The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-04-21

cnanBo III my health. Ono of the con-
tributors brought mo curious article.
it being history of trousers, past and
| present. l threw the article into tho
| wastcbasl1et and camo near breaking
with the unlucl1y author.
Just rs was about to arrange nv
business for long vacation, having de-
cided to mako sea VOYAGE and travel
i'll foreign lands, where my nightmare
would not appear to haunt mo-the
highlands of Scotland, for instance, or
i'll central Africa-the office boy-ho
wore fresh pair of trousers-ushered
Domare into my presence with tho most
profound Difference without oven an
nouncing him.
AT the first glance / saw that ho wore
n hitherto unpublished" pair of trou-
scrs OF course l expected that, but
what considered us n sudden aggrava-
ton OF my malady was that he wore
new coat. If coats were going to mix
themselves with trousers In my poor sick
brain, there was nothing left for me but
to arrange the details of my funeral
With haggard face, I pointed to
chair.
"Old man, " said he, knowing that
SOu toho tLl lltjreSG Ill TIC, nave come
to tell you good news. I am engaged
permanently as financial editor of The
Gazette So wo are coworkers Congrat-
ulatc me-"
murmured some feeble words of fe-
licitation.
Il owo you some explanation of my
prosperity i'll the last few months" he
added You remember the day Dor
rowcd the louis from you and returned
it the same evening? I told you at the
time it was for n daisy financial stroke
Now that my self interest docs not COM
pei me to keep the professional secret, I
will tell you all. 1t is pretty byplay
i'll metropolitan life, No, my boy, 1
have not assassinnted any old woman
who was incunbcred with rent roll I
have not been adopted by an elderly heir
ess l have sold no political secret nor
pillaged an embassy. Ihave simply been
dealer i'll trousers
AT the last word I bounded to my
feet There was my nightmare again
Calm yourself" said he, land lis
ten:
Tho day before 1 made the demand
upon your purse happened to he pres
ent ut the first days sale ut auction of
an immense stock of new goods from
bankrupt custom made clothing concern
The programme for the succeeding days
was the sale of 10, 600 pairs of trousers
There We're few at the sale the necessity
of taking the goods by lots, on account
of the great quantity, shutting out
worklncn and the class of persons who
wear such garments. I remarked that
the trousers in lots of 10 cost about 3
francs each.
'By dire experience know that the
pawnbroker lends upward of francs on
pair of trousers i'll good condition.
The thing to do was plain enough to be
seen. With your louis bid off lot of
10. Soon after fastened TO the pawn
shop, where l offered three pairs l en-
countercd an obstacle the first thing
They do not lend on ulworn garments
l argued my case with such eloquence,
representing that l had worn the trou-
sers, but that l was very careful of my
clothes, that l gained my point Of
course I could prove that was not u
tailor seeking to dispose of my stock
took two other lots of 10 at intervals
during the day, keeping the tenth pair
for myself. l received over dollar
apiece for them SO you sec it was q
pretty good days transaction.
''Thc next day bid off two lots, and
profiting by my experience passed the
day and part of the night in wearing
the trousers, putting on one pair after
another can assure you it was back
breaking. l then conceived the idea OF
having others wear them for me, and
t1midly at first, but soon boldly enough,
| lent the garments day by day to Your
boys, toyour clerks and to many others,
asking nothing in return but discretion.
l told them that l needed to have actual
proof of their quality, as they were
made i'll great numbers in my shop for
shipment to South America AS my
business increased perfected my meth
DDS. l employed agents to dispose of the
trousers. I bought IA many as 60 some
days
'All went well SO long rs the source
| Of my prosperity remained undiscovered
One day scented danger. One Of my
| agents found out by the mark Oh the
buttons where the goods came FROM and
he bought lot Of 10. I did not hesitate
| q moment.
Il hunted up the receivers of the
stock. told them that there were 3, 900
pairs of trousers unsold; that the 1000
pairs already sold Il had bought $1,000
had ovcrstockcd the buyer, and hence the
present price could not hold. 1t would
be wiser to sell them all at once In
conclusion, offered them 5000 francs
for the lot of 5000. The deal was closed,
and so all attempts at competition were