The literary man now evinced a great kindness for me , and I ventured to inquire which way he was travelling . `` O , '' said he , `` I keep company with this old gentleman here , and we are moving now towards the camp-meeting at Stamford ! '' He then explained to me , that for the present season he had rented a corner of the wagon as a bookstore , which , as he wittily observed , was a true Circulating Library , since there were few parts of the country where it had not gone its rounds . I approved of the plan exceedingly , and began to sum up within my mind the many uncommon felicities in the life of a book-peddler , especially when his character resembled that of the individual before me . At a high rate was to be reckoned the daily and hourly enjoyment of such interviews as the present , in which he seized upon the admiration of a passing stranger , and made him aware that a man of literary taste , and even of literary achievement , was travelling the country in a showman 's wagon . A more valuable , yet not infrequent triumph , might be won in his conversation with some elderly clergyman , long vegetating in a rocky , woody , watery back settlement of New England , who , as he recruited his library from the peddler 's stock of sermons , would exhort him to seek a college education and become the first scholar in his class . Sweeter and prouder yet would be his sensations , when , talking poetry while he sold spelling-books , he should charm the mind , and haply touch the heart of a fair country schoolmistress , herself an unhonored poetess , a wearer of blue stockings which none but himself took pains to look at . But the scene of his completest glory would be when the wagon had halted for the night , and his stock of books was transferred to some crowded bar-room . Then would he recommend to the multifarious company , whether traveller from the city , or teamster from the hills , or neighboring squire , or the landlord himself , or his loutish hostler , works suited to each particular taste and capacity ; proving , all the while , by acute criticism and profound remark , that the lore in his books was even exceeded by that in his brain . Thus happily would he traverse the land ; sometimes a herald before the march of Mind ; sometimes walking arm in arm with awful Literature ; and reaping everywhere a harvest of real and sensible popularity , which the secluded bookworms , by whose toil he lived , could never hope for . `` If ever I meddle with literature , '' thought I , fixing myself in adamantine resolution , `` it shall be as a travelling bookseller . '' Though it was still mid-afternoon , the air had now grown dark about us , and a few drops of rain came down upon the roof of our vehicle , pattering like the feet of birds that had flown thither to rest . A sound of pleasant voices made us listen , and there soon appeared half-way up the ladder the pretty person of a young damsel , whose rosy face was so cheerful , that even amid the gloomy light it seemed as if the sunbeams were peeping under her bonnet . We next saw the dark and handsome features of a young man , who , with easier gallantry than might have been expected in the heart of Yankee-land , was assisting her into the wagon . It became immediately evident to us , when the two strangers stood within the door , that they were of a profession kindred to those of my companions ; and I was delighted with the more than hospitable , the even paternal kindness , of the old showman 's manner , as he welcomed them ; while the man of literature hastened to lead the merry-eyed girl to a seat on the long bench . `` You are housed but just in time , my young friends , '' said the master of the wagon . `` The sky would have been down upon you within five minutes . '' The young man 's reply marked him as a foreigner , not by any variation from the idiom and accent of good English , but because he spoke with more caution and accuracy , than if perfectly familiar with the language . `` We knew that a shower was hanging over us , '' said he , `` and consulted whether it were best to enter the house on the top of yonder hill , but seeing your wagon in the road -- '' `` We agreed to come hither , '' interrupted the girl , with a smile , `` because we should be more at home in a wandering house like this . '' I , meanwhile , with many a wild and undetermined fantasy , was narrowly inspecting these two doves that had flown into our ark .
The young man , tall , agile , and athletic , wore a mass of black shining curls clustering round a dark and vivacious countenance , which , if it had not greater expression , was XXXXX least more active , and attracted readier notice , than the quiet faces of our countrymen .
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