Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-07-02

Are Discussed
BY Mrs. Wilson Woodrow

dGIOSS lAlC SOhllnclI ACii AAibO SOh-
versation with a middle-aged travel
ing salesman, who proved to have
interesting views on many subjects,
and who showed himself to be a
shrewd observer of men and things.
l told him that I envied him his
opportunities of studying human
nature.
One has to be up in psychol-
ogy, that's true" he replied, ''if one
wants to be a good salesman. Yet
why envy us on that account? In
one sense, all the worlds terri
tory and all the men and women
merely 'drummers.' Everybody has
his or her best line and is doing
think it's little better at the price
than the goods their competitors are
offering.
I'm trying it in my way. and
you in yours, and my wife, who is u
quiet, little home-body, is attempt
ing ii in hers. I'm her trade don't
YOU see, and her job IN life is to con-
vince me that l can't find as much
solid comfort, enjoyment and amuse-
ment anywhere on earth as is in that
little, old home of ours back East.
Some Emma McChesney' she is
"a it, too" he proudly opened his
watch case to show me the photo
graph of a pretty woman holding a
chubby baby. 1T would take a
mighty strong argument to make me
switch now from her brand of cof-
fee and buckwheat cakes.
With other women" he con-
-
is social position or admiration. or
a cause, or a job, or a husband,
and they work their 'iine'-whether
it be beauty, or intellect, or expert
erce, or capa bility-for all they are
worth in order to make a sale.
And men are just the same.
From the man with Presidential
bee in his bonnet to the peddler
with his pack on his back. we're
ali trying to put it over that ours
is the only geuine and undiluted
makes are rank counterfeits and not
worth buying at any price. Believe
me, there's many a good drummer
under the frock coats of our states
men, and a lot more among those
who never lifted a sample case and
wouldn't know an order slip if they
were introduced to it.
Like the salesman, too," he pur-
sued his metaphor, you'll find that
most people carry a side line. A
man on the road, you know, il he's
ir clothing, will often work haber-
dashery on the side. or If he's in
hardware, may also carry line of
drug store sundries. And the funny
part of it is that he'll frequently put
more enthusiasm and more effort
into that side line than he gives to
his regular job"
II can understand that" l finally
got chance to get in word, and
1 made the most of it. It's the
same principle that makes a child
Indifferent to his wholesome bread
and butter, while he centers his soul
upon cake. One represents to him
the humdrum monotony of everyday
existence. while the other stands for
luxury aud indulgence.
And that's what the side line rep
resents to the travelling salesman,
isn't 1.-THE addition to his income
which permits him to crafty certain
eXtravagant tastes and fancies? No
very subtle psychology about the
matter. Even baby will reach for
the sugar bowl"
II suppose you are right" he
agreed. THE side line is where the
heart is. I'll wager that if you To-
cate the thing which holds a mans
strongest interest, you will almost in
variably find that it is carried as
side line"
1 turned the matter over in my
mind for few minutes. and then
admitted that, so far at least as my
experience went, his assumption was
correct.
And isn't it very largely true?
The reporter as he plods on his
rounds is always dreaming of that
play or novel he has on the stocks.
The actor, as he moves through his
part, is dreaming of his farm and
calculating the price of hay. The
broker, as he watches the ticker, is
calculating the chances of the theat-
rical venture he is backing. The law
yer is considering his game CT golf.
Nor is it always for pecuniary re-
wards that the side lines are so
energetically pushed. More often
than not it is at distinct sacrifice
OF both money and comfort.
Take the sportsmen. Sir Thomas
Upton is a fair example. He has
made the recapture of the Americas
cup his side line. and to that one
object has devoted years of study
OF hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The political boss is usually re-
garded as one who is working for
his own pocket all the time: and
where this is true, it will be found
that he is generally less interested
in politics than in a racing stable,
o: in breaking into society. or some
other side line. But there are guam
titles of men with political interests
in this country which impoverish
rather than enrich them. and whose
only reward is abuse, loss of business
and the excitement of the game.
And so it goes. Men and women
will labor unthanked and unreward-
ed to boost along some cause or to
advance the success of some asso-
citation, club or organization with
which they are connected.
But there's a reason. an instinc-
tive one Our fads are our safety
valves. In amusing ourselves with
them we are blindly but surely obey
ing the first law of life. self-preser-
yation. A lot of the nervous break
downs are due to prolonged concen-
tration on ones work. The side lines
are very often life lines. The people
who never take their minds off their
daily task. who live with it and eat
with it and sleep it, are the ones
who snap under the strain.
We Americans know far too little
of the art of relaxation. And by
relaxation / don't mean lolling about
in rocking chairs or throwing ones
self determinedly upon a couch with
the desperate intention of relaxing
ones mind and body even if one has
TO die doing it. True relaxation