, 1891-01-27
A FAIRS CONFESSION.
FORTUNES IN PRIZE PACKAGES FOR
THOSE WHO SELL THEM.

some Of the Goods soId-sometimes
"FakIng" Is Pretty Hard Work.
A man stood in a buggy selling prize
packages by the blaze of = huge paraffin
lamp. He wore a frock coat, a shiny silk
hat, clean linen, a benevolent smile and
half a dozen badges.
I've been taking for twenty years." he
COnhded to a reporter after he had replaced
prize packages with as. and thrust 1t into
his inside pocket.
I've Travelled the country from Maine
to California, " he continued, and l know
every city. town and village where there's
a dollar. 1 either get a permit or a license
at each place, and so I'm known to all the
mayors and chiefs OF police from Florida
to Oregon I'm 40 year, old, and have been
a street man just half my life.
"No, It don't matter what a fakir has to
sell, he'll sell itif he only knows how. It's
the gift Of the CAB, a solid front, nerve and
judgment that succeed, and the goods have
nothing to do with it. To be successful
you must be grammatical, newsy and brief.
II a man will only wait until l get through
talking I'll hive his quarter. II he goes
home he misses my breezy conversation and
his wife gets the ~money-mine does when /
go home, ! know.
In prohibition states 1 sdyocate free
license. ana in Chicago high license for sa-
-Whera there has
recently been an elOpemsnt / tell them an
elopement story and get EN- laughing. II
it's u pious town | look R~ustere, tell sober,
pathetic stories and stealthily wink at the
policeman. who usually goes away, and
choke II the town is Democratic 1 talk
democracy. or. II Republican, l advocate
the principles OF the G. o. 2. and nod to
the Democratic coroner.
10 HE WORKS.
Some audiences 1 have To work with a
carriage and pair and with a colored driver.
An hour later, in the same town, | am sell
ing 70 a different crowd, mounted on a soap
box, with a soft felt hat, a blue flannel
shirt and overalls. | sell the same goods to
both crowds, but out Of the carriage | get
a quarter and of the soap box | ohly get =
dime. However, l clear AS much money in
an hour from one crowd as from another,
as the stuff 1 sell does not cost me over
three cents, and II sell 100 boxes at ten
cents and fifty at twenty-five / have done
well, even after paying for the carriage.
which costs, say g. in a small town. 1
handle almost everything, but medicines
pay best. l was once in n town with "A big
stock OF jewelry and could not work II of.
IL thought II / only had some medicine
to sell | might pay the hotel bill. went
out diminishing and found n sawmill
where they cut up a good deal of mahoga-
ny hhh nphAF tbbhgf 1 BOb paper Dhklul
Of the dark sawdust and soaked it All
night Mt the hotel. We had a beautiful
medicine next day. and my wife bottled IL
while | went to the printers and had some
labels struck of. Each bottle was the size
OF your little finger, and cost thirty cents
a gross, the labels cost nifty cents and the
sawdust nothing. | sold 50 worth at noon
Mt twenty-five cents a bottle, and that
night / took in $3T ia cold cash People
who fa1f all LINDA ~ fb1urua ut moon h,ol
gone home, taken some, felt better and
recommended it. Seel
A START.
II commenced ON bird whistles on the
street. They cost me 8 per thousand, as |
made them myself. and I whistled like
Mrs. Shaw, so | readily sold one for n quar-
ter, although now you may buy them any
where for one cent each.
After that | sold cheap jewelry-siT
pieces for n quarter, including brooch, ear
rings, finger rings and n scHrfpin. Twenty
cents profit on each salel Later / sold steel
pens, buying ten Fross lots and carrying
with me samples OF pens in their different
stages Of manufacture. After that / sold
twenty-five cent packages of stationery.
These packages contained six sheets of
note paper, six envelopes, three Faber
steamboat pencils. one of which had a
rubber top, six pens (brass), n nickel PEN
holder, "A pair OF cuff buttons, one collar
button, two finger rings, one gilt chain,
one key ring. six magic parlor tricks on
pasteboard, "A box of backing, n bottle of
Ink and "A bottle OF mucilage, with a brush.
On this twenty-five cent package | realized
min cents profit, and sold the boxes as fast
as l could hand out the goods and make
the change.
Notwithstanding the fact that | often
cleared so II day | wanted to sell some
thing that was all profit. One day in
Sarnia l saw Il fakir in Il carriage who
talked to the people about the anatomy of
the hands and feet and offered his salve
and liniment as a cure for every ailment,
from a compound fracture Of the ankle to
corus and Chilblains. In good weather l
travel with a gypsy wagon. My wife
dresses as n Sioux princess and plays tho
cornet when not playing a parlor organ.
GETTING A CROWD.
In order to get my audience interested
/ take a common newspaper, and while
folding and tearing it into Jacobs ladders
give them a history of paper, showing
how it is made and telling how useful it Is.
from wrapping "a red herring to bearing
the death warrant of a criminal. the will
of n deceased person, the check of the mill
ionaire or a marriage certificate. Then 1
give them statistics. After this | take this
piece of stiff yellow paper which my wife
cut out and l juggle with it. l can turn It
into over "A hundsed different shapes, in
Guiding a poke bonnet, a Partisan hat, a
coal hod. Il bread basket, a flower vase, a
card receiver, a cruet stand and a cradle.
All this catches the crowd.
Then ! throw the paper down and turn
the joint, which is fakir for opening the
sale. / must have eyes, ears aud mouth
open at the same time. My wits must be
alert so that If somebody in the crowd
makes a remark calculated to hurt my
sale or make fun of me / can reply IN
quickly as a flash with something that
turns the laugh on him. He sneaks away
and my smiling but sarcastic reply brings
out a deluge Of quarters from those who
have heard the ~colloquy,
Unless you have sold medicines you
would never believe what alot of ailments
people have. Some of them never suspect
it themselves until they have heard me
talk. In an hour in some places 1 take in
$50 or SIS, and as it is mostly profit and l
am no hog close my sales for the day. 1
have adollar to spend and a dollar to lend
and the latchstring hangs out to my
friends and my wife's relatives.-Nsw York
World.
Dicks Tender Heart.
\ pig belonging to Dick Walker, Of
Jesup, had the misfortune to meet with IN