Evening star., 1924-12-09
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

People don't buy books the way
| they used to-" laments the old book
agent, twisting his white mustache
with one hand. while with the other
he replaced his samples in 'his capa-
cious overcoat pocket.
Everybody is buying an automo-
bile nowadays" he continued, ''or a
washing machine, or a vacuum sweep
er, or something or other. What are
you buying?"
"A house." modestly admitted.
I thought you must be buying
something" he said, as IL loath to go.
In the old days every one bought
books. You could go out on the road
| with a good set like have here, and
| sell it. too.
They seemed to put more stress
then on books than they do now. At
least that Is the way 1t strikes me.
Today all the young people are buy
ing automobiles mostly. You offer
them a set of books, and they laugh
at you.
But I don't blame them. Times
have changed, that is all And meth
DDS are changing. l guess i have
been at 1T too long"
/ told the old man that If he would
| come back some time. 1 would enjoy
talking to him about his books, and
he promised to do so. But he never
has, nor can l blame him.
The last l saw of him was his fra
gile form framed in the elevator door.
He was my last book agent.
r y v
Not so many years ago, however,
the book agent was everywhere in
Washington. He met you at your
home, down at the office. button
holed you on the street. He cajoled.
argued, beseeched, threatened, bull
lied-in fact, did everything short of
knocking you down and taking your
money away from you.
He was as persistent as an insur-
ance agent, as plausible as a realtor.
He had a great set of books, some
thing that every home ought to own.
II not for your sake, then by all
means for the eternal benefit of the
children. those little ones whose very
destiny depended upon their having
ready access to those great, charm
ing. comprehensive, thorough, in
elusive books
But have no children" you re-
monstrated.
"Ah. then. my dear sir, that is all
the more reason why your home
ought to enshrine this valuable and
luxurious work." etc, etc
There was no flooring him. He must
have been the man who first thought
up the modern methods of selling.
for no argument whatever that you
put up seemed to have tho slightest
effect upon him. while every line of
reasoning he advanced was utterly
unassailable.
He had an answer for every objec-
tion. If you had children and needed
money to educate them, then they
were the grand reasons for purchas-
ing the set; IL you had none, then
you ought to get IL for yourself
Think of all the money you were saw
ing by possessing no children!
A favorite method during the
palmy days OF the book agents was
to hawk a magazine and a set of
books on time payments.
1t made no difference in the world
to the agent-that you had a plan
of reading before he ever set eyes on
you. Little he cared for the fact that
you had hundreds of books on your
list to read and purchase.
The only thing he was Interested
In was selling you his set. II you did
not want 1t, you were a low-brow and
unworthy to be called a man. In
fairness to the tribe. II must be stated
that few OF them went to such ex-
tremes. Some did, however.
There was one fat-head who Wis
tied me with the intention of selling
set Of Richard Harding Davis.
whether or no. And would you be-
lieve it-even after / told him I had
complete set, he persisted in trying
to sell me another.
X X
Books are the legacies that a
great genius leaves to mankind
which are delivered down from gen.
GRAFTON to generation, as presents to