The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-04
TOLD BY THE BOOK AGENT.


a drdggled sklrl ana oNerShoes As she pushed
the bell she diagnosed the curtains Of the front
window as to their quality. Then she stepped in
the entry with a lurch Of assurance, and faced the
trim little maid.
rs your mistress At home" she asked
I'm see, said the little maid viii you rome
in What name shall say"
"Oh, you don't need TO say any name returned
the caller suavely, she wouldn't know my
name, any way just say a lady"
The maid vanished. The caller tried i've
chairs before she was finally seated. Then she
examined the other chairs and the por,ieres, and
had n look al the curtains from the inside she
poked her foot in he rug TO feel how deep the mar
was, and she made two false starts when some
one passed through the hall. Then the mistress
Of the house came in.
You wished to see me-" she said. standing.
q am very busy and | shall have to ash you
Yes, | know how il is" said the woman in the
veil, sympathetically. "Gettin' ready for The spring
house cleanin', | s'pose' So are we-at least
! can't rightly say | am, because I'm Twin with
my brothers wife. but she is An she's ssyin'
only this mornin''-
Pardon me, you Wished" began the mis-
,ress ofthr house, with polite fnality,
Yes, | wanted to show you this, said the woman
with the veil
From the capacIous black rep bag she had de
posted a bit out Of sight the woman with the veil
| suddenly drew a calf bound book, i, was the
sort with calf on the front cover and cloth on the
back, and half Russia leather on the covers
inside, to lie, you see how the real back would
look. The exterior Of the mistress Of the house
looked like night atthe North Pole.
Really. She said, Il am extremely sorry,
but
Now, 1t won't take you five minutes. said the
woman with the veil, and | can make those five
minutes RELY interes,in' if you will listen to me
| Amt an ordinary book agent at all, you know
I've only had TO take II up since my husband died
q year ago next spring And the work is RELY a
rare thing"
There is positively no use"- said her un-
willing hostess.
"Eutit will be such a pleasure 10 me to show ii
to you," pleaded the woman in the vel. You
can't think how glad | am To ge, hold of a RELY
intelligent listener. have TO show the book half
the time To people who can't no more understand
its beauties than your hired girl Now this,
she went on swiftly, lis a work called Great Lives
and Famous Deaths, and 1t comes in sixty eight
parts, four parts in four weeks, 81 a month. And
IT is RELY a classic. All ! want is lust To show
you some few Of these illustrations and then III
leave 1t to you II the work ain I worth owning, let
alone spending five minutes over it with me
The woman in the veil sCraped her chair on the
polished floor and opened the book At THE Court.
ship of Goethe.
This she said, is the picture of the poet
Geethy, and his lady love. The lady love you see
sitting ON the bench. Al her right are her water
ing can. spade and shovel. usedfn her ga rdenin
Il he ma al thn la II IL t.aatb ~ ip,aa a.. .l-f.
when not engaged IN composing poems. lCuuldnL
say whether he married hlslady lo,eorn"L
This, she went on, is Joseph Jefferson, an
actor lie IL here seen in one OF his characters,
that Of Rap Van " mike, which he sometimes
plays. To see HIM here in this scene from thu
first act OF the play you would think he was a
Young man hut suppose he must he As much as
90 wears Old IN real NE seems a d~lsaiyan
lage, the picture not shown him as he RELY Is
iiat al the same Time It shows him Just aS you
would see HIM on the stage now
his next Is II representation oi the Cis,ern
Madonna, though why II Is called hat | couldn't
let! YOU. below, the Two ,cherubs Is, suppose,
different views OF the child Around is grouped
saints and martyrs. ana The whole makes Il very
pretty appearance. framed.
This here Is not one Of the famous Amaluns
which We have all heard so much about. but quite
a different person. This here is Brunhilda ON
her milk white horse. She Is supposed to be riding
The ar to escape from an angry father, or mother,
| couldn't tell you which. But whoever il was
set fire TO all her things and turned her out doors
for beiriendlnga strange woman who proved 10 b-
n very unpleasant person, | believe"
The mistress uf the house had forgotten " hat an
unwilling hostess she had been. Go on" sh.
sad IN an uncertain voice, as the woman in the
Vel paused for breath
This is Dante, called the poet Of hell - she took
up the story, though I'm sure | cant tell you lust
why he WAS called the poet Of he'll He's gut ON a
wreath Of leaves, which II was customary 10 wear
IN those times lie wrote q comedy oi some kind,
though | must say that he looks ~ though he had
never known a glad day IN his life.
Side Of him is another poet, Milton, who was
blind lie Is listening to his own works read
aloud by his daughters He is also the author OF
The Lost Paradise may e you see that when
it was played here last winter did enjoy the
play so much that | said to m sell that the book
was worth the money lust to have that mans
picture
lady lost all her money and all her relatives but
two sons, and she called them her Jewels, mean
ing, ] presume, that when they Was grown M
they could earn back all her property for her.
do hop" they did, for Il there's anything that
dlsgusts me with bringin' up children it's 10 have
There's my brothers boy, Zeb this. did you SAY?
on, tins Is Bee thoyen, making up his Moonlight
Sonnet He SET down TO play Tor a blind gin
one night and that piece come into his head, and
he played it without writin' down a note Of il,
s"ltin' IN the dark, he was. Hayin' his hair
look some like George Washington. don't IT,
Strange, how these musicians can look like poll
tlclanS and Presidents when most of 'em don't
know n blessed thing but their music.
Here's the Mona Lisa, an you're supposed
togIIess what she's smllln' at, thus geitin' a sortof
%conundrum with the rest, though for my part il
seems simple enough 10 me. Ialways smile that
way when I'm havln' my picture taken out Of
pure NERVOUSNESS, and II don't mean anything,
presume that's the way with her.
And next Is The Victory, with no arms and no
head, nOthin' but wings They're good strong
wings, but for my part | shouldn't call IL much
Of u victory II I'd had my head took oil.
And here's Mercury, or liernleS, som. calls
him, an don t know as il makes any difference
which This IN a statue, too, besides hein' a picture
rs you 500 II here see II once. and declare il
tired m" 10 death Just seem n balance on one Toe
that way, That's why | prefer the picture myself.
b"CHu Use he seems to lay flatter
This Oh, This Is called Hosea. hui why n,
covered his face mp when he Was Sattin' for his
picture ! can't imagine. lie might rs we'll have
had The back " his head took. and done with IT,
Vow this last one here is the Deaf Of HAYDEN
or Hny dn Composin' the Creation You see him
seated on the deck Of a steamer. Around him is
gath cred HIS sorrowin' relatives and friends
Overhead the storm Is ragin', but HAYDN amt
frightened like his relatives. Calm and quiet,
Hal In sits up and composes his Creation; I'm
sure can't tell you the creation n what. but its
very well known Beautiful sight, amt it?"
Beautiful, said the mistress Of the house.
And now, said the woman with the veil,
you're goin' 10 let me put your name down, Amt
you Here's a complete description Of every pic
ture, much fuller than ] have given II 10 you You
wouldn't care for the descriptions Well, SONS
only does care for the pictures"
She was. ler out he hall door rr.sentlv, pro.
testing and arguing. and s1rlrwho.'i " town the
woman wrh ih' h'ilr tight veil AMI he oyrrShoes