Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-10-29
SOME NOTED BOOK AGENTS.
A Classic CaDvasser Tells About His
Fellow Graf smen.

/ understanding canNaSsef 10 Tnllauel-
phia Times reporter, "haye been book
agents. Do you suppose they could ever
have laid their foundations of greatness
if in this delicate profession they had not
been lovers Of the truth? Many years
! ago Lord Rrougham. in famous speech
/ in Parliament, said that tine solcter IN
/ full military array was a far less i'm
| posing parsonage than the canvasser
I armed with his outfit and
! knocking ilnpartially, like the
/ kings writ, at the cottage or
/ peasant or palace Of peer alike II we
( con the worlds history we ind now true
/ The Ch9ncellor's words were, and not only
in modern times, but away back. Nine.
de Remusat states in her Memoirs that,
after the seige Of ToulOn and before he
had succeeded by winning the gr3ces OF
the beautiful CreolGn widow Beauhar-
nails. 10 securing the potent influence ot
the corrupt Director Barras, Bouaparte-
then "A young sous lieutenant unemployed
at the capitol, aud too honorable to dupil-
cate his pay accOunts-t9Ok The
agency tor B0ulonger ct Gle, the
noted publishers OF the POnt &eut,
for a work entitled: 'Liistoire de
la Revolution. bOnaparte tried 10 secure
from the publishing company the whole
department OF La Nendee, but he was
only given suburban Partisan arondis-
5ementH neyertheless his prOwess there in
canvassing was as conspicuous as it
afterW ard was in the martial politics Of
continent, and he carried his agency rs
VIGOROUSLY as he later did the eagles of
France. In the foyer Of the great palace
Of the Louvre, amid countless bric-a-
brac OF the reign Of Louis, lie
Ben-almee, the great reGrater Of
Carlyle, and Louis, the Grand Monarch
on the second etage and adjoining
the Rue de RivOli can be seen to-day un-
der glass case, on which is the French
legend-sO familiar to those of us who
visited the French section at the centen-
nial-'Ne toHcbez pas tie little canvass
er's outfit Of the great Emperor. aud with
in II the long list OF names which his as
siduity secured. On the blank pages in
the end Of the sOiled and faded prospectus
in the well-knOwn and scarce leglble
chirography Of the Corscan captain are
his own quaint personal notes, such
'Noyez, Messieurs Frontenac,' M. Prud-
homme, edition de luxe M. Vilieneuye,
prenderal deuX iyres,' and opposite this
the significant nOta ion 'bon aussi ble,'
which, rudely translated into the slang of
our day, would mean good as wheat.
'N0 less a parsonage than George
Washington, while surveyor Of Fairfax
county in his youth, prior to the fateful
Braddoc6 expedition, was temporarily a
book agent and a good one. The work be
canvassed for, a copy of which is now
among the relics in the Patent Office, was
one well fitted to the taste of the pioneers,
being BoydePs The London of Stoke-On-
Trent Square, American Savage; How he
may be tanned by the Weapons of CiViliza-
ton 1t had wide circulation IN colo
NAL times. Washington sold over 200
copies in and around Alexandria, Va.
and to the rich tobacco planters of Ac-
quia creek, which was remarkable sue
cess for 80 early day in the trade
Leasing, the most reliable of our ReVo-
lutlOnarY historians, AYERS, after close in
vestigatiOn, that in diapOsing of this large
number Of books Washington never per-
mitted himself to trespass beyond the
rigid line OF truth in extolling the merits
Of his prospectus.
$50 might mention many others who
get their first start in life as book agents.
To come down to our own times, there is
Jay Gould, now rich beyond the dreams of
avarice, who was in early life a book can
vasser; so was Mark Twain. Ralph
Waldo Emerson, before espousing the
transcendantal philosophy and establish
ing the Concord school, canVassed books
for Boston house. So also did LougieI-
low, whose success was phenomenal, his
pleasing address and sweet manners no
doubt gaming him many hearing. Rev.
Samuel }. LOngfe!lOw, the poets brother,
discovered among his effects after death a
small prospectus the poet had used. The
book passed into the possession Of the late
sam Ward, the lifelong friend OF Long
fellow, and was by him bequeathed to the
Massachusetts Historical Society. On its
frontisplece page are the skeleton lines of
the now celebrated poem, Excelsior
which the poet was then evidently incu-
batting and which were singularly appli-
cable TO his then vocation Of agent, as
they were later on to his fame as the poet
Of the people. Daniel Webster paid his
second term tuition at Dartmouth by
acting as local agent in Merrimac county.
N. FL, for a Litchfieid Conn. J firm, to sell
De TocqueYille's America then having
a great run in cultured New England
towns. Bret Harte was a book agent in
the tall OF 40 or the spring of 80 in Cali
tornia, and worked rich placer by rea-
son Of his aptitude among the sturdy,
rough-hewn Argonauts of that bolster
Gus period. Gen. Grant, subsequent
to his resignation from the army and
before his venture on the rugged Dent
farm, on the old GravOis road, took part
Of the territory of a general agent of Put
NUNS to dispose of lrving's Columbus
Although only engaged in the business
fer short time he is on record with the
Eastern house as a fine canvasser, his
quiet, subdued, and unobtrusiYe man
ners no doubt aiding him much in attain
ing this reputation. EX-President Hayes
footed il all over Southern Ohio when a
mere lad getting subscriptions for Bax-
ter's Lives of the Saints" and was fairly
successful. his piOus demeanor aud tenn
perance habits helping him TO win sup
port among the yoemanry, and he usually
Obtained at least eight out Of every fifteen
Of the commissions be undertook.
"Blaine, the magnetic politician, be-
| gan lie as an humble canvasser in Wash
! ington county, in this State, selling a
Life Of Henry Clay, the Mill-bOy of the
/ Slashes. In this undertaking the white
| plumed was just as magnetic and per-
suasiYe as later on in politics. H. Is re-
lated OF him 10 this day by one Of the old
wool farmers OF that section that NOsey
/ Blaine wuZ sich a slick talker that he got
old Squire ElbrOth (since deceased TO
/ put his name down fer one Nv his books,
/ altho' he hated Clay ~ he did pizen, and
sed he wuz nuthin' but a low kintuck'
/ biagleg.' Little did the young Blaine
then think when he captured this
stalwart Jacksonian squire, who
swore politically by the hero OF
the cotton bales. that he him.
self would one day write a book that
would be In the hands Of myriad canvass
ers. But / might 90 on this wav indef-
nitely 20 show you how many great men
have been at this work, and why public
opinion should think better Of us. There