Grain and Chaff from an English ManorSavory, Arthur Herbert
History
Grain and Chaff from an English Manor
Savory, Arthur Herbert
Aldington (Worcestershire, England); Country life -- England; England -- Social life and customs
A successful cattle dealer I knew had similar tactics of fraternity,
always addressing his sellers as "Governor," with marked respect. But
the best instance of this diplomatic spirit occurred in the case of a
deal between an old Hampshire friend of mine and a well-known and
historic sheep dealer from the same county. My friend had lately
become the happy father of twins, the fact being widely known in the
neighbourhood, for he was a very prominent man. He had 100 sheep for
sale, and the dealer was inspecting them, in a pen near the house. As
the bargain proceeded, the front door opened, and a nurse-maid
appeared with the twins in their perambulator. The dealer noticed them
immediately, and was not slow to turn the incident to his advantage.
"There they be, there they be, the little darlings," he called out, "a
sovereign apiece nurse, a sovereign apiece." Diving into a capacious
pocket, he pulled out a handful of gold and silver, and selecting two
sovereigns he handed them to the nurse for the children. "After that,"
my friend said, "what could I do but sell him the sheep, though he got
them at two shillings a head less than I ought to have made." Now two
shillings a head, on one hundred sheep, represents ten pounds, leaving
eight pounds which the dealer earned by his keen insight into human
nature.
This dealer carried on business with a brother, and they were to be
seen for very many years at all the large Hampshire summer sheep
fairs, where indeed, sometimes, when prices were rising, they owned
nearly all the sheep offered for sale, having bought them up
beforehand. As in a favourable summer when there was plenty of keep
and a good prospect of abundant roots prices would rise as much as
10s. a head during the months of the big fairs, and as at a single
fair as many as 30,000 sheep would be for sale, the chances of profit
offered to the courageous dealer with capital are manifest.
Though risen from small beginnings, these brothers amassed
considerable fortunes, all of which, it was said, they invested in
real estate, so that they were known at one time to be worth at least
£100,000; and, as they continued in business for some years after the
time of which I am writing, they must have exceeded that sum
considerably as a total, though the values of land began to fall away
towards the end of their active existence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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