Other papers have tried it, and miserably
failed!"

"Then," returned Hitt calmly, after a moment's reflection, "oil will
meet the deficit. As long as my paternal wells flow in Ohio the
Express will issue forth as a clean paper, a dignified, law-supporting
purveyor to a taste for better things--even if it has to create that
taste. Its columns will be closed to salacious sensation, and its
advertising pages will be barred to vice, liquor, tobacco, and
drugs."

"Good!" cried Carmen. "And now we've got to get right down to
business."

"Just so," said Hitt, rising. "It is my intention to issue the Express
one more week on its present basis, and then turn it into a penny
morning daily. I have seen and talked with its staff. They're good
men. I'm going to assume the management myself, with you, Carmen, as
my first assistant. Haynerd will become city editor. Now, what
suggestions have you?"

"Oh, lots!" cried the girl enthusiastically. "But, first, how far may
I go?"

"The limit," replied Hitt, rubbing his hands together. "You are my
brain, so to speak, henceforth. As to financial resources, I am
prepared to dump a hundred thousand dollars right into the Express
before a cent of revenue comes back."

"Another question, then: will you issue a Sunday edition?" she asked.

"For a while, yes," he said. "We'll see how it works, for I have some
ideas to try out."

"Well, then," resumed the girl eagerly, "I want this paper to be for
_all_ the people; to be independent in the truest sense of the term;
and to be absolutely beyond the influence of political and religious
sectarianism--you'll soon enough learn what that will cost you--to be
an active, constructive force in this great city, and a patient,
tireless, loving educator."

"Humph!" grunted Haynerd, although he was listening very carefully.

"The Express will succeed," the girl went on, without noticing him,
"because our thought regarding it is successful. _We_ have already
succeeded; and that success will be externalized in our work. It makes
no difference what the people may think of _us_; but it makes a lot of
difference what _we_ think of _them_ and _ourselves_. Now, our program
is unlimited. We assume superiority over adverse conditions, and we
claim success, because we know that these things are mental, and that
they are divinely ours. Lot's wife didn't have the sort of confidence
that wins--she looked back. Our bridges are burnt behind us now. But
there is n