it, I could do ever so many more. Angelica is
even more thoughtless than I. The poor child declares that some of the
stories look so interesting that she forgets her work completely and
actually begins to read them. As for Grandpa, he always was a great
reader, and consequently has no head at all for reviewing."

"If Harold were a few years older----" mused Abner. "But there, wife, we
must not spend in vain repining the scant hours allotted to us for
sleep. Perhaps the expressman will bring us some scientific books
to-morrow. Quite a number were on Appletree's fall list."

Abner Skipp kissed his wife affectionately, and presently the house was
dark and still. Mrs. Skipp, worn out by the day's work, went quickly to
sleep; but Abner, haunted by the mortgage, passed a restless night.
Several times he fancied he heard a noise in the cellar, as if the
expressman were dumping another ton of books into the bin. At last, just
before dawn, there came a loud thump, as if a volume of Herbert
Spencer's Autobiography had fallen to the floor. Getting out of bed
quietly so that his weary wife should not be disturbed, Abner went to
the cellar stairway and listened.

A clicking sound was distinctly audible, and a faint light gleamed
below.

IV.

Cautiously descending the stair, Abner Skipp came upon so strange a
sight that with difficulty he restrained himself from crying out his
astonishment. Little Harold was seated before a queer mechanism, which
resembled a typewriter, spinning wheel, and adding machine combined,
engaged in turning the tons of books around him into reviews, as the
miller's daughter spun the straw into gold, in the ancient tale of
"Rumpelstiltzkin."

"Child, what does this mean?" cried the bewildered Abner Skipp.
"Father," replied Harold, "I am lifting the mortgage. Not long ago I saw
among the advertisements in the Saturday Home Herald an announcement of
a Magic Kit for book reviewers, with a capacity of 300 books per hour.
Fortunately I had enough money in my child's bank to pay the first
installment on this wonderful outfit which came to-day. Is it not a
marvelous invention, father? Even Grandpa could work it!" Trembling with
eagerness Abner Skipp bent over the Magic Kit, while little Harold
explained the working of the various parts.

To review a book all that was necessary was to press a few keys, pull a
lever or two, and the thing was done. Reviewing by publisher's slip was
simplicity itself; the sl