Jiminy! If I were the baker or the butcher or the broom huckster,
people would run to the gate when I came by--just waiting for my
stuff. And here I go loaded with everlasting salvation--yes, ma'am,
salvation for their little, stunted minds--and it's hard to make 'em
see it. That's what makes it worth while--I'm doing something that
nobody else from Nazareth, Maine, to Walla Walla, Washington, has
ever thought of. It's a new field, but by the bones of Whitman it's
worth while. That's what this country needs--more books!"
He laughed at his own vehemence. "Do you know, it's comical," he
said. "Even the publishers, the fellows that print the books,
can't see what I'm doing for them. Some of 'em refuse me credit
because I sell their books for what they're worth instead of
for the prices they mark on them. They write me letters about
price-maintenance--and I write back about merit-maintenance.
Publish a good book and I'll get a good price for it, Say I!
Sometimes I think the publishers know less about books than any
one else! I guess that's natural, though.
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