Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-02-23


tain you.
But you have come now near the end Of
your railroad travel I can tell by the
motion of the car that they are pulling the
patent brakes down The engineer rings
| the bell ut the crossing. The train stops.
| "All outl' cries the conductor. You dis
! mount from the train You reach tho
hotel. The landlord is glad to see you
very glad He stretches out his hand
across the registry book with all the dis
| Interested warmth OF brother You are
| assigned an apartment. In that uninvit-
ing apartment you stay only long enough
to make yourself presentable. You de-
scend then into the reading room, and
there you find the commercial travellers
sitting around long table with n great
elevation in the center covered with adj
vertisements, while there are inkstands
sunkcn in the bed of the table, and scat
tered all around rusty steel pens and
patches of blotting paper. OF course you
will not stay there. You saunter out
among the merchants. You present your
letters of introduction and authority You
begin business. Now, let me say, there
arc two or three things you ought to re
member. First, that all the trade you get
by the practice Of treating" will not stick.
II you cannot get custom except by tipping
wine glass with somebody, you had bet
ter not get his custom An old commercial
traveller gives as his experience that trade
got by treating" always damages the
house that gets it in one way or the other.
Practice sobriety.
Besides that, you cannot afford to injurc
yourself for the purpose of benehting your
employers. Your common sense tells yor
that you cannot get into the habit of tax
ing strong drink TO please others without
getting that habit fastened on you. | do
not know whether to tell it or not. |
think | will A close carriage came to the
door of my church in Brooklyn one night
at the close Of religious service. Some
one said, "A gentleman in that carriage
wants to see you" LOCKED into the car
| riago, and there sat rs fine - salesman and
as elegant a gentleman as New York ever
saw, but that night he was intoxicated.
He said he wanted to put himself under
my care. He said he had left home, and
he never meant to go back again got into
che carriage with him and rode with him
until after midnight, trying to persuade
; him to go home I have been scores OF
! times to Greenwood following the dead,
but that was the most doleful ride l ever
: took. After midnight / persuaded him to
go home. We alighted at his door. We
walked through his beautiful hall, his
wife and daughter standing back alright
ed at his appearance / took him to his
room / undressed him. l put him tc
bed. Where is that home now? All broken
up Where are the wife and the daugh
J ter? Gone into the desolations of widow
hood and orphanage. Where is the mar
HIMSELF Dead by the violence of his owr
hand. O commercial traveller, though
l your firm may give you the largest salary
U of any man in your line though they
might give you 10 per cent Of all you sell
c or 20 per cent or 90 per cent, or 80 pei
. cent, they cannot pay enough to make il
3 worth your while to ruin your soul. Be
= sides that commercial house never com
Il pcnsates "a man who has been moral,
u ruined in their employ. A young man il
Philadelphia was turned out from his EN-
ploy because of inebriation, got in tn,
i service OF the merchant who employed
[ him. and here is the letter he wrote to hi
r employer:
n ''Sr, l came into your service uncoc
G rupt in principles and in morals, but tn,
V rules of your house required me to spent
i my evenings at places of public entertain
@ ment and amusement in search of custom
k ers. To accomplish my work in your serv
l. ice l was obliged to drink with then
r and join them In their pursuits of pleas
s urc. 1t was not my choice, but the rule o
d Jhe house. ! went with them to the thea
(. ter and the billiard table but it was no
Il my choice. | did not wish TO go. l wen
st in your service. 1t was not my pleasure 81
J. to do, but l was the conductor and com
/ panion of the simple ones, void alike o
n understanding and Of principle in thci
10 sinful pleasures and deeds of deeper dark
z ness that | might retain them as you
1t customers. Your interest required it,
n have added thousands of dollars to til
i profits of your trade, but at what expens
h you now see, and know too we'll Yor
}. havo become wealthy, but l am poor in
,, deed. And now this cruel dismissal fror
$ your employ is the rccompense l Iecclv
l. for n character ruined and prospects blast
d ed in helping to make you rich man !!
|, Alas for the man who gets such lette
k as that!
Again, l charge you tell the who'll
1t truth about anything you sell. Lying con
z mcrcial travellers will precedc you. Lynn
e commercial travellers will come right afto
q you into the same store. Do not let thei
T. unfair competition tempt you from I'll
l. straight line. Ii is an awful bargain tht
l. Il man makes when he sells his goods an
IL his soul at the same time. A young ma
le in one of the stores of New York was sci
ing some silks, He was binding them Il
" when he said to the lady customer, at
IL my duty to show you that there is u frat
h ture in that silk She looked at it an
" rejected the goods. The head man of ii
III firm, hearing of it, wrote to the father
y. the young man in the country, saying
10 Come and take your son away. He wi
to never make merchant" The father can
at in agitation wondering what his boy ha
!" been doing, and the head men of the fir
Is said: why, your son stood here at tn
II, counter and pointed out fracture in Il
IS. silk, and of course the lady wouldn't tai
ed 1t. We are not responsible for the ign'
he rance Of customers. Customers must loo
v out for themselves and we look out fC
nd ourselves Your son will never make
a merchant. >" is that ALI" said the fathe
is "Ah! l am prouder of my boy than ey,
n, was. John get your hat and come home.
IL But it Is almost night, and you go baC
o. to the hotel. Now comes the mighty u
o for the commercial traveller. Tell IL
ok where he spends his evenings and WI
ne tell you where he will spend eternity, al
'er l will tell you what will be his world
p- prospects. There is an abundance
al choice. There Is your room with the book
n. There are the Young Mems Christian a
ed ISOLATION rooms. There are the WEI
n night services of the Christian churcht
nd There is the gambling saloon. There
the theater. There is the house Of infam
Plenty of places to go to. But which,