The commercial traveller as this
kind of agent or clerk is denominated
is generally a young and very shrewd
individual, possessing great suavity of
manner, and a remarkable ability to
suit himself readily to all the varied
modes of his various customers. Fur-
nished by his principals with choice
samples of their goods, he steps into
his conveyance, and with a light heart
commences his circuit. It is not con-



sidered unusual if nearly a year elapses
before he returns to his employers. At
each town upon his route, he tarries at
the principal inn, where he is sure to
find a hearty welcome. After thus en-
sconcing himself in comfortable quar-
ters, he arranges his samples, and, if it
be forenoon, puts them under his arm
and issues forth to visit the shopkeep-
ers in the place. Wherever he goes, he
is met with cordiality. Like all travel-
lers, he is full of anecdote, and has at
his command the rarest news of his
time. None are more glad to see him
than the shopkeepers' wives and daugh-
ters. To these he imparts the most
recent scandal and the latest fashions,
and thus affords them subjects for gos-
sip until his next visit to the town. To
the tradesman he lauds his samples
with all the eloquence and ingenuity
of which he is capable, and seldom
leaves them without making considera-
ble bargains in behalf of his principals.
He then collects money due on former
purchases, and, if in convenient shape,
forwards the funds, together with his
customers' orders for goods, by mail, to
his employers.

With few exceptions, these drum-
mers, or clerks, are an intelligent, con-
scientious, whole-souled company. Gen-
erous, convivial, and full of anecdote,
the mercantile agent is a good com-
panion, and his conversation never fails
to make glad and jocund the society
where he mingles. In his continuous
journeying about the country, he has
mixed with all classes, and gleaned in-
formation of all kinds and from all
sources humorous and grave, light
and substantial. His temperament is
mercurial, and he readily adapts him-
self to the company which he is in.
But if there be one place at which he
feels more at home than another, that
place is at the dinner table, where he
meets his professional fellows. There
are generally as many as five or six, and
sometimes more than twice that num-
ber of these travellers, in every town,



BUSINESS EMPLOYES.



679



at certain seasons, tarrying only so long
a time as will suffice them to accom-
plish their business there. These stop
at the same inn, and eat together in a
room apart from the ordinary. As the
morning is devoted exclusively to busi-
ness, they take their ease after dinner,
and linger over their wine. In the
evening, some of their .customers drop
in, a circle is formed, and the evening
hours are forgotten in the recital of
story #nd anecdote, the cracking of
brittle jests, and the enjoyment of good
wine and cigars.



Keeping- Score by Double Entry.

AN Illinois correspondent of the
Knickerbocker cracks a nut for book-
keepers, in the following style: You
know Elije Scroggins, up here in White
county ? Yes ? Well, about six years
ago, Elije kept a kind of " one horse "
grocery, on the edge of "Seven-mile
Prairie." I don't think he kept much
besides "bald-faced, thirty-day whis-
key," and maybe some ginger brandy.
Times were mighty tight, and not
much money stirring in that settle-
ment ; so Elije had to credit most of
his customers till corn-gathering time,
or till fur was good ; and as he had no
" book-learning," he used to make some
kind of a mark for his different patrons,
on a clapboard, which he kept for the
purpose, and then chalk down the
" drinks " against them as they got
them, which in some cases was pretty
often.

One day there was a big meeting ap-
pointed at the Possum-Kidge school-
house, about five miles from Elije's,
and his wife persuaded him to go ; so
on Sunday morning they gathered up
the children and toted off to meeting
to make a day of it.

Along through this day, some of the
neighbors, getting a leetle dry, went
over to Elije's to moisten their clay,
and finding the door shut, and nobody
about, they were somewhat alarmed,



and didn't know but somebody was
either sick or dead ; so they pushed in
to see about it, and finding things all
right, they concluded that Elije and
his old woman had gone off on a visit.
So they took a drink all around out
of friendly feeling to him, and were
about going off, when one of them
caught sight of the tally-board stuck
under the rafter, and pulled it down
and, either out of pure devilment, or
thinking it an easy way to pay off a
score, just gave it a wipe, and stuck it
back again.

In the evening, when Elije got back,
he had occasion to look at his " ac-
counts" for some purpose or other,
when, to his great astonishment and
dismay, he found it, in groggery par-
lance, considerably "mixed." He
scratched his head over it for some
time, evidently trying to make it out,
and finally calling his wife in, he show-
ed it to her, and said : " There, that's
what a man gets for going off and neg-
lecting his business."

On the whole, however, he got over
it pretty quietly for him, for Elije used
to swear mightily when his back was
up. He didn't have much to say now,
though, but sat, with his chin on his
hands, and his elbows on his knees,
looking in the fire all the evening ; but
on Monday morning, he got up bright
and early, and taking down the clap-
board, gave it a good wash, and began
very industriously to figure away upon
it? Two or three times during the
morning, his wife looked in, and he
was still working away at it ; and at
dinner time, when she came to call
him, she ventured to ask how he was
getting on. " Well," said he, holding
the tally-board off at arm's length, and
looking at it very earnestly, with his
head on one side, " I don't know as I've
got as much charged as I had, but I've
got it on letter men ! "



680



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



Charming Customer in a Bank Perils
of a Cashier.

WHEN a cashier in a banking house
commits an error by paying too much,
the loss falls upon the clerk, unless
there be some extenuating circum-
stances to justify a contrary course ; the
mistake is then called a clerical error.
The reader will not be at much loss to
know in which category to place the
following :

One Monday morning, a very ele-
gantly dressed female entered the bank-
ing house of , and presented a check

for payment, at the same time request-
ing, with a great show of politeness,
that she might have gold in exchange
for the check. The lady was not only well
dressed, but she was very beautiful ; so
much so that the attention of the cashier
was riveted upon her. He weighed
fifty sovereigns, which he handed to
the lady; and, supposing she would
count them, one by one, he anticipated
that the pleasure he enjoyed in looking
upon her would thereby be prolonged ;
but he was mistaken for, to his sur-
prise, instead of counting them, she
' huddled them all up together, and put
them in a white pocket handkerchief.
The cashier, observing this unusual
mode, said : " You had better count
ihem, madam ; " but the lady, looking
at him with a most winsome smile, re-
plied: "I am quite satisfied, sir, that
you are right ; "' and with another be-
witching look, wished him " good-day,"
.and walked leisurely out of the bank.

The cashier was so overpowered with
;the beauty of his customer, that imme-
diately on her retiring, he went a few
paces to a fellow cashier and asked if
he had ever seen so lovely a creature
1 " Fuch a bewitching woman ! " said he,
. " and what a sparkling brilliancy there
was in her eye ! I wonder who she
is ? " This caused him to look at the
check, which on first receiving he had
placed on his book, without entering
or once glancing at it again ; when he



was startled at discovering that it was
for five pounds instead of fifty ! Ut-
tering an exclamation, he jumped over
the counter, and was in the street in a
second. He looked to the right and
the left, but could distinguish no trace
of the beautiful lady. He ran in and
out of the several courts that surround-
ed the bank, but in vain ; he returned
to the banking house to take counsel
with his fellow-admirer of the charm-
ing woman, as to the best course to
adopt, when it was decided that he
should immediately apply to the draw-
er of the check for the name and ad-
dress of the party to whom he paid it,
the body of the check simply ex-
pressing it to be payable to " house
expenses or bearer."

The drawer of the check, Mr. P., on
being asked by the cashier to furnish
him with the desired information, ex-
pressed his surprise at what he called
such impertinent curiosity ; but, on
being informed of the mistake that had
been made, he immediately gave the
name and address, " Miss Thompson,
Bury street, St. James's," adding, " I
beg you will not utter a word of this
affair to any one, for if it should come
to the ears of Mrs. P., I fear the most
serious consequences would result from
niy indiscretion, for the party in ques-
tion is, I believe, only too celebrated."

Anxious to catch the lady on her re-
turn home, the cashier assured the gen-
tleman of his silence, and proceeded
with the utmost expedition to Bury
street. The door was opened by an
innocent-looking girl, who, on being
asked if Miss Thompson was at home,
replied, with great simplicity, "No,
sir, Miss Thompson is not at home ; "
and, as though she wished to stifle all
further inquiries, she added, " I don't
think she will come back."

It ultimately turned out, that the
moment that "Miss Thompson" re-
turned from the city, she packed up
her things and left the house, of course
without leaving her address or any




<



BUSINESS EMPLOYES.



681



clue to her whereabouts, enjoying, no
doubt, the satisfaction of having proved
the truth of the saying that " love is
blind " for she had, by a naive exer-
cise of her charms, so far blinded the
eyes of a city banker that he could
not distinguish between five and fifty
pounds.

This was a sad termination of the
affair to the cashier, who on his return
to the bank felt ashamed to mention
the circumstance to the house, and it
was arranged that the drawer of the
check should, by way of purchasing
the silence of the cashier, pay one half
of the amount, and the cashier the
other, which was done.



Lafitte's Wasteful Clerk.

IN the zenith of his prosperity as a
world-renowned banker, Lafitte retain-
ed the same principles of frugality and
saving that characterized him in his
days of indigence. He was never the
avaricious and grasping miser, but he
was ever the parsimonious saver. He
would scold, and sometimes read his
clerks a lecture upon their wilful waste
of a pen, a piece of paper, or an inch
of twine ; yet he had a vein of charity,
and could be magnificent in his benev-
olence.

One morning a lady entered the
boudoir of the banker, to solicit his
subscription to some charitable object.
He appeared somewhat ruffled in his
temper just at the moment, but he re-
ceived her graciously, as a Frenchman
knows how.

" What do you require, my good sis-
ter ? " asked the banker.

" Sir," she replied, " I come to you
on behalf of my distressed neighbors ;
their necessity is great."

" Indeed 1 you have called at the
right time, for just now I am angry
with that gentleman for wasting my
wafers." At the same time he pointed
to a young man seated at a desk, who



smiled, but was evidently discon-
certed.

The benevolent lady pretty much
concluded that her mission would be a
fruitless one ; and that her visit might
not be without some good result, she
amiably applied herself to excuse the
fault of the clerk, who had called down
the reproof of the careful money dealer,
by not making one wafer serve to seal two
letters. Lafitte listened attentively, and
afterward presented to the lady a check
for one thousand francs, saying, at the
same time :

" If, in my career, I had not econo-
mized in trifles, it would not be so easy
for me to have contributed to-day to
the excellent object which you have in
hand. Pray, look in upon me from
time to time ! "



Chickering- and his Employes on
"Blue" Day.

THE third of October, 1857, is still
remembered and spoken of in Boston
business circles, as "blue day;" and
could all the incidents of mercantile
and trading life on that day be gather-
ed in the form of a volume, it would
constitute a book of chronicles indeed.
One of those incidents but in this case
a refreshing one is well known to
many, but will bear repetition. The
firm of Chickering & Sons employed in
their establishment over three hundred
persons, and consequently their weekly
pay roll was very large. Owing to
non-remittances, from all parts of the
country, of funds due, this firm did
not pay their men, having business
paper maturing which required all
their available money. The men, with-
out one dissenting voice, passed a se-
ries of resolutions tendering to Messrs.
Chickering their regrets at such, a
financial crisis, and stating their wil-
lingness and ability to wait for their
pay until a more favorable time, also
intimating in the kindest manner that
if a loan of six or eight thousand dol-



682



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



lars would be useful at that moment,
they would be happy to tender that
sum as a willing contribution from
their savings.

French Female Plot against a Clerk.

A VERY elegantly dressed lady once
entered one of the most fashionable
shops in Toulouse, in quest of some ar-
ticles indispensable for the toilette of a
lady a la mode. A rich carriage waited
at the door, and everything about the
lady was calculated to inspire the
greatest confidence.

The shopping was soon done, and
the bill presented. "It is well," said
the lady ; " send one of your clerks
with me he shall be paid, and the
carriage shall bring him back."

A clerk is soon ready; the carriage
moves on, and after a short ride, stops
before a large building. The door is
opened, and the lady and the clerk
enter a parlor. After a few minutes'
delay, a gentleman of very respectable
appearance enters, and receives them
cordially.

" Take charge of Monsieur I will
soon return," says the lady, and leaves.
In two minutes the noise of carriage
wheels is heard.

The young man, thus left alone with
the gentleman, becomes impatient, and
exclaims :

" Pay me, if you please."

" For what ? "

"For the shawls and dresses, you
know."

" Be not so hasty, my young friend,
I'll answer."

" For what ? "

" For your convalescence calm your-
self."

The clerk was thinking all the time
that he was speaking to the lady-cus-
tomer's brother, when, in reality, he

was addressing Dr. D , a celebrated

physician of maniacs. The lady had
made the doctor a visit shortly before
making her bargain had consulted



him, and solicited his aid in favor of
her young brother, who was mentally
deranged. She had given him a full
account of the mania of this brother,
who, she said, believed himself to be
the clerk of some merchant, and would
continually demand money for shawls
and dresses, which he had sold on ac-
count of his employer. Dr. D , be-
lieving thus that he was with a lunatic,
treats him as such. The clerk asks for
his money; the doctor, offers him a
room. At last the young man works
himself into a passion, and screams, in
despair, most fearfully. This only con-
firms the doctor's suspicion, and he is
contemplating treating his patient to
shower baths, when the clerk demands
paper and ink, proposing to write to
his employer. The doctor agrees, think-
ing to discover some new symptom.
The letter is written and despatched;
half an hour afterward, the merchant
arrives, and an explanation ensues.
The success of the plot was up to this
moment complete. The beautiful lady
was nowhere.



Serious Bargain for a Clerkship.

NOT many months ago, a hop dealer
of the neighborhood of Prague entered
the counting house of a large merchant
of the latter place, with whom he had
commercial relations. The latter asked
him how business was going on, when
he replied : " I am doing so little that
I am almost inclined to enter your ser-
vice as a clerk." " What salary would
you require ? " asked the merchant.
" Only two thousand florins a year,"
replied the other, laughing. The mer-
chant shook hands with him, saying,
"That is a bargain." After a little
further conversation the hop dealer re-
tired, and neither one nor the other
appeared to think any more of the
matter.

Six days after, a considerable rise
began to take place in hops, and the
merchant went to Saaz, the largest



BUSINESS EMPLOYES.



683



market in Bohemia, to make purchases,
and to his annoyance found that the
dealer had got the start of him, and
purchased all he could find. Meeting
the dealer in the street, the merchant
asked him what hops he had purchas-
ed, and the price. u That is my affair,"
was the reply. " What do you mean
by your affair ? You forget, then, that
you are my clerk, and that I have a
right to inquire what business you trans-
act on my account. You are free to
cancel your engagement hereafter, but
for the present you act for me."

The dealer went to consult an advo-
cate, who told him that his engage-
ment as a clerk was legally valid, and
that in any case a trial would be a
tedious affair. He then went to the
merchant, and after a long discussion
agreed to pay four thousand florins
(two thousand dollars) damages for
cancelling his engagement, in order to
retain for his own account the profit-
able speculation he had made. When
the money had been paid, the Prague
merchant declared that he would not
keep a farthing of it, and distributed
it among some poor relations of the
dealer.



Refusal to become Girard's Cashier ;
the Reason Why.

GUIATTD had a high appreciation of
the business capacity of Joseph L. In-
glis especially as an accurate and rap-
id accountant as well as undoubting
confidence in his integrity. For his
strict religious character he had not
the least regard. When the cashier of
his bank died, he tendered the place to
Mr. Inglis, who was then clerk in an
insurance company.

" Mr. Girard," was the immediate re-
ply, " I cannot serve you." Mr. Inglis
well knew that Girard had no respect
for the Sabbath, and that in his service
he would be called on to post his books
and attend to financial matters on that
day.



" Why you not serve me ? " said the
rich banker ; " I give you more salary
than you get now. It is a better place.
Why you not be my cashier ? "

" Mr. Girard," was the grave and de-
termined answer, " I appreciate all
that; but you and I serve different
masters, and we never could agree."
Mr. Girard understood the allusion,
and said no more.



Reason for Trusting- a Clerk.

THE late president of the United
States Bank once dismissed a private
clerk, because the latter refused to
write for him on the Sabbath.

The young man, with a mother de-
pendent on his exertions, was thus
thrown out of employment, by what
some would call an over-nice scruple
of conscience. But a few days after,
when the president was requested to
nominate a cashier for another bank,
he recommended this very individual,
mentioning this incident as a sufficient
testimony to his trustworthiness.

" You can trust him," said he, " for
he would not work for me on the Sab-
bath."



Too Conscientious an Accountant.

A CLEEK in Boston was dismissed
from his place, because he would not
become a party to a falsification in a
trade, by which refusal on his part the
firm failed to secure several hundred
dollars which did not belong to them,
but which they expected to obtain.
For this fidelity to truth, which ought
to have added a hundred per cent, to
the estimation in which he was held
by his employers, the young man was
dismissed from his position. A few
days afterward, hearing of a vacant sit-
uation, he applied for it. The mer-
chant, who wished for an accountant,
asked if he could refer him to any in-
dividual by whom he was known, and
who would recommend him as an up-



684



COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ANECDOTES.



right young man. Conscious of his
uprightness, he replied, " I have just

been dismissed from Mr. 's, of

whom you may inquire. He has tried
me, he has known me." When applied
to, his former employer gave a full and
free recommendation, and added, " He
was too conscientious about little
matters." This young man is now part-
ner in a large firm in Boston, and on
the high road to honorable wealth.

Misfortune Tending to Liberality.

A WEALTHY merchant having lost,
by one shipwreck, to the value of sev-
enty thousand dollars, ordered his
clerk to distribute five hundred dollars
among poor ministers and other per-
sons ; adding, that if his fortune was
going by seventy thousand dollars at a
lump, it was high time to make sure
of some part of it before it was gone.
The clerk forthwith proceeded to dis-
pense that charity which knows no
earthly account book.



Shocking- Ignorance of City Clerks
Illustrated.

AN illiterate deacon, in a certain town
adjacent to Worcester, Mass., gave to
the coachman a slip of paper, upon
which, he said, were written the names
of a couple of books which he wished
him to call for at Mr. A.'s bookstore.
The driver called at the store, and
handing the memorandum to a clerk,
said, " There's a couple of books which
Deacon B. wished you to send him."
The clerk, upon a careful examination
of the paper, was unable to make
" head or tail " of it, and passed it to
the bookkeeper, who was supposed to
know something of letters ; but to him
it was also " Greek." The proprietor
was called, and lie also gave the thing
up in despair ; and it was finally con-
cluded to send the memorandum back
to the deacon, as it was supposed that
he must have sent the wrong paper.



As. the coach arrived at the village
inn, the driver saw the deacon waiting
on the steps. " Well, driver," said he,
" did you get my books to-day ? "
" Books ? no and a good reason why,
for there couldn't a man in Worcester
read your old hen-tracks." " Couldn't
read 'ritin' ? Let me see the paper ! "
The driver drew it from his pocket,
and passed it to the deacon ; who,
taking out and carefully adjusting his
spectacles, held the memorandum at
arm's length, exclaiming, as he did so,
in a very satisfied tone, " Why, it's as
plain as the nose on your face ! ' T o
S-A-M B-u-x two psalm books ! ' I
guess those city clerks had better go
to school again ! " And here the
deacon muttered some impatient reflec-
tions upon the times and of clerks in
particular, the want of attention to
books by the risin' generation, &c., &c.

Bank Clerks and their "Friends."

THE embezzlement of bank funds, in
many cases, has either had its origin in,
or been greatly aggravated by the folly
and vice of gambling; and this has
generally been brought about by the
persuasion or the arts of persons con-
nected with gambling houses. The
bank clerk or the bank officer, is a
most promising victim in this line, if
he can be induced to make the first ex-
periment in such a direction ; and a
single victim will reward many plans.
The following is one instance of this
kind :

A paying teller accepted the invita-
tion of a friend to take a ride in the
country. The farther end of the ride
proved to be a house frequented by
sporting characters. He believed this
to be accidental until a subsequent
proposition, after an interval of sev-
eral weeks, revealed the true character
and design of his polite friend and
the natural result followed.

Thus inveigled, this clerk or teller
practised fraud on a most adroit plan.



BUSINESS EMPLOYES.



685



He began by certifying a check in ad-
vance of the dealer's deposit ; and on
the following day certified another,
that it might be negotiated, and the
means thus obtained to remove the first
out of sight ; to provide for the second,
a third was certified and so continu-
ously on, the negotiations of one day
furnishing the means to redeem the
checks of the day before. The amount
was gradually increased, until twelve
or fifteen checks, for amounts between
four and five thousand dollars each, were
afloat in the various channels of negotia-
tion. They were drawn for irregular
sums, that they might wear a business-
like appearance. No entry was made
of any of them on the books, and no
apparent deficiency was caused in the