When a man has been on the road a year or two he is never disappointed because a dealer refuses to buy something he was sure he was going to sell him. He is prepared for “No” on all occasions rather than for “Yes.” But a man is terribly disappointed on his first trip every time he starts out to sell a particular article and does not meet with success. I was sure Tucker would give me an order for some bull-dog revolvers, but in answer to my low price he had said he wouldn't take them as a gift! I would have been very glad to go straight home and let Tucker get along without bull-dogs, but my silly head had brought me into this business and I must keep on. Probably he saw I was a good deal disappointed, for he added, in a rather kindly tone, “Every pistol of that kind I have ever sold came back on my hands for repairs, and I swore I'd never buy another.” “You are making a mistake,” said I. “When the double action first came out they did get out of order easily, and manufacturers were obliged to take back broken ones and replace them at great expense to themselves. In self-defense they were obliged to make them better, and they are just as reliable as any other to-day.” “Well, I don't want any.” “All right, we will pass it. But I wondered what one of your competitors meant when he said he had the pistol trade; now I understand.” “Does he sell these?” “Yes, he had some from us not long ago, and gave me an order for more to-day.” “What's the best you can do on them?” How many times a day does every traveling man see men act as Tucker did? Here was a line of goods he was cocksure he did not want, but the moment he heard that his competitor had a trade on them he began to feel that he must have some. Seven-eighths of the goods sold are sold in this way. Very few men do business on their own judgment. Their competitors make their prices, select their styles, and force them to carry certain stock. The drummer's best card is always: This is selling like fire; Smith took a gross, Brown half a gross, Jones three dozen, and you will miss it if you do not try a few. Such dealers always have the larger part of their capital locked up in goods they bought because others had bought the same goods. I repeated my price to Tucker, and he told me to send him a few. “By the way,” said he, “what are your terms?” “Sixty days.” “Does your house draw the day a bill falls due?” “No; the house is slow about drawing upon customers, and they always give ten days' notice before making draft.” “Well, I don't like to be drawn on. The house that draws on me can't sell me again. I can't draw on my trade, and I'm devilish glad to get my money in six months, but you fellows in the city expect a man to come to the exact minute. I don't want any drawing on me.”