Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-03-10
WHERE SHE FAILS.
The Woman Drummer Is Clever, but She
Can't Take a Drink.

Uni 1hke d Dr1nk.
The woman drummer has been
abroad in the land for number of
yea1s, but no wall seems to go up
from the legitimate knight of the
grip. He doesn't, like some of his
brothers, cry out that women are
robhing him of employment, lower
ing salaries and making havoc gen
orally. His self satisfaction is still
as conspicuous as his scarfpin, and
nothing but a Cheshire cat could
equal his radiant smile. The fact
is he feels quite serene. His posi-
ton is impregnable, and he knowsit
Of course there are sporadic cases
of the woman drummer, but there
is no danger Of an epidemic. A good
many women are on the road sell
ing light lines of goods, laces,
gloves, yelling, things that can be
handled in small sample cases, but
when it comes to heavier goods a
woman is at disadvantage. She
hasn't the strength to handle the
samples and do the packing. One
large dry goods house in New York
has saleswoman who travels as far
west as Portland and San Francisco
and has made splendid record, but
she has man with her as assistant.
He attends to the packing and all
that side of the work, and she fur
nishes the brains. That makes
good combination, but there is no
use in hiring two people to do one
good mans work, and it is cheaper
to send out a man with strength
plus brains.
'We have tried putting women on
the road, y said the junior partner
of a prosperous New York house,
''but we have given it up. They
talked well, and they knew their
goods, but we found that they did
not impress the trade favorably,
particularly in the small towns.
Then they couldn't stand the work.
They hadn't the strength to put up
with the life as men do. One strikes
pretty rough living in some little
places, especially in the west, and it
takes an ostrich to digest the food
and a pachyderm to sleep in the
beds at some of the hotels. Of
course there's good deal of hard
travelling on poor trains, and wom-
an feels that more than man. You
see, she can't hunt up jolly fellow
in the smoker and put in the time
swapping yarns and playing cards.
"Then it seems to play the deuce
with a woman's nerves to be ever
lastingly catching trains. Why,
there was one nice girl who travelled
for a Chicago house two years ago.
She sold lots of goods too. Her en-
ployer Dragged to me about her
when he was down here and said
she was worth any two men he had
out. This winter he came on again,
and one day when we were lunching
together he asked me if ! remem-
bered about the girl who travelled
for him. said I did, and he told
me that she went along all right for
nearly year and never complained
about anything; said she liked the
work and had her salary raised
twice. Then, one day last spring,
the firm got word from hotel man
in Denver that she was very i'll there
at his hotel. They sent her sister
out to her; but, do you know, that
girl had gone completely to pieces
all of a sudden. Hermind has been
wrong ever since, and the queer
thing about it is that she is always
wild about catching some train and
making connection. She doesn't
rave about anything else. Isuppose
that was one of the things that wore
on her nerves most, and it stuck in
her mind.
"You see, that story goes to prove
what I've been saying that women
haven't the physical endurance for
the road business.
Just at that moment vision be-
hind red tie and diamond scarf
pin drifted into the office.
That's one of our travelling
men, said the member of the firm.
johnson, here's reporter who
wants to know something about the
women who do your work better
than you do
The smile spread. "Bless their
hearts!" said johnson, with airy
good nature. 'They re all right, only
they belong somewhere else! We
don't need to worry about their tax
ing our jobs. They can talk, and
they are clever, but they can't line
up at bar and take drink with a
customer, and there's no selling
goods at profit if you leave out
that ceremony New York Sun.
Fatal Hesitation.
Miss Cuddlethwaite-If you could
have avarvthinu vo,, wont in +l,;e