A Friend of the Town

A Friend of the Town by E.V. Lucas

"A Friend of the Town" by E.V. Lucas contrasts the impersonal nature of London bookstall men with the warm, intimate role their counterparts play in small country towns. In London, the bookstall man is little more than a machine, exchanging pennies for papers with no personal connection to his customers. In the country, however, the bookstall man occupies a position of genuine social importance. He discusses the weather, banters about newspaper headlines, and, crucially, serves as librarian and literary adviser to the neighbourhood. His gift for recommending the right book seems to operate almost by instinct, through what the narrator calls a sixth sense common to successful handlers of books. He recommends with enthusiasm and dissuades with equal confidence, steering readers away from stories he judges unsuitable without necessarily having read them. As an example of this provincial bookstall man at his finest, the narrator introduces Peter, who serves as friend and literary guide to three elderly sisters living in a quiet southern seaport town of Georgian streets and mud-filled harbour. The three sisters, all unmarried, share a small red brick house and complement one another perfectly despite their different characters: one is practical and managing, one is humorous and observant, and one is a kindly dreamer. All three are generous and philanthropic, with reading as their principal recreation and beneficence as the main business of their lives. Their books all come through Peter's library, and he supplies them with unerring judgement, knowing precisely what each volume contains and whether it will suit all three women. The particular difficulty of Peter's task lies in the fact that the sisters read aloud together, meaning every book he selects must satisfy or at least not offend three quite distinct personalities simultaneously. He must avoid gambling passages that would trouble one sister, divorce proceedings that would upset another, and content that would jar with the dreams and sensibilities of the third. The narrator marvels at the delicacy and skill this requires, presenting Peter as a quietly remarkable figure who sets a great deal of gentle domestic happiness in motion through his careful choices. Reading aloud has become something close to a ritual for the three sisters. They anticipate it throughout the day, discuss each chapter once it is finished, and carry their opinions and theories about characters into meals and sometimes into sleepless nights, waking with fresh views on the conduct of hero or heroine. The narrator ranks the pleasure of approving and disapproving in conversation very highly among life's simple satisfactions, and notes that reading aloud makes it a peculiarly harmless amusement, since it involves no tale-bearing. Peter is not always able to keep the sisters supplied, since weeks can sometimes pass with no new books worth recommending in fiction, memoirs, or travel. But when he finds something truly excellent, the results are joyful. The narrator recalls visiting the three sisters some thirteen years earlier and finding them in a state of happy excitement over one of Peter's most inspired suggestions, Miss Jewett's Country of the Pointed Firs, a work that could hardly have delighted three old ladies of simple tastes and warm hearts more completely. The narrator then wonders whether Peter still serves that small town, reflecting that men of his capability are often promoted to larger and better-paid positions elsewhere, perhaps to the management of a busy London station bookstall. Such advancement, however, comes at a cost. Once elevated to a place like London Bridge, a man like Peter is swamped by the relentless traffic of pennies and halfpennies and loses all opportunity for the humane personal intercourse that made him so valuable. The price of getting on, the narrator observes, is paid not only by Peter himself but by the small town he leaves behind, and most particularly by old ladies who depended on his thoughtful friendship.

By E.V. Lucas · First published 1910 · Genre: Domestic Fiction, Character Study, Social Commentary · 1,322 words

First lines

Londoners know much, but not all. A few secrets are still to be learned only in the provinces, and one of them is the true value of the bookstall man. In London a bookstall man is a machine; you throw pennies at him and in return he throws papers at you. Now and then he asks you to buy something that you don't want or recommends the new sevenpenny; but for the most part he treats you as a stranger, if not as a foe, and expects for himself treatment no better.

But in the country....

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A Friend of the Town is listed on Textopian as a short story by E.V. Lucas, dated 1910 CE.

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fiction · early 20th century · British literature · social commentary · urban setting · character study · small town life · community · relationships · human nature · observational humor · gentle satire

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