"'The sweet serenity of Books' and Wallpaper,
Stationery and Office Supplies."
For Mr. Brotherton's commercial spirit could not permit him to withhold
the fact that he had enlarged his business by adding such household
necessities as wall paper and such business necessities as stationery
and office supplies. Thus the town referred ever after to Mr.
Brotherton's "Sweet serenity of Books and Wallpaper," and so it was
known of men in Harvey.
When Mrs. Van Dorn entered, she was surprised; for while she had heard
casually of the changes in Mr. Brotherton's establishment, she was not
prepared for the effulgence of refined and suppressed grandeur that
greeted her.
Mr. Brotherton, in a three buttoned frock coat, a rich black ascot tie
and suitable gray trousers, came forward to meet her.
"Ah, George," she exclaimed in her baby voice, "really what a lit-ry,"
that also was from her Chicago friend, "what a lit-ry atmosphere you
have given us."
Mr. Brotherton's smile pleaded guilty for him. He waved her to a seat
among the red cushions. "How elegant," she simpered, "I just think it's
perfectly swell. Just like Marshall Field's. I must bring Mrs.
Merrifield in when she comes down--Mrs. Merrifield of Chicago. You know,
Mr. Brotherton," it was the wife of the Judge who spoke, "I think we
should try to cultivate those whose wide advantages make our association
with them a liberal education. What is it Emerson says about
Friendship--in that wonderful essay--I'm sure you'll recall it."
And Mr. Brotherton was sure he would too, and indicated as much, for as
he had often said to Mr. Fenn in their literary confidences, "Emerson is
one of my best moving lines." And Mrs. Van Dorn continued
confidentially: "Now there's a book, a German book--aren't those Germans
candid--you know I'm of German extraction, and I tell the Judge that's
where I get my candor. Well, there's a German book--I can't pronounce
it, so I've written it out--there; will you kindly order it?" Mr.
Brotherton took the slip and went to the back of the store to make a
memorandum of the order. He left the book counter in charge of Miss
Calvin--Miss Ave Calvin--yes, Miss Ave Maria Calvin, if you must know
her full name, which she is properly ashamed of. But it pleased her
mother twenty years before and as Mr. Calvin was glad to get into the
house on any terms when the baby was named, it went Ave Maria Calvin,
and Ave Maria Calvin stood behind the counter reading the _Bookman_
and trying to remember the names of the six best sellers so that she
could order them for stock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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