Encyclopedia of Knowledge you have an entire library in one book, arranged and
indexed by the greatest minds of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. One
dollar down and one dollar a month until paid. But--when I got home I found
mother low--very low. When I went in she was just able to look up and whisper,
'Eliph'?' 'Yes, mother,' I says. 'Is it really you at last?' she says. 'Yes,
mother,' I says, 'it's me at last, mother, and I couldn't get here sooner. I was
out in Ohio, carrying joy to countless homes and introducing to them Jarby's
Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art. It is a
book, mother,' I says, 'suited for rich or poor, young or old. No family is
complete without it. Ten thousand and one subjects, all indexed from A to Z,
including an appendix of the Spanish War brought down to the last moment, and
maps of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and Australia. This book,
mother,' I says, 'is a gold mine of information for the young, and a solace for
the old. Pages 201 to 263 filled with quotations from the world's great poets,
making select and helpful reading for the fireside lamp. Pages 463 to 468, dying
sayings of famous men and women. A book,' I says, 'that teaches us how to live
and how to die. All the wisdom of the world in one volume, five dollars, neatly
bound in cloth, one dollar down and one dollar a month until paid.' Mother
looked up at me and says, 'Eliph', put me down for one copy.' So I did. I hope I
may do the same for you."

The lady was about to speak, but Eliph' Hewlitt held up his hand warningly.

"No," he said. "I beg your pardon. I didn't MEAN to say that. I couldn't think
of taking your order. I didn't mean to ask it any more than I meant to ask
mother. It's habit, and that's what I'm afraid of. I'd better not intrude."

The lady evidently did not agree with him. He amused her because he was what she
called a "type," and she was always on the lookout for "types." She urged him to
join the picnic, and said he could try not to talk books, and reminded him that