The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-12-16
Confessions ST a
Mail Order Man
BY Mr.. N. o. x
Revelations by One Whose Experienced In
the Business Covers q Range From
Once Boy to General Manager
ENTER THE MAIL ORDER BUsI-
NESS.

With $50 in real money in my
pocket I made my way to another city,
conserving all Of this great wealth. for
to me it was such, by saving railroad
fare. I rode In a box car all the way
and I had $29 left when I decided that
l had travelled far enough.
l didn't know the name Of the city
where l disembarked, nor did l care
to know. 1t was all sufficient that |
had escaped from the mar who had
abused and overworked me. He had
charged me for the oil l used in the
lamp at nights when I lay hidden be-
hind the grocery counter and studied
my books, for that was my n pas
sion-to learn something. And I had
learned, both from him and from the
tbooks.
It was early on Monday morning
fwhen \ walked up the street leading
ffrom the freight yards Into the bust
neas part Of the city. My S2s lay
rnus Ia my pocket. Out in front of a
fdinsyt1If stood a son Of Abra-
ham 8kt6fchdiz mis- arms and blink
ihg. III sdst6stsst out for display a
variety 81 Hire or less worn,
and thiaas me- 30 thinking.
my SiDthss, o&5@echeapest, had
been saAiyssnl65Gk khdStorn during
the railfgad Journey Intended to
look for aa5ob, not M small place,
but in q Big one, II IScould get it,
and my boyish mind conceived the
thought that a Job could be more
easily obtained II I were well dressed.
l sauntered up to the display and
looked at a suit that seemed. just
about my size.
Good mornick," said the clothier,
"can I sell you somedink!"
Anything to fit me?" 6 skedt
"Shurely," he replied, and sefsing
me by the arm he led me into his
shop. The goods we're secondhand,
but this made, no difference to. me.
He fitted me with q suit, shoes, hat,
socks, handkerchiefs, shirts and un-
derwear, all Of (which / tried on, even
to the shirts, to see Afssthsy fitted
me perfectly. The suft5WasS ven made,
Of good cloth and had a stylish look.
He ever took down from a shelf a fair.
appearing valise, imitation leather, OF
course, but I did not know the differ.
ence."
"De whole outfit for vifteen dollars"
he said, as he beamed a broad smile.
How startled I was! What a lump
Of money 1t seemed! began to take
of the suit in a hurry. This would
never do, to spend 81 much money.
But the look on his face was n OF
despair. He saw that / was deter
mined and as I took of n garment
after another he began to. take the
dollars off his price. Before many
minutes he was down to 81, while ]
was down to-well, never mind
was satisfied with the price and paid
It. ~
Dressed in taste and good clothing,
I started on my quest after a job.
Many rebuffs did / receive. I realized
that there were other boys from the
country in the city after jobs. Good
gracious, how they have increased
since that time, too!
It was four days before I landed a
place. And it was not In a big store,
either. I was directed to a place
where q young man" was wanted,
through the kindness Of a hardware
dealer.
Yes, I was hired at S. a week. / went
to work in a small room on the Sec
ond floor of a big building. I packed
100 watches in wooden cases and the
new boss took these cases and pasted
labels on them. He had an express
guide at his elbow and conferred at
frequent intervals with an associate
as to the addresses which he should
write on the labels. Then he took a
rubber stamp, something I had never
seen before, and stamped the letters
&c. o. D." on each package.
I observed that there were no or
ders for these watches. We sent out
hundreds Of them, day after day, a
careful record being kept of them, the
name and address. No letters came
to the Office and no money came in
except as the mysterious associate
turned over money for my salary.
This went on for weeks, and l had not
supposed that there were so many
watches in the whole world.
Finally we finished this part of the
work. Then we commenced again at
the beginning with the list Of the
names and addresses to which the
watches had been sent. A letter was
prepared carefully and with great seri.
BUSINESS. 1t was rewritten a dozen times
before being acceptable to the bosses,
and also to myself, for l had taken a
hand in it's preparation and had sug.
gested one or two phrases, which they
seemed to think added to it's force.
The letter read something like this:
To The Express Agent.
GAINESVILLE, MINI.
Dear Sir
Some time ago we shipped a watch to
John Smith Of your town, express charges
c.. O.. D. The value of the watch Is SIS
and John Smith paid us a deposit Of $3.50,
agreeing to remit the balance as per bill
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