Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-10

PROPRIETOR NOT IN.
Verdant Travelling Man Waits for Man
Long Since Among the Departed.
Long Afternoon Wasted Because lie Had Not
Intcrvil wed Business Directory.


y called the travelling nan. that YER
SAINT "kuss" VINO lights into your store,
tells you Il good story. fiftS with the
cashier. sells you a hill of goods and
catches the next train, is one of those
necessary refreshing evils that the
hustlirg business man could hardly get
along without. The travelling men of
today are on the whole Il pretty clever
set of Ephs. They are up against all
kinds oi people from the grouty pro-
prictor down to the boy who sweeps
out, and are us general thing pretty
SoCd Judges of human ma turc and can
lie 4 man up after the Queens taste.
Sometimes they fail to hit the bulls
eye. ring the bell and get the five-cent
cigar. Sometimes they weigh custom
or in tho balance and find him wanting
bit as a general thing they can tell
pretty near now much he VIII tip the
stillyards at
Some of the old timers on the road
have grown gray III the service. while
others are just shedding their swad
ding clottc and the great round
wcrld is all before them. \ close OBJ
"crver Of this class reveals the fact
tlttl lift tHG liisii anu tiiC
least experience he has had on the
road. the more he is apt to know. and
The young man VINO makes his first trip
out with the boys is frcshcr than new
paint and can give the uld-timcrS lots
of points on business that they never
knew or dreampt of. But a few trips
out in the cold world are sufficient to
round the corners off and shrink his
bump of knowledge SO lie can wear Il
smaller sized liat. Now and then = He
brew gets into the flock with the wares
that lit you like the paper on the
wall" Even he with his bump ot petri-
fed g2,i ard his windmill gestures
finds he is striking too rapid clip and
soon drurs back in the class where he
belongs.
The female drummer, the girl with
the auburn hair. is a new addition to
the travelling fraternity. and like the
old hen who Matched out the ducks. the
boys don't know what to make of her.
Whether she has come to stay or only
a temporary adjunct TO their circle.
one of those now fresh fiaxen haired
BOYS who had seen 20 odd summers
ana 4 few winters more or less. struck
the town the other day with bang.
ono could tell lie was fresh by his air.
His grip was 50 spandy new and clean
with no road marks that it did not
take a clairvoyant to tell that this was
his first trip into the wilds of woolly
Maine.
Theft rst place he lit on was an old
concern whose founder had long since
| been gathered to his fathers and Il new
yfrt
men were running the business, yet the
old familiar sign that had brought sc
much prosperity to the firm at IT'S start
was still over the door AS the late la
mented w. Shakespeare. Esq, so aptiS
said: What's in a name so we VII
| call this concern Blank & Co. fol
| short.
| The tcndcrfoot drummer with bolc
front approached one of the proprle-
tors and asked if Mr.. Blank was in
| The propri. tor said: Not at present.
| Would he sit down and wait. Offering
| him q stool. SO the drummer cdmpet
and waited and he had patience L
burn.
The busy proprietor and hustlin;
clerks went about their several dutie
| while the drummer waited and kept nj
weather eve ont fer the return of Mr.
HI,nl. expecting to see him every min
ute Eut strange to say. no MI Blani
oprcaved The afternoon slowly Wor
AWAY =. . ftcfnoonS will and the SUI
rot prctty wei down in the west whel
,hc drummer got a little restless an
again approached the proprietor am
injured if he expected Mr.. Biank II
SOM. The proprietor said he coul'
hardly tell. as Mr.. Blank had gone t
| rboleca and he didn't look for hin
much before Saturday. The knight
the grip gathered up his earthly pos
sc..ions ard waddlcd toward the door
said he guessed he wouldn't wait bu
would cali again OH his way back frof
nm country. And the the boy
laughed.
should this catch the eye of that sol
me, low travelling man it may give hit
.o.ro faint idea why he failed to sc
Mr.. Blank. ana the next time he tote
- er;p down in Maine it might be
~ond idea for him to take Gay OF
ana wander through the grave yard
and locate The abiding place Of fe'
, of the old firE;'s customers or bur
, ont a little midnight oil in pursuing
businces directory of vintage M
later than 1856