Page:Max Havelaar; or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (IA dli.granth.77827).pdf/63

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44
Max Havelaar
  1. That Fred should correct the grammatical errors.
  2. That I should be at liberty to write from time to time a chapter, to give the book a respectable appearance.
  3. That the title should be: “The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company.”
  4. That Mary should make the fair copy for the press; but that we should have patience with her on washing-day.
  5. That a complete chapter should be read every week at our party.
  6. That all immorality should be avoided.
  7. That my name should not appear on the title-page, because I am a broker.
  8. That Stern should be at liberty to publish German, French, and English translations of my book, because, as he asserted, such works are better understood in foreign countries than at home.
  9. That I should send Shawlman paper, pens, and ink.—[Stern insisted very much on this.]

I agreed to everything, for I wanted to finish the book. Stern was ready the following morning with his first chapter,—and here, reader, the question is answered, how it was that a coffee-broker—[Last and Co., No. 37 Laurier Canal]—wrote a book, something like a novel.

Scarcely, however, had Stern commenced the work when difficulties arrested him. In addition to the difficulty of selecting and arranging the materials, he met with, every