series on
account of Sir Walter Scott's Complete Works.

"I don't want any books to-day," said Miss Sally nervously, when she saw
that she could not run away.

"And I'm not going to sell you any," said Eliph' Hewlitt cheerfully. He
had studied Miss Sally thoroughly, with the quick eye of the experienced
book agent who has learned to read character at sight, and he had
decided that no more 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 and Compendium of Literature,
Science and Art is not needed. It is a book that contains a noble
thought or useful hint for every hour of every day from the cradle to
the grave, comprising ten thousand and one subjects, neatly bound."

"I don't want one," said Miss Sally, backing away. "I don't live here,
and you might do better selling it to someone who does."

Eliph' Hewlitt's eyes beamed kindly through his spectacles.

"It is just as useful to them that is traveling as to them that is
home," he said, "if not more so. If you ever took a copy along with
you on your travels you would never travel again without it. Take the
chapter on 'Traveling,' for instance, page 46." He looked around, as if
he would have liked to get 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 a berth, how to undress in an
upper berth without damage to the traveler or the car, et cetery. And,
when you consider that that is but one of the ten thousand and one
things mentioned in this volume, you can see that it is really giving it
away when I sell it, neatly bound in cloth, for five dollars."

"I don't think I want one," said Miss Sally doubtfully, for she was
beginning to fall under the spell.

"No!" said Eliph' firmly. "No! You don't. And I don't want to SELL you
one. Nothing ain't farther from my mind than wanting to sell you a copy
of that book. Just rest perfectly easy about THAT, Miss Briggs. We'll
put 'Literature, Science, and Art' to one side and enjoy the delights
of the open air, and, if I happen to say anything that sounds like book,
just you excuse me, for I don't mea