Babbit by Sinclair Lewis Read Free Book Online

sincerely,
      As he read and signed it, in his correct flowing
business-college hand, Babbitt reflected, "Now that's a good,
strong letter, and clear's a bell. Now what the - I never told
McGoun to make a third paragraph there! Wish she'd quit trying to
improve on my dictation! But what I can't understand is: why can't
Stan Graff or Chet Laylock write a letter like that? With punch!
With a kick!"
      The most important thing he dictated that morning
was the fortnightly form-letter, to be mimeographed and sent out to
a thousand "prospects." It was diligently imitative of the best
literary models of the day; of heart-to-heart-talk advertisements,
"sales-pulling" letters, discourses on the "development of
Will-power," and hand-shaking house-organs, as richly poured forth
by the new school of Poets of Business. He had painfully written
out a first draft, and he intoned it now like a poet delicate and
distrait:
      SAY, OLD MAN! I just want to know can I do you a
whaleuva favor? Honest! No kidding! I know you're interested in
getting a house, not merely a place where you hang up the old
bonnet but a love-nest for the wife and kiddies - and maybe for the
flivver out beyant (be sure and spell that b-e-y-a-n-t, Miss
McGoun) the spud garden. Say, did you ever stop to think that we're
here to save you trouble? That's how we make a living - folks don't
pay us for our lovely beauty! Now take a look:
      Sit right down at the handsome carved mahogany
escritoire and shoot us in a line telling us just what you want,
and if we can find it we'll come hopping down your lane with the
good tidings, and if we can't, we won't bother you. To save your
time, just fill out the blank enclosed. On request will also send
blank regarding store properties in Floral Heights, Silver Grove,
Linton, Bellevue, and all East Side residential districts. Yours
for service,
      P.S. - Just a hint of some plums we can pick for you
- some genuine bargains that came in to-day:
      SILVER GROVE. - Cute four-room California bungalow,
a.m.i., garage, dandy shade tree, swell neighborhood, handy car
line. $3700, $780 down and balance liberal, Babbitt-Thompson terms,
cheaper than rent.
      DORCHESTER. - A corker! Artistic two-family house,
all oak trim, parquet floors, lovely gas log, big porches,
colonial, HEATED ALL-WEATHER GARAGE, a bargain at $11,250.
      Dictation over, with its need of sitting and
thinking instead of bustling around and making a noise and really
doing something, Babbitt sat creakily back in his revolving
desk-chair and beamed on Miss McGoun. He was conscious of her as a
girl, of black bobbed hair against demure cheeks. A longing which
was indistinguishable from loneliness enfeebled him. While she
waited, tapping a long, precise pencil-point on the desk-tablet, he
half identified her with the fairy girl of his dreams. He imagined
their eyes meeting with terrifying recognition; imagined touching
her lips with frightened reverence and - She was chirping, "Any
more, Mist' Babbitt?" He grunted, "That winds it up, I guess," and
turned heavily away.
      For all his wandering thoughts, they had never been
more intimate than this. He often reflected, "Nev' forget how old
Jake Offutt said a wise bird never goes love-making in his own
office or his own home. Start trouble. Sure. But - "
      In twenty-three years of married life he had peered
uneasily at every graceful ankle, every soft shoulder; in thought
he had treasured them; but not once had he hazarded respectability
by adventuring. Now, as he calculated the cost of repapering the
Styles house, he was restless again, discontented about nothing and
everything, ashamed of his discontentment, and lonely for the fairy
girl.

CHAPTER IV
       I T was a morning
of artistic creation. Fifteen minutes after the purple prose of
Babbitt's form-letter, Chester Kirby Laylock, the resident salesman
at Glen Oriole, came in to report a sale and submit an
advertisement. Babbitt disapproved of Laylock, who sang in