Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-10-09
an OF INTELLIGENT
BOOK SALESPERSONS
WILL SOON BE HERE
...,l;am Penn High School Is
nrraining Class to Displace
tbe Kind That Irritates
Buyers
,vlfANp is VERY GREAT
Rr M,LIss

By M'LISS
-. reither above nor below the
en-. wore her nose too eopiously
svsrl - ana her hair too obviously mar
pewe :, as one Of those queer auirks
e.h nv.e god Fate that her mission in
q .nonld be the selling Of books, when
rfs 40 patent she was meant for more
!. iorAsive purposes
49,, a,a she writer" she came back
49, arranging a frili meanwhile.
o. 81 ~. a,dnf." replied, "she was written
Nv Moore. A. a.. .,.
ba.d look appears; business OF consulta-
~ With the catalogue
ton course she queried piaintively, as
O,,rned the pages OF the big bibliogra-
~ seou mean the famous Moore who
ply The Jessamy Bride'T'
w''xplalned hastily that II was the more
- elastic George and not J. Frankfort
o. ..u 7 was interested.
" wnoatsiy the book was found.
ulun vas wasted which will not be
i'm. when the class in book salesman.
va"eo 90 being held at the William Penn
nip "school Is older and the pupils from
hsn lasses have forced the incumbents
~ ..le their places pehihu the Pe'tic"t'
,abot counters. where they properly
he.ons years ago this unique course was
lnm,.ebed BY Dr. Lucy Langdon w. vii.
principal OF the South Philadel-
- ~. llgh school for Girls. For long
p !, was the only class of its kind in the
,.ss.s states. Then II attracted the atten-
np''Sf New York publisher He came
t'u-.ron 70 hear more about It, liked what
mpeard and went back to set up a class
"a own Hence there are two such in.
A.s,,nrons now
,s,.e Bessie Graham. Bryn Mawr grad.
~. and possessor Of a diploma in library
rofe from Drexel Institute. Is continuing
~ work started by Doctor Wilson. She
doesn't care at all in how big type print
fhe fact that the demand for her pupils is
10 great she has not been able to supply II
Ind that she has list of the names OF
he proprietors of book shops who are
raltlng for her to hurry up and graduate
pme model book statesmen for them.
"A great many people" she told me
3 we sat in the fine old library OF hei
kone> on South Fifteenth street, have
n idea that up at the William Penn we
Are bringing into being a more clever breed
d that pestiferous clan, the book agents.
"But. Of course, we aren't We are
Instead. teaching girls. and men, too. thi'
rear about books, so that they will sci
ID
happen in book departments. The stor,
d told OF a man who went into a shoI
and asked the saleswoman II she haC
1phgenia.' She may have been dumb, o.
she may have been attempting cleverness
but at any rate, she answered: No. I'v'
been vaccinated'
"Apd only the other day Mrs. Horac'
Traubel. wife of Walt Whitman's literar.
EXECUTOR, told me that when she asked 10
The lCamden poets renowned Leaves o
Grass the woman went to the shelf de
= voted To books on gardening"
Miss Graham's girls will not do this
instead. when confronted with "Iphigenia.
! they will floor their patron with the retort
'ubethe's. Racine's or Sophocles?" The!
hbw that william James's "Pragmatism
H TO be found with the PHILOSOPHERS ant
rbt among the religions and when yo,
tell them you want the King James Bibl
hey won't bring you a Douay.
The entrants to this class" its teache
continued, must have had two years o
high schooling or their equivalent. The,
must know the standard books. We can
not be expected in year TO teach ther
books--that takes a lifetime, but we ca
teach them how to take an intelligent att
tude toward the books they sell. In tn
library course given In conjunction wit
the book-selling. we go into the matter o
what books to recommend to what people.
The classes meet three times a week an
are Of two hours duration. Thus far, onl
two men have had the courage to enter
showing that this isn't Boston, where book
selling is on a high, high plane-so higl
In fact, that women in most of the shop
are permitted 20 sell only the juvenll
books
Here women are wanted--if they're III
right kind. Miss Graham is doing her vi
most to supply them