midnight
By an odd mischance one of his half-open letters found its way to the Easy Chair , and , although that judgment-seat felt relieved from the sense of anything like a lonely prominence before the public by the very multitude of those similarly consulted , it did not remain as Easy as it would have liked under the erring attribution of prominence . Yet to have refused to help in so good a work would not have been in its nature , and it lost as little time as possible in summoning a real author of prominence to consider the problems so baffling to a mere editorial effigy ; for , as we ought to explain , the _ de facto _ editor is to be found in the Study next door , and never in the Easy Chair . The author prominently before the public came at once , for that kind of author has very little to do , and is only too happy to respond to calls like that of the friend of rising authorship . Most of his time is spent at symposiums , imagined by the Sunday editions of the newspapers , to consider , decide the question whether fig-paste is truly a health-food ; or whether , in view of a recent colossal gift for educational purposes , the product of the Standard Oil Company was the midnight oil which Shakespeare had in mind when he spoke of the scholar wasting it ; or something of that kind . His mind is whetted to the sharpest edge by its employment with these problems , and is in prime condition for such simple practical inquiries as those proposed by the letter we had received . But , of course , he put on an air of great hurry , and spoke of the different poems , novels , essays , and sketches which he had laid aside to oblige us , and begged us to get down to business at once . `` We wish nothing better than to do so , '' we said , to humor him , `` for we know you are a very busy man , and we will not keep you a moment longer than is absolutely necessary .