The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-04-05
z .AaMYsTRRIoUss VISIT
~ NArK rTThSa:.g

l
The first notice that was taken Of me
when | "settled down" recently, was by
gentleman who said he was IN assessor
and S0hhee elw itlfthe United States IN:
tefnnl RdI endeD epAf tnent. - sad 1qd
never heard Of his branch Of business be.
fore, but was very glad TO sec him, oil
the same; would he sit down! He SIT
down. i did not know anything particu'
lar 10 say, and yet felt that people whO
have arrived ut the dignity Of keeping
house must be conversational, must be
easy and soclAble in company: So, IN dc
fault Of anything else to say, l asked hin
IL he was opening his shop in our neigh
lies lie said he was. II did not,wisll 70 ap.
pear ignorant, but I had hoped he would
mention what he had for sale.
l ventuTel TO ask him show was trade:
1 and he said "So.so.nt .. y
then said we would drop In, and i, we
liked his houseias well as any other, we
would give him,our custom.
He said he thought We would like his
establishment well enough to contine our
selves to it-said he never saw anybody
who would 90 off and hunt up another
man In his line after trading with him once
That sounded pretty Gomplacent, but
barring that natural expression OF villalny
which we all hive, the man looked honest
enough. M
Ido not know how II came about, cx'
actly, but gradually we appeared 70 mel
down and run together, copveraattpnally
speaking, ind then everything went along
as comfortably Us clockwork.
We talked, and talked, and tAlkcd al
least l did. And we laughed, and laughed
and laughedS lat least he did. But all the
time L. had my presence Of mind abou
mel had my native shrewdncss9t urnee
| on, Rlull head" aS9thGY engineers say. ]
was determined totind out all about hi!
business; in spite OF his obscure answers
and l was determined | would have It oui
Of him without his suspecting what was
ut. j meant to trap him with . deep
deep rise. would tell him all about my
own business, and lie would naturally 81
warm TO me during this seductive burst o
confidence TINT he would forget himsel
and tell me all about his affairs before III
SUSPECTED what i was about. I though
to myself, my sou, you little know what
an old fox YOU are dealing with. l said
"NOw you never would guess what
made lccturing this winter and lHs'
spring."
"No-ilon't believe l could, to save me
Let me Sce-lct me see. About two thou
sand dollars maybe? But nO-no, sir,
know you couldn't have made that much
Say seventeen hundred, maybe " !.
"Ha.ha! knew: you couldn't MJ
lcctIring receipts for last spring and thli
winter were fourteen thousand seven hun
drcd and flIly dollars. What do yor
think Of that?"
i%Why. 1t is amaEing--perfectly atnaz
| Ing. Twin nakCia note Of it. And yot
say even this wasn't all !"
"AhI Why, bless you there was my in
come from tho Buffalo Express for foul
moItls-abOut-u bout-wcll,w what should
you say to about eight thousand dollars
Tor inslnnCe?" ~
"Say! Why Ishoultl say l should like
to see myself rolling III just such another
ocean Of ailluencG. Eight thousand! I'll
make note of it. Why; man land or
top oF ISlT tbs I'yin 10 hndetstand tint yov
had stiIl mod ifc6uleE" .lJsEEl nj
Er iS:I,S:iiaH why; you'Fc only Ii TIL
suburbs Of i, SO to speak: There's my
book, GsThel Innotents Abroad - price
$3.50 to S., according TO the binding
| Listen to nc. Look me intlle eye Dur
ing the last four months and half, sAy'
iug nothing Of sales before that-hut just
simply during the four months and hal
ending March 10, 1870, we've sold ninety
five thousand copies Of that book ! NmGs
ty-tive tllousandl Think Of 1t Average
tour dollars u copy, say. Its nearly foul
hundred thousand dollars, my son. ] gct
halfr' r.
"Thc suffering Moses! Ill set ha
down. Fourtccnseyen fiNy-eight-twt
hundred. Total, Say-well, upon my
word, the grand total is about two hun
dred and thirteen or. fourteen Thousand
dollars. Is that possible" /.
possible If there's any mistake III
the other way. Two hundred and four
teen thousand, Cash, il my income for thl'
ycar II / know how to cipher" ",
Then the gentleman got up to go. II
came over me most unComtOrtably tim
maybe uuu ulhuC' NY lCNGAUhoh9 N
nothing, besides being hattGred int
stretching them considerably by the stran
gers astonishGd EXPLANATIONS. But, no
ut the last moment the gentleman handel
me large envelope and said II contained
his advertisement; and that ! would 1in(
out all about his business in It; and that III
would be happy to have my custom
would, in fact, 20 proud TO hlve the Gus
tom Of a man Of such prodlgiOus income
and that he used 70 think that there wer'
several wealthy men in Buffalo, but whel
they como 10 trade with him he discovered
that they barely had enough 10 live on
and that In truth 1t had been such weary
weary age since he had seen q rich mai
. face 10 face, and talked with him, and
touched him with his hands, that he coult
hardly refrain from embracing me-il
fact, would esteem It a great favor IL
would let him embrace me. h iIi..,.
This SO pleased mo that I did not try Il
resist, but allowed this simple.hCartet