ic. Eliph' Hewlitt took his hitching strap from beneath the buggy
seat and secured Irontail to a tree.

"Church picnic," he said to himself; "one, two, sixteen, twenty-four,
AND the minister. Good for twelve copies of Jarby's Encyclopedia or
I'm no good myself. I love church picnics. What so lovely as to see the
pastor and his flock gathered together in a bunch, as I may say, like
ten-pins, ready to be scooped in, all at one shot?"

He walked up to the rail fence and leaned against it so that he might be
seen and invited in. It was better policy than pushing himself forward,
and it gave him time to study the faces. He did not find them hopeful
subjects. They were not the faces of readers. They were not even the
faces of buyers. Even in their holiday finery, the women were shabby
and the men were careworn. The minister himself, white-bearded and
gray-haired, showed more signs of spiritual grace than intellectual
strength.

One woman, fresh and bright as a butterfly, appeared among them, and
Eliph' Hewlitt knew her at once as a city dweller, who had somehow got
into this dull and hard-working community. Almost at the same moment
she noticed him, and approached him. She smiled kindly and extended her
hand.

"Won't you come in?" she asked. "I don't seem to remember your face, but
we would be glad to have you join us."

Eliph' Hewlitt shook his head.

"No'm," he said sadly. "I'd better not come in. Not that I don't want
to, but I wouldn't be welcome. There ain't anything I like so much
as church picnics, and when I was a boy I used to cry for them, but I
wouldn't dare join you. I'm a"--he looked around cautiously, and said in
a whisper--"I'm a book agent."

The lady laughed.

"Of course," she said, "that DOES make a difference; but you needn't be
a book agent to-day. You can forget it for a while and join us."

Eliph' Hewlitt shook his head again.

"That's it," he said. "That's just the reason. I CAN'T forget it. I try
to, but I can't. Just when I don't want to, I break out, and before I
know it I've sold everybody a book, and then I feel like I'd imposed on
good nature. They take me in as a friend and then I sell 'em a copy of
Jarby's 'Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science
and Art,' ten thousand and one subjects, from A to Z, including recipes
for every known use, quotations from famous authors, lives of famous
men, and, in one word, all the world's wisdom condensed into one volume,
fi