The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-09-17
THE REDWOOD GAZETTE.
BY AIKEN E. SCHMAHL.
THURSDAY, SEPT. II, 1896.
A LADY DRUMMER.
Submits to an Interview Under
Clerk MCCa11'S Diamond.

Clerk MCCd11s Diamond.
1t was handsome little figure that
fitted across the lobby of Hotel Fran
co.'s only few days ago. She was OF
medium heighth, short and slender.
and was clad in a Hastily appearing
tailor. made gown. She was a deep
brunette with the darkest eyes imag-
Unable and hair of that black that is
envied by the fair sex. A business
determinate expression was on her
brow.
She was q woman drummer She
represented an Eastern house and she
was here to sell goods. Before she
left town she accomplished her mis-
sion and had passed on to the next.
The woman drummer is now a per-
manent fixture in the American COM
mercial life and she now packs her
grips or trunks and comes and goes
with almost as mucn suavity as the
male members of the commercial fra
ternity. She enjoys the respect of the
communities through which she trav-
els and while she is not as good a
story-teller as the man, yet, she has a
way of unraveling narrative in an
interesting manner and when the buy
or listens to her he can hardly resist
her pressing invitation to buy. She
is serious in her profession, and as the
brunette lady at Hotel Francois gives
evidence, she handles huge trunks for
business only.
A GAZETTE reporter had little chat
with this member of the commercial
fraternity. 1t all drifted back to the
time when the first woman drummer
made her appearance and up to the
present time" She thought it mite
hard to say who among the women
has been longest on the road but she
referred to newspaper clipping in
which two lay claim to the honor, one
being Mrs. Kate Nj. Green, who light
ems the burden of womankind by sell
ing washboards for an Evansville, Ind,
house; the other is Miss Zindel. The
latter has met with great pecuniary
success in selling shell goods. Those
who are uninitiated so far as woman
drummers go, must not think for an
instant that they handle a line OF
goods suitable only for women. They
carry everything from chewing gum
up to machinery. Miss Zindel has
been on the road for decade, travel,
ling all over the United States. As
an example of her success, it is said
that in 1894 she sold 100000 worth OIL
goods, and that wasn't good bust
ness year, either This gives an idea
of woman's capacity for doing such
work.
Undoubtedly the youngest woman
on the road is mere slip of a girl liv.
ing in Florence, S. @. She is nothing
more than a child, with all of child's
pretty unconscious ways, and yet she
has covered thousands of miles and
made enough money to support an al
most helpless family since she was Il
years of age, three years ago. He1
name is Ellen Caddelle-J. Ellen Cad
dele she has signed herself since she
has assumed the dignity of lady
drummer" as she calls herself.
When she quietly announced one
day that her family was in great need
and that weekly paper had offered
to engage her to travel in her State
which offer she intended to accept, the
people in the little town where she
lives fell back and fairly gasped
South Carolina was an aristocracy be-
fore the war and it hasn't succeeded
in getting the stiffness taken out Of
its back yet. The men there especial.
ly in the lower part of the State, DOM
like the idea of a woman's doing any
kind of work and of all things or
earth they would consider drumming
a business in which she could not en-
gage. A woman had much better &C
hungry than engage in business, &C
cording to the doctrines which have
been instilled in these sons of aristocra
tic fathers. But little Ellen Caddellt
didn't think that way, and she ISM
a new woman either. She didn'
know anything about the complexities
of life which trouble so many wome1
nowadays, and she didn't care whethe
it was intended that women should
work or not. She knew that her faith
or and mother we're both invalids, ant