Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-05-07
PEDDLERS AND PATIENCE.
job Never Met Real Test-Bobcats,
Hedgehogs and Foxes.

]
Hedgehogs and Foxes.
(By A. T. Nrllken)
Job, of bible fame, is known
! throughout the Christian world as
/ the man of patience. Afflicted with
/ boils, toothache and all the other
/ aches and pains, not word of pro-
/ family, not word of complaint, ever
fell from the lips of this man Job.
But Job knew nothing about the
modern peddler. If he had, his
reputation would have been diff
ferent.
My experience with peddlers is like
this: The first to arrive in the morn
ing was the apple-tree peddler. He
talked forty minutes; told me that |
had one of the best soils for growing
apples he had ever seen; said that
apples trees seemed to be indigenous
to the soil in this particular spot.
/ Gndigenous-ano word added to
my vocabulary.
The next was a solemn-faced man
taking subscriptions for farm
paper. He was the bluntest man for
peddler I've ever seen. do you
want a paper, old man." he asked.
NO" said /. That ended it; he dis
appeared.
The next was a lightning-rod
agent. He was a city-bred chap, well
/ dressed and a good talller. 1t re-
/ quired just thirty minutes for him to
! speak his piece He did it well,
| This lightning-rod man said that l
/ was likely to be killed during the
summer if I didn't have rods on the
I buildings. He said that rods les
sened the danger mo rods for me. -
/ | said during thunder storms is the
only time that my wife shows any at
lection for me.
Next was a man selling pigs, lie
said that they were chester white,
and that it was the only breed that
had that peculiar twist in the tail,
+ He said, in a very impressive way,
that they were we'll bred and had
descended from a long line of thor
oughbred ancestors; that these pigs
were the aristocrats of the swine
family. Aristocracy no longer APP
peals to me. Give me the common
herd This applies to man as well
as beast. Like Jack London, l favor
the ground floor" of society.
The next to appear was a man sell
ing stocks and bonds; then a woman
canvassing for book, entitled The
Life and Struggles of Bald-Headed
man. " There have been more ped
dlers per square acre this spring than
ever before. It's almost impossible
for me to get time to attend to my
political work
1t is very likely that my maiden
speech in the Senate will be on the
bob-cat law. This law requires the
State to pay a bounty of ten dol
lars on bobcats killed in Maine.
don't object to this, but we are pay
ing a bounty on all bobcats killed in
eastern Canada. This isn't fair
believe in Judge Taft's Canadian
reciprocity ideas, but this is too one
sided.
We paid a bounty on hedgehogs
few years ago. Canada flooded
the market. There hasn't been any
demand for hedgehogs since, The
State appropriated $4,000 for the
bounty. 1t cost $40, 900, You see, il
was a poor guess, One hundred and
sixty thousand of these tree girdlers
were butchered. The man who
fathered this bill hasn't been heart
of since.
The last legislature repealed the
fox law. l was glad it did, but
see now that it worked a terrible
hardship on some. This law re-
quired the State to pay for all do
nestle fowl killed by foxes. This
was the handiest law ever invented
Some men took advantage of it
After the hens had stopped laying il
the fall these people either sold OIL
ate their hens, and then brought il
bill for hens killed by foxes
These claims were always paid. If {
mans wife needed new hat or he
wanted to make contribution to the
minister, he made out bill for hens
killed by foxes.
1t was a handy way for to pay
taxes, too. Any man who couldn
pay his taxes under that law, ough
to be sent to West Pownal. That's
the place for him. The number o
delinquent taxpayers has doubled
since that fox law was repealed
The hen business hasn't paid since
either. We need that law again.
Ever since the founding of tn