San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-03-06
A RIDE WITH A DRUMMER.
SELLING GOODS BY SAMPLE IN A
BIT OF WILD COUNTRY.


parently a Good Time-A Delicious Bill
of Fare Mt yivian's-A Smart Ozark Girl.
The Monthly Letter at Sparta.
1t 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
sres to enjoy life will 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, light
covered carriage, and few grips for samples
slowed beneath and behind the seats One OF
the two men was MIR. Al Baldwin, in the
hardware line, the other Mr. Charles Blood
with groceries Next morning the drumnerS
drove out of town at 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, TANGLE."
Get lp, Tangled get up your end OF 1t,
said Al to the lazy off horse. Easy, jim,
10 the OIleT. w All W hhOH SIliiSShhl6
about selling goods in the Ozarks, eh'
reckon ! can tell you something about 1t.
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 $4,000 worth Of hardware
year. Charley sells little over SlOO,OO III
groceries We sell about all there Is sold
have the only wagons regularly on the road.
The house makes about % per cent. on the
gross sales Collections' Good, you bet.
Get up Taugle; got up your end OF II
Why, the house only lost one-haf OF per
sent. on the whole years trade last year, and
we do just that every year. People mako
great mistake who think this country is set
tied with outlaws. They are the most honest
people in the world. We start out with sam,
pies, stop at every place, take all the orders
we can, send them in, and tho house ships the
stuff to the nearest railroad station That
may be 100 miles from the store where the
order was given The merchant draws tho
stuff from the station to the store in wagon,
camping by the waysido as he goes. We
open the account in January, and never &c;
a cent for the stuff until December.
Oul pays IHCJ SpANO 10 SibCON - va $500
expenses 1t costs 81. IS a day on the average
for man and team. Cheap, chs Good lfv,
ing too, generally. You ought to so trip
with u.s. Glad to have you, you bet. I'd like
to take you down to Bakers field, III OZARK
county. Say, he's dandy, that Vivian is
He keeps a hotel Yankee style Got Yankee
wife, sect The day before we are duo he goes
hunting when the season is right. " hat do
YOU think? Venison steak broiled for break
fast, with raw fried potatoes, and for fear we
shan't be satisfied with that he will have a
few broiled rabbits or squirrels besides. EoT
dinner we have fried fish, quail fricasGee,
roast wild turkey and apple dumplingS
How's thatG
WHAT MADE CHARLEY HEAVY.
Get up, Tangls; get up your end Of it.
For supper, quail ON toast. Always get that
bill of fare in the season Nothing like it.
Look at Charley. Nearly 300! He'll weigh
a ton by the end of next year. Sometimes
we don't do as well, though. Tisn't the fault
Of the people They do the best they can.
When the roads are bad We may not roach q
hotel Then we wish we were at Viyian'S, or
az tho Finley house in Ozark. These are the
two best places on the road
Get up, Tangle; get up your end Of it
Sometimes we get something good where we
don't expect it. Ono day we got caught by q
rainstOm, and night camo on and found US
wallowing along over new road. 1t Yves
tough, and we had just agreed to camp out
under the carriages when we heard COW bell
We followed that sound, and by luck it tCCl
Us down a hpul way TO 4 cabin 1t was DARK
plNmO dark. Every one was in bed. Tho
old man came out when we called. He said
he'd get one OF his girls out to cook supper
for US ard then helped us with the teams
There was plenty of corn and rOughneSs fol
them, and we soon had them comfortable
Then we went in, but s." no 5. rs OF @uyr-l
or anything but bcdsfull of children. Ii {
minute, however, the old man invited u
through the back door into o lean-to kitchen
What do you think! There was q table, Will
a clean white cloth on it, napkins ct the
plates, Il stack Of stealning hot biscuit,
stack ef fresh baked sweet potatoes, a platte
OF fried han; and eggs, q pot Of &tea.Iiug cOf
fee and a pitcher Of sweet cream beside
bowl Of granulated sugar. AT the head O
the table stood the gal The old man had called
blushing in the presence of strangers, an(
looking al the prettier for it. told her so
and so did Charley. What do you think
She was only 8 years old, and yet she'C
cooked that supper in a little over half al
hour. She wanted to apologize, at that, fol
not doing better. Bless my soul!
"Get 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 bank there two or three year.
ago. They divided 80 per cent. ON the CAPT
hi last yea and will DO better this. l know