The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-02-07
TnIALs or A mEncnANr.
On the Experience Of clerk ln a Coun.
try store,

W. VIII NiNhN NiliH MHNNFtiNM ON NlH QUE
start that ihe retail merchant has more
trials. and they como thicker and faster. \
than does any man or woman la amy other /
Iayooation % life. Ills employment aclu /
] ally proves ihe above tD Doe facts.
Now % illustrate. Az n rule most |
/ people believe Die merchant 90 be- dis |
honest First, they think when be sells |
an article his per cent. reaches an the
way from go 10 300, while ON lho other
hand his accounts never fan due or. in
other words, his goods cost him scarcely
ANYTHING, and he has DIS own time tn
/ which Co pay for them. But such ia not
/ the clse bis accounts must be paid more
promptly than those who work un the
/ farm
The merchant makes DIS accounts Tor
only so and go days while the farmer has
usually 365 and some times more hence,
the difference, and still some Of as far
mers cell the merchant O. rascal ana q
score Of other hard names.
Now. we will admit the merchant al-
ways shows thp customer the bright side
of the picture, but what iihe does2 This
is only human nature. Think for o mo-
ment. Isn't 10 quite natural for us, when
We have anything for sale or exchange,
20 show aud tell an the good qualities,
leaving of the bad ones? Our answer
naturally isin the affirmative.
The retail merchants position necessi-
tates his dealing with most all classes Of
people, and, Of course, some are very
pleasant 10 deal with, while many are
the reverse. Yes, we will say 10 again,
many are the reverse.
The FIRST one among whom he deals
and who mostly impresses us, is the Gus.
toner who thinks his money is worth
more than any one else They seem 10
think the merchant should sell them goods
at cost and pay the freight as "booty, or
sell them goods at a very close margin
and be quite liberal with his throw ms"
= Such customers, as n rule, buy 25 cents
worth OF goods and want yen 10 give them
a box worth 80 cents 20 carry them home.
The next we would mention are those
familiar" fellows, who seem 10 know
. more about the merchants business than
does the merchants himself Why, he
even gets so familiar" that he goes be-
> hind your counters TO make his selections
I and argues with you about the cost of
q goods, when in reality his knowledge is
u
! pass through the country and no more.
In mentioning them it would be well to
T. mention the 'lounger," or "bOx whit
+ Ter, " for naturally he deserves conspicu-
= GUS place among them. Now, the ioun-
:. ger comes to town SIX days in the week and
Sunday for q change, and of course his
e face soon becomes very familiar to the
merchant and he is remembered by SOM
thing like this; When he come to the
door, rs a matter OF politeness, he ask him
nand continuing asks HIM to take a seat,
L bat his reply is something Of this order
mo, am jest lookin' around to see
Y what you fellers hev get. How do you
sell coffee hereW
+ "Four and five pounds to the dollar
: why, ken beat that over there at that
l. store on the corner"
g "Nery well. that's the place to buy"
"We-we-we well bu-bu- bu-but he's oul
: now"
So naturally I'VE conclude we have hem.
d med him up in one of Josh Billing "Sil.
: verplated Truths" But this same fellow
has not left you by any means, nor does
: he leave till he has shown you how hit
q new ten cent barlow knife win coil the
It shayings off q Axe goods box lid and cui
J. port holds" in the sides. Now, he must
rest after all this, so he measures his
v length on the counter, where, OF course
i he will be most in the way, and with his
l. small pedals Casually No 9's) he carries
+ from 2 to 3 pounds Of mother earth ONLY
:, to be left for you to brush off and sweer
= out. Now, the afternoon is drawing to &
: close, and he bids you adieu by saying
/. u mus be gwine," Yes, and by this
time the merchant will gladly excuse hin
and is not sorry either if he don't come
y back next day.
u Now, last, but by no means least, comes
It that "hard-time" fellow, who goes arounC
II with a "camel-hump" on his back and
;. jake grim frown on his face saying, 81
- never seed SIGH hard times in my life
J, money is mighty scase, | tell you; the
, laborin' class is gwine to rise up and de
- mand their rights and git relief if it takes
I the musket to do it, and he goes on by
= saying that he can't sell anything he ha!
u got for the money, and the merchant il
n squeezing" him to death to settle his az
count, So the merchant gets sorry fo
I him, and proposes to take anything h,
has to settle his account. On inquiry
- Mr.. "Hard-times" has no horses or cows
/ nor in fact anything to sell with which t.
" bring him money even at the "hard-time'
e prices. But after all this he does not for
- get to tell you about the scandalous wa
u the Republicans are DONG how the Dem
os ocratic leaders have betrayed the party
J. his views ON free silver, to bemean tn
gold standard, what Congress should dc
the tariff bill as found by Republca
House, the PRESIDENT message, the Yer
ezuelan question. and many other thing
,o which in reality he knows very litti
e about. All Of which would try the .,
III tence Of Job of Old, much less an ord
RI nary merchant. But such are only a fe
st of the many trials Of this same man-th
of retail merchant.
;e Now, in conclusion, we wish to sa
10 that if those who devote so much of the
Il time to talking "hard.times," the actio
tn of Congress, the political parties, and IL
IT, monetary system, along with foreign a