236 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS. 



two or three houses. They, too, know its value, and 

 that by it customers are attracted from the most out- 

 lying places. People in villages and hamlets pass the 

 greater part of their time out of doors and are in no 

 hurry, so that if in walking down the road to or from 

 their work they see a bill stuck upon a wall, they 

 invariably stop to read it. People on the London 

 railway platforms rather blink the posters displayed 

 around them : they would rather avoid them, though 

 they cannot altogether. It is just the reverse in the 

 hamlet, where the inhabitants lead such monotonous 

 lives, and have so little excitement that a fresh poster 

 is a good subject for conversation. No matter where 

 you put a poster, somebody will read it, and it is only 

 next in value to the circular, appealing to the public as 

 the circular appeals to the individual. Here are two 

 methods of reaching the country and of disseminating 

 a knowledge of books other than the employment of 

 expensive travellers. Even if travellers be called in, 

 circular and poster should precede their efforts. 



There is then the advertisement column of the local 

 press. The local press has never been used for the 

 advertisement of such books as are suitable to country 

 readers, certainly not for the class hitherto chiefly 

 borne in view and for convenience designated villager. 

 The reason why such books have not been advertised 

 in the local press is probably because the authors and 

 publishers had no idea of the market that exists in the 

 country. For the most part readers in town and the 

 suburbs only glance at the exciting portions of papers, 

 and then cast them aside. Readers in the villages 

 read every line from the first column to the last, from 



