Tales of the Road

many have asked me: "How ca

stock boys, merchants and students. Even wives ha

o out on the road and spend a whole lot of the firm's money for traveling expenses with a great deal more care than the dean of a college measures the youth who comes to enter school. The dean thinks: "Well, maybe we can

no stale preachment, but a live fact! There are hundreds of road positions open in every city in Am

his sales shipped. Beware, my friend, of the "commission job!" Reliable firms seldom care to put out a man who does not "look good enough" to justify them in at least guaranteeing him a salary he can live on. They know that if a man feels he is going to live and not lag behind, he will work better. The commission salesman is afraid to spend his own money; yet, were he t

ut going through the dissecting room, then another cannot become a successful drummer without having worked in stock. The merchant, who oft-times deals

ch side of the "part" on your head; that your shoes must be shined, your trousers creased, your collar clean and your necktie just so. Neatness is a "without-which- not;" but there must be more-a boy must work hard, be polite, honest, full of force, bright, quick, frank, good-natured. The "Old Man" may keep to swe

n-it wasn't exactly a freeze. But t

rom door to door-until you find a job. If you are going to let a few or a hundred turn-downs dishearten you, you'd better stay at home; for when you get on the road, turn-downs are what you must go up against every day. If you know some traveling man, or mercha

suck you under; yet if you are a good swimmer you can splash along here faster t

e, an inland country town, fourteen miles away. That was a great trip for me-fourteen miles, and staying over night in a hotel!-the first time I had ever done so in my life. A

runks, he said to me: 'Billie, I guess you may go and get the team ready.' I answered him, saying, 'The tea

out the same color and that the fly was not so liable to be seen and killed as if it had lit on the white. That showed me you notice things and reason about them. To be a good traveling man you must make a business of noticing things and thinking about them. Real good hoss sense is a rare thing. Then, this mo'nin', when I said "Get the team ready," you said "It is ready, suh," and showed me that you loo

his house. The night I left, my mother said to me: 'Son, I've tried to raise you right. I'll soon find out if I have. I believe I have and that you will get

As I think it over now, the thing that did me the most good was my father's advice: 'Son, be polite, this will cost you nothing and be worth lots.' The bo

d when I reached the city! Such a bustle I've never seen since. As I walked up a narrow street from the depot, I fell on the slippery sidewalk. 'Better get some ashes on your feet' said my friend. And, indeed, I did need to

he. I went three blocks and when the car came along I followed it, for I could not afford a single nickel for car fare. What a fortune I had when, during busy season, I could work nights and get fifty cents extra for supper money! None of this did I spend, as my boarding house wasn't far away. The only money that I spent in a whole year was one dollar for a library ticket-the best dollar I ever spent in my life! Good books, and there are plenty of them free

eventh strike, and before most of the stock boys had shown up. At noon I would wrap bundles, take a blacking pot and mark cases, run the elevator or do anything to "keep moving." I did not know that an eye was on me all the time; but there was. At the end of a yea

uld buy a present for my sweetheart, too. The good Lord somehow very wisely puts 'notions' into a young man's head about the time he begins to get on in the world, and the best thing on earth for him when he is away from home is to have some girl away back where he came from think a whole lot of him an

during spare time from my regular work. When I came back from my visit home, the old gentleman found me on the floor one day while I was tagging samples. 'Billie,' said he, '

e; it was too much for him, too. After he stepped on the elevator, he turned around and smiled at me. I heard him blow his nose

ess them to Fayetteville.' He had merely written the stock numbers in the book. It was up to me to fill in on the sample book the description of the goods and the prices. This I did that night at home from memory. I had l

me to the office and asked me: 'When can Greg

Wednesday nigh

was Tuesday night when I

I, 'because I saw the case

the same way he did the morning he made me the sample clerk, a

ry was raised again. At the end of the third year the old gentleman gave me more back pay and another raise, saying to me: 'Billie, I have decided to put you on the road over Moore's old territor

e stock boy has a chan

h were the words: 'Thy God seeth thee, my son.' Without irreverence I would advise every stock boy who wants to

cessful clothing salesmen of Chi

own. I was simply crazy to go. I had seen the salesmen get down late, sit around like gentlemen, josh the bosses, smoke good cigars and come and go when they pleased for eight months in the year. This looked better to me than

not know much about the English language, but he had a whole lot more good common sense than I gave him credit for then. It never hurts a boy in the house, you know, who wants to go on the road to go square up and say so. He may get a turn-down, but the boss will like his spunk, and he stands a be

buy a bill of clothing. They looked him up in Dun's and found that he was in the grocery business. My father didn't

seen his place! The town was about seven hundred, and the store just about evened up with it- groceries and hardware. I got a whiff from a barrel of sauer kraut as I went in the door; on the counter was a cheese case; frying pans and lanterns hung down on hooks from the ceiling; two farmers sat near the stove eating sardines and crackers. No clothing was in sight and I said to myself: 'Well,

You ought to hav

d father wants to put me in business here. He is going to put in all his time in the bank. He wants me to take charge of the store. I've told him we could sell other things besides groceries-they are dirty, anyway, and don't pay much profit; s

rst time out, 24 hours away, and a big expense,'-all

hey sold their goods. I had heard them swear at the salesmen for cutting prices and tell them that the goods were marked at bare living profit; and I was green enough to believe this. I also knew that my line was the best one on the road. I had not stopped to figure out how my bosses could stay under their own roof all the time and know so much about other houses' goods and be absolutely sure that

ures and stick absolutely to their marked price, will do business with ease. Merchants in the country do not wish to buy cheaper than those in other towns do; they only wish a square deal. And, say what you will, they are kind o' leery when they buy from samples marked in characters-not plain figures. They often use a blind mark to do

my sample room. I had sense enough to make the place where I was going to show

ut bills. The old man came in. He picked up the order and looked over it carefully, t

ould hear him all over the house: 'Ah, Chim, dot vas tandy orter. How dit you do id mitoud cotting prices, Chim? You vas a motel for e