Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-12-10
ENTER THE MAIL ORDER BUSI-
NESS.

With $50 in real money in my
pocket made my way to another city,
conserving all Of this great wealth. for
to me it was such, by saving railroad
fare. l rode in box car all the way
and had $50 left when I decided that
l had travelled far enough.
I didn't know the name of the city
where I disembarked, nor did I care
to know. 1t was all sufficient that
had escaped from the man who had
abused and overworked me. He had
charged me for the oil I used in the
lamp at nights when I lay hidden be-
hind the grocery counter and studied
my books, for that was my one pas
sion-to learn something. And I had
learned, both from him and from the
books.
1t was early on Monday morning
when walked up the street leading
from the freight yards into the bust
ness part of the city. My S29 lay
snug in my pocket. Out in front of
dingy little store stood a son Of Abra-
ham, stretching his arms and blink
ing. He had just set out for display a
variety of clothing, more or less worn,
and this set me to thinking.
My clothes, of the cheapest, had
been sadly mussed and torn during
the railroad journey. I intended to
look for a job, not in q small place,
but in big one, if l could get it,
and my boyish mind conceived the
thought that job could be more
easily obtained if were well dressed
I sauntered up to the display and
looked at a suit that seemed Just
about my size.
GOOD mornick," said the clothier,
can sell you somedink?"
Anything to fit me?" l asked.
"Shurely," he replied, and Selling
me by the arm he led me into his
shop. The goods were secondhand,
but this made no difference to me-
He fitted me with a suit, shoes, hat,
socks, handkerchiefs, shirts and I'M
derwear, all of which l tried on, even
to the shirts, to see if they fitted
me perfectly. The suit was we'll made,
of good cloth and had a stylish look.
He even took down from a shelf a fair
appearing valise, imitation leather, of
course, but l did not know the differ
ence.'
DE whole outfit for vifteen dollars, +"
he said, as he beamed a broad smile
How startled l was! What a lump
Of money it seemed! I began to take
off the suit in a hurry. This would
never do, to spend so much money
But the look on his face was one of
despair. He saw, that 1 was deter
mined and as I took off one garment
after another he began to take the
dollars off his price. Before many
minutes he was down to 81, while
was down to-welI, never mind
was satisfied with the price and peid
it.
Dressed in taste and good clothing,
| started on my quest after job.
Many rebuffs did I 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!
1t was four days before l landed a
place. And it was not in a big store,
either. 1 was directed to a place
where a young man" was wanted,
through the kindness of a hardware
dealer.
Yes, was hired at SIS week. went
to work in a small room on the Sec
floor Of io hui 7
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 ut
frequent intervals with an associate
as to the addresses which he should
write on the labels. Then he took
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 I 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. It was rewritten dozen times
before being acceptable to the bosses,
and also to myself, for I had taken a
hand in its preparation and had sug-
gested one or two phrases, which they
seemed to think added to its force.
The letter read something like this:
TO The Express Agent,
GAINESVILLE, MINI.
Dear Sir
Some time ago we shipped a watch to