The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-12
The cyclopeedy.
By EUGENE FIELD.

nd Leander needed all his chink to
pay FIR lumber, but Higgins sot back
on that affidavit and defed the life
out NV him.
Never mind, Leander," SEE his wife,
soothin-like; 'it's a good book to have
in the house, anyhow, now that we've
got a baby"
That's So" SEE Leander; 'babies
does begin with B, don't it?'
You see their fust baby had been
born; they named him Peasley-Peas-
ley Hobart-after Hattie's folks. So,
SEEM ez how it wuz payin' f'r book
that told about babies, Leander didn't
begredge that five dollars SO very much
after all.
'Leander," SEE Hattie, one afternoon,
chat B cycIopeedy amt no account.
There amt nothin' in it about babies
except See Maternity"
''Wa-al, I'll be gosh durned!" seq
Leander. That wuz all he said, and he
couldn't do nothin at all, FIR that book
agent, Lemuel Higgins, had the dead
wood on him-the mean, sneakin' crit
teri
So the years passed on, one Nv them
cyclopeedies shown up now md then
sometimes every two years nd some
times every four, but allus at a time
when Leander found it pesky hard to
give up flyer. 1t warnt no use GUS
sin Higgins; Higgins jest LATED when
Leander allowed that the cyclopeedy
wuz no good md that he WIZ bein
robbed.
Oncet, when Hiram wanted to dreen
the home pasture, he went to the cy-
clopeedy to find out about it, but all
he diSkivered wuz: "Drain-See Tile
This wuz in 1859, and the cyclopeedy
had only got down to G.
The cow wuz sick with lung-fever
cno11 nd Of I1y;,,,
to that cussed cyclopeedy, cause when
he went to readin' bout COWS it told
him to See Zoology"
But what's the use Of harrowin' up
ones feelin thinkin' md talkin' about
these things? Leander got so after a
while that the cyclopeedy didn't worry
him at all; he grew to look at it ez one
of the crosses that human critters has
to bear without complainin' through
this vale Nv tears. The only thing
that bothered him wuZ the fear that
mebbe he wouldn't live to see the last
volyume-to tell the truth, this kind
Nv got to be his hobby, an I've heern
him talk bout it many time settin'
round the stove at the tavern md
squirtin' tobacco Juice at the sawdust
box. His wife, Hattie, passed away
with the yaller janders the winter w
come, and all that seemed to reconcile
Leander to Survivin' her wuz the pros
pect NV SEEM the last volyume of that
cyclopeedy. Lemuel Higgins, the book
agent had gone to his everlastin' pun
iShment, but his son, Hiram, had sue
ceeded to his fathers business nd
continued to visit the folks his old man
had roped in. BY this time Leander's
children had growed up; all on 'em
Wuz married, and there wuz numeris
grandchildren to amuse the OF gen.
tleman. But Leander wuZn't to be sat
isfied with the common things w airth;
he didn't seem to take no pleasure in
his grandchildren like most men do;
his mind wuz alters Sot on somethin'
else-for hours nd hours, yes, all day
long, he'd set out on the front stoop
lookin' wistfully up the road for that
book-agent to come along with a cy-
clopeedy. He didn't want to die till
he'd got all the cyclopeedies his con-
tract called for; he wanted to have
everything Strengthened out before he
passed away.
When-oh, how we'll I recollect it!
when Y come along he wuz so over
come that he fell in a fit NV paralysis,
nd the OF gentleman never got over
it. FIR the next three years he droop-
ed md pinned, nd seemed like he
couldn't hold out much longer. Final
ly he had to take to his bed, he wuz
SO old md feeble-but he made 'em
move the bed up against the winder
so he could watch for that last vol
yume of the cyclopeedy.
The end came one baln1y day in the
spring NV ~. His life wuz a-ebbin'
powerful fast: the minister wuz there,
nd me nd Dock Wilson, nd Jedge
Baker, md most NV the family. Lovin'
hands smoothed the wrinkled fore
head nd breshed back the long scant
white hair, but the eyes Nv the dyin'