Twenty Years of Hus'ling Part 9

As soon as the green gra.s.s and flowers of spring commenced to show themselves, I began to get nervous and anxious to make a change.

One day while several people were sitting in the depot waiting for a train, a young enterprising looking fellow came in with a small sample-case in his hand, and began talking to an old gentleman about spectacles, and very soon made a sale for which he received two dollars and fifty cents, spot cash.

After the train had come and gone, carrying with it the old gentleman, I entered into conversation with the young man, and finally asked him, confidentially, what that pair of spectacles cost him. He laughed and said they could be bought for one dollar per dozen.

"That settles it right here," I said, and added:

"That settles the telegraph business with me. I'll send my resignation to Mr. Kline forthwith, by telegraph." And I did so.

After about ten days he accepted it and sent me a pa.s.s for home and the amount due me, which was sixty-five dollars.

On my arrival home a stormy scene ensued.

My mother said it was just like me to leave a sure thing and traffic around over the country, with no future prospects whatever.

Mr. Keefer said the business was too slow for me, anyhow, and he had thought so from the beginning. I explained that the experience was worth a great deal to me.

My mother replied that I had for years been getting nothing _but_ experience.

Mr. Keefer said he'd bet I would come out all right yet.

"Yes," my mother said, "he will come out in the poorhouse, and drag you and me with him."

She then what I expected to do next, and I told her about the immense profits made in the spectacle business.

She laughed, and with much sarcasm remarked, that a dozen pair of spectacles and an old tin box to carry them in, would probably be the height of my ambition.

I told her that remained to be seen; but I would some day convince her differently, and show her how to make money fast.

The next day I received a letter from an acquaintance residing at Kirkersville, Ohio, in answer to one I had written him, in which I stated my intention of going into the spectacle business.

He informed me that he was the owner of a fine horse and carriage, and suggested that I take him in partners.h.i.+p with me; he to furnish the traveling conveyance and I the money. This I agreed to, and wrote him my intentions to start for Kirkersville on a certain day, where I would expect to meet him, and we would drive to Columbus, a distance of twenty miles, and buy our stock.

On my arrival at Kirkersville I found him ready to start. We drove to Columbus and called on a wholesale jewelry firm.

After looking their stock over I decided that there was more money in cheap jewelry than spectacles. I had about forty dollars in cash, and after buying one dozen pairs of spectacles, for one dollar, invested the balance in jewelry, after which I prevailed on the firm to give me a traveling sample case. In this we displayed our jewelry nicely and started down the Portsmouth pike.

My first effort to make a sale was at the toll-gate, a short distance from the city. Finding an old lady in attendance, I introduced the spectacles. She declared she never would buy another thing from a peddler.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THIS, MADAM, IS THE STEREOSCOPIC LENS.--PAGE 101.]

I told her I had not asked her to buy, and said: "Madam, I have here a stereoscopic lens."

"A stereo-what?" she quickly asked.

"A stereoscopic lens," I repeated.

"Well, my!" she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, "they ought to be good ones, if the name has anything to do with them," and began trying them on.

She very soon found a pair which suited her and pleased her exceedingly.

While she was looking my gla.s.ses over, I picked up her old ones, and while examining them the thought occurred to me, that as my stock of spectacles consisted only of a dozen pairs it would be a good idea to try and trade spectacles each time instead of selling outright, and by so doing always keep my stock up to the original number.

Acting on the suggestion, I remarked to the old lady that her gla.s.ses must have cost at least three dollars, and if she so desired I would give her a trade.

She asked the price of my gla.s.ses.

"Four dollars," was my reply.

She said she didn't just remember how much she did pay for hers, but it was about the price I had mentioned.

She then asked me how I would trade. I offered to allow her two dollars for her gla.s.ses on the deal.

She said she would if she had the money. On counting it she found but one dollar and thirty-two cents, all in pennies. We made the trade, as I had a great deal of sympathy (?) for her, and knew she had never before found a pair of gla.s.ses so well suited to her eyes.

The third house we stopped at I found a young lady who was very anxious to see my jewelry.

After opening my case she selected a very showy set, ear-drops and pin, which I sold her for one dollar. When she paid me I noticed she had more money left, and said to her:

"See here, my young miss, I hardly think the set you have selected is good enough for you. Let me show you a handsome set of jewelry such as you would be proud to wear at a fas.h.i.+onable ball, or entertainment of any kind. It will of course cost you more money, but I know it will please you better."

I then took from the bottom of the case a set which was nicely put up in a small paste-board box (although they all cost the same), and offered it for inspection. She was at once infatuated with it, and after asking the price (which was five dollars), expressed her regret that she had made her purchase before taking notice of that particular set. I then very kindly offered to exchange for the set she had just bought, and allow her the same as she paid, when she remarked, after reflecting a moment, that she couldn't do that as she hadn't money enough within one dollar to pay the difference. But when I offered to trust her for the other dollar until I came around again, she traded, remarking, as she counted out her last three dollars:

"All right, I'll do it, and if you never come again I'll have a dollar the best of you anyhow."

We had excellent success during the first ten days, after which we experienced four days of probably as poor success as ever attended a "Yankee peddler."

We stopped at every house, and never sold a dollar's worth during the four days. Doors were slammed in my face, and dogs were set upon us. Yet I insisted that success must necessarily follow, sooner or later.

My partner, however, was not so hopeful. He became impatient and disagreeable in the extreme. At every house we would come to he would sullenly remark that there was no use stopping, they didn't want to buy anything; and finally went so far as to insist that we make no more stops.

As I considered myself the senior member of the firm, I ordered a stop made at every house.

This led to unpleasantness, and brought out a few personal characteristics of his which induced me to think he had been raised a "pet" and was accustomed to having his own way in everything.

But as I was not one of the "petting" kind, and rather inclined to have my way about things in general, we gradually grew into a controversy.

He declared the horse and carriage was his, and he had a right to stop when and where he pleased.

I gave him that privilege, but also gave him notice that I owned the goods and carried the money, and as "the walking was not all taken up"

he could drive as fast and as far as he pleased, but I was going to stop at every house, even though I might lose a piece of my unmentionables by every dog on the road.

At last I was successful in trading spectacles with an old lady, receiving two pairs of old gla.s.ses and two dollars in cash for the pair I let her have.

This enlivened things up for a while, but only temporarily. We drove back to his home at Kirkersville, where, after invoicing and dividing profits, we dissolved partners.h.i.+p.