, 1889-02-27
A RIDE WITH A DRUMMER.
SELLING GOODS BY SAMPLE IN A
BIT OF WILD COUNTRY.

AN O-AA ohN-
The Monthly Letter at Sparta
It was my good fortune to fall In with two
commercial travellers at Forsyth, fancy
county, and ride with one of them as far as
Sparta, Christian county. No one who de
sires to enjoy life VIII fail to fall In with com
mercial travellers In the west at every oppor-
tunity, for what they do not know about the
section their route covers cannot be learned
by Intelligent and persistent inquiry. The
drummer's outfit In this country consists of
the best team Of roadsters to be had, a light
covered carriage, and q few grips for samples
slowed beneath and behind tho seats One of
tho two men was Mr.. Al Baldwin, In tho
hArdwar line, the other Mr.. Charles Blood,
with groceries. Next morning the drummers
drove out Of town at z O'Clock. They had
sold good bills at the three or four stores, just
as they do at every trip. Al took me with
him The other carriage was loaded pretty
full by its driver.
GET UP, TANoLE"
Get up, Tangled get up your end of 1t, /"
said Al To the lazy off horse. EASY, Jim,H
to the other. Want to know something
about selling goods in the Ozarks, chi 1
reckon l can tell you something about it
Been driving over this route for four years.
It's $50 miles long, and we go over it once
every month. We take in all the country
down to the second tier of counties In Arkan-
sas. | sell about 10000 worth of hardware
n year. Charley sells a little over $780, 600 In
groceries. We sell about all there is sold
have the only wagons regularly on the road.
The house makes about 25 per cent. on the
gross sales. Collectionsi Good, you bet
Get up, Tnngle; get up your end Of it.
Why, the house only lost one-half of / per
cont ON tho whole years trade last year, and
we do just that every year. People make n
great mistake who him this country Is set
tied with outlaws. They are the most honest
people In the weld. We start out with sam
Piles, stop at every place, take all tho orders
we can, send them In, and tho house ships tho
stuff % the nearest railroad station. That
may DO 100 miles from the store where the
order was given. Tho merchant draws tho
stuff from tho station to the store In n wagon,
camping by the wayside Us he goes. We
open tho account In january, and never get
n cent for the stuff until December.
"Our payi They give US 81 500 q year and
expenses 1t costs g.. rs u day on the average
for a mnn and team Cheap, ehi Good Iv-
Ing, too, generally. You ought to go a trip
with us Glad to havo you, you bet I'd like
TO take you down to Bakers field, In Ozark
county. Say, he's a dandy, that Vivian is
He keeps a hotel Yankee style. Got n Yankee
wife, seei Tho day before we are duo no goes
hunting whom the season is right. What do
you think Venison steak broiled for break
fast, with raw fried potatoes, and for fear we
shnn't DO satisfied with that he will have u
few broiled rabbits or squirrels besides. For
dinner we hnve fried fish, quail fricassee,
roast wild turkey and apple dumplings.
How's thnti
WHAT MADE HEAvY.
Get up, Tnngle; got up your end of 1t.
For supper, quail on toast. Always get that
bill of fare In the season. Nothing like it.
Look at Charley. Nearly 200l Hell weigh
a ton by the end of next year. Sometimes
we don't doas well, though 'Tisn't the fault
of tho people. They DO the best they can.
When tho roads are bad we may not reach q
hotel. Then wo wish we were at Vivian's, or
at the Finley house in Ozark. These are the
two best places on tho road.
Get up, Tangle; get up your end of it
Sometimes VIC get something good where we
don't expect 1t. Ono day We got caught by n
rainstorm, and night came on and found US
wnllowing along over a new road. 1t was
! tough, and we had just agreed to camp out
under the carriages when we heard q cow bell.
We followed that sound, and by luck 1t took
US down n haul way to q cabin 1t WINS dark,
plumb dark Every ono was in bed. Tho
old man cano out when wo called. He said
bed got ono of his girls out to cook supper
for US, and then helped us with the teams.
There was u plenty of corn and roughness for
them, and we soon had them comfortable.
Then we went in, but saw nc signs of supper
or anything but beds full of children. In q
minute, however, the old man invited us
through the back door into q lean-to kitchen.
What do you Think There was a table, with
a clean white cloth on 1t, napkins at the
plates, n stack of steaming hot biscuit, q
stack OF fresh baked sweet potatoes, a platter
of fried ham and eggs, n pot of steaming cof-
fec and a pitcher of sweet cream beside q
bowl of granulnted sugar. AT tho head Of
the table stood the gal the old man had called,
blushing In tho presence of strangers, and
looking all the prettier for it. l told her so,
and so did Charley. What do you think
She was only 8 years old, and yet she'd
cooked that supper In a little over half an
hour. She wanted to apologize, at that, for
not doing better. Bless my SOUL
Got up, Tangle; get up your end of it.
Talk about making money. This is the coun-
try. There's Ozark, In Christian county.
They started a bank there two or three years
ago. They divided 80 per cent on the capt.
tai last year, and will do better this. / know
q druggist there. Fine fellow, too. Deserves
his luck. Got the handsomest wife In the
county. He came there less than two years
age. Hadn't a cent He'd bursted up once
somewhere else, and went to work on salary
and paid of everything, when he might nave
got off at fifty cents on the dollar. Gave
him credit, chr You bet. Started In there
with stock bought on tick. He's got 81, la
in tho store now, and all paid for. Has got
agood stake in bank, and he's laying by n
hundred a month while living like n prince.
What do you think of thatl
Get Up, Tangle; get up your end of it.
We're going home now. We've covered over
COO miles in t~wenty-six days Good ride, ehl
What do you think of thhtl Family, Well,
should smile. There's a letter waiting Cor
no at Sparta There always Is She knows
what dny III get there. She wrote 1t yes
terday, seei Down at the bottom of the last
page there'n DO a lot of s~prawling letters,
but can read en- They'll say Nice pap
or something. That 'sthe little one. Familyf
Well, l should smile.
"Gct up, Tangle; get up your end of it."-
Sparta (Mo) Cor. New York Sun.