约翰带着三个侄女来到电话亭打长途电话引来很多米尔维尔居民围观。约翰一连打了三个电话，在电话里谈妥了印刷报纸的设备、报纸专栏数量等问题……
Sam Cotting's G e n e r a l S t o r ea at Millville divided importance with Bob West's hardware store but was a more popular loa？ng place for the sparse population of the tiny town.The post office was located in one corner and the telephone booth in another，and this latter institution was regarded with much awe by the simple natives.Once in a while some one would telephone over to the Junction on some trivial business，but the long—distance call was never employed except by the "nabobs"—the local name for John Merrick and his nieces—or by the manager of the new mill at Royal，who had extended the line to his own of？ce in the heart of the pine forest.
So，when Uncle John and the girls entered Cotting'sstore and the little gentleman shut himself up in the telephone booth，a ripple of excitement spread throughout the neighborhood.Skim Clark，the youthful hope of the Widow Clark，who "run the Emporium，"happened to be in the store and he rushed out to spread the news that "the nabob's talkin'to New York！"This information demanded immediate attention.Marshall McMahon McNutt，familiarly known as "Peggy"McNutt—because he had once lost a foot in a mowing machine—and who was alleged to be a real estate agent，horse doctor，fancy poultry breederb and palmistc，and who also dabbled indthe sale of subion books，life insurance，liniment and watermelons，quickly slid off his front porch across the way and sauntereda into Cotting's to participate in the excitement.Seth Davis，the blacksmith，dropped his tools and hurried to the store，and the druggist three doors away—a dapper gentleman known as Nib Corkins—hurriedly locked his door and attended the meeting.Presently the curious group was enlarged by the addition of Nick Thome the liveryman，Lon Taft，a carpenter and general man—of—all—workb，and Silas Caldwell the miller，the latter a serious individual who had "jest happened to come acrost from the mill in the nick o'time."Sam Cotting，being himself of great local importance，had never regarded with favor the rivalryc of the nabob，but he placed stoolsd near the telephone booth for the three girls，who accepted the courtesy with a graciousness that ought to have disarmed the surlye storekeeper.They could not fail to be amused at the interest they excited，and as they personally knew every one of the town people they pleasantly nodded to each arrival and inquired after their health and the welfare of their families.The replies were monosyllables.Millville folks were dif？dent in the presence of these city visitors and while they favored the girls with rather embarrassing stares，their chief interest was centered on the little man in the telephonebooth，who could plainly be seen through the glass door but might not be heard，however loudly he shouted.
"Talkin'to New York"was yet a marvelous thing to them，and much speculation was exchanged in low tones as to the probable cost of such a conversation as Mr.Merrick was now indulging in.
"Costs a dollar to connect，ye know，"remarked PeggyMcNutt to Ned Long."Bet a cookie he's runnin'the blame bill up to two dollars，with all this chinnin'.Why can't th'ol'nabob write a letter，like common folks，an'give his extry cash to the poor？""Meanin'you，Peggy？"asked Nib Corkins，with a chuckle."He might do wussa ner that，"retorted Peggy."Lor'knows I'm poor enough.You don't ketch me a—talkin'to NewYork at a dollar a throw，Nib，do ye？"Meantime Mr.Merrick had succeeded in getting Mr.Marvin，of the banking houseb of Isham，Marvin &Co.on the wire.
"Do me a favor，Marvin，"he said."Hunt up the bestsupply house and have them send me a complete out？t to print a daily newspaper.Everything must be modern，you know，and don't let them leave out anything that might come handy.Then go to Corrigan，the superintendentc of the railroad，and have him send the freight up here to Chazy Junctionby a special engine，for I don't want a moment's delay and the regular freight takes a week or so.Charge everything to my account and impress upon the dealer the need of haste.Understand all that，Marvin？""I think I do，sir，"was the reply；"but that's a pretty bigorder，Mr.Merrick.The outfit for a modern daily will cost a small fortune.""Never mind；send it along.""Very well.But you'd better give me some details.How big a newspaper do you want to print？""Hold the wire and I'll ？nd out，"said Uncle John.Then he opened the door of the booth and said："Patsy，how big a thing do you want to print ？""How big？Oh，let me see.Four pages will do，won't it，Louise？""Plenty，I should say，for this place，"answered Louise."And how many columns to a page？"asked Uncle John."Oh，six or seven.That's regular，I guess.""Make it six，"proposed Beth."That will keep us busy enough.""All right，"said Uncle John，and closed the door again.
