A Man of Samples. Something about the men he met "On the Road"Maher, William H.
General
A Man of Samples. Something about the men he met "On the Road"
Maher, William H.
Traveling sales personnel -- Fiction
“Mr. Clark, let me introduce my friend, Mr. Fuller. He is known far and
near as 'And Forged Fuller, and he is also the owner and patentee of
that celebrated washing compound, Fuller's Earth.”
Clark laughed heartily as he shook hands with Fuller, who said:
“I may say that my trade mark is 'Paragon;' heverybody hasks for it--”
“Yes,” broke in Healey, “and nobody buys it!”
“I may say,” said Fuller, placidly, “that Mr. Healey is wrong; I
frequently sell a few. It's my trade mark, and known, I may say, in
England as well as here.”
“Yes,” said Healey, “Fuller lives on both continents, and brings the
steel over in his grip. We have our examples at the hotel and shall be
glad to have you come up there. Fuller don't care whether he sells or
not; he is rich and traveling only to keep down his flesh.”
Mr. Clark made an engagement with them and they went away. As they
passed out he said: “There goes one of the most genial-hearted men on
the road. I have known Charley Healey for about twenty years. He came
out here representing Hilger & Son, and built up a good trade for that
firm. Hilger could not have done it in a thousand years. Then that
firm and Wiebusch consolidated, and Healey looked after their Western
business. I never met a buyer who was not his friend, and I imagine most
of them are, like myself, heavily in his debt for courtesies extended to
us, not by way of business, but as if he were under obligations to us. I
say to you that a good many houses never suspect the debt they are under
to their traveling men, but look upon themselves as the great magnet
that draws trade, when nine out of ten dealers care nothing whatever
about the principals and buy entirely out of regard for the salesman.”
I had heard many men speak in the same terms of Healey before, and I
hoped I should meet him at dinner.
As I bade good-by to Mr. Clark and thanked him for the order given me,
he said: “Somehow you do not seem like a stranger.”
I thanked him for that compliment most sincerely.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Sunday to the commercial traveler, if to no others, is preeminently a
day of rest. If there are stores open during week days he feels that he
ought to be at work, and if he gives himself an extra half-hour at noon
or evening his conscience pricks him. But upon the Sabbath there is
nothing to be done by way of business, unless in getting from one town
to another, and it is his rest day.
I slept so late (I admit that I am always lazy whenever I dare be) that
I fancied I would have the dining-room to myself, but I had plenty of
company. The hotel where I was had an excellent reputation on the road
and was a favorite place at which to pass Sunday. I was fortunate enough
to meet here a hardware man from my own city whom I knew well, and who
had traveled long enough to know almost everybody.
“How is trade?” was, of course, his first question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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