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Show I The Erudite -Auctioneer B The book auctioneer weighed a vol- B nme critically in hie hrncl as ho turned K to the title page. Ii. a moment he Bj had fixed the title and author', namo B f .rml in his mind, noted the number B of pages and illustration0., and stei- B ped briskly forward to tho edfc of B the platform. BBJ The room wns filled with a mixed K crowd attracted from the sidewalk by B tho red flags and flaring posters. The B literai tragedy thus slngedv is en- H ted daily in scores of book sales H throughout the country. B ' Now. gentlemen," tho man of B books forced his olco to its highest B I ey "I never handled a finer lino B of books in my life than we have hero B today. I know a literary audience B when I see one. Well, today you will B h.ie the opportunity of a life-time, B lelieo me. B "I vill begin the sale by offering B jou high-class literary article, the B v orlts of the groat writer er er B I: tissue Now let me tell you who Bal- B 7 ic was He was a Frenchman, and H 1 o wrote a great many of the best m - Hers of of that period. Why, gen- m ttemen. lie thought nothing of writing Hj . $10,000 book. Think of it! I now H t-how juii his complete works in threo B volumes. H; "One dollar and a half do I hear? B ( mip moment, gentlemen. H "Look what we have here, threo B volumes, count them. Who will offer H o dollars? Two dollars? Yes? H Thank ou. Now two and a half a B la If, half, half, half My motto is 9 quick nales and small profits. Who'll H -ie .i half 1 Toio's a bargain. You'll never regret half, half? Yes, I get you over there in the corner. Going at two and a half, half, half. Thank you. Tho gcntloman with the red necktie gets tho complete set. "I will now offer you another really real-ly high grade book. Just tho book you ha-, o been waiting for, I'm suro. It's by a writer named Browning and Is entitled, as you see, the "Ring and tho Book.' And this reminds mo of a little story which, with your kind permission, I will relate to you." The auctioneer's voice had fallen to an ingratiating, conversational tone. "A lady once entered a Jorge department de-partment store and inquired of the first aisle man she met if she could procure Browning in tho emporium. Ho told her she could He explained ex-plained that they nold l .n, ' eking ek-ing and whiting ami oiaer-1 jr pinking, but they hi no Lrovumt. Well now, gentlem , we are better off than that stoi We ha Browning, Brown-ing, all right, an i iin- mu'-n um I bid for him?" Under the spell of thl h. -Bistable humor the volume was started at fifty cents, run to seventy-five cents, and, after sp. fed fractional advances, knocked ttown for eighty-seven cants. "Now, hero wo have a real select little book" the auctioneer again spoke with vehVlnenc'o which shook the windows "it's bound in leather, 6'ou see, an ornament for your table. It Is written by Thomas, let me see, p-T-W-A-Y. It seems to be a book of plays yes, it's a book of plays and, as you can see at a glance, a real select thing." It was. The ancient leather binding bind-ing had unmistakable dignity of age. The leaves of rich velhtm had taken on a delicate shade of brown which was absolutely convincing a book to handle reverently. "Look at this leather," shouted the auctioneer, "a little shopworn perhaps, per-haps, but still a very serviceable book. How much?" "Not a bid, gentlemen? Why, gentlemen, gen-tlemen, look what I'm offering you. Look. at the grade of paper they have put into it. "I open It at random. Here we have something written about, let me see, 'Venice Preserved.' You have all heard of the beautiful city of Venice, Ven-ice, where people go about the streets in boats. "What do I hear? Five cents? No, gentlemen, I cannot sacrifice this book for five cents. I will purchase it myself for my own private library. Here, Jimmy, put this book aside for me." Shades of the "tender Otway!" "Now the best thing about a book sale,' you'll all agree with me is speed." The salesman spoke with extreme ex-treme rapidity. "Now here is a lot of classy little books which I am going to run off in a hurry. Each volume goes' to the first bidder. They were Al holiday sellers only last year, but you all know the fashions change, So 'this year they go cheap. "What am I crffered for this one, ft fine- novol, colored 'illustrations, more than "5 00 pages of entertaining reading. Ten cents. It's yours., "Hero's anotherf-almost as big. How much? Five? Tako it. Npw another. an-other. Five? It's yours. Iloro's a pile of 'em, each and ovory one goes to tho first bidder. "Hero is just tho article you havo been waiting for gentlemen" tho auctioneer cleared his throat for a more vehement effort "this flno big book. Hero it Is. It seems to be a collection of plays and tho author's name is E-U-R-I-PIdes. Now, gentlemen gen-tlemen you must all agree with mo that there Is nothing more interesting than a good play. When you come home tired at night after a hard day's work what would you rather do than anything else? Enjoy a good play, of course. By purchasing this volume you can read a number of plays In your own homes. Now hero Is a full lino of plays by this author. What am I bid?" Wo struggled forward to catch a glimpse of the lost masterpieces of Euripides, restraining an impulse to begin the bidding at a million. "Thirty cents, do I hear? Now, gentlemen," tho auctioneer plended, "does this look like thirty cents? Why, see the slj'.e of the book. More than 500 pages. Fifty, did you say?" Let us close our oars to tho sacrilege. sac-rilege. "Gentlemen," ho resumed, "I am anxious to find just the literary article you are looking for. Will some one suggest an author or a subject which meets with your approval? It will save time for both of us. Only last week I was disposing of a fine line of gents' furnishings and the sales dragged until I took this method and asked the boys to help me out. Well, now, my friends, what shall it be next ? "Something to read, I hear someone some-one say. I get you. We have had too much of the highbrow stuff, eh? Well, then, here is one of tho best sellers, a most up-to-date novel. You couldn't ask more than that now, could you? You literary gentlemen can't overlook a thing like that. A really popular novel, with an elegant colored picture on tho cover. The book's as good as now. "How much? Will somebody start it at a quarter, only twenty-five cents? What, no bids? Well, we can't let things drag here. "I'll tell you what I'll do for you. I'll throw in a couple of books and start the lot at a quarter. Anything to get things going. "See here, I pick up two atti active ac-tive volumes at random. Here is a book, almost a new book you see, on fishing. Every one likes to fish or to read about fishing, I'm sure. It's a fine pastime. Tho boolc is written by a man named Walton. And hero's a neat little volume. I'll throw this in, too. It's a book of, let me see, a book of essays, short ones, looks like very Interesting reading, written by Emerson. The three for a quarter." The astounding trinity was disposed of for twenty-fie cents. The piles of books slowly disnp- pearod. Tho auctioneer's bloquence flowed on uninterrupted. Ho cajoled his audience, flatterod thorn, scold- ed thorn. With the assistance of tho storm which raged outside ho man-ugod man-ugod to hold his audienco for hours, , " ' His supremo effort was resorvod for "" tho end of tho sale. Tho last book lay boforo him, a portly volume. The orator drew himself up to his full ' " height, and, with an eloquent gesture, ges-ture, began his peroration in a voice several sizes too large for the room When every eye was fixed upon him, he grabbed tho volume before him and raised it above his head with both (irmij. "Gentlemen," he began impressively, impres-sively, "I will close this sale by giving giv-ing you an opportunity to bid for this book. Gentlemen," his voice fell to a whisper, "this volume contains the complete works of Shakespeare." The volco roso'in a shout. "Shakospearo, I say. Tho biggest writer of any time. In ono volume! Ho has written more than is put in this volume, I believe, but hero his works hae been boiled down, and the best of his writings and sayings placed in this convenient form. As I once heard a gentleman say, no library is complete without this writer. "I am sure, every gentleman in the room will be glad to bid upon this valuable book. Why, gentlemen, let . me tell you. This writer started in life a poor boy and he died worth $1,000,000. Think of it! Now, how much am I bid?" With the end of the sale actually in sight the highly critical audience began to shuffle its way toward tho door. It was clearly a question of t quick sales or no profits at all. "One moment, gentlemen! One moment!" mo-ment!" shouted the auctioneer. "Look at this bargain. Don't lose this opportunity. op-portunity. I will start tho book at twenty-five cents. Only a quarter, Ono moment more, gentlemen. This Is giving it "away. "Twenty-five, five, five! Going, ' going, going "Gone!" |