Kilo

s and the cat-stitched dusting cloths were all sold, and only a few crocheted slipper-bags and similar luxuries remaine

were grouped about the minister, who stood in the middle of the parlor, laughingly expl

o his presence, and walked into the parlor. Mrs. Doct

, my name is Hewlitt, Eliph' Hewlitt, and I heard of this s

just as welcome, I'm sure, an' mebby you'll find something you'd like, though I suppose you're a travelin' man, an' I don't see what you'd d

said Eliph', tapping his parcel. "Bo

Walter Scott, and she had an ill-defined feeling of guilt. To miss a payment was almost as hideous in her eyes as to neglect to put a dime in the contribution plate each Sunday would ha

that's him. Let me introdu

eemed one form of the usual reception of a book agent, and to indicate a de

litt followed her, but his eyes quickly made a circle of the room

w how, and hurried to the most distant corner of the room. Eliph' was well enough pleased with this reception, for he would hardly have known what to do with a warmer o

n Kilo's minister, craved details, or she may have done it to give fair warning to all concerned. The effect was instantaneous, and the smiles

Hewlitt

pester the life out of people-don't know when to stop. Now, when I see a man don't want my book, or when I see a town ain't ready for it, I drop books and go off, and leave them alone. I could have stayed down there at the hotel and bothered the landlord into taking my book. He

rst and most strongly contested goal of the book agents. The subscription list that did not bear his name at the head b

ested in the field?"

islands myself once, and I know what those poor heathen must suffer for lac

took the chair, and laid his package across his knees. Those who had drawn away from him now gathere

been shipwrecked," said Mrs. Weaver, "let alone ship

miled in

made me a book agent. If I hadn't been shipwrecked on that

er's face

at I was thinkin' of not to ask to take your package. Let me put i

go out of my hands, day or night. It saved my life, not once, but many times, this book

ed Mrs. Weaver, "won't

ies and gents, bones, of which there is one hundred and ninety-eight in the full gr

a particular dislike for bones, as for useless things that cluttered up

mouth of the Hudson River. And, if I do say it myself, I was a good confidence man. I was a success; I got rich. And what then? The police got after me, and I had to run away. Yes, ladies and gents, I had to fly fr

n on the mighty waves, and round and back; and the third day we bumped on a rock, and the ship began to sink. In the hurry I was left behind when the

rs. Weaver, "you wasn

re, ladies and gents, I found something better. When I didn't find a life preserver I was stunned-yes, clean knocked out. I dropped into a chair and laid my head on

sion Society leaned forward with one accord to catch a glimpse of the title. Eliph' Hewlitt

ie them tightly in a common shirt; then fasten the arms of the shirt about the body, with the corks resting on the chest. With this easily improvised life preserver drowning is impossible.' I done it. The captain of tha

aver, "that captain must have

n some bait-can a boy had thrown into an eddy, and I figgered like as not I'd stay there forever. Then I noticed I had this book in my hand, and I thought, 'While I'm staying here forever, I'll just take another peek at this book,' and I opened her. Page 781," said Eliph', turning quickly to that page, "was

days, and was plumb tuckered out, I come to an island. The waves was dashing on it fearful, and I knew if I tried to land I'd be dashed to flinders. It knocked all the hope out of me, and I made up my mind to take off my li

page, and pointed to th

the Prose and Poetical Gems of All ages,'" he read. "There they were-sixty-tw

without, Make Thou more fair

died 1892'-with a complete sketch of his life, a list of his mos

f the five great continents, their political division, mountains, lakes, and plains, their vegetable inhabitants and animals, their ancient and modern history, et cetery, and I come to 'Islands, Common, Volcanic, and Coral';

t there, but I thought of my book, and I turned to the index, where every subject known to the vast realm of knowledge is set down alphabetically, from 'A' to 'Z', twenty thousand references in all, dealing with every subject from the time of Adam to the present day, including, in the new and revised editi

sighed wi

m. I was not alone. He is never alone who has a copy of Jarby's 'Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art,' published by Jarby & Goss, New York, and sold for the trifling su

er put out

?" he asked, and Eliph' p

, Ancient and Modern-Their History-How to Make and Use Them,' et cetery, told me how to twist the cocoanut bark into a cord, and to shape the limb of the gum-gum tree into a bow and arrow. Page 396, 'Birds, Tropical, Temperate, and Arctic-Song Birds, Edible Birds, and Birds of Plumage,' et cetery, with their Latin and common n

ter in the well, figger interest, et cetery, by which I become posted on all kinds of arithmetic. There was the 'Complete Letter Writer, or a Guide to Polite and Correct Correspondence,' the 'Dictionary of Legal Terms, or Every Man His Own Lawyer,' the 'Modern

this wonderful book in my native land. I wept when I thought of the millions that had not seen it-millions that were living poor, starved lives be

ook back to Eliph' Hewlit

dlord of the Kilo House was right. We are not, many of us, ready fo

hand gently no the glossy black k

while the minds of the heathen dry up and rot for want of the vast treasures contained in Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art? Here in this book is the wisdom of the whole world, and will you selfishly withhold it form those who need it so badly? If I know Kilo, I think not. If what is said in Jeffer

round the ci

rk. He will, seeing the good cause, make the price four seventy-five per volume, and throw in one volume from

by his eloquence to the edge of the ring of ladies. As he paused, she recognized the moment as that when the victim is supposed to utter the words, "Well, I guess I'll take a copy," but she missed the direct appeal, and

s Sally had disappeared, and, although he peeked eagerly into both the side rooms

wn, rubbed his eyes, and led the way into the office where a dingy kerosene lamp was burning dimly. He

right up to bed, won't you? I reckon you found out Kilo don't want no books this trip, Sam

s package on the

bed in half an hour or so. I done a little business up yonder, and I want to

the landlo

next month or so, just tell him there ain't no use for a raw hand to waste