St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-04
YES, YOU KNOW HER..
The Oft Abused But to-be-
Pitied Female Book
Agent.
Eva Gay Goes Into the Bust
ness Just for a
Flyer.
Sleek Swindlers Who Defend
the Girl Book Ped
oilers.
A Sort Of Helpless Captivity
Where Escape is I'M
possible. Il


space has been filled with the adven-
lures and mishaps of the politician. /
haven't been taking vacation, al
though l would like to. But vacations
are not for those who have to earn their
bread and butter by honorable toll. If
my readers would like to know what
my occupation has been lately, the
answer comes in hollow tones, "a book
agent"
| always had constitutional dislike
for book agents, and if one dared to
come in the front gate would let my
dog Rex chase her away without feel
ing the slightest remOrSe. / have often
been wicked enough to laugh as her
floating draperies and heavy satchel dis
appeared around the nearest cor
her. [ have been accustomed to
rank peddlers. beggars, census takers,
charity solicitors and book agents in the
same category, but | take back that
Judgment nOw-bO0k agents are differ
ent from other classes of humanity.
They stand d class by themselves, dis
tlnct and solitary. Before L tried the
business | knew how people felt who
how the agent feels when she don't sell
book. The impartial judge is he who
has heard both sides of the case and
carefully weighed the evidence before
giving decision. / think [ have
enough evidence before me to enable
me to give an impartial Judgment, and l
won't attempt to make the average
book agent appear to be anything above
the ordinary level of humanity. But |
want to give my readers an idea of how
they are trained for their chosen pro-
fession. My attention was called to the
subject by all advertisement saying:
w ANTED-Accomplish and respect
w able young ladies for lucrative posi-
tons; good salary paid to suitable persons;
references required. Address Il 1873.
There were five o.. six of us sitting
around the boarding house parlor one
Sunday afternoon. We had read the
fashion notes and society columns, so
there was nothing OF interest to us eX-
cert the want columns. We always
read that. hoping to some day find
bonanza which shall release us from
working ten hours day for IS week.
We decided to answer that 'fad," and
compared specimens OF penmanShip to
see who should do the writing. One Of
our girls was business college student,
so we let her write an answer, giving
our names, ages and references. After
few days we received an answer, two
of us had been selected and were re
quested to call at a given address, at ~
O'clock the next morning. was one OF
the fortunate (?) girls selected. So
Annie, the other girl chosen, and my
self, Sauntered up to be interviewed.
We found the place without trouble. 1t
was sort of Sbabby-genteel boarding
house. A benevolent-lo0king old gen.
tleman greeted us, and said he had
been much impressed with the business
like style of our letter. We. forgot to
tell him that neither of nSfWrote the
letter. ..4.A
After some preliminary chat he said
that he was general book agent and
wanted to hire some young ladies. We
started for the door without any delay.
but he called US back, saying: Nov,
young ladies, don't be in such rush.
Just let me explain my plan. It's en-
tirely new. ItrequlreS ladies who pos
seSS good address and education and en-
terpriSe and"--
"Well. what is it?" interrupted An
ME sharply.
He brought out historical work,
and explained that he was selling it
throughout the country, and he always
kept force Of young ladies at work
numbering from fifteen to twenty.
This galaxy of intellect and beauty can
vassed together. Each town was di-
vided into sections. One girl would
take the ministers. another the doctors,
another the business men, and several
would be assigned to canvass the work
ing people. Thus whole town would
be worked over in few days.
''What wages do you pay?' l asked.
''Why, you see, we are quite liberal;
we advance railroad fares and pay the
girls board bills. At the end of three
months we pay whatever salary is due,
after deducting expenses" he explain,
ed. a
SHOW much do you pay week?' I
next questioned. hoping to get an idea
of the scheme after awhile.
s'Oh, we never pay by the week, we
give commissions; so cents on every
book sold. Some girls sell eight or ten
books day, so you can readily see that
it pays we'll" he replied
[ didn't doubt but that some girls
could do that, but how about the girls
who didn't sell but two or three day?
The agent said that he enforced dis
cipline strictly, and the girls worked
nine hours day, reporting their work
every evening. If a girl didn't do good
work she would be sent back home at
his expense. We thought these state
ments rather gauzy, they lacked coll
sistency and solidity.> The agent
didn't care to employ girls who could
pay their own expenses. My friend,
who has level head, concluded not to.
go on such wild goose chase. But l
like adventure, SO agreed to go, taking
the precautiOn to take money. enough to