The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-05-18

There is not one thing which marked
the drummer" Of yesterday that may
be found with the high-salaried "trav-
eler" Of today.
But, holdl We are too fast. We
record beyond the truth. We write
that which past experience tells us
We cannot substantiate. For there is
one great characteristic which mark
ed the drummer" that may be found,
even now with the travelling man.
What is that one thing, do you ask?
Fear Of being the innocent cause Of
calling down the vengeance of an oft
fractured section Of the criminal code,
upon the heads of various, all and
sundry of the boys who travel and sell
by sample to the retail merchant prin-
ces, advises us to keep still upon this
subject, to give out no information.
Hence, we find our lips sealed, our
pen hand palsied.
But We may drop a hint, a word, a
smile which will prove, like the wink,
rs good as a nod to a blind horse And
that hint will be-Whenever the lad
from the wholesale house tarries in
your midst and seeks to while away the
tedious hours which intervene between
the completion of his days work in
your town and the coming Of the north.
breezes in and asks for permission to
"sit in,' cash your stack and walk
about town until the last fitting
glimpse of the red tail lights of the
train advises you that the traveller"
has journeyed onward.
For, with all other things eliminated,
you will find that the travelling sales
man of today, plays them just as close
to the table and holds them just as
surely before he bets, as ever did the
old time drummer, the fellow who
drank deeply and well in the days Of
auld lang syne.
But the commercial traveller" with
all his faults. with all his powers Of
conversation, with all his knack Of
telling improbable stories and swearing
to the truth, is one of the most potent
cogs in the great master-wheel Of the
nations financial progress He is af.
fable, agreeable, pleasing of address.
He is dynamic, in that he does more
than does any other individual toward
keeping at bay the wolves who howl
about disaster and hardtimes. He is
truthful and honest, selling you moth
ing under Misrepresentation. He Is
sober, because OF the Volstead act, and
because his job would not last these
days, were he to emulate the example
set by the drummer" of the bygone
days.
The old time drummer, how fondly
We of the older generation love and re-
we're his memory. how we'll do we re-
member the morning after" we had
tried to sit up with him till train time,
only to find ourself beneath the table
when the porter came around TO sweep
out and open up early in the morning
How pleasantly do we remember that
loquacious, hard-drinliing genial chap
that fellow of whom the Dutch dealer
in general groceries, canned and moist,
thought when he sang,
Who comes in ven | vas oudt,
Und drinks mine beer undt eats mine
kraut,
Und kiss Katrina in der mout?
Dot drummer"
SO here's to you old boy-you drum
mer Of the dim and misty days of the
long ago. Here's a health, drunk in
innocent and inoceous not very near
beer. Nere's your health, drank in
bubblng, scintllating Billy Bryan
cocktails. May your memory ever live,
green and eternal
And here's to the commercial trav.
eler Of today. Here's to the char who
sells the goods, who keeps the wheels
of commerce creased, who is optomis-
tic, who never hearkens to the howls
of the cayotte Of despair who rs al
ways a good fellow. a good business
man. Here's to the commercial travel.
jolly good fellow. that fellow
with a business head on his shoulders
and human heart in his breast. That
fellow who has secured credit extension
for many a small merchant and kept