The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-11-05
THE HONEST FARMER.


x.
the Piano Drummer.
STalk all you want to about the
bEnco steerers and other sharpers of
tSiy metropolis" remarked a drummer
ti'l, other evening at downtown hotel
~ Star reporter, but some of the
sL1ptpest of the sharps are to he found
N Iue country. Out among the fields
anrse,S;ambs and sheep and other inno-
ceneifhings, don't you know"
rats because you don't expect to
hneyrpch sharpness among the rurals, -
aXnehaed the reporter, who was born
an&ie iised in the country, and didn't
Iikexanno see his fellow-countrymen Ii
belestdi.
Expecting it or not" insisted the
drummer, 1.-The sharpness is there, just
The same, and it is just as sharp. For
instance" and the drummer fixed him
self for longer heat, "some years ago,
when l was u drummer in pianos, II!
tell you what an experience had. Our
house was one of the big ones, with an
advertisement in every newspaper in
the country, and the way we sold pianos
was caution to snakes"
'Also a tip to alleged business men
who don't ADVERTISE" interrupted the
reporter.
Your also is sustained" said the
1rqpmer, and proceeded: "As L was
SAYING, we sold pianos right and left,
l-71S, as might be expected, we picked
up a bad customer at frequent inter
walls. One of these had got a $500 piano
on small spot cash payment, bal
lnce monthly, on the strength of a
farm we thought was his, also on his
general reputation, which up to this
time had been as good as anybody's il
the community"
Like Ewes in the garden?" ventured
the reporter.
Exactly" smiled the drummer. IF
the devil had not tempted that hitherto
exemplary female she would have come
through in good shape, and just so with
our customer. A $500 piano was more
than he could stand, and he went down
before it. After his first payment he
failed to respond, and we waited as
long as was our practice, and then sent
word to him 10 return the piano, as per
contract. In due time the piano box,
in as good trim as when we sent 1t,
came back, and we put it i'll stock. a
month later it was shipped to another
customer and we heard from it soon
to the effect that there wasn't any
IL ! In l,, lN,Nx- IAT
with pieces of wood and iron of about
the pianos weight, and wedged solidly
into the box. Ordinarily we would not
have been so careless, but we were
rushing things, and had to neglect de-
tails. Now we had to make up for
that neglect, and went after our buncC
friend in the country. He lived 200
miles away, and at a short distance
from the small town to which we had
shipped the piano, which was on the
railroad. Well, I got there one morn
ing about II o'clock, and, tackling the
first driver [ saw, | asked him if he
could take me to Jim Peters place. He
was a nice, honest-appearing sort OF a
chap, and he told me Jim had moved
to another place, about 20 miles away
f6nd that | could only get there by drlV-
ing over five miles to another road and
90 ahead on that to Jim's station.
paid him a dollar to drive me over, and
he told me. as | had never seen Mr.
Peters, to ask anybody, and he would be
pointed out, as everybody knew him
The station where he caught the train
was only crossing, and my driver
tagged the accommodation, the CON
ductor nodding Familiarity to him as
got aboard. AS the train moved off my
driver drove brisltly away, and when
the conductor came around ten minutes
later, | asked him if he knew jim
Peters, and he almost topped over on
me in his surprise. Why-why, he
stammered, that was Jim Peters drlY'
ing YOU Then it occurred to me that
the piano card on my satchel had given
me away, and Mr.. Peters had done the
rest. We tried to get the piano again,
continued the drummer, but we lost
all trace of it, and finally gave it up
and Mr. Peters, | presume, went Will
t.'-Washington Star.