1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



337 



weather and about finances, and finally he com- 

 menced about spiritual things. I did not say 

 very much in reply, because I did not care to 

 prolong his visit. And, by the way, it is a very 

 ireat task to me to sit and waste time in com- 

 monplace observations. Some people seem to 

 ielight in studying up something to talk about, 

 ind talk and talk without any point to their 

 •em arks, and waste precious moments in ram- 

 oling all over the universe. It is all very well if 

 people have no business on hand, and nothing 

 }lse to do. But it is really surprising to me, 

 many times, to see people waste precious mo- 

 ments in idle talk. I try to be courteous to 

 very body; in fact, I sometimes make observa- 

 ions about the weather in order to be sociable; 

 ind I certainly expect to be civil to people who 

 ome into my own home — that is, within the 

 rounds of reason. I became so weary, however, 

 )f this rambling talk that I asked my guest, as 

 pleasantly as I could, if I might inquire why he 



particularly desired to see me. At this he 

 milingly reached into an inside pocket and 

 Irew forth a book. I had been mentally ques- 

 ioning whether he might not after all be only 



1 book agent. He commenced to talk, but I In- 

 errupted him. 



" Excuse me. sir: but it is true, is it. that you 

 ire a book agent?"' 



He dodged the question a little, but I forced 

 lim to admit that he was. 



"And ihen why did you not inform me, when 

 70U first came in, what your business was ?" 



He did not reply to this, but commenced 

 igain an eloquent discourse, or at least 1 pre- 

 sume he considered it so, in regard to his book. 

 He Insisted on holding it open before me. 



" Please excuse me, sir, but I do not wish to 

 3uy a book of any kind. I very much prefer to 

 xamine the books and papers I have here on 

 my desk, that I have as yet hardly had time to 

 ook at." 



However, he was not to be bluffed off in that 

 ivay. and I began to think that, may be, I was 

 lot master, after all, even in my own home, 

 ind I finally rose up and said: 



"Please excuse me, sir; but I have been 

 greatly annoyed by the importunities of book 

 igents, and sometimes I am accused of being 

 very harsh to them. If you will put your book 

 jack into your pocket, and believe me when I 

 tell you that I do not want it, and prefer not to 

 lake the time to even look at it, we can, per- 

 haps, finish our business pleasantly." 



I do not know whether it was cheek or wheth- 

 er it was ignorance that prompted the young 

 man still to insist that I should look at his 

 Dook and listen to his tirade; but I decided that 

 orbearance had ceased co be a virtue. I open- 

 id the door and motioned with my hand for him 

 o go out, and wished him a good-evening as 

 jleasantly as I could under the circumstances. 

 [ think it was about at ihis point that he com- 

 nenced again: 



" My dear sir, if you will just let me put the 

 name of A. I. Root at the head of my list, you 

 don't know how many books I can sell, simply 

 because of your high standing and reputa- 

 tion." 



This came pretty near being the" last straw." 

 I remember of thinking that, perhaps, I should 

 really be obliged to put him outdoors by main 

 strength, and I remember of thinking how 

 much I should relish such an undertaking. He 

 finally went out, and I closed the door after him 

 just about as soon as it could be safely shut. 

 Then I went and sat down, thinking I had final- 

 ly got through with him. A timid knock at 

 the door, however, admonished me that he was 

 not gone, after all. At the same time I began 

 to feel a little sorry to think that I had been so 

 severe. I did not mean to let him get in again, 

 however, but I opened it enough so he could 

 speak. 



" Mr. Root, I really beg your pardon for hav- 

 ing vexed you. Will you not forgive me?" 



I replied, "Yes, my friend. I will most cheer- 

 fully forgive you on one condition." 



"And what is that?" 



"That you will, from this time forward, lell 

 the good people wherever you may call, at the 

 very outset, that you are a book agent." 



He did not give me the promise, and here 

 rests the whole point of my story. Everybody 

 else that I know of — that is, people in every 

 other occupation — when they call upon a busi- 

 ness man (or business woman, for that matter) 

 are not ashamed to tell what their business is. 

 I have known patient, hard-working Christian 

 women, who have again and again been obliged 

 to stop their work in the middle of a busy day 

 — yes, their ironing and their baking, perhaps 

 with a baby crying, to listen to the disagreeable 

 lingo of some book agent. And I have heard 

 people excuse themselves for buying a book 

 they did not want, because they said they co.uld 

 not see any way in the world to get rid of the 

 fellow without buying his book. I do not par- 

 ticularly object to book agents, if they would 

 come out fair and square, and tell their busi- 

 ness. They have learned of late, it would seem, 

 that carrying a book in their hands, or even in 

 a valise, "gives them away," to use a slang 

 phrase, and so they have arranged to have a ca- 

 pacious pocket made on purpose tiiat they may 

 get into your home or office in such a way that 

 you really can not decide it is not an old ac- 

 quaintance or some distant relative that has 

 just turned up. Shame on any occupation that 

 requires one to sail under false colors. Let us 

 have oleomargarine, and things of that sort, 

 labeled with their real name. Let us have glu- 

 cose labeled as glucose; and let us have a law 

 passed (if nothing else will do) requiring book 

 agents to put up a sign or wear some sort of 

 badge, making it known in good- sized letters to 

 the world around, something like this: 

 " / am a bonk agent."" 



