The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-12

foor or on some elevation, as in many
cases there are, piled up cord wood
fashion, it is simply impossible for
you to search the piles through and
know what they contain. 1t is tan
talizing in the extreme to be obliged
to go away and think that "Bay
State Psalm Book" or the 'sTamer-
lane" OF Poe, or some other equally
prlzed treasure, may be lying there
buried away from your eager grasp.
And yet the proprietor of the stall
does not think it worth while to
make your search easy. Perhaps he
wishes to hold you until the next Gus
toner comes. Perhaps he knows YOU
will stay the longer for your difficulty
and buy as much as you would if you
knew every title, while the amorphous
piles will remain to excite succeeding
customers.
The book stall man, in fact, is tenn
peramentally phlegmatic and indiffer-
ent, If one may judge by his manner.
1t is the rule, to be sure, based on
good reasons, for him to pay little
attention to your mode of selection.
He does not ask you what you want:
Tor, II he is not absolutely new to
his business, he knows you cannot
answer this question yourself until
you have discovered what he has to
offer. People go to the dry goods
stores and to the groceries knowing
beforehand what they are after, but
to the book stall they go as the hunter
to the woods, or the all around fisher
man to his stream or baylor what
luck and skill may bring. So the
book vender sits in his chair, or turns
over a volume or two somewhere, or
makes feint of busting off some
volume or shelf-a thing which there
is no visible evidence to show that he
has ever done beforehand placidly
awaits your inquiry. If you go out
without expressing wish for infor-
nation, or without giving symptom
that you are in the mood to purchase,
it is all the same, apparently, to him.
He Graves no hustle of business and
he has none. Very likely you are the
only customer he has had for an hour.
If another should drop in before you
leave the place would seem crowded.
But how little he cares what may be-
fall! To him neither time nor money
is important. The serene atmosphere
OF his books has enveloped him, and
in his horizon it is always afternoon.
We cannot but like the easy free
dom of his place, where we can go
any day and never trade; and where
we can forget that we have the tooth
ache, tight boots, or are in debt. Here,
if anywhere, we can forget that the
world has concerns, or that there is
anything further for us to do until
we step out and break up the seduc-
tive spell. 1t is for the time being a
sequestered island of Lethe and calm.
The book stall is not confined to
any one country. 1t belongs where
ever civilized people are collected
together, whether it be the great me-
tropolis or provincial town. Lon
don, Paris, Florence, Rome and other
European cities have more institution
of this sort than our OWL large cities.
You will find the book stall in every
considerable town or county seat in
this country, even in the Far West.
l found one in town on the Missis-
sippi many years ago, crowded with
old books, where everything else
seemed new, and on pricing one of
the choicer volumes, l was told by
the proprietor that he asked $500 for
it. In some places the business is
joined with that of old furniture and
various odd bric-a-brac. Pictures, of
course, particularly those that can be
inserted in books, are common stock
in connection with the trade of the
book vender
The most quantity picturesque and
interesting book stalls in the world,
l am told, are those on the quays in
Paris, and curious characters conduct
them. In fact the typical book-stall
man is always a more or less
odd and remarkable person, where
ever you find him, and deserves really
a chapter to himself. The strange
liking which he often has for his
books, his easy remembrance of them
and their prices, as if they were in
dividuals long known; and his abso-
Lutte indifference to, if not dislike of,
selling them, are traits often en-
countered. / know one who seems
jealous if you even handle his books,
and there are stall men who really
need punching to arouse them to the
fact that you are ready to purchase.
Some spiritual Nile seems to run