St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-06-13

his wife, the boys noticing as he did SO
that it was filed with long row of
names.
ga good hours work, my lads; a
good hours work." he said rubbing his
hands. But the boys could not tell
whether he referred to them, to him
self, or to Mrs. Bennett, who had emp
tied the mending basket in his absence,
or to Mary, who was now setting the
stitches for a second mitteD.
There was but one periodical depot
in the pretty, thriving village of North
ford, where these people lived, and the
next day it was nOised about that Mr..
Hyde, the agent, had sold out his stock
in trade to the "Northford News Com
pany," which consisted of a dozen or
more of the leading men and women of
the village, with Mr.. Bennett as agent
pro tenn, Mr.. Hyde having pledged
himself not to resume his business with
in a radius of fifteen miles of Northford.
He had received the purchase money of
the stock and good will of his stand,
and left town that same day.
When the Company, every one of
whom was present, were taking the ac-
count of the stock they had bought,
they looked at one another in amaze
ment.
ave ought to go after the man and
lynch him at once" said DR.. Marsh.
''He should have been tarred and
feathered," said Domino Van Cleef.
"He is amenable to the law" said
Councillor Wade.
''Let him go, and with good rid
dance, although he owes me for three
months board" said Landlord Jones.
''He was an evil eyed, oily tOugued,
old spider, enticing our innocent chill
dren into his net. L will advertise him
and warn other communities against
him." said Editor Mclaughlin.
"We will make a bonfire of the whole
stock in the middle of Bramble Swamp,
and call the place ever after Aceldama,
or some such name," said Deacon Fer
ris, gravely.
"What is better than that" said
Colonel Greenleaf, the paper manufac-
turer, who never liked to see anything
wasted, 81 will send up man with
some sacks, and at noon we will have
all the school children in here to see
this precious literary pabulum that
rascal has been selling them, crammed
into the bags and carried off as so much
waste paper, hardly fit for my pulp
watts. 1t will impress them with the
worthlessness at least of the miserable
stuff" and the colonel shook hands anew
with MIR. Bennett in thankfulness for
his instrumentality in unearthing this
pit of evil.
Colonel Greenleaf paid for the stock
the prlce of waste paper, the few good
books and magazines that had been
kept on sale as a foil, being saved, of
course. The pleasant sunny little room
was swept and garnished. A cheerful,
intelligent, Christian young woman
with a living to earn, who was tired of
sewing and needed change, was Sc
cured as manager, and in a weeks time
the news-rOOm was opened again.
All its former patrons, both young
and old, were obliged to admit that it
was far more attractive than ever be-
fore. In place of the trashy books and
periodicals and viler stuff that the COM
pany found secreted in the drawers and
under the counters of the former news
vender, were now to be found the lead
ing magazines, first-class secular and
religious weeklies-as many of them
illustrated as pOssible-and books, some
of them amusing enough but at the
same time wholesome, instructive, and
with a purpose in their writing.
The fact that this revolution in liter
ature spread before the people of
Northford was effected by the Christian
community, prejudiced for time a
certain class whose reading tastes had
been vitiated by the miserable period
icals and boOks-some of them under
very innocent titles and other guises-
but it gradually wore away, and larger
sales are made at this news-room than
ever. The consequences III this one
village, which is veritable locality,
are-larger Sabbath schools, increased
attendance in the churches, fewer COM
mitments of Juvenile offenders, and
far healthier moral tone generally
Does it occur to any of my readers
that they have a manifest duty to do in
this line in their own communities P-I
Christian Weekly.
NOTE: Almost without exception.
every newsstand has either positively
vile literature, or that which is the "a.
b. c." leading to it. We can remedy
the evil, l. By sturdily and persistent
ly, and conscientiously refusing to buv
of a news dealer who keeps even doubt
full literature. 2. We can ask pub
fishers of newspapers, especially secu-
lar ones, to please reprint the above
story EUdndeLicaI Press 4ssocjotio,