The enquirer southerner., 1874-08-07
Tic Hook CanVasser.

ABOUT eight years ego Whl!e at
dinner with my family ! waz in,
formed that thar waZ a gentleman
in the psrlor who must see me i'm
mediately on very important buz,
ziness.
Fastening from thc sable found
myself in the presence Of plainly
dressed. but very nervous r.an, who
Informed me that he was cauyassing
mi distrikt for the sale Of Erastus
Spignot's new work entitled the
Normal Circulashun ofthc Blood. "
| at once informed the man that
did not want lhe work.
He then began a long account ov
its value and Importance to every
human being, when i broke in upon
his eloquencc be repeating that
did not want the book"
He continued bi telling me that
no library would be kompIc;e wth>
out it. Again deklared in the
most positiff terms that did not
want the work. "
At this point the stranger seated
himself in a chair, and deliberately
drew the book in question cut ov
his satchel, and informed me that
no gentleman to whom he had offer
ed it had failed to subscribe.
Growing desperate i deklared in
in the most emfatik tone 'that
would not hey the book ~ any
price
Rising from his chair he took
oph his oyercoat, and, throwing it
carelessly on the sofa, struck an at.
titude, and for ten minutes gave the
most glowing akount ov the blood
and the anatomy ov man that l ever
listened to.
l once more assured him, in n
beseeehing manner, "that did not
want the book
Seating himself again in the chair,
and wiping the drops ov perspira-
shun from his brow, he went back
to the days ov Adam and Eve, and
for half an hour talked ez no man
ever talked before on the various
diseases the human sistem was OBJ
jekt to, closing up with vivid re,
cital ov the circulashun of the blood.
Again insisted upon it that the
book would be ov no use to me and
that would not hev it.
Springing from his seat with his
book in his hand, and his eyes flash.
ing fire, and his whole manner in
tense, he began to sho me its knots
ents, commencing at the title-pa page.
! saw at last thut it was wuea
than madness to resist any longer,
so subscribed for the book, consol-
ing miself with the refecshun that
if ever had o book to sell miself,
would hev it sold by subskripshun.
The more i think ov it am DELFT
ed with the pious suffering of the
book canvasser.
He is man whom yu kant eskape
any more than yu kan your own
shaddo, he follows his victim like a
ghost and hangs around him grin>
ming like an undertaken.
The only way tu git rid ov him is
tu subskribe at once, and let him 90
for the next phellow.
The shaving-sope man, and the
life insurance agent, are very good
in their way, but they don't kom>
pare with the book canvasser for
lively work any more than the pen.
sive cockroach doz to the red>hot
muskeeto.
They steal On you like kat on a
mouse when yu amt looking for
'em, and, like the fly in the spiders
web, the more yu try tu git out the
further yu get in.
l luv the book~canvasser now. hiz
words are like hunny in the comb,
and his logic IL like sweet lie, and
tho he may sell me a book i don't
want, and won't have, there is real
phun in the way that he duz it.
| subskribe now, at least once u
year, for some kind ov a book, that
never look into, with title to it
as long as the tail ov a kat, just
because the book canvasser il so
polite and so utterly impossible to
get rid ov.