from The Happy Profession
Friends and Crooks
Ellery Sedgwick.
February 27,1872 - April 21, 1960. American editor.
Sedgwick was the editor of Leslie's Magazine and remained editor as it became the American Magazine in 1905. Later (1908-38), as editor of the Atlantic Monthly and president of its publishing company, he continued the literary traditions of the magazine and broadened its popularity.
He is considered one of the most influential literary figures of his time.
The Happy Profession, page 124
One morning a friend confided to me that coming to town on the train he had overheard a discussion between two railroad clerks as to the proper subclassification of guinea pigs as an item of freight. I knew the happiest humorist of my acquaintance would appreciate that. At the time, Ellis Parker Butler was editing a magazine devoted to the interest of wallpapers. Now there is little in life less congenial to the moods of humor than wallpapers, and I was forever prodding Ellis to turn to a more expansive vocation. This was my chance. I asked him to lunch, embellished the tale here and there with the slightest touches of fancy, and turned it over to him. Within a week he had transformed it into a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Three months later "Pigs Is Pigs" was recognized as a classic. Leslie's had sold out to the last copy, and the story republished between covers made Butler famous. Wallpapers knew him no more, and the satisfactions of life became intenser for all of us.
