Kilo
had turned away, and the other picnickers were gathered around the minister, looking over his shoulders at the copy of Jarby's E
ht under the brown ones, but although she was ordinarily able to hold her o
ng, but he considered that about the most useless thing he could spend money for was a book. Whenever he heard there was a book agent in Kilo he acted like a hen when she sees a hawk in the sky, ready to pounce down upon her brood, and he pottered around and scolded and complained and warned Miss Sally to beware, and then in the end the book agent always made the sal
ng effect on Miss Sally, as serpents daze birds before they devour them. The process applied between the time when she stated with the utmost positiveness that she did
ctually introduced to him, and her father still under month
said Miss Sally nervously, when s
suitable Mrs. Hewlitt was he apt to find. "And I'm not going to SELL you any," he repeated. "This is picnic day, and I'm not selling books, although I may say there is no day in the whole year when Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge
ng away. "I don't live here, and you might
es beamed kindly th
his sample copy, but it was in such a number of eager hands that he turned back to Miss Sally. "Take the directions on Sleeping Cars," he said. "For that one thing alone the book is worth its price to anyone going to travel by rail. It gives full instructions how much to give the porter, how to choose
iss Sally doubtfully, for she was
book when I don't mean to, for it is a book that a man that knows it as well as I do just can't HELP talking about. It's a wonderful book. It is a book that has all the wisdom and knowledge of the world condensed into one volume, including five hundred ennobling thoughts form the world's great authors, inclusive of the prose and poetical gems of all ages, beginning on page 201, sixty-two solid pages of them, with vingetty portrait
he agent had begun his dissertation on the book's merits by an explanation of the illuminated frontispiece-if it had one-and ended by turning the last page to show the sheet where she must sign her name, underneath those of "the other leading citizens
copy," she sa
ded, and he put out his ha
h distress. "You don't want o
led its directions. He wished he had the book in his hands, so that he could turn to the chap
sit down on this nice grass and get acquainted. You and me are b
him doubtfully. She was unable to understand the actions of this new variety of book agent that refused to sell books after talking up to the selling point, and she suddenly r
le to PAY for it. I've bought books before, and paid for them; and I guess I'm just as able to pay as most folks you
d Eliph' Hewlitt would never have thought of doing first the thing Jarby's Encyclopedia advised doing second. He had been selling Jarby's for many years. He had seen the "talking feature" of the colored plates of the Civil War pass, and had seen them succeeded by colored plates of the Franco-Prussian War, and had seen these make way for colored plates of one war after another until the present plates of the Spanish War appeared, and through all these changes in the last chapter he had studied the book until he knew its contents as well as he knew his "two-times-two." He could recite the book forwar
ised. But I ain't going to tell you. It ain't because you can't pay for it, for if it was a library of one thousand volumes at ten dollars a volume, ten dollars down and ten dollars a month, I'd be glad to take your order. And it a
She imagined now that some book agent had told him of her father's aversion to books-when they had to be paid for-and that Eliph' Hewlitt w
lay out the lunch," she said, as the
under 'P': 'Picnic Lunches. Picnic, How to Organize and Conduct. Picnic, Origin of,' et cetery, et cetery. A book that contains all the knowledge
turned on h
d either sell me a copy of that book or keep stil
l kinds of folks gathered together this way to make each other happier? It's like a living Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science
w walking toward where the ladies were u
d it says it is the best they have ever used. That and seven hundred and ninety-nine other tested recipes, all contained in the chapter called 'The Complete Kitchen Guide,' see page 100, including roasts, frie
iph' Hewlitt could not fail to observe it. It told plainly that if he could have se
wded in among the other women so that he could not follow. He stood a moment watching her, but she began talking rapidly to one of th
talking up a sale than he had used any other, and that for that reason he had studied it less closely, and he saw now, more than ever, that there was no chapter in the whole book that a possessor could afford to neglect. He walked over to where the minister was still holding the book, but now hold
y moved about the cloth spread on the grass; the tablecloth on which green bugs and black bugs and brown bugs were already parading, as bugs always do at a pi
ld be put near the minister. He closed the book, seeing at length that it was impossible for him to read it, and, as the men began to bring the cushions from the buggies and place them around the cloth, h
-eyed with importance, "i
said
, right away. Her dad telephoned up, and he don't know w
urried to where Mis
aid, "but that boy has come to give you a message th
cake she was holding,
it?" sh
what Mr. Fogarty, from up to the Corners, wanted. I don't know what he wanted. Pa didn't tell me. I don't know as pa knew, anyway, but I guess he wanted something, or else he w
say?" asked Miss
a, haven't you?
said Mi
ot false teeth?
iss Sally mor
or not, the telephone at the post office works so poor, and pa ain't no hand at it, anyhow. He sa
Miss Sally, as
went to bed last night, same as always, but he don't recall whether he took out his false set of teeth or left them in, and he ain't sure whether he swallowed them last night, or put them down somewh
med Miss Sally, "why don
shook
a didn't think to ask him that. I'l
it not only terminated her part of the day's pleasures, but also cut short her visit
ng boys, who had a faster horse, drive her to Kilo. The whole picnic leaned over the rail fence and watch
the third paragraph of the first page of "Courtship-How to Win the Affections," and now Miss Sally had left, and he had not progressed at a
e have asked. He learned how far she would have to travel to reach Kilo, who her father was, and all that he wished to know. He decided that the only
only needed an application of the rules set forth in Jarby's Encyclopedia in order to "Win the Affections" of Miss Sally, and "Hold Them When Won," but he took with him subscript