第20章

On the following morning young Mr.Ware anticipated events by inscribing in his diary for the day, immediately after breakfast, these remarks: "Arranged about piano.

Began work upon book."

The date indeed deserved to be distinguished from its fellows.Theron was so conscious of its importance that he not only prophesied in the little morocco-bound diary which Alice had given him for Christmas, but returned after he had got out upon the front steps of the parsonage to have his hat brushed afresh by her.

"Wonders will never cease," she said jocosely."With you getting particular about your clothes, there isn't anything in this wide world that can't happen now!""One doesn't go out to bring home a piano every day,"he made answer."Besides, I want to make such an impression upon the man that he will deal gently with that first cash payment down.Do you know," he added, watching her turn the felt brim under the wisp-broom's strokes, "I'm thinking some of getting me a regular silk stove-pipe hat.""Why don't you, then?" she rejoined, but without any ring of glad acquiescence in her tone.He fancied that her face lengthened a little, and he instantly ascribed it to recollections of the way in which the roses had been bullied out of her own headgear.

"You are quite sure, now, pet," he made haste to change the subject, "that the hired girl can wait just as well as not until fall?""Oh, MY, yes!" Alice replied, putting the hat on his head, and smoothing back his hair behind his ears."She'd only be in the way now.You see, with hot weather coming on, there won't be much cooking.We'll take all our meals out here, and that saves so much work that really what remains is hardly more than taking care of a bird-cage.And, besides, not having her will almost half pay for the piano.""But when cold weather comes, you're sure you'll consent?"he urged.

"Like a shot!" she assured him, and, after a happy little caress, he started out again on his momentous mission.

"Thurston's" was a place concerning which opinions differed in Octavius.That it typified progress, and helped more than any other feature of the village to bring it up to date, no one indeed disputed.One might move about a great deal, in truth, and hear no other view expressed.

But then again one might stumble into conversation with one small storekeeper after another, and learn that they united in resenting the existence of "Thurston's," as rival farmers might join to curse a protracted drought.

Each had his special flaming grievance.The little dry-goods dealers asked mournfully how they could be expected to compete with an establishment which could buy bankrupt stocks at a hundred different points, and make a profit if only one-third of the articles were sold for more than they would cost from the jobber? The little boot and shoe dealers, clothiers, hatters, and furriers, the small merchants in carpets, crockery, and furniture, the venders of hardware and household utensils, of leathern goods and picture-frames, of wall-paper, musical instruments, and even toys--all had the same pathetically unanswerable question to propound.But mostly they put it to themselves, because the others were at "Thurston's."The Rev.Theron Ware had entertained rather strong views on this subject, and that only a week or two ago.

One of his first acquaintances in Octavius had been the owner of the principal book-store in the place--a gentle and bald old man who produced the complete impression of a bibliophile upon what the slightest investigation showed to be only a meagre acquaintance with publishers' circulars.But at least he had the air of loving his business, and the young minister had enjoyed a long talk with, or rather, at him.Out of this talk had come the information that the store was losing money.

Not even the stationery department now showed a profit worth mentioning.When Octavius had contained only five thousand inhabitants, it boasted four book-stores, two of them good ones.Now, with a population more than doubled, only these latter two survived, and they must soon go to the wall.The reason? It was in a nutshell.A book which sold at retail for one dollar and a half cost the bookseller ninety cents.If it was at all a popular book, "Thurston's" advertised it at eighty-nine cents--and in any case at a profit of only two or three cents.

Of course it was done to widen the establishment's patronage--to bring people into the store.Equally of course, it was destroying the book business and debauching the reading tastes of the community.Without the profits from the light and ephemeral popular literature of the season, the book-store proper could not keep up its stock of more solid works, and indeed could not long keep open at all.

On the other hand, "Thurston's" dealt with nothing save the demand of the moment, and offered only the books which were the talk of the week.Thus, in plain words, the book trade was going to the dogs, and it was the same with pretty nearly every other trade.

Theron was indignant at this, and on his return home told Alice that he desired her to make no purchases whatever at "Thurston's." He even resolved to preach a sermon on the subject of the modern idea of admiring the great for crushing the small, and sketched out some notes for it which he thought solved the problem of flaying the local abuse without mentioning it by name.

They had lain on his desk now for ten days or more, and on only the previous Friday he had speculated upon using them that coming Sunday.