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Kilo
Kilo
Being the Love Story of Eliph' Hewlitt, Book Agent
Book Excerpt
ead. There was no safety for a timid driver when Irontail had thus
assumed command of the rein. There was no way to get a rein from beneath that
tail but to ignore it. In an hour or so Irontail would grow forgetful,
carelessly begin flapping flies, and release the rein himself.
Eliph' Hewlitt unwrapped the oilcloth from the object in enfolded. It was a book. It was Jarby's 'Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science, Art, Comprising Useful Information on One Thousand and One Subjects, Including A History of the World, the Lives of all Famous Men, Quotations From the World's Great Authors, One Thousand and One Recipes, Et Cetera'. One Volume, five dollars bound in cloth; seven fifty in morocco. Eliph' Hewlitt passed his hand affectionately over the gilt-stamped cover, and then opened it at random and read.
For years he had been reading Jarby's Encyclopedia, and among its ten thousand and one subjects he always found something new. It opened now at "Courtship-How to Make Love--How to
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Hilarious! Hey, how come they don’t have the eBook for “Jarby's 'Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science, Art” on this site? I need to buy a copy…
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Lovely! Light, fluffy, and very funny. Highly recommended!
10/19/2010
Hilarious! Eliph' Hewlitt is a traveling salesman for "Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art, Comprising Useful Information on One Thousand and One Subjects, Including A History of the World, the Lives of all Famous Men, Quotations From the World's Great Authors, One Thousand and One Recipes, Et Cetera in One Volume, published by Jarby & Goss, New York; price five dollars, neatly bound in cloth; seven fifty, morocco; one dollar down, and one dollar a month until paid." While working in central Iowa, he decides it's time to take a wife.
Naturally, he consults Jarby's section on "Courtship-How to Make Love -- How to Win the Affections -- How to Hold Them When Won." Unfortunately, due to his inability to keep the wonders of Jarby's Encyclopedia out of his conversation, the object of his affection believes he's bent on trying to sell her a book -- which she's determined not to buy, since she's still paying on another agent's persuasive sale of Sir Walter Scott's Complete Works, "two dollars down, and one dollar a month" -- and so she does everything possible to escape his attentions.
Butler's prose is wonderful. Consider this evocative sentence: "The Colonel raised his fist and brought it down on the butcher's counter so hard that the meat scales danced, and the indicator jerked nervously across the face of the dial, weighing a half pound of anger."
The story also touches humorously on such subjects as small-town life, country politics, religion, fire extinguishers and eggs.
Naturally, he consults Jarby's section on "Courtship-How to Make Love -- How to Win the Affections -- How to Hold Them When Won." Unfortunately, due to his inability to keep the wonders of Jarby's Encyclopedia out of his conversation, the object of his affection believes he's bent on trying to sell her a book -- which she's determined not to buy, since she's still paying on another agent's persuasive sale of Sir Walter Scott's Complete Works, "two dollars down, and one dollar a month" -- and so she does everything possible to escape his attentions.
Butler's prose is wonderful. Consider this evocative sentence: "The Colonel raised his fist and brought it down on the butcher's counter so hard that the meat scales danced, and the indicator jerked nervously across the face of the dial, weighing a half pound of anger."
The story also touches humorously on such subjects as small-town life, country politics, religion, fire extinguishers and eggs.
08/09/2010