“Without saying a word he picked up the wheel and marched with it to the station house. “That was a touch beyond me, and I have had considerable experience with the working of the average policeman’s brain. I couldn’t for the life of me understand what he meant by his action. My curiosity was aroused, and I followed for the purpose of investigation. “Walking up to the officer, I said, ‘Mr. Policeman, what in the world was your idea in arresting that wheel?’ “He answered, “I did it because it was off its nut.’” Having jollied the people into a good humor by something like the foregoing, I would come down to the serious business of selling my pipes and raffling off the watches which went with them. I made a long talk on the watches, telling of the various processes they underwent before they could be called perfect timepieces—of the delicate hairspring, and the tiny, intricate mechanism enclosed in the case. Before I got through, it was safe to say that every man in the crowd wanted a watch for his wife or daughter, mother or sister, to say nothing of his best girl, if he had one. The pipes spoke for themselves, but my little oration included a fair description of their merits, and I usually had little difficulty in disposing of the dozen of them allotted to any particular evening, and I might add that both sides were well satisfied. The pipes were very good while they lasted, and the watch went like a daisy—as long as the wheels turned round. I made good money out of the invoice, and in after days handled the same line of goods more than once. I am sorry to say, the doctor was something of a beat. Though he always treated me fairly enough, all the rest of mankind seemed to be considered his legitimate game, while the plunder of a landlord was his special delight. He had capital enough at his command, but it appeared to me that he would sooner save fifty cents off his hotel bill than to make five dollars selling medicine, To tell the truth, I had not much sympathy with the average country landlord, and was not strongly averse to working him myself. He feeds his local trade for twenty-five cents per meal, and when an outsider calls charges him fifty cents or a dollar for the same thing. You can safely conclude that however much a tale of woe may induce him to scale his prices, he is still making a living profit. When we arrived at a hotel the doctor would ask for the tariff sheet. If he was told it was two dollars a day he would state that he was no commercial drummer, working on salary with expenses allowed, but just an ordinary vendor on his own account, who, in these hard times, found that to make both ends meet was a pretty tough proposition. Furthermore, that he was paying his own way, and couldn’t stand the two dollars. As a result he would sometimes get rates as low as one dollar a day, for each of us.