The Dawson journal., 1883-05-03
THE BOOK AGENT.


| ENdllSNlut Argus
Brown, Jones and Robinson,
three as good fellows as ever mel
ted the heart Of a country trader to
the merry music of the plant
chin, sat one evening last week in
the smoking compartment of a
cha'r-car on an Z. and T. II. Yves
tern Railroad. With them was a
tail, thin, dyspeptic man with san
dy hair, dressed in a rusty suit of
black. Nature had endowed him
with long legs and his tailor with
short pants. His coat collar was
rich enough in accumulated grease
to keep a soap factory going for a
month. His mouth was brass,
and his cheek as hard as last years
cider. He was a book agent. AL
ready had he gobbled up the
drummers for Life of Christ" :"
and a "Pocket Encyclopedias" in
two hundred and fifteen numbers,
when suddenly a real live Jesse
James like train bandit opened
the door, and stood pistol in hand
in the passence of the quartette.
Browns soul sank into the heels
Of his boots. Beads of perspira-
ton, big as snow balls, stood n
Jones classic brow, while his hair
lifted his hat two inches from
the crown of his head. Robinson
mU,mured the first verse of ever
Of Thee Pm Fondly Dreaming"
anl thought lie was praying. But
the book agent bounded from his
seat with a glad smile and How
do, stranger? Delighted to see
you. De let me show you my
superb History of Boone County,
a perfect bonanza of domestic
peace and happiness to every
householder who is fortunate
enough to possess one. Three
hundred pages of elegant letter
press printed on toned paper, and
embellished with fine steel engrav-
ings and an official map Of the
State. A carefully compiled, cor
rect and typographical and his
torical-'
+. "Shut upl" roared the bandit.
"Shut up? You bet it will; and
fastens itself with double-action
patent brass ciasD-mv own invnn-
tion-and from its simplicity of
design and beauty of conclruction,
worth half the money l ask for the
book. Given away, sir-literally
given away-for three dollars in
boards, or four fifty in morocco
with beveled edges"
''If yer say
q do say it, sir. Look at this
exquisit title-page, with a vignette
portrate Of the gifted author.
Here you see . genealogical alb
stract chart, in which you can
write the names of your illustri-
Gus ancestors and beloved family
births, marriages, deaths
and"
"Stopw shrieked the bandit, as
the agent grasped him by the but
tonhole.
"You may well say stop, sir;
have said enough to make You
ache to possess the beautiful vol
umn, but | haven't yet begun
to"
"Slt down. the robber roared
in a voice that made the puffs OF
the engine sound like the sighs OF
a sick zepher, and loosened all the
joints of Jones limbs.
Biographical sketches of emi,
nent men, glowing with an origi-
nal poem on death, agriculture.
statistics, tables Of mortality, val.
liable notes on immigration, trade
reports, all the geological-"
'Lelnme 60, or I'll blow the ROOT
of yer head off, shrieked the rob.
ber, as he wrested himself from
the agents grasp, and dropped of
the rear Of the car into the gath.
ering gloom Of the coming night.
Then Robinson drew from his
pocket his faithful revolver, anc
looked big. Jones rolled his
sleeves up and asked where the
villain had gone to. Brown fish.
ed from under the spitoon a rol
of bills, and hoped that they did
not think he'd been scared. But
the book agent sank wearily into
his seat, and for the first time in
all that long journey was silent fol
nearly four consecutive minutes.
~ KTNG LFI1N