The Dickinson press., 1890-08-23
KISSING MANY BABIES,

KISSING MANY BABIES,
A CLEVER WOMAN's WAY OF SELL
ING SEWING MACHINES.
Curious Phases Of Life Seen by a Girl
Who Went About Teaching Women to
Sow on NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Kept in
Good Humor by Tact and Patience.
Women play q big part in selling sew
ing machines. Besides giving instruc-
tions, most sewing machine companies
engage them to draw up contracts when
machines are sold on the installnent
plan. No matter how bright the agents
prospects may seem, a machine is not
considered sold until the lease is in, and
inorder to accomplish that much depends
on the skill, efficiency and personality of
the teacher. One teacher writes of her
experience among New York down town
people in this way:
II shall never forget my first expert
C If any woman is anxious to get IL
practical knowledge of human nature
my advice is to take a situation as
teacher on the sewing machine in an in
stallment district. Because l resented
one customers impertinent and irrele-
want questions she called me a crank and
an old maid all in one afternoon. A
colleague informed me that the customer
had it in for me- and that she wouldn't
keep the machine if the company made
her a present of it. All right; we'll
see,' l said. When l went to the woman's
house the next day she was crosser than
two sticks, and she concluded her vitu-
peration by ordering me and the machine
out of the house.
AN 1NQU1sITrvE CUSTOMER.
"And this was tho reason. When l
called on her the first time, after asking
me my age, my residence, the amount of
salary I received, she wanted to know
why I didn't get married. told her in
words more emphatic than polite that a
twelye-dollar-a-week girl would never,
marry a nine-dollar-a-week man.
The woman's husband was u porter in a
store, and earned 50 a week. No WON
der she never forgave me. This one ex-
perience taught me a lesson, however,
and ever afterward when I had a custo-
mer like her on hand l supplied myself
with the patience of Job, the wisdom of
Solomon, the eloquence of Webster and
the suavity of a Chinese diplomat.
1.-THE tough customer also comes in
for a share Of my criticism. She is a
woman who permits an agent to send her
a machine on trial, and down deep in her
heart never intends to keep it. This
customer always manages to get her
spring or fall sewing done up in this
way, and to manage her l had to use my
very best verbal and thinking abilities.
Women who indulge in the petty arti-
fees are rs easy to sound as an empty
barrel. They are always commonplace
and very talkative. When l came across
a woma of this class l made it IL point
to study her and her surroundings and
then I would act. If she dotted on her
children l usually began the campaign
by kissing the baby. While a teacher for
the company l kissed babies of every
nationality, to say nothing Of creeds. BY
constant application l would get the
tough customer to sign the lease in a
week or ten days, and when that docu-
ment really was in my possession no one
wa more surprised than myself.
DEFINITION OF SEVERAL TERMS.
":Afraid Of being cheated is the
thought uppermost in the queer GUS
TONER'S mind. She invariably proves to
be a good little woman who has been i'm
posed upon by human sharks of every de-
scription. Once get her confidence and
the case is o. K.
"The thick customer is the one who
tried my patience and made me feel cross
after leaving her house. Dense stupid
ity is the definition of thick in the sew
ing machine vocabulary. Twas with the
company six months before I could &C.
custom myself to the use Of that word.
The thick woman could never learn the
attachments. Her awkwardness is sim
ply Unborn, and all the manual training
In Christendom would never make an
operator out of her.
"The particular customer is another
who tried me a great deal. Sheis one of
those women who go through this life
making other people miserable.
"The easy customer has a mania for
buying everything on the installment
plan. She would buy the earth that way
if it were for sale and, if one would give
her plenty Of time to pay for it. She
would close this week. only she has to
meet the payments on some silverware.
When the next week came her excuse
was that she had to make a payment on
a bronze clock. Her husband was the
one person who didn't know anything
about the debts she contracted. once
leased a machine to a woman who told
me after l gave her the second lesson
that she was coming up to the Office to
pay the full cash for it. Her husband,
she said, gave her the money. Like most
men he objected to the installment plan.
The next time I called to instruct her
she astonished me by saying she had
changed her mind about paying cash for
the machine.
"I wanted q lace dress, so l bought
1t with the money he gave me for the ma
chine. He won't find it out The he
referred to was her husband, of course,
and he was employed as a bartender in
an uptown saloon. She arranged with
the collector to pay the installments
from the money she could save from the
house.
"The installment plan has its dark
side, butt has been real benefaction to
the poor. The discount allowed for cash
is 80 small that it Is not much of an in
ducement to customers. New York
Press.
Boys in Corca.
Every man who goes to Corea should
be, or should get, married. Every un-
married man is considered a boy, though
he should live to be 100. No matter
what his age. he follows in position the
Youngest of the married men. desnite the