Page:The Southern Literary Messenger - Minor.djvu/99



Here is another large and rich volume of 800 pages, with a January number of 104. But this time the editor has no poetic herald: at once, he extends New Year's greetings to patrons and friends. He is exultant as well as grateful and might appear to be boastful, were it not that he is able to state some big facts. He says: "Within the last year, our subscription list has increased largely and fresh numbers are daily lengthening it. Never has the circulation of the Messenger been as great as it now is." * * * "If the Messenger has been good in times past, it shall be better in times to come. It has never had such a list of correspondents as those whose pens are now engaged to adorn its pages. To them and not to us belongs the honor of its excellencies; to them we feel and acknowledge our obligations." Begging them to excuse any seeming neglect of their offerings, he adds: "We have bushels of these now before us and every mail brings fresh supplies to the pile. With the growing popularity of the Messenger, such has been the increase of contributors, that it would now