Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-22
XIuI

NLIII
TNIIANk goodness! I've made a real
Il sale at last. was beginning TO
think that the Climax Collection Of
American Literature was hopeless, I
had been plugging hard all morning
without any success at ALL As l came
out of a lunchroom [ met Swivel
Well young man" he said, "how
many orders have you taken this morn
ing?"
! Don't be funny" I snapped II
don't think anybody sells them"
/ His eyes narrowed for a moment
/ Then he took me by the arm and said
/ 81 want you to walk back In the office
with me-"
| In a few minutes was sitting in his
| little cubby hole of an office and looking
at the orders he had received for the
last week-more than forty OF them
Every one OF the statesmen had sold
some sets except me
"Oh, well, those fellows have good
leads. You are giving them all the
good sets to work on"
Walt a minute. my young friend"
said Swivel you don't think much
Of the Climax set. do your"
Frankly. | didn't think much of It.
They seemed To me pretty dry reading
and | could hardly imagine any one
being fool enough to buy them, 1 told
Swivel this in so many words
lie was silent for minute and then
sud: "Do you know the story of tho
n,t. .
anything about Ponce dc Leon? Have
you read Mark Twain's Jumping
F'rog'?"
He picked out n dozen such stories
as this from the set. lie told me the
history of them. He made me realize
as ! never did before just what lit
erlture really meant Literature sim
ply means bully good stories written
by well-known persons. lie showed me
, production of the manuscript of one
OF Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories. lie
told something about the life of Edgar
Allan Poe. never knew anything
E about that man before Within a half
. an hour | was so enthused over the
set that l had quite different att.
f.. tudc toward 1t Swivel evidently no.
, ticed the change. for he said:
"fou think better of the set now
3. don't you?"
' why. yes" answered. somewha,
l. FrudEingly | must admit But you
/. didn't tell me all that before, and while
2 n lot of it is in the selling canvass, II
, sounded pretty dry--I suppose it sounded
, dry because | had been reading it over
, so much"
Cant you imagine what help thi.
would be in every homer" continued
4 Swivel. Don't you think we would
he doing SprNipe hu
: about this remarkable set of books Her,
:; you are" He opened u drawer in hi.
: desk. picked over "A lot OF leads, ant
:. passed one over to me from Mrs
South of Alton. suburb of Boston
! This woman is interested in the set
!; Go and see her and find out what yo,
!. can do with her"
! Well went to the house and Mrs
. South asked me to step inside and sh,
thanked me for calling, because she wa,
Z interested In some good literature fol
!. her two young dlughters, | told heI
I all that Swivel had been telling me
!. and say. she sat up and took notice
+ and in less than half an hour I wa.
I on the way back TO the office will
! a signed order and a check In full
a attached. She bought the $40 set. ant
: as 1t was a cash order, l got 25 pei
. cent commission.
:. When | arrived at the office Swive
1 said: "You got the order. / suppose?"
l. "Yes, SIR" and / handed it over L
, him.
AS he took II he said, "You can't sci
b anything unless you have confidence II
, it," Then as he noticed 1t was onl,
!. the $40 set he added. You could jus
J. as easily have sold her the $50 set
couldn't you?"
"Of course" / had never though
e. of that. / was so satisfied to be abl
q to sell any kind of set that neve
b. thought of the benefit of selling tn
4 higher-priced ones. Still, $l2.25 ism
!; bad for one days work."