“I am going in to-night,” I said, “and would be glad to carry in a little order for you. I'll get it out myself and see that nice goods are sent you.” “No, I don't want anything.” I heard almost a similar complaint from the next one I saw, but I managed to secure two orders for my day's work, and then I was done. I never paid a hotel bill so gladly or bought a railroad ticket with happier feelings. There was a pleasure in getting my baggage checked home, and no car ever seemed to me quite so comfortable and inviting as the one I rode home in. When I walked into the store it was difficult to believe that I had been out of it more than twenty-four hours. The bill of goods on the floor looked exactly like the one I saw there the day I started away. The porter and drayman seemed to be talking about the same accident or “wake” that they were engaged in when I last saw them together, and the white head of the “old man” was bent over his books as if it had never moved. I couldn't help saying to myself, “How glad they ought to be that they have only to do the work that comes to them, instead of feeling the responsibility of creating new business.” They met me as if I had been off on a lark, and ought to feel grateful to them for doing my work while I was away. I wondered if I was ever ass enough to meet our old travelers in any such way. I guess I was. “Well, old boy, had a good time?” This from stock clerk, from salesman, from the packer, and from the book-keeper. Good time! Great Caesar! Good time! With a constant dread about you that you are going to fail! Pushing yourself boldly into men's offices a dozen times a day, yet always nervously dreading the reception they may give you. Catching late trains and early trains; missing meals or sitting down to tables where things are so uninviting you cannot eat. And all the time, day and night, wondering if your employers are satisfied with your sales and if they recognize the necessity of your cutting prices. A good time! If there is any business in the world that is so little of a “good time” I would like to know what it is. The firm met me very pleasantly. They joked me a little about my new beard and the extra fat they declared they saw on me, and then the welcomings were over. I took my place at my old desk with a firm resolution to let other men do the traveling; I would stick to the store. “Come home to supper with me,” said the head of the house; “I'd like to talk over your trip with you, and we can do it better at home this evening.” This was an honor I had not had before. The other boys looked at me with envy. “How have things gone? Has business been good?” I asked my old assistant in the stock. “Things have gone so-so; trade has been only middling. But you did first rate, old fellow. I heard the old man say you were a success.” “Did he say that?” “Yes, and lots more. You made a strike.” This was pleasant news.