sure, my acquaintance with men of letters gave me an opening.

A friend of mine introduced me to a slightly literary lady who introduced me to the editor of the "Boston Searchlight," who offered me a generous commission for subscriptions to his paper.
If our rent was three and one-half dollars per week, payable on strong demand, and the annual subscription to the "Searchlight" was one dollar, and my commission was fifty per cent, how many subscribers did I need?
How easy! Seven subscribers a week--one a day! Anybody could do that.

Mr.James, the editor, said so.

He said I could get two or three any afternoon between the end of school and supper.