Twenty Years of Hus'ling
Albert came to our house while we were living at the old homestead on
the farm, when he was but a small boy. He was an orphan, and had left a
farmer living a few miles away, whom he had lived with for some time.
The night he came there I happened home from one of my speculative
trips, and after talking with the lad, asked my folks what they were
going to do with him. They said he could stay over night, and after
breakfast they would send him on his way rejoicing.
I urged them to let him stay, convinced that he would be of great
assistance on the farm. They concluded to give him a trial, with the
satisfactory result as stated above.
If the reader will pardon me more for digressing from the subject, I
will here relate a little incident that occurred on the day of Albert's
arrival in the city. It only goes to show how the average young man will
wriggle and tax his brain in order to get out of a tight box.
It often afforded us much amusement when narrating it, as being his
initiation into the great city of Chicago. He had written me in answer
to my letter, that he was ready to start at any time; and as I had
received an invitation to attend a ball to be given in the city on the
South Side on a certain day, I wrote him to be on hand at that time and
I would meet him.
By this time I had begun selling goods on credit, and very often run a
little short for cash; and it so happened that in this particular
instance I arrived in the city at seven o'clock in the evening, with
less than five dollars in my pocket with which to visit the barber, and
pay for our suppers and tickets for the ball.
He had written me that he would have about seventy-five dollars cash,
and I felt perfectly secure to start out with him, knowing I could
borrow till I could raise it the next day and pay him back.
At the ball we met a couple of young ladies, daughters of a gentleman I
had become acquainted with; and as he and his wife were talking of going
home early and taking the girls with them, we suggested that they leave
them in our care and we would escort them home later.
This was agreed to all around, and about two o'clock, when ready to
leave, I said to Albert:
"Let me have five dollars to pay for a carriage."
"I haven't got five dollars, nor even fifty cents."
"But you told me in your letter that you had seventy-five dollars."
"So I have, but it's in a draft."
"Well, what on earth are we to do? I have spent my last dollar. Guess
we'll have to take them home in a street-car."
We started, and reached the corner of Randolph and Clark just as it set
in to rain. Upon inquiry we learned to our dismay that all-night cars
were not running on Randolph street, and that none would be running
before daylight.
Just across the street, standing around the Court House as usual, were
any number of hack-men.
I was completely non-plussed, and I don't recollect ever having been
placed in closer quarters, or in a position where I felt more
humiliated. I thought of Albert's draft, and stepping up to him said in
a low tone as quickly as possible:
"Give me your draft and I'll get it cashed at the Sherman House."
He replied that it was in the hotel safe. I came near fainting, then
finally said:
"Ladies, please excuse me one moment. I'll call a carriage."
So saying I stepped across the street, wondering on the way what I would
do. I had no watch to leave as security, nor a piece of jewelry of any
kind. Every thing of this sort was used by me as stock in trade. I knew
better than to ask for credit, and realized that my life would be in
danger to hire a carriage and undertake to "stave them off" afterwards.
So the reader will readily understand that I was at my wits' end; but at
the last moment my senses came to me, and I instantly thought of a
scheme to help us out. I asked a hack-man what he would charge to take
us to a certain street and number on the West Side. He said two dollars.
He might as well have said two hundred. I at once found fault with the
price, and managed to get into an altercation with him and three or four
others, and talked loud enough for Albert and the young ladies to hear.
As I approached them I did so in a very excited manner, with my hat in
one hand and a large empty pocket-book in the other, and roundly cursing
all the cab-men in Chicago.
"What's the matter?" asked one of the girls.
"Matter? Great Heavens! Do you suppose I'll give seven dollars to one of
these robbers to carry us over on the West Side?"
"Indeed you will not," shouted the brave little lady. "We'll walk."
"That's just what we will do," I cried, as I took her by the arm and
hus'led her down street, fearing she might change her mind, followed by
the other couple; and we made a rapid trip, pattering through the rain
and mud, congratulating ourselves on our shrewdness and courage in
getting even with the Chicago cab-men.
And now, after this digression, to resume:
After receiving the twenty-five dollars from Albert, I bought a few
necessaries, and a ticket for Chicago, where I arrived June fifteenth,
1881, with but a few dollars. I called immediately on a firm I had dealt
with a little the year before, and of whom I could buy goods at
twenty-five per cent. less than from the one I first began dealing with.
After explaining my circumstances, giving references and asking the
proprietor if he would sell me some stock on credit, he said he would
limit me to fifty dollars, to begin with; and would increase it as my
capital increased. I considered this reasonable, and selected forty
dollars' worth. I made it a point to select just this amount on account
of it having exactly the amount of my very first jewelry investment
years before at Columbus, Ohio, when I started out peddling.
I then a Goodrich steamer for Muskegon, Michigan, arriving there the
following morning.
I started out with a determination to sell a bill of goods; and although
every merchant laughed me in my face when I showed up my stock, I kept
"hus'ling," and finally struck one man who bought twenty dollars' worth.
This enabled me to take a fifteen-dollar package from the express
office which I had ordered C.O.D. from the wholesaler, after buying my
first stock on credit.
I now began traveling over precisely the same territory and visiting the
same towns and merchants that I had called upon the year before, when on
my first trip.
On my second day out, at Holton, Michigan, while sitting in the hotel, a
traveling man remarked that the firm across the street was the best in
the country to do business with, if a drummer could only manage to show
his goods to them; but as they visited the Chicago market every two
weeks they would not under any circumstances look at a drummer's goods.
Owing to the fact that I very much enjoyed calling on those who were the
hardest to be convinced, I took special delight in making this firm a
visit. I carried my case with me, and after setting it on the counter in
front of the proprietor, asked permission to show him my goods. He flew
into a rage, and declared he would not buy from any drummer. I still
persisted, and he continued to sizzle around at a fierce rate. The more
he did so the more I insisted on showing him my goods.
Finally, seeing the utter uselessness of trying to get his attention, I
very quietly put the key in the lock of my case and unlocked it, and
returned the key to my pocket. I then took hold of the case and as I
bade him good-bye swung it around off the counter as if to leave the
store. Of course the top raised up and the side lid fell down, letting
the trays fall out on the floor, the same as occurred on the railroad
track. The jewelry scattered all over the floor, and I began to
apologize, and told him of my wretched disaster once before with the
same case. I was very sorry to annoy him with such an accident. He saw
at once that I was to all appearances very much embarrassed, and in a
sympathetic manner assured me that there was no harm done, so far as he
was concerned, and began helping me to gather up the goods.
As I picked up one piece after another I would call his attention to
them, and say: "That is one of the best sellers I ever saw;" "this is
the latest style;" and "here is an article of the most peculiar design I
ever saw."
In the meantime he became interested, and began asking prices; and
finally gave me an order for from one-half to a dozen each of a nice
assortment of goods. I at once saw that he supposed I was selling by
sample, and took his order for about three times the amount of my stock
in trade. I sent the order in to the house, and they filled it and gave
me my commission, which amounted to nearly fifty dollars.
When I returned to the hotel and informed the gentleman whom I had
gotten my information from that I had taken such an order, he was much
surprised. Of course I was not so indiscreet as to relate how I had
accomplished it. After I had become better acquainted with this firm,
and they had become regular customers, I related the facts to them, much
to their amusement.
I continued to hus'le, as before. My health was not first-class, but I
improved rapidly, and was very soon in a better condition physically
than I had been for years. My success was fair during the summer. I
visited Chicago frequently, and succeeded in establishing a limited
credit of two hundred dollars with my new firm, but found it a hard
matter to accomplish that much. I made good use of it, however, and when
the busy season was approaching for the fall and holiday trade I
determined to strike for a larger credit. This was not only with a view
to extending my business, but I realized that at the rate I was
progressing, I would soon want to establish a business of my own, and
unless there was some wholesale jeweler to whom I could refer the
Eastern manufacturers, I would have a hard time to get a start.
When I asked the manager of the concern for an extension of credit he
said I could extend it a little. I therefore began selecting a stock of
goods, which I insisted on having billed as fast as I picked them out.
That night, when I had finished and had the goods in my cases (I now
carried two), and had them charged on the books and the bills for them
in my pocket, and was about ready to start for the train, the proprietor
chanced to discover that I had bought nearly one thousand dollars worth.
He threw up both hands in holy horror and declared I should never leave
the store with all those goods.
I informed him that the goods had been properly billed and charged to
me, and I had legal possession of them; and as my train was to leave
soon it was my intention to take my departure.
I pointed to the front windows and reminded him and about twenty clerks
who stood looking on, that we were about three stories up, and the first
man who laid a hand on me or my goods would land through one of those
windows on the sidewalk below, if I had to go down with him.
Saying which, I grabbed my cases, and with the further remark:
"Gentlemen, make room for me now; I am ready to start," passed out with
not a word spoken, and everything as quiet as death.
Two or three of the clerks were good friends of mine, and were only too
glad to see me force a credit for myself; and I doubt if they could have
been induced to interfere had Mr. Streicher demanded it.
The first town I visited on this trip was Oconto, Wisconsin, which I
reached the following morning; and before nine o'clock I had made a cash
sale of one hundred and fifty dollars, and went immediately to the
express office and remitted it to the house. And as business was brisk I
remitted from one to three hundred dollars per day to them. In a few
days I received a letter from Mr. S. offering me a credit of two or