The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-25
TIE CLOCK MAN.
a Profitable New Enterprise In the
Far South.
From the Mem York Times.

| Profitable New Enterprise In the
Far South
From the NetU York Times.
"Over 100000 has passed through my
hands already this season for that man over
there" said the cashier of one of the banks
IN an interior southern town. ~ was about
to ask who he was" responded his COM
panlon, regarding with interested eyes the
prosperous-looking person across the mar
row street. "What is his businessl al
ways see him strolling about in the most
leisurely fashion,
The man referred to was we'll known as
''the clock man." and his mode of conduct
ing the business which affords him SO lu-
crative an income Is unique and interesting.
he employs a large number of men, fur
nishes each with horse and road cart, and
sends them out into the highways and by~
ways, through remote country lanes and
pine woods roads where the trace of wheels
Is so dim as almost to be undiscernible to sell
clocks to the negroes and to such of the
white backwoodsmen as can be induced to
buy them.
These clocks are estimated as being worth
only about "a, but are sold at from $l2 to
Sl4. The men go round in April and May
and sell them, taking a mortgage on a COW
or an OK, a wagon, a hog poultry Of various
kinds, anything which can be sold and con-
verified into money-even bedsteads, bed
clothes, mattresses, and cups and sauoers
are accepted as security-and In the fall the
collectors go round and receive the pay
ments. One thing is noticeable-the man
who presents the claim for the payment is
never the same one who sold the clock the
previous spring. Thus. any little irregu-
larities In the papers drawn up at the time
OF the sale are unknown to him; he only de-
mands what was agreed upon.
EVary na0rn hOuaa M m efar ha 0nIxy
other articles in 1t are a wooden bench or
two, hide-bottomed chair, cooking uten-
slls, and the water pail, with the most
meager provisions for sleeping, boasts one
OF these snowy -lookingitimepieces on the
rude shelf over the clumsy chimueyplace.
Or commonest wood, shiny as long rs new,
and ornGmented with little cheap gilt
these clocks possess one delightful charm in
the eyes or ears of their owners-they oan
strike. They afford but little knowledge as
to the flight OF time, because their owners
do not know the significance of the letters
on the white face Of their much-prized orna-
ment, or the meaning of the little slender
hands going ever round and round. The
possessors OF these CLOCKS can tell the time
much more accurately by the SUMMARY
they have grown accustomed to notice on
the floor of their cabin, but the tall time
piece over the fireplace can strike every
hour with a loudness and an abandon un-
rivaled by any clock in a more pretentious
case, and In doing this its mission of giving
pleasure TO its purchaser is fulfilled.
II can hear him strike cen de night. !" said
one old auntie in defense of her extrava-
gance when asking her landlords assistance
in paying the clock man, to whom she had
given a mortgage the previous spring on
the only feather bed and all the quilts she
possessed. Had not her benefactJr ad-
vanced her the money. the old woman would
have seen her precious and most necessary
| belongings "tradedn for a little cotton or
| corn to her neighbors, and would have had
| nothing to comfort her during the cold
| nights of the approaching winter but the
knowledge that she possessed just as fine and
tall clock as anybody OF her acquaint-
| ance.
II the clock seller finds q rare instance
where the besleged hesitates about invest
| ing, and claims that he won't make corn
| enough to do him." or cotton enough to
| get him out OF debt. and doubts IL he can
afford to buy clock, the shrewd persuader
has but to suggest that, were any OF the
| family taken sick and doctor summoned
| there would be no tlmepiece in the house by
| which to administer the various powders
| doses to be given according to directions
| every hour or two, and his task Is an easy
| one. The head of a family cannot longer
hold out against such an urgent reason, and
paper is quickly made out and signed with
| IL
| learned to write, in which
| document he agrees to part
with some household article or domestic
animal now much priced, should he be un
able, when a certain day comes, to pray for
the beautiful clock which seems to him now
| an indispensable article. A COW, which had
| plowed the entire crop of one small farmer
aud had at the same time afforded milk as
nourishment for the family, was once Sacri-
feed In order to possess this fashionable
| article or bric-a-brac, which would appar-
| emily remind its possessors how long it was
since they had had milk to drink. Mean
| time the head Of these various agents lives a
life Of indolent ease, drives a fine team, and
regards the world about him with satisfac-
ton and himself as a person Of consequence
| and distinction.
The land owners who rent their acres TO
the victims of these clock men feel a resent
| ment toward them or their employer, for
many pound OF cotton or bushel of corn
goes to them which should be devoted 10 the
| payment Of the landlord who has provided
| them all summer with provisions and farm
ing tools and seen to IL that their families
| did not want for bread. Many a family,
| gathered around the supper table, hears the
| sound OF wheels outside and the familiar
"halloa" which apprises them Of an arrival,
and upon inquiry, learns the somewhat I'M
| welcome fact that one OF these clock men
must be afforded entertainment for him.
self and horse for the night 1t bei1R too
far to any town, hospitality must be ex-
tended This clock business Is entirely new
but apparently not successful.
Halls Hair Remover contains the natural
food and color matter for the hair, and
II. -