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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32 X 1 2 3 4 5 6 I 0( ROBERTSONS CHEAP SERIES. POPULAR READING AT POPULAR PRrOES, Oommercial TraveUers, their Lives HaWta r.,-i ness Principles anA OustoaJSS toffia"'^- -BY- -A.. HOKIV. com:pleie. TOEONTO: J. BOSS EOBEETSON, 65 KING-ST. WEST, 1882. OOB. BAY. DRUMMING AS A FINE ART. «nlV.f!. ff* glance thic eubject does not appear to offer perhaps the most invitine field for the reader's consideration ^ It IS so much the fashion in these days to tZn^LT""- ^^'^ attributes of humanity, upon the topic possessing testhetic features of interest.upon social folhes, or uponapoliti- cal Travellers, would hardly appear to possess vitahty enough to recommend it. in tact, I V IS very much inclined to that opinion myself when I first conceived the iio^n wl"lT*i"?,*'"', *°P'°' ^'th the inten. tion which 1 shall seek to carry out. It seemed to me, as it doubtless seems to jou, that so practical and matter-of-fact a class of the community as the drummers of the period, did not present exactly a bonanza to the literary miner. But before I had entered very far upon the consideration of my subject, I discovered 1 had very much underrated its fertility of resource. ^ .«if T°*^- *4* «"°°*' °' *^« historical facts appertaining to Commercial Tt»vellers as I cou.d unearth by research or evolve by per. *Zfn^"II '"to'^X'^'ng. were not wantbrin Imns; human purport ;' wUle an investfga. w?fh L"I^ T", "Pn*"" furnished me with material of qufte rf roroantio. if not even a sensational, character. »A^t-^ occurred to me that having fbish. for^hi"^fi"^*''' ^^^ "^^ *"" g^^t* nation .> w M fi"t century of its business, It would not be inappropriate to render a l±""n;"^''* which should present some at least of operation, in and out of trade, of those whom I .haU take the liberty of %t ' nominating ,f yon please, the 'knieht. Errant of Modem ChivalryT' "-"'ynw M«L'°v4"^''*y» ^* •*» no* >»oast of »Y,A li." "'' — ■ . . Z"" "StO, nave those — and they are chiefly experienced by your Commercial Traveller-tho dangers of thi Slv'er lis*"-- "•* «" -"•» North We have ne longer the toumey-othar- wise than as that maudlin comlwt in the lists is now represented by the affirressfva drummer ,n his not infreouent meetf^s "S •^'Vcljows of opposition firms, whn? '" f'!.*^^ I**^« ""^ adventure, in the n^.lJ7^'^ and whole-hearted reCTrdless! ness of danger and trial, in the triel fidelity to important interests, and, I may add, laSt but not least, in sacred fealty to his ' Que" nl ^"l^^u *^^ ' Commercial Traveler ' ?i?f b"° u. ° comparison with all or any of the knights of old, beginning with Lon Quixote, and ending with Sir John Falstaflf. an:i^^V^°«*' ^^^ »"«" change with them, and to-day, instead of mounting barbed steeds, to fright the souls of fearfSl adveS aries -- or even capering ' nimblv in a lady s chamber to the lascivious plewings of the lute -your modern Knight Errant launches forth into the wide worid of t"»d6 and commerce with one eye upon his Rail- way Guide and the other upon his wnSle Trj~^*.°?*^ the goal of hSTambition. Jroweis^. ^^"^'^ '''"'"*° to display ui Men fight their chief battles to-day in the J^^r"*Iu°'*'>?«^* commercSdtiw! and along the roads that servo as hi«wi of transportation from the vaTt fleldl^S supply to the huge marketa of d^iaSd. Yet, the war of trade is carried on with weapon... deadly a. those with wWoh Cresay and Poitfer. were won. or thSl against whose thnnder-riven stringth S oombined armies of Europe ha^fS time to time contended. Victims fall by the way.«ide and perish ..miserably a. i. «oorde/ in the histWrf ilralrlf't.L^SS''"* ^' ^'^'^^'^' Vrhilefor the victor, there ure laurel. I?Rnm!"'"°'"*?'!? '° *»•« amphitheatre Clo^of'K'*'' '"*"*'*''• •^^"°'»>'« Only it ha. become the fashion to wajre our war. of competition with the weapoE. DRUMMING. of polify, of shrewdnes*. and of business tact, and tl.erefore it is, that your Knight Errant Commercial Traveller, ftiough possi- bly a harmless-looking fellow enouirh, is the right man in the right place, and can dea more deadly blows and conquer more nelds than could evor your armoured warrior with lance in rest and penn- n flying— at least in the year of ^race 1882. I will give an instance, and it is the only one from my T,"ofl!fP*"*u°^.^ "''»" °^^' ■■ In th« »Pring Of 1864 my business led me to a Western fx/' ?® ^^ ''®"^ representative of the •Novelty Corset Works.' then largely en- gaged in the manufacture of hoopskirts. Lpon arriving at my hotel I found sev. eral fellow-travellera discussing the succes- ses afld failures of the day, but all had been equally baflBed in the attempt to sell goods on any terms to one of the most prominent merchants in the city. While listening to this case of unchristian-like perversity, I formed the resolution to overcome it. at all hrizards. ^ The announcement of my intention was re- ceived with the most derisive laughter, and so little faith shown in my success tha when some one suggested as a wager the best sup- per the city cjuld afford to the assembled company (should fortune favour me), it was unanimously accepted, and 'carried by a large majority.' •' I need scarcely add that a share of said supper was to be charged by each C. T. to travelling expenses. Thefollowing morning, encouraged in my work by my friends, who assured me that, as a preliminary attention, this merchant would kick me into the street, I left on my mission in search of a new sensation, and a new customer. I found said merchant at his office, who evidently recognized my craft at a gla ce, apd cpmmenoed his invective iu a style pecu- liar to him elf : ' Oh, I see yon belong to thf negro minstrel troupe just arrived t !' •Yes, sir,' I replied, 'and I am deputized bj; the show to ask you to favour our enter- tainment this evening with your presence. It you will tell me how many tickets you can use, I will go to the office and get them. ' He stood silent for a moment, dumbfound- ed at my impudence I— then the thought su - ' denly occurred to him that I was 'Givinc myself away.' ' There are lour in my fam- ' ily, he said, * and I will be much obliged ;f j you will send me four tiuk«t« ' 4=-arin'- i him tliat I would be glad to accommodate mm as a leading merchant and one of the prominent men of the city, I left the store, proceeded to the hall, and purchased four tickets at a cost of four dollars (travellinir expenses). * Clipping the corners of these, so that he could see they were oomplimentaries, I has- tened back to the store and presented thein to him, I took particuUr pains to impress my man that he would find it extremely dif- ficult to detect me in the troupe, owing to the excellence of my make-up, A further investment of fifty cents pro- cured for me a gallery ticket to the show- where I presently spied my man in the par- quette with his family, which consisted of » feminine heavy-weight, whom I rightly con- ceived to be his wife, and two young hoo- siers. who looked as if they needed only years and muscle to follow in the footsteps of their father in the matter of kicking per- tinacious drummers from their various place* of business. I established their paterni- ty in my mind at a glance. Watching my man closely during the performance. I found out that he was suffering agonies of doubt as to whether I was the Middleman, or one of the End Men, Bones, or Tambourine. He finally settled down on the decision that the middle man was too large, which left him the I)ainful alternative of bobbing his head from right to left in bis attempt at a decision, at the imminent risk of breaking his neck. Those days being prior to the panic, employ, ers were much more liberal than they are at present, and I was not only supplied with a goodly package of samples, but also with a servant to carry it about. Leaving him outside of the store, on the following morning, I entered and accosted my friend, the 'Convivial investigator of Negro Minstrelsy,' asking him how he liked the show, and whether he recognized me under my negro disguise. He ascured me that he was delighted with the minstrel company, and would no doubt have felt a deep appreciation of mv own qualification*, if he had only been able to satisfy himself as to which of the 'Classic nine in burnt cork I was.' He assured me that my make-up was a complete success, and that my heaviest creditor could not have recognized me. 'But, my dear friend,' said I, 'yon have not seen the best part of the show yet ;'and giving a sign to my porter, he entered with a large bkck valise (the article became fash- ionable m that year, you may remember, in connection with hotel burning). Opening this, there ecoaped from its cavity, like a 'Jumping Jack,' a closeiy-packed mass of sample hoop-skirts, from the young Misses' (6) to the Matrons' (50). ' k " My merchant saw at once that I had been as quick AB he, and instead of his selling ars (travelliog- ese, 80 thftt he utariea, I has- •resented them ling to impress extremely dif- >upe, owing to ty cents pro- to the show— an m the par- consisted of » I rightly con- young hoo- needed only 1 the footsteps I kicking per- various places heir paterni- Watching my lance. I found aies of doubt !eman, or one nbourine. He ision that the li left him the his head from a decision, at ng his neck. »nic, employ' m they are at pplied with a t also with a itore, on the ind accosted 'estigator of how he liked ^Ofifnized me flighted with Id no doubt of my own been able to the 'Classic assured me ete snccess. nld not have I 'you have >w vet ;'and intered with jecame fash- imember, in )■ Opening vity, like a id mass of ung Misses' i I had been his selling DRUMMING. «e, I sold him— won my supper, ate it royally, and enrolUd on the b« rmprovement of mannen and customs, and the entir» LT"^ "L T'* *««- were cK combined with that commercial ptospS travel er then, as it fs to day j and is it not •n insignificant fact that at tl.; time when Athenian commerce was at its heieht and aatioaa of the Known World, Athenian genius jas most prolific in Philosophy. Poetry History, Oratory and the Fine Arts* ^ Thus commerce and culture have ever ad- Tsnced hand in hand, and side by side, iu *l»e progress of civilization, and your mer" chant princes are to-dajr, as they wen In the time, of the MedicTllthe paJons ortfi Tvr."'* ^^^ "fi^'-g •••d th.*^?hetS. Ci.li ^^ Palmyra. Babylon, Venice, and ^"''"•..^ve, in diflferent periods, been flojinshing centres of the traSe wd o^. merce of the world-aendinjj forth th"r commercial traveUers througn different countries and among iaolated JfoplesT ye *?» no such degree, and certainly with no such "«"»»• ""the case to-day when Grei? and the United States their 120.000. Thus «t IS, that at the present time we ^Lei*^" our own country a well-drilled .^dwel" equippedarmyof business agentsT aotim enterpnsing and energetic, enijaged in the intelligent prosecution of our ^t commer! to the casijal observer thi^t in proportion to the extent of our territory, the magnitude of our population and the wide-sp?eadinj and multifarious character of our nicessit^ -the number ot our commercial travellers does not compare favourably with that of the parent nation, it should be borne in mind that, with us, this instituti n. like aS every other great and good thing that we have, has but an existence running bJk into the last half century. A*nd U w but a few years since the com- m rcial drummer was ' invented. ' but he is now a well-established institution, and a permanent one. so much so that no U regulated and businesslike house can ■^> along successfully without him, and employ era as well as persons of philanthropic mo- tives, and dwiring. more and more, every day, of doing something for their welfar* the former recognizing the fact that the better the character of their representativM the better will they succeed in obtaining th* confidence and trade of those with whoa 2f L ' busmess intercourse. To the Rev. Mr, Tabnage, the sensation^ preacher of Brooklyn, are we indebted S cTlVr^JeTr!"™ "^'^^ to«>eoomm.^ ' Now you, the Oflmmerdal traveller, hay« received orders from the head man ofth. ' te wL?? *°*K**''^f ? *''* ^'"'8 excursion. Well, what IS this little package in your The«>s c?i • T "^i; *»»•» V P^k of caX Ihere 8 cerUinly no harm in a pack of oards r4tit*'?lpi--'^. ?f »T*"»« y«"r . J e ' "'"'.'7" J'uu mat there are thou- sands of men with as strong a brain as you have who have dropped down into the Bambler's life and into the gambler's hell What's that other bundle in tTie valise ? Oh yon say, that's a brandy flask. Well, my commercial traveller, just empty the contente DRUMMING. •nd fill it with cholera mixture. It'i very important to have eomething that will help you in case of sudden illness. Only one more advice to you and then I will have done with your bagjjane. Take some good whole- •ome reading, let it be ao historical work or even a work of fiction, or some work that will be of ^larticular advantajje in your busi- ness. Get a Bible with large type. ' Ready for the trip. Now you are ready k 'j J °" "■** y*""" ^''''•«» '"^ you' right hand, and your blanket and shawl strapped to your left. Good-bve I May you have a prosperous voyage, large sales and great per- centages. Oh 1 there's one thing fforgot to Mk you about. What train areyouBoina fl***H*,' . ^J«'"i V°" "y. I will take the Ave o clock Sunday train. I will save a day J>y that, and I will be by Monday morning Ml the commercial establishments by the time the merchants get down town. My commeroial traveller, you start wrong. Habbath-breaking pays no better in this world than in the next. If the S»bbath is given for the employer, it is given for the •mployee. The dollar that you earn on the Babbath is a red-hot dollar, and if you put it ma bag with 5,000 honest dollars that red-hot dollar will burn a holfe through the Das; and let out all the 5,000 honest dollars with It. I< or a few weeks now you will pass naif of your time in the railroad train. How •re you going to spend it ? Don't do as most commercial travellers do, sit reading the •ame newspaper over and over again, look- Ing listlessly out of the window, or spending three or four hours in the smoking car, the nastiest place in Christendom. 'But you have come now to the end of your railroad travel. You saunter out among the merchants and you begin business? Ihere are two things you must remember t Jnrst, that all the trade you get by the Eraotica of treating always damages the ouse that gets it. Besides, you can't af. lord to injure yourself for the sake Of your employers. Again, I charge yon, tell the whole truth about every, thing yon seU. Lying travellers wiU come Mter yon ; don't let their lying competition lempt you to do as much. But it is almost night, and you are getting back now to your hotel. You go back to the hotel. Now comes the nightly tug for the drummer. Tell nie where he spends his evenings, and I will tell you where he will spend eternity. There's your room with the\)ooks ; there's the Young Men's Christian Association, tnere's the gambling saloon, the theatre, and the house of infamy. The theatre : Do yon think the tarrying in that place till eleven ©clock at night will improve year bodily I health or earthly fortunes » No man ever found the path of commercial success or heavenly reward through the American The- atre. Well 1 you say, If I can't go to the theatre, and can't go tothegambling-saloon, I guess I will go to the house of ill-fame. Halt 1 1 There are other gates of sin through which a man may go and come out, but that gate has a spring-lock which snaps him in forever. He who goes there is damn- ed already. He may seem to be compara- tively free for a little while, but he is only in the limits, and Satan's police have their eye on him to bring him in any minute. Oh I' commercial traveller, I pray for you to-day. There are two kinds of days when you will' specially need divine grace, the one when you have no success— that night you will bo tempted to give way to strong drink ; the other day will be, when you have had great ■nccess, and the devil tells yon must go and. celebrate that success, ' In Great Britain, on the contrary, the in- Btitution of commercial travellers dates back to the guilds and mercantile companies of the tenth century, dates back to the time when these organizations were a power in the land— when they re resented not only vast wealth, marvellous constructive ability, and the highest conceivable standard of integrity, but also a po itical force, which not all the trades-unions and combinations of the labouring and mechanical clasges of the nineteenth century have ev^r been able to compass. Upon this secure and deet^ laid foundation, the British Nation erect that superb struc- ture which represented for centuries tho commeroial supremacy of the world. Using the aelf-aame untiring agencies, and building as these others built, we are in a position, to-day to boast, that, if we have not already achieved this distinguished and distinguish- ing result, we may, at the least, claim that ^ must exist for ns in the near future. Fanin, political troubles, and financial dis- tnrbancea may come from time to time to mar or set back the well-conceived proje ta of a great people, but the force by whose meana we are contending to accomplish the noble result which we have in view cannot p rmanently be deranged or opposed by in- cidents of this character, however immedi- ately alarming. And all this brings me back to my subiect. ' Drumming as a Fine Art.' And here I may panse perhaps, in the sequence of my ideas, to expatiate briefly^ Xo niAD ever cial succeaa or American The> can't go to the bmblinff-salooD, ■e of ill-fame, tiates of lin and come out, ik which anapi' there is damn- to be com para- but he ieonl^ Hoe have their y minute. Oh V or you to-da^. when you will' the one when ;ht you will be ig drink ; the lave had great II muit go and atrary, the in- era dates back companies of k to the time e a power in intea not only uctive ability, I standard of force, which •nibinationa of clasees of the been able to id foundation, anperb struc ienturies the rorld. Uaing , and building in a position. 'e not already 1 distinguish- it, claim that near fnture. financial dis- le to time to sired proje ta ce by whose ^ompliah the view cannot iposed by in- ever immedi- my subject^. laps, in th» jiate briefly^. DRUMMING. if learnedly, upon the origin, etymology and constructive use of the term 'Drummer.' Now we have heard of men being drummed out of the world (and for all that I know there are some who have been drummed into the world). I remember something of this musical character, though involving a different in- strument, which occurred in the case of the earliest male off.spring of a frienr! of mine. That child acquired, with ita earliest aoqui- sition of this world's goods, the right to in- scribe aftor its name that ancient and honour- able and Roman declaration, 'Civis Ro- manus Sum, ' I am a Roman citizen ; and on a Christmas morning, and as was customary on Christmas morning in Rome at that time, and IS now (so far as I know), the gur.s of the Castle of St. Angelo welcomed that in- fant progeny's advent into this world with their vociferous clangor. It was, however, a mere coincidence ; the giins of the St. Angelo did not sound for that especial infant— but the occurrence serves to illustrate my proposition, that musical instruments— for instance, guns— —mav be used to welcome a man into the world, and if guns why not drums, and if drums why not drummers ? But after all, this illuatration can hardly be considered etymological in ita character. I have been unable, after patient and per- sistent research and indefatigable analysis, to discover the exact origin of the applica' tion of this term ' Drummer ' to a respect- able, and as I have taken occasion to show ' you. a large body of mercantile men. But now— and accepting the name ' Drummer ' for what it is really worth— in fact, 'for better or for worse,' let us see how the Commercial Drummer has brought his theory and practice in time to be worthy of the name of a 'Fine Art.' We have, as I have stated. 60,000 drum- mers in the United States, located, when at home, principally in the large Eastern cities, but at other times scattered far and wide. I suppose that the greater part of thia audience are constantly in the habit of asso- ciating with this class of men. Yet except- ing the case of thoae who are brought into immediate contact with them by their buai- ness necessities, I question if any one is aware of the fact of such an acquaintance existing in his or her instance — and this from the almost Masonic secrecy of their movements. If you are condemned by circumstances over which you have no control, to pass a larger or lesser portion of your lives in one of those melancholy conglomerations of assembled unfortunatira known as ' boarding- houses,' you have probably breakfasted, dined and supped with drummers day in and day out for months, and never snspeoted it. You have, to be sure, missed, on ocng »o dworibe— who know their miHt. «# won or beb»rioar, th«ir ■implioity and inno o.no« of the aeu and pit Ju of^hi. w eked Z^m 7*^* J*""*" ■■ *''••• 't'^H cerUinlv thlT'of .■'* ^'^' •f.""' *'»** "« I»ngu«grbut 2 « rL r*' '"*^'*^ "^^ '"i"«P«.«nt^ an^ami. •nJ th. fir'-'"*.'"""*'*''"' «>' Kentlemen. li _ - • • Tho partT of a merchant in New York citv waKl^'" ''"""r™ ''**»' • due.enwof hi^ wafcchfulne.. and their re«pon»ibility7 he would liave then, shadowed b^a detectire Idth ,^v -.P"*'** T"" *'"i -ddrwHed him with seventy something aft.r this fash- «„'>^°K °.? ""?"• y" '«^* *»>o store at fifteen »nd a hal? minute, past four yesterday after declining on the way to purchase matchei Md suspenders, and telling a venerable i.mn who poked an advertising dodger btovour ?c7on M*" T *" .IP''^^ wher^'ther? iHo iCvJnl '»*"^*"'' """^ *»>« probabilities You afso S„1*'/^*'"'"i °^ •'*«'' temperature! Seet J^.Z^^^^H^L^'^^y''^ Thirtieth •ireet, you entered the house of a publican ?nd sinner, had a Scotch whiskey w^thTot Keeper, to take some someth ng himself— an dec'lS»7 "'^'i! T*" «""'y »»>* resiTcttuli; dechned-and had a raw oyster on a fork wSlsTow'^i *° * billiard.room. and wnictus known to me, you nlaved fn.ir games of billiards, losing ^threeW be?n« atoiok for as many rounds of drinks In addition to this, you had three o Ser nips and a cigar, a feeina Victoria. LighS i& y°" P'-°«««ded to a restaurant an! the "ffi^h* A ?P°'L**'''" *»'^ examining h»!,*-i '^h ^'■' Bar-Room, you dined heartily and expensively on Blue Point Oysters. Brunoise a I'Allemande soup. Fillet de Sole au Gratin. Croquettes de Volaille anx petits pois. A ^ 1 ^"t^toes a la Parisieniie. Antelope Steak with Currant Jelly. HageoIet8, Clionx de Bruxelles. Pate de Fois Gras. Tomato Mayonnaise. Omelette Souffle^ a la Vanille Biscuit Diplomate. . Koquefort Cheeae-Fiench Co."'ee,— I [""'"ding a bottle of Extra Dry Gold Seal «« T '• "39.45e-if you deem it neces- •ary I can describe the change you recdved Thence proceeding to the bllirard-wom ?ni forty-seven minutes after nine, wh^n vou went to a gambling-hell that I miX Ct need not partioul,ri.e.whe« you bucVed the ou^;«r 1 7.^\ ' *'""'' <*»>« «"»• one) at a «r 87 We M^'5' *'"V- ""'' *«"* ^ome on cite thm to censur : you, or find fault with trtrirl"^ ^'^j''"* '"""'y to show you that I keep a close watch on all mv em pl^ees. "Honesty is the best po1."y7thT; otSiM?*T" '"'"''* """^ terrified. The other dav they got a new city drummer a quiet ana innocent-looking young fTllow ftis comrades told him alSut theVialX pensire smile, and said, as Wallack lava in the pUy of 'The Col«n;i.' cert •« ly 7n a few days, 'the old man' sent for ^ m and with a respectful wink at the messen^'erhe wfen theV u''^ •?""•-' PrivaLTfSce When the 'old man ' had got throuffh our Sr rn'Z ^"'"^ ''-r"ner°Tplied caimiy : in the mam your nformatinn •■ that I dosired the bar-keeper not to put too much of in my third gm cocktail and mv !h.nnnf^ w' ''°^«ver, are trifles that I at <»••«». yon left the the store and nroceeded direct to So-and-So's gambling he 1 whe™ you were braced out of«2.700 migh y quick You said, when the ace came up Iwer for the ninth time, tut it beat the (fevil Ind the imaVked" hatt\ f^^'' out "tlo'^t mc^Yt At fi *""' "7? ""^^ anything iiRe It. At the corner of Ann and Broad- way. you received . package of bills-nm tell you the amountfif you like from th^ contracJrofthenew^tJeyo^^^^^^^^ up. This IB the whsck-up of the divv « 7Z\^AA^^ ''^''- Then you went home and had dinner. The oyster-eoupwas slightlv burned, as you justly, but somLhat gSm- blmgly observed, and after inventinif a Ue to your wife about having to attend a^, pedal meeting of the Health Board, for the pre- vention of the spreading of small-pox in ^4o city you went to that little widow's ' Voung man, 'said the 'old man' in an I awful voice, ' you have been guilty of an ac^ ■ of gross insubordination, not to .pLJ ^^ll* lack of honourable feeling man^feTt'eTinthuI playing the spy. Another time I shall «n? overlook the offence ; but out of reg. i or your widowed mother and your ir^^Jroach! n DryOoId8e«l. uhiers t20green- u de«m it necei- inge you received. I billurd-room till nine, when you ihat I miffht, but re you bucked the the flnsi one) at a »nd went home on >e. I do not re- r find fault with ely to «how you J on all my em- MBt policy, ''that •e terrified. The city drummer, a young fellow, mt the triali he sreat he smiled a Wallack says in Jert-'nly, In a ent for him, and he messenger he private office, sot through our rummer r plied ' information is •s and not lemon • not to put too cktail, and my lixteen, notsev. % trifles that I rday aftjrnoon < and proceeded ng hell, where ) mighty quick, up loser for the nevil, and the out two cards, seen anything Qn and Broad- of bills — I can like from the Ton are putting of the divy," ^ou went home np was slightly ncwhat gram- /^enting a lie to ;tend a special . for the pre- lall-pox in the idow's. ' d man' in an | uilty of an act 5 speak of fhs ifested in thus ne I shall not of regard for ir irreproach- DRUMMING. able conduct, I shall forgive you now. What 1!/""t n'",? • ';*^'«''t««" Imadred dollars. .J:.A 1 » * *• "•"'•"■ ^ ""»'" 't three thou' sand dating from January l.t. 1882. This is as a token of apprsci.tion of your devotion i'-/2I*l.V"*"**",. •"'"''«'" i"t«Krity. This ^IXi y^A 'K*''"* yo"*" » little •hort of fund., dont hesiUte at all about borrowmg from me. I take a deep .," affootionute interest in your welfare ' ^IJl' '»'"»'nier bowe.l hi. acknowledge- tnents, and wa. about to take hi. leave when hi. employer called him baokrand ' There i. of course nothing in it. nci- that httle romance about the widow to any one A joke's a joke.' The drummer wmked at h.m respectfully, .nd withdrew A word to the wise drum«w,r i. sufficienT ' In fact. It must probably be owned that all 1. fair in trada comnetition as in love ; and L thJfiTr;' »»f lects that meet in combat chance become dimmed in brightnew by »hS:5i" ""''*'^"* '°" -y*''-« ol To inform every questioner a. to hi. exact point of denarture and intention in the future, would U for the drummer to expoie ill. employer's interests to attack from remorseles. enemies, and in this con. nection will give » fe^r^verses which in a moment of mental aberration, let me hone were concocted by a drummer who had takeu refuge in a smaiJ town to averse his exnense account, and who had air. ady thus isolated himself for about a week ^*'''adroit!l°' '"""*• *° ""• **'° ''"°''»' '^°' DeU'"* ""'"""*'' '"" •*" »'''» *«» ^"^ town ? '^"°'' ' '^*"'° ^'^ ^^ °°""' *« Just now, he an.wer.,anda..ume8 a frown- you then so-ne further information seek, week ^^ «*'°*^'y«» lewn he's here a ^°°dTf * '""'*^*' ' ^^ ' ''*''• ^"^ '^^ yo" ^^ w°n7 ""'^^ *^*' *'""^' ^^'^ • •"""• y°» bet ^ *" °°* «°"P«'' you can ""^fa'^to '^"'^^^^ "^^ y<"» ^'om La-. Yon^k a third, where he will spend next fle thinks he'll ruralJie at Put in Bay. ^J!!T ''*'"•".•«' •upposed to have refer- rmme;:..'"'"^""* ^*-- »- ''PP-ition ' venfri" tht "'"''•'"''•'S'' ?' commercial tra- vellers, the same result is den.anded which the only definition of true Keneralship. that IS. success I ! one must notle too part cular Th.re^:ir7u"' ^'*^ ^l'^'^ he^ch^evw ine result. 1 he commercial traveller should consider h.m«.lf the instrument wher.^th IS tc be wrought out the business adv.ntsge, of hisllf?**^"'- Thisismf«,t theobj?^; duou. no .ituation too tuH of danger. Aad that the commercial traveller's life i. not marked with incident, possessing the Tte- menu of discomfort and %ven danger U . fa la^y which top generally prevail. fLn ' I misinformed and inconsiderate community The commercial traveller does not Uwavi find himself at home in gorgeou. na^!J" hotols. such as I shall now Lcrib!J :J^ " for S^ ^^**' ^' ^," *""'* *»d arranged Ih'e toS'pu'l^.i;'"' "'" -----0' ba»£,-i:^^'>-;'^»^ hotel ought to have been placed nearer thl railroad depot the location ^f the houVfiiiU be immediately changed e»c?Z'.l°''""'^"''"''°°'^°""^'«''*''«' ' ^Sr^'i ^"'J ^.*^' *'•"■«*• *><>« and cold ' water laundry, telegraph, fire alarm, restau- rant, bar-room, billiard tebles, daily panwS ; coupe, sewing machine, cra'nd piano^ i I it:™o^f *" •'*'""• '"'^"" convenience, j Meals every minute If deeiwd. and con. •equently no second table. • »"" oon. I English, French, and German diotionariet farn«hed every guest, to make up auch a town n?? *" *".! """y ^"'"' *'*»'o»t regard town of fare afterward, at the oflSce. Waiters of every nationality and colour if dMired. Every waiter furbished wX . barrt»hl ^"**o°hole boquets, full dress suit; middle • *" *""' P'"*^ •" *^ _.v»r^ g«8st will have iho best seat in tha dining hatl and the best waiter in the house? Any guest not getting his breakfast redl ««nA„r //P^l'?*""? • delay of sixteen seooods after givme Si. order for dinner? will please mention the fact at the manager'i 10 DRUMMING. (f office , and the cooks and waiter* will be blown from the mouth of a cannon in front ot the hotel at once. Children will be welcomed with delioht and are requested to bring hop-sticks, and hawkeys to bang the carved rosewood fumi- ture, especially provided for that purpose, and peg-tops to spin on the velvet carpets they T'lU be allowed to bang on the piano at all hours, fall down stairs, carry awav dessert enough for a small family "in their pockets at dinner, and make themselves as disagreeable as the fondest mothers can desire. Washing allowed in rooms ; ladies civinc an order to ' put me on a flat-iron' will be put on at any .lOur of the day or night. A d'screet waiter, who belon,^ to the Masons Odd Fellows. Sons of MaltaTKnights of Pythias, K. 0. M.'s, and M. d7r.'8, and Who was never known to tell the truth or time of day, has been employed to carrv milk punches and hot toddies to the ladies' rooms in the evening. The office clerk has been carefully selected to please everybody, and can lead in prayer, play draw poker, match worsteds in the village store, shake for the drinks at any hour, day or night, play billards, is a good waltzer, can dance the German, make a fourth at euchre amuse the children, repeat the Beecher trial from memory, is a good judge of horses, as a railroad or steamboat refereiice is far superior to Appleton's or anybody else s guide, will flirt with any young lady, and not mind bein»cut to death when 'pa comes down, 'don't mind beinc damned any more than the Connecticut Kiver, can room forty people in the best room in the house when the hotel is full attend to the annunciator and answer ques- tions in Greek. Hebrew, Choctaw, Irish or any other pohte language at the same mo- ment without turning a hair. • ?°f? allowed in any room in the house, including the w(h)ine room. * Geutlemen can drink, smoke, chew, swear gamble, tell shady stories, stare at the new arrivals, or indulge in an oljher innocent amusement common to watering-places, in any part of the hotel. * ^ ' The landlord will always be happy to hear that some other hotel is 'the bJft house in the ccu'itry. ' Special attention given to parties who . Ha cannot always control h>s pa-t''-"'a- pomts of travel. The incidents whJoh'in the cast of other men modify so greatly and •o distinctly, their busineu careeVSave ao influence with him. Sickness must come to him and death aa these come to other men ; but except by either of these afflictions ho should be strick- en down, they must not turn aside from his duty the commercial traveller. With the bursting of the spring buds as the ground ia loosened from the icy bands which have held It for months, and when the freshets are rolling down their vast volumes of water, the great army of commercial travellers sets forth by every means of public transporta- tionand through every route and highway in the land. ' The word goes forth, and these, each equipped and armed as is necessary, disre- gartiing whatever ties of afTection or trust may seem to bind them and to lead them elsewhere, resume tlieir business relations • and having regard for these only, eschewine all other bonds, ent«r once more, how- ever unwillingly, upon the travail of the season. As I have said, sickness and even death nwy call upon them in the earnest tones of affection, and home influence, to turn aside for only this once from the path of their assigned duty. There are cases, and these not a few, where no such apLeal has served to detain them. There are cases where to have departed from their duty would have been to sacrifice subsistence itself ; and this without reflection in any particular upon the employer. Em- ployers or other individual?, or incorporated companies, cannot consider, in the vast aff- gregate of their business operations, the interests or the wishes of the minor instru- mentalities which they employ. The hour comes for the great trade movement of the season as it rolls around to enter upon its accustomed path, and this movement, so important to the interests, not only of the employer, but also of the mass of the com- munity who depend upon its operation and success forall that makes civilization mean anything, this movement must not be nre- vented by any interruption of its processes or any accident to the progress of tliis body of trained agents who prosecute the trade enterpri.es which while they mein wealth and luxury and all the attributes of fortune on the one hand, on the other may mean bare subsistence itself. ' ™ A case illustrating this point in our armi- ment-one of many which my memorv t"me * ""»-''*" ^ appropriated at thli The incident happened to s young man. m commercial travelfer of my acquaintance, wh» JL?» w"^'"' •*??"** y*" ^ experienw in that profession. He was bold, active,bright and thorough ; was ambitious, and waa him and death, aa > ; but except by 8 should be striok- ;urn aside from his iveller. With the Is as the ground is Is which have held the freshets are rolumes of water, iial travellers sets public transporta- oute and highway uid these, each necessary, disre> affection or trust >d to lead them siness relations ; 9 only, eschewing >nce more, how- le travail of the and even death earnest tones of :e, to turn at^al has served have departed I been to sacrifice »'ithout reflection employer. Em- , or incorporated in the vast ag- operations, the ie minor instru* ploy. The hour novement of the enter upon its J movement, so not only of the tss of the com- 8 operation and ivilization mean list not be pre- of its processes >ss of this body scute the trade >y mean wealth utes of fortune ■ may mean bare nt in our argn- > my memory priated at thit » young man, m qnaintance,who "experience in d, active, bright tious, and wa« DRUMMING. 11 rapidly risinj;. Success, as is too frequently the case, had made him venturesome, and he married. He was attached to a large manu- facturing company, and when the spring opened and the time arrived for him to take his departure for an extended tour through the Middle and Western States, it found him stung to the heart with perhaps the sharpest anguish which the human heart is capable of experiencing, the sickness nigh unto death of his newly wedded wife. The aise was critical— of this sickness his wife might die. To fail to meet the urgent business necessity of the moment was to him constructive suicide. His place would be filled within the hour, and an evil that might not come to him through death, would be certain to come through poverty. And not only this ; through the accuracy and excellence of his services, he held in his hands the business prosperity of his em- ployers. To fail them at this time was to sacrifice them. Thus his conscience and his self-interest together warred against his affections. , This was an embarrassment to which I conceive few would care to be subjected. His decision marked the character and stability of the man. Placing far above all tenderness, however praiseworthy, the superior claims of justice, first to his employers and then to himself, he decided to go. His wife died within twenty-four hours. Such occurrences as the one I have just related to you as illustrating one phase of the life of a commercial traveller, are by no means casual or incidental. Trials and dangers come to this class in a proportion greater and more frequent than to almost any other. There are the dangers which assail all travellers— dangers by land, and dangers by sea, and these also propor- tionally greater in the case of commercial travellers, because of the larger amount of time passed by them in travelling. It is not unnatural then that these men should be in many respects different from their fellows. Leading a life of exposure, not only to physical danger, but to corruptions which besiege all of us more or less in our journey through this world, the wonder is rather that so sma'l a number are ever led away from the strict path of rectitude, which, as a rule, marks iheir conduct of the large and 2n..ti(%:tv)A. ?i?T?»?rs p'«c6u in irhsir charge* And if I allude a|;ain to their methods in business dealing, it is neither with any de- sign of deprecating just criticism, or any in- tention to withhold from the light of day the •sact facts of the case. Mercantile business is like a gar.ie of chance, in which the first object is successful competition with the opponent — and this by every means in using which the latter can be baffled and misled, and through these agen- cies success attained. Thus, through his peregrinations and through the education which these afford him, your true commercial traveller becomes a veritable citizen of the world. Rubbing against his fel ow-men in such numerous in- stances, whatever may be the prc-conceived ideas concerning the ordinary topics of thought with which he mav set out, these are through this species of human faction, presently modified. In politics, in religion, and in all the main subjects n which men ordinarily differ, the comk. ial traveller is bound by the necessities of his employment to assimilate with all. And if he be a Methodist with Methodists, an Episcopalian with Episcopa- lians, a Democrat with Democrats, a Repub- lican with Republicans, Stalwart witti Stal* warts. Half Breed with Half Breeas, local optionionist, Hebrew or Gentile, if he be all or any of these, as either assumption may serve his business purposes best, who shall blame him, since business success is the one object he has nearest at heart, and to the successful accomplishment of which he has devoted all his. energies and all his in. genuity ? In this connection I may not inappropri- ately ask what constitutes a good salesman ♦ and cannot answer the question better than did Mr. John Field, of the firm of Young, Smyth, Field & Co., of Philadelphia, before the Young Men's Christian Association, at a recent meeting. The following were his words verbatim : Mr. President— The question submitted to us this evening is : ' What constitutes a Good Salesman.' The mariner, upon whatever sea, knows that he can always turn to one point in the heavens and ever find the North Star, ' Whose faithful beams conduct the wander- ing ship. Through the wide desert of the pathless deep. ' So man, in every vocation in life, when tempest- tossed and tried, murt have his polar star, upon whom he can fix his eye— the un- chan^fing and changeless God, who has said, ' I will guide thee with mine ejre. ' Let this be our standpoint. Salesman— Sale-and-man. Webster's def- inition is : One who finds a market for the goods of another person. From the time that Jacob sent his sons to 1 12 DRUMMING. j^ypt to buy corn, buying and NlLSng bn S.J*]!' ?'■"•'*"«"• necewitate. th« diHtributer. Md aa long u one man makes plow., another waggon., and another axe., and another ^t'^nA^''\l'"'« ?' °°« '""produS, Rram and another mmes coal, wilf the di.. 2 t^„V^ " *" u**™ '»'«"• *»»« Merch^S, and the Salesman be needed on ♦i!°'^'- ^'■- .^'•«'''i«nt. entering fully up. i on the discussion of our theme,** in ju.tice ' i^^rfrJ'rS^"-'^ ''*?»•''« Sale'smen! lam ' compelled to digress for a moment and e" i pose some of the difficulty they have to ' heaH/lk y? r'si" "''^^ them^un5rth1 wu^ ^Th *"ok8 of the trade. ' Why did Mr. A. succeed and Mr. B fail m such and such a transaction ? Mr B is a true man, and his pricesare right j infect iuJX^'^.T "oknowledged to beS than Sir. A. 's Why thef did he faiTand Mr. A. succeed ? Mr. A raUtoii V^ „ .peaker the following ' and «?a'rk youtX •m irt^d ?•* .^r\ ^^ «i«i"/»nythfi g amiss Said he. • I have been trying for a long time to get my make of goods int^* naming a certain house in anot er city, 'but wthout success Finally I hit uponapla^ I learned that the head of the department J»:aa re-furnishing his house. I oStol^ him referred to what he was doing and J^ to him : 'See here, my fnend. I often visit rr wS^/h''"*'' if* " ^"'y le to me ; would you allow me to furnish a room in your house where I can stop over a n^h^ occasionally ?' He at once replied, •Ce^lS! ijls^n^"','^; '^ f»"'«hed,*^saidMr 1. fci. second storey room elegantly. ' I n.tur SnT"^.\ ?id you fyr^;ccupy't . Oh no, said he 'but the house ever after, wards had a good stock of my good^' Mr. B. never sold that bouse any ffoodt •nd why r A gentleman engaged as sIlS ^ my own house (not with ^n,. nor hrnot l^en for years), reported to me that he sue- mvsllf fnTi L. • I-''" .* little surprised I mi^^ 't ^.H"®'^ '"'" *o *»« » very peculiar ' rat*«n,"f'°?'"°«'ll*f *•>« matter, I found i ibsoluiw ^ 'l '""" H."°'^^80od.. were sold whS iL , *'°'*' "Mother goods of I Which the buyer was not a critical ' judge were charged above their market , value. Callin^hV^aleVmin i^r^he^offi* 'him, 'Mr . i have alwajs Don vnn A« an I.A«..i. ... y vefeang?;.= rnd%X'^^%-'oi^mt^^^^ first place, you sold some of our good, below cost, yon cheated u.. In th* .«„— j i you «>ld him other'^.?bot%'heTmafc value, you cheated Sim; in other woTdsfn the day-time yon let him h»v« i,;. ^°""' "» but in the mfdnighi "C'^the d^knTj' you had your way. ' • Mn P., • Mhf he 'Vi I These insUnces are enough toindLatetlf; I J«-'«e- which «le.men^ometim«*eV|i! ; Could we, Mr. Prwiident, reduce th*. «r«- position to an honest. criUcal bn«. P™* side of the counter, and iXn.r..i'"* *""• on the other side of it *t v3d 'i^*'"*" greatly simplified. This howlL ''"? be, a. the man who bny,VeZT'<^l''°^ di.e in the very nature^:,' fh^.*^ St^bl; a critical judge of all classes ol k^..7! must therefore depend greatly unK-'„ who sells him. What kind nfo x?°" ought this salesman to be i ""^ * '"»" *»>« rpec«v\%:l-sSsr.VwT^y^^/^i^^^ that a salesman ought to ^thor"*!?"* drilled and trained to* his . n.hfes^n^l'*'' ^ as to how to sell his goods, buTaTso as o S In regard to hi. personal habit. ^„a character, many contend that to U succ"J fnl he must abandon temnerat* m«a 1 , principles. I remonst3 wi'h . „""' prosperous Market Street merch.nt in regard to his course in life. He, pointing te^hS large warehouse, said: 'A. lona.. r connected with that e.UblishLnt?! c/nH change my course.' Poor fellow hi. ^t <^nded."ihaf:;;;i.'toV*sucS?^ °^- I the street, I have never ]rnn^^ ^ years on have been finally'snre:2CrdTrii?„S anyone m the audience to point out on" «^ Again. I consider that a salesman .i u be so evenly balanced tJat he w^u?d Jevif ^?lT!?T,r .!P-' -. »>!* or bridTe" "s^ml fuss"y:::i"1n;"rnTLturrd^^":,*- they are like a horse tortured by tenl t'Kf A^^'-^"" ''''"'^^ hisiLiT g„?„: the bit and kicks against thn ^ .V* u f never kill, a Ay ; th'e "only* thin'^t t In the lecond pUce »bove their m»rr at in other words, in h»ve his own way, r, in the darkneu,' fr. F.,'Mid he, 'I t before ; yon are p do 10 again, 'and ed how he should •ty. The answer some of the goods l>«r market value, gh to indicate the I sometimes expe. i, reduce the pro- 4calbnyer on one 1 honest salesman i would be very , however, cannot general merchan> things, cannot be ses of goods ; he ^tjy upon the one id of a man then ghtto be a man, > should be our •hitects our reply ined to their re- My and contend p« thoroughly usiness, not only )ut also as to the •rcbandise which n«l habits and »t to be success- rate and correct with a once rchant in regard pointing to his ^s long Bg I anj ment, I cannot •low, his course ■«i2al and finan- I earnestly con- icoessfnl, must thirty years on ivn one such to nd I challenge nt out one. desman should le would never bridle. Some ise they are too word to use, — \ by flies on a 18 tail, gnaws le sliafts, hut thing that he DEUMMIJTO. BwSu&i' *^ ^^''' himself up into a sweat, but does no good. A dvsnpnfi.. ^^l natured nun will no*t be suVceTsfS .''^'i'wi "r^AXt^t^"''''' "^ one occasion, at midmgr,t the ship stopped su^'denly ; meet- mg the eaptain I inquired the cau^; ; only a hot journal j it lacked oil, and began to eTrvflf"'^ *":»•'. wearing' itself ourand witn It; Its fellow journal moved along smoothly, doing its wirk well because It had plenty of oil.* These two jSals represent two distinct classes of mJn the hZV ""J'^P^'y and unsuccessful, the atter happy and successful The first will drive awa^^customers. the latter will^S ?hem Again, a salesman must have some en- wZ'""'.,'?:''* ^"1 never succeed That ^\ a' r** ^®- ^*'"' b««hould be self, possessed and not too easily ercited. A man «e over tr'-''"' ""'" *'^?y- ««» '^^ ""^^^t" h^J7tl t*" V""^°.""' «<"t*'>le man. I have heard these two characters compared to two boilers of the same capacity ; put on each a bursts all to pieces, the other remains un- fsthl'S ^*""««» the pressure. What «f l!!i^ "uVfMfiU he must be a good judge So"? °n« has said that tact is a delicate^ aubtk gift, almost like a sixth sense, wh*?h and say and do the beat thing in the best manner, at the right moment It never rushes m too soon, nor arrives on the ground i**** 'J^, " "«^«' o« 'ts guard but ever n^{ ^ ^•'•- '"^^"tage of the situation. He needs pre-eminently th s gift. He has tr, si^ nf if 1!"^ I'-'-hman, the sharp-dealing son of Abraham, the broad-gusge Western i-uriUnical principles, and the man . Ith as InZ^''n"w°''*^"*¥» principles as Bob IngerwU. He must be (without sacrificing g^r ?h'i m'ile*'^'''*' *«•"-"•*''''* ^«-y .alll-1 t'n&teTy%e«°Sn r-^^. ? do not mean a man to be so good that a flv will not haht nn KU „^. . -_* .. '" , " J"/ I .„ ..,_,, „, _y gooQ that he IS good for nothing ; I do not mean that Boftish goodness thatlias no snap, or vim or fc" V ^ t ^'"?'***° " *'"* * bJ^tblackrsafd i^S^K 'S*^?'u''f, ""^ht to be the best in the parish. So I believe. Put down three P's, Politeness, Patience, IS Perse veinnce ; add to tnese energy, invinci- ge.uBro8.ty ; if you have not ah-endy done so, C^l^^^'^A '"'" i ?^« ♦•■"th a« m^^o ' »"d in the prosecution of this simple business opera- tion, he is bound by his bonds to throw aside all minor influences. When we consider the Innumerable variety and vast importance of the interests confided to the charge of the commercial traveller, one might well be astonished at their magnitude. There is almost no article, except food, which is not I now marketed by these men; and the grand result of this never failing stream of com- I merce flowing through the country in all directions, in its eflSect upon trreat int.«rpat. can never be computed. " ' To illustrate this we have only to con- aider for a moment how much of the business of transportation owes ito existence to this agenr • And again, how necessary is the comr r i il traveller to the hotel-keeper. To withdraw from the hotels and raih-oad lines M DBUMMINQ. of this oonntry the eaormons and nevar-fail* ing traffio of onr 120,000 commercial travel* Ion would be, it appeara to me, to inflict a moat aeriona and diaaatroni blow upon thaso interests, and thia, not to speak of the re- flolant injury oansed by the interferenoe with, if not stoppage of, the trade whioh ia oonsequent to t&ia speoies of travel Why. I see by the reports, and thia ia only one ont of many equally large instances, that Mr. Bass, the great Eaglish brewer, pays the MidUnd Railway £171,000 sterling per annum for freight. This is only one article of commerce, and over one railroad. The multiplying of illustrationa would be needlesB. A very little reflection will attain the same reault. It may also be sai«l, en fKUicuU, of this same Mr. Bass, so important doea he deem th a class of oomnKircial trav- ellers to his business interestin that he haa recently established in London a newspaper devoted entirely to the furtherance of the asefulness of these agents. Commercial travellers' schools have also been established in EuglanJ, and at the thirtr-fonrth anniversary of their founda- tion Mr. James Hughes, their treasurer, ob- served that 'the aoctrine had been inculcated in certain quarters that commercial firms could do without travellers. He thought they might as well ride a horse without a back-bone ; they might, no doubt, l)ut he (Mr. Hughes) contended that it was not for their advantage to dispense with an able body of men to whom many firms in the past had owed this good fortune. Speaking for his own house, he begged to inform them that the^ could not possibly do witbont com- mercial travellers, nor did he believe in the virtue of the trading that did not make use them. In the life of the commercial traveller there was neither peace nor rest. There waa no end to his work,and he had to look pretty sharp sometimes to make the slightest head- way, having frequently to contend with mighty forces. Many of those present had been commercial travellers, and they know how much business houses owed to those who were so engaged. Bob Burdette in Hawkeye says : • What would I do without " the boys T •* How often they have been my friends. I go to a new town. I don't know one hotel from another. I don't know where to go. The man with the samples gets off at the same station. I follow him without a word or a tremour. He calls to the 'bus driver by name and orders him to "get out of this, now, " as soon as we are seated. And when I follow him I am i.vevitably certain to go to the best house there is in the place. He shouts at the clerk by name, and fires a joke at tbe landlord as we go in. He looks over my shoulder as I register after him, and hands me his card with a shout of recog- nition. He peeps at the register again and watches the clerk assign me t? ninety-eight. " Ninety -nothing, " he shouts, "who's in fifteen T " The clerk says he is saving fifteen for Judge Dryasdust. " Well, he be bio wed, " says my cheery friend, " give him the attic and put this gentleman in fifteen." And if the clerk hesitates, he seizes the pen and gives me fifteen himself, and then he calls the porter, orders him to carry up my bag- gage and put a fire in fifteen, and then in the same breath adds, " What time will you be at supper, Mr. Burdette T " And he waits for me, and seeing that I am a stranger in the town, he sees that I am cared for, and the waiters do not neglect me ; he tells me about the town, the people and the business. He is breezy, cheery, sociable, full of new stories, always good-natured ; he frisks with cigars and overflows with "thousand-mile tickets ; " he knows all the best rooms in all the hotels ; he always has a key for the oar seats, and turns a seat for himself and his friends without troubling the brake- man, but he will ridk on a wood-box or stand outeide to accommodate a lady, or he will give his seat to an old man. I know him pretty well. For three years I have been travelling with him, from Colorado to Maine, and I have seen the worst and the best of him, and I know the best far outweighs the worst. I could hardly get along without him, and I am glad he is numerous. ' Not only this, we have also in the United States a Commercial Travellers' as- sociation, which has a large membership, which insures each member's life at a far less rate than insurance can be effected in any other company ; and in addition to this, each member is entitled to reduced hotel and railroad fares. They have also a jour- nal devoted to their interests, which haa a large circulation, called the Commercial Traveller,And I present herewith the resume of the mortality table of the Commercial Travellers' association, prepared by Secretary J. Will Page, and brought down to Oct. 1, 1880. It is an interesting study, and speaks for itself : Amount paid to beneficiaries |340, 620. 70 members .... 5,666.00 Average paid by each deceased member .... 66.25 Average amount of insurance for each member . . 21.44 ne, and fires a joke n. He looki over It after bim, and k shoat of recog- relator again and ne t? ninety-eight, ihouts, "who's in he is aavine fifteen ^ell, he be blowed, " give him the attio fifteen." And if zes the pen and and then he calls carry up my bag- en, and then in the t time will you be ' And he waits for a stranger in the cared for, and the ; he tells me about ;he business. He full of new he frisks with thousand-mile best rooms in a key for the seat for himself tabling the brake. I a wood-box or date a lady, or an old man. I Por three years I lim, from Colorado the worst and low the best far ould hardly get am glad he is ve also in the al Travellers' as- rge membership, er's life at a far an be effected in 1 addition to this, to reduced hotel lave also a jour- its, which has a the Commercial ewith the resume the Commercial ared by Secretary down to Oct 1, study, and apeaks DRUMMING. eased ranee 1340,520.70 5,666.00 66.25 21.44 Average annual cost to each memberfor $1,000 insurance B v\ Amount paid by each member who has paid all assessments since our organization . 171 00 One Assessment has been paid from the general fund of the Association, amounting to $3,858.90 T Tx ^ '^' *♦ ii'L Page, Secretary James H. Eaton, President. • ^ . Meanwhile it should not be for a moment .magmed that because commercial trTveC are expert business men f.om the necessity inIh^^rtE/L*'^;„4r' "^•^ P""'^"'"^^ ceJs'fur'^.thi^'.K-'"^"',"^.'" " «J»e most suc- cessful— other things being equal— who haa at his command the Urges? number 7m^. em languages, and this is in particular the feature which has made t e Jews-so^l ed —and the Germans so successful ; and it was my good fortune in the year 1878 to becoTne acquainted with a • knight of the grips^cr who has at his command six languages and was deputized by one of the moft importent business houses in New York to v sit Brazil and the Island of Cuba, and his experience in those countries was not only instrucC ihl^TTf, "? '*' character!^ He found that the bulk of trade was done principally by English and German representatives and '"XTJ^^a'^'"^''''^ *° rid.J„le\*n3 ward off' American Drummers, that no they did not have recourse to prevent as ^{?h„*V*'°" '^ ""t^"^ *''«'' power theadve^ of (he 'American Drummer.' And to bcttflr Illustrate one of their modus oJ^an^ I wHl place before my reader a circular which was received by my quondam commercial trave" Janeiro.' '^"'^**' h" arrival in Rio de Rio de Janeiro, May 24, 1878, IS ^® *{«^r^^«'jtly arrived American represen- It may not be generally known that Brasil exports to the United States nearly $50,00?- 000 of produce, while the United Stat^sVx- ports in return only $7,000,000, the differ- tnTh ^3:000,000, being paid in hard money .l^l!L'll*f,.ST-*'*?^— • '"''' "^"^ °"* ihl'AT'T J tT ■,?"'-' '"''^"or proauctsto the deluded Brazilian planter. It is evident to the most ordinary American observer that this ,e not a. It should be. The Brazilian is thirsting to buy the products of the United ^htl I*^* !'"* ll *''« Emperor in 1876 had this object .peoially in view, and repre- sentatives of American houses and manufao thLl^ , ^^^if^^y as soon as possible after they have 'settled themselves.^ In order to statthaVt"h^"K'^ V' ""ly^ece-^ary to fr^^n f • i'^y ''"."S **»* """»! letter of in. where tTeF^n*''" "^^'^ °^ '^'^o^own limli, * . Emperor was entertained, or of^^i^ *° l**** *^?* ^^^'y "« representetiyea tLtjTA ""^P^factunng or productive in' terests of America, and whatever the hour or however creat the public exigency. HU Maiesty wfll always accord an interV^w witliout delay. The Emp.ror rarely riveT th?n?a?th'"r.*^? JlOOrOOO worth?f?n7 thing at the first interview, but if the matter « adroitly nresented he may requMt thj Mmister of Agriculture to^dupScS ih! Any ' reppesentative ' not provided wiffc the usual fetters of introductPon to the Em^ peror, members of the Cabinet, nobility, etc., can be supplied by cailina on thi American Consul-feeneral. * * 'Representatives 'bringing larae anantitii» of luggage (baggage, cases of3p1e., e oT have only to mention that they are 'represen! tativesof, etc.,' and the Conference wUHm tTro".*h'^'r' r'^iS'^'^S 'righTsTr'S through the custom-house. In nearly all win'J!^'")?'??' I*''f1'' **>« 'represenSive' will be button, holed, and buyers will persist in giving orders for American manuflcC^' but he 3 advised not to entertain any proposition without the cash in hand ^ ihe most dignified course will be to take await the run of custom. The EmMror usually makes his rounds at fouSS «'M^*t m'nwters of the empire at five o Clock a.m., and the ordinary run of buvers Sik L Wf'''^ ''•'"*°" exhaust the whole from''th"dSle;L'"''* "^ usually obtained himi'i* ' ""ti^entative ' need not trouble n.^pi.I fK ^*^' .P*"^'"' ""^ ofnoconse- quence the main thing is to be an American we« a long linen dustlr. and have fometh.ni • finis frK-M*?* •'J? °°* '««' *•>»* they have niled the bill 'with^ufc — •!!;->- -**.'• I the tAPt ♦!,.«. /T.-^^ -"JUlij. attention to tnetact that Americans are the favoured Sm t^'""^V*'^. ^'«nderbilt, Astor, or txould, to have the interest of the ' renre- Sir '"'**' *° " p°'"* *>" -" ---5 As topics of conversation congenial * 16 DRUMMING. the native, the committiv; sng^t 'grand resonrcet,' • great fortune,' 'vast extent of territory, 'unlimited empire,' great fra- ternal feelmg,' 'bond of nnion,^ 'health- ftilneas of climate,' etc., and aroid all allusion to 'yellow fever,' 'nigger as good as a white man,' and crimes against the person. ' '''**!..' 'tP.^®'****'''®'*' strongest hold is to urge the following points : -Ji" i^^'L''® "'.".'^® *•*• •>"* «""J cheapest •racle m the world. 2. That no nation in the world can com- pete wrth ns. 3. That attention to foteign markets was nbt necessary heretofore, as we consumed e^wj'thmgwe made; now we make more than we want, hence the first appearance on the foreign stage. 4. That the strongest evidence of the above statement is the fact that we are seiul- jngour goods to Canada, New Zealand, Uhina, Japan. Australia, etc. ; and, as a clincher, i •» •» . ''j P^^ ^® "^ "•"'"« oi' goods in Ene- land itself— cannot fill orders fest enough to supply the demand. * This gcBerally 'fetches them,' and they send right out for their money bags anil recklessly turn over untold millions to the 'representative.' Agricultural implements, particularly plows, are in extravagant demand ; reapera and mowing-machines wanted everywhere As nearly every manufacturer in the United States makes a better shovel than the Ames, and a better axe than the 'Collins ' it 18 only necessary to show your sample shovels and axes, and they will betaken with avidity. The American 'cut nail' has achieved wonders in Brazil, owing probably to the ductility of the climate. ' Parlour stoves and basement heaters have not been sought for with the eagerness to have been expected, but Yankee enterprise will not rest until every house in Brazl is warmed by one or the other. Aimjricans are particularly requested to note t.iat there is not one American sulky bnggy. Concord waggon, or carriage now used m Brazil. Here is a large field. In locomotives, cars, lumber, flour, kero- sene, lard, the opening is simply unlimited. Ihere 18 mo.e room in Brazil to build rail- ways than in any country in the world, and some scheme should be devised to make the !ir,g!is.i mrnish the money to complete the railway sysjem of Brazil so that we may sell the plant to these ' bloated capitalists ' who now have more than £20.000,000 invested War.mno :— The committee feel it their duty to warn the 'representative' against those persons who wilf attempt to discourage i'^n^ffK ^ representing that BraSi aintod * *•"** '* •"' ^«° These croakers are disappointed individn- tffhlf """^ T°* ^^"'■^ '" *''« country Without succeeding m accumulating the colossal fortunes that are to be made hew! They have yielded to the enervating eflects of the climate and the unsound business methods of this part of the world, which Wu"''^ ""* ^^^ sufficient energy to change, and they are how evidently afraid of the vigorous competition and invincible deter- mination of their younger compatriots. They willdoubtlessrenresentthat the whole foreigJi trade of Brazil does not exceed $100,000,000 wSl/' ""^Z ^''"■y '"t«l'i«ent American, n^^f f ow*^ *^^ newspapers, knows that the United States alone should by rights have a trade of JlSO.OOO.OOO annually w?th BrazH nliv,'. ' r''"f"?^""'''°« *'*^ no definite plans ani limited resources, may expend their energy advantageously on projects for an 'Exp. ess Company,' 'Pullman Sleeping and Pariour Cart/and 'Emigration Bureau,^ least^^'^a^m^TeTc^m^pr;:.*'"'^ '•"* ^"* -' By the Committee, 0^^^" fc^ ( CODNT Jojl.VNES. ' Notwithstanding the great field above set forth, my friend, the enterprising drummer the Brazillians a bit by advertising his ware? upon the pet curiosity of the Rio'de Janeiro harbour, the 'Su«ar-loaf Mountain.' He therefore had painted in the most conspicu- ous point of the rock, in large white letters the trade-mark of his firm, llesult : Not'c; from th« r '" ■*" ^^' P*P«"' "^ ^"•"'^on' from the Common Council to appear before them a rebuke and a fine of $100, but the adv-ertisement proved to be worth one hun* dred times the amount, and taught some of the slow-coaches representing England, that '' .^'iTf =.r->_^- P- in a tern. perature of seventy,' Yankee enterprise S- 'teof Sel?' * "'"^' ''^ '^^ ' "P- » will be, difficult for America in Brazil, and almost an impossibility : and in regard to iU extenamn m *h»t rnunf-.- '^h „ •""""■ .i;«; ii:- 1 ' «'f>»ntrj-, -iiere are creafc difficulties to overcome, in the fact that the field IS already very fully occupied with the fabrics and products of other countriefc while one is met at the very threshold by a most VICIOUS system of credits, which ha. grown up under the most excess ve compet" DRUMMING, Jtative ' against npt to discourage ing that Brazil hat it has been lointed individu- in the country cumulating the » be made here, lervating eflects isound ousinesB »e world, which nergy to change, y, afraid of the ivmcible deter- mpatriots. They hewhole foreign :ed $100,000,000 igent American, .knows that the »y rights have a ly with Brazil, with no definite I, may expend on projects for llman Sleeping [ration Bureau," nd last but not RKY Sellers, • T. Rain, JOA.VNES. field above set sing drummer yould wake up ising his wares Rio de Janeiro )untain. ' He Most conspicu- white letters, efiult : Notice h Hi summons appear before $100, but the orth one hun- aught some of England, that par in a tem- nterprise rest- least, upon a a, and always n Brazil, and 1 regard to ita -re are great fact that the scupied with ler countries, reshold by a 8, which haa sivo competi- tion of foreign importing houses to make u\ .:""'*' ^*"*=y * ^y^*^"^ of sales under which five months are considered cash, and the ordinary credit twelve months. I refer now more especially to dry goods. In gen- eral merchandize sales are made on short«r credits, say from four to six mouths, and in this brancli of the import trade, cash is fre. «Sy "fu**'"**^ under a liberal discount against the usual credit. I should have stated in reference to sales of dry ooods that no legitimately negotiable document p'asses between buyer ana^ seller, and in many cases interest is stipulated when settlement is de- ferred beyond twelve months, the sale being then virtual y made on open account, witU payment at the pleasure of the purchaser. • ,"°ri °"'y "* languages must the Com- marcal Traveller be informed. He milTt keep himself au courant with the passinff events of the day. He must be ableTdfa? cuss politics, religion or social science Intel- hgently, with those who claim this use of his time, and this exercise of his attainments -always being particular, of course, not to commit himself to any one side until he in thoroughly convinced whether or not it is. tor the time being, the right side. And again, acuteness and sharpness, to push to an extravagant definition these terms Jead a man to over-reachjiig. ' There cannot be, iu fact, a more injurious development m the commercial traveller either in regard to his own character or to the necessities of his employers, than is com- prised in this peculiar species of wickedness, indeed, it may be set down as a specific rule that a man best considers his employer's in- teresta when he considers also the interests of nis buyers. The man who buys of you and finds him- self cheated, will not purchase from you *^L°:u '?"^«««1> if he did not cease dealing with the house you repiesent, it would be Burpnsing. And if the commercial traveller has his duty to consider, employers have theirs; and one very fashionable class of difficulties with which commercial travellers from time to time have to contend, is the tnck of underselling on the part of manu- faoturers and dealers. This system is not only deceitful in itself and injurious to the agent, but it is reflectively destructive to the employer. In fact, the commercial traveller is to the business community what money is to the entire world= He is tkf. cir- culating medium of communication between those who want and those who have ; saving to the buyer frequent and long-continued journeys, bringing to hia customer the new- est manutactuieH and the latest importations, with the rapidity of the lightning train.and ir the accuracy of the express company, and without the cumbersome practices which bulk"*' absolute transfer of goods in He is the energiUic Mercury of the modern mythology, the message-bearin« spirit of a com.,.ticial Jove— the modern Ihunderer. To know him is to know the expression of the nineteenth century (idea ) the man of the time— erect, active, always on tie alert, having his wits about him, neatly clad, never outoffashion-forwhoknowsthe fashion as he does ?_yet never foppish, for he IS always a gentleman. To know him is to know the typical American, rubbed down and polished by the best excellences of the freshest European art. This is speaking of course, of the American traveller par excel- lence. If these have their national claim to ttie atributes which I have named, tiie vast progress of trade and commerce in the nineteenth century is accounted for. But above all these attributes there is, one in which, I think, the American Commercial lYaveller beats the world— that quality is tact— or the want it. I will give you an illustration or two. A young man sufficiently fresh in the profession not to be above asking advice struck a western town where he was not at farst M successful as he thought he ought to be. This was particularly the case with on© merchant, the moit important in the place. He was reported, and justly, as the deadly enemy of all • drummers, ' and he had been entirely unapproachable hitherto by any commercial traveller who had ever made the attempt. Our fresh 'young drummer' from the East accordingly, finding several brethren stopping at his hotel, invited them to a oonncil of war, and desired their advice a» to how he shonld proceed with regard to approaching this particularly delicate subject. Their advice was given, and was to this efiect :— 'Walk into his store as if you owned it, slap him on the back— say, "How are yon, old fellow 1 How have you been? How are they at home T" Oflfer him a cigar, and you will not have the slightest difficulty. ' The young man followed their advice t* the letter, and when half an hour later b* d»^agged his contused and disfigured fram* Up to the bar of the hotel, whei-e the advis- ory committee stood awaiting ;he result, the eloquence with which he depictedthis would have moved you to tears. ' Well, did you sell hiin ?' quietly remark- ed one of the travellers, ' Sell him 1 1 Thunder 1 he sold me the 18 DRUMMINO. II; worat ■pecimen of good solid Western shoe- leather I ever tampled in my life.' I give this anecdote as an illustration of taot—or the want of it. A New England drummer wishing to keen posted as to the condition of the crops, and to ascertain the exact amount of damage done by a recent flood, started out one niorning on an interviewing expedition. He was fortunate enough to encounter a farmer at the edge of town, bringing a load of grain luto the city Burning with enthusiasm, the drummer hailed him, and the followina colloquy took place : — * * How are you, friend V •Tired.' * What's hay now V * Same as it always wm.' * What's tluvt ?' * Dried grass. ' 'What did you think of the rain V Thought it was damp.' •Didn't raise anything then, eh V Nothing but an umbrella.' What did your neighbours eet V •Chills and fever." * What are you doing now ?' ; Getting out here in the sun, and may be missing a chance to sell this hay. Come up here if you want to talk. ' '^ The drummer scrambled up by the side Ot his new-made acquaintance, and as they jolted on. he produced his order-book, and continued : ' What did the farmers do last spring ♦' Ran everything in the ground, as usual.' Did your wheat do anythinn V •Sprouted.' * * Can you raise any tobacco now V Yes ; do you want a chew ?' * How are the potatoes ?' * Under the weather somewhat, but able to Be out. Becoming a little diecouraged, the drum- mer asked timidly : •Will you bring many beats to the market tbia year V * Got a Bood load now,' was the rejoinder. •• he checked his horses and said, 'You'd lietter plant, I guess, what I have told you, .■^.^j!.**'*"y'«''^- file's where you fit off.' Remembering that he hadanen* ngement. the baffled drummer after newi «s.nfc!ng that a soft ausiirBr turned away wrath, he calmly said i te IB'**^"*?,'"^' "y 'f*"** » *•»•»• did it oome from T' * Timothy eeed,' wat the reply. The drummer grew faint, but he summoned up courage enough to ask, • What do you think you will get for it V orele this d d gorilla will talk us blind m a minute. He asks more questions than a catechism, and before the discour- aged drummer could recover from his sur- prise, the hay-waggon had turned the adia- cent corner. ' Now it may be that these anecdotes may induce you to look rather irreverently on Comnieroial Travellers j but you must con- sidorthat even the greatest of men have their moments when they unbend from the reserve which always accompanies greatness • and really I think the experience of all who have ever met them will bear me out, when I say that commercial travellers in their leisure momenta, are the jolliest set of fel- lows m the world. Possessing a fund of anecdotes, having re- sources which only wide and constant asso- ciation with men can afford, they take life'e chances and changes easily, determined to gam from it every whit of amusement and enjoyment that time, place and opportunity will afford them, but never to the neglect of business. For instance. One of the 'old style' of Commercial Iravellers was Jack Hazzard of New York Jack was passionately fond of the 'paste*, boards, and would occasionally indulge in a little game with the boys in the basement of the store, when not upon the ' road ' One morning, when thus engaged, the 'old man' was heard approaching, and Jack stuffed hia last trick in his pocket, chucked the rest of hispack into an empty case, and the company broke up. The cause of the intrusion was soon explained by Jack receiving an order to start for Philadelphia at once with samplee of a new line of goods. Jack flung the samples mto a vaUse, put on a clean paper collar, bought ten cigars for a quarter; and started at once. Arrived in Phifadelphia hii first call was on an old Quaker house on Broad street Pulling himself together Jack marched m, and laying a card before the senior partner, who was busily engaged at hia ?^u'^ . "'.*"■ °»o»*««»ctiVnonious manner. That IB the party I have the honour to repreienf The old follower of Penn looked carefully at the card, and then, fixing hia steady blue eyes on Jack, handed it Back. ?*y"*«'. ' " *!>** •? *he party thee represents, thee will finil Phil.^.l^k:.'' n .1.-5..' ...» hia gooda. Jack cast one horrified look at the MnL It wm the ' Uttle joker, 'on which a fellow clerk had strongly aketobed the head and homa of Hia Satanic Majesty, and the bold saleaman, for once diaconvBted,beat but he summoned will get for it V Bt up, Whitey, la will talk us 8 more questions fore the di8cour< er from his sur- lurned the udja- anecdotes may irreverently on ; you must con- est of men have mbend from the )anies greatness ; ience of all who ir me out, when avellers in their oiliest set of feN lotes, having re- constant asso- I they take life's . determined to amusement and md opportunity the neglect of of Commercial 1 of New Yof k. of the 'paste. Ily indulge in a he basement of 9 'road.' One i the 'old man' rack staffed his iked the rest of id the company intrusion was eiving an order ^ with samples rack flung the a clean paper i quarter, and hiladelphia his aker house on f together Jack ard before the engaged at his )oious manner, the honour to Df Penn looked len, fixing his nded it back, hee represents. •It BiwScaWita •rrified look at oker, 'on which sketched the • Majesty, and aoomfit«d,beat DRUMMING. There is a hazy idea existing in the mind* of a very large proportion of our population, that these drummers form a very obnoxious species of the human animal, being a sort of connecting link somewhere between a life insurance agent, book canvasser, lightninir-rod agent or common peddler. But the peddler poor and humble his station may be has his trials, and though not treated to the aristocratic boot-leather of the lead- ingr commercial houses, gets his share of anecdote, " ^ "''^ ^^ ^^' ^°"°«''"« A peddler in Vicksburg had a new and important way of getting at business. When he rapped at a door it was opened out—'* °' *'^°' *°^ *'*® woman called ' Don't want any thing.' 'Madam,' called the agent, 'you have a •Yes,' was the answer, and the door opened a little more. lat'ef"?^' *°" ^"^"n'* heard from her 'No.' 'Then you don't know then that she—' The woman opened wide the door and ex- citedly asked — her^^** '" '*^ ^*"'* •"" happened to ' Then you haven't heard V • No I No I I 18 Lucy dead V ' Your Mter, madam, is not dead, but—' 'But what?' she wildly inquired, u he stepped up beside her. i --. — «• I *J**"r, "'«*^'^' madam, 'he replied, an. locking his valise, 'purdhased fiTe boxes of this superb magical l)lueing of me, and ear- nestly entreats you to try at leut one box price 15 cents.' * She didn't «ppreciate his tricks as he passed through the gate ; she glanoed down at her feet, and then at his coat-tail, and sighed — ' Oh, I wish I weighed a ton.' It is also unfortunate that there exists in some thickly populated towns in the interior of the country, a class of dead-alive mer- - «'?«»«' who nave imbibed this notion until, with them, It amounts to a conviction. Now. that these ideas render more arduous the Ubours of the commercial traveller is a melancholy fact. Merchants of this nU^ have to be treated with discretion. They are as wary as a trout, and as difSoult to approach as a badger ; and the tricks of the trade to which commercial travellers have to resort in dealing with such are nnmerons *nd pecuhar. It is a mistaken opinion that 19 drummers seek to engage their customers confidence by tempting their appetites; that when buyers collect at our metropolitan hotels, they are immediately besieged by a horde of drummers, who occupy their atten- tion during long evenings ; that the time is passed m visiting theatres, bar-rooms, and such reprehensible places. Nothing of the sort happen?, I can assure you. On the con- trary, the Southern or Western stranger IS sohcitously guided by his city friend into the paths of virtue nnd rectitude. Together they meander fraternally through the halls of the public libraries, or glean re- ligions instruction in the prosperous fields of tne Young Men's Christian Asssociation. I have been asked how commercial travel- lers pass the Sabbath, and like the unan- swered conundrum, 'I give it up,' and let my reader judge for himself, after perusins the following : — ■ TH08K BOLD, BAD DBUMMBBS. About tw.mty.five travelling men were snowed m at Green Bay during a blockade last winter, and they were pretty lively around the hottl, having quiet fun on Friday and Saturday, and passing away the time the best they could,some playingsevon-up,othera playing billiards, and others looking on. Some of the truly good people in town thought the boys were pretty tough, and they wore long faces and prayed for the blockade to raise, so the spruce-looking chaps could go away. The bovs noticed that oc- casionally a lantern-jawed fellow would look piously at them, as though afraid he would be contaminated j so Sunday morning they decided to go to church in a body. Serenty. five of them slicked up and marched to Eev. i>r. Morgan's church, when the reTennd Rent eman was going to deliver a sermon on temperance. No minister ever had a mora attentive audience, or a more intelliffent one, and when the collection plate was mss- •d every last one of the trarellers chipped in a Bih-.r dollar. When the sexton Wre- ceived the first ten dollars the perspiration stood out on his head as thought he had been I caught in something. It was getting heavy, soinething that never occurred before in the history of church collections at the Bay As he passed by the boys, and dollar after dollar was added to his burden, he felt like 5*„^»8 ^at a picnic, and when seventy-five _o.!ars .isd aeeuraulated on the plate, he had to hold It out with both hands, and finally the plate was full, and he had to go and empty It or ♦he table in front of the nnlpit, though h ^ careful to reme- "jer "where he left oL,., he wouldn't go ;.,ioe to the same drummer. As he poured the shekels 20 DRUMMING. out on the table, m atill m he could, erery neraonmthe .udience almoft r»i«ed up to look at the pile, and there waaa.milion Zy If^' *"u^ 'T^ f ^"" ^" *"™ed to the Dart of the church where sat the seventy- five solemn-looking travelling men. who never wore a smile. The sextHn looked up to the minister, who was picking out a hymn; as much as to say, 'Boss we have struck it nch, and 1 am going back to work the lead some more- 5'he minister looked at the boys, and then at the sexton, aa though ••y'"8' Ve"ly, I say unto yon, I would rather preach to seventy-five Milwaukee and Chicago drummers than to own a brewery Go, thou, and reap some more trade dollars in thy vineyard V The sexton went back and commenced whi re he left off. He had mis- giTings, thinking maybe some of the boys would glide out in his absence, or think bet- tor of the affair and only put in nickels on the second heat, but the first man the sexton he d out the platter to planked down his dollar, and all the boys followed suit, not a man passed or • renigged,' and when the last drummer had been interviewed, the sexton carried the biggest load of silver back to the table that he ever saw Some of the dollars rolled off on the floor' and he had to put some in his coat pockets! but he got them all, and looked around at the congreeation with a smile, and wiped the perspiration off his forehead with a bandanna haiidkerchiei, and winked, as much as to sav, The first man that speaks disrespect- Jul of a traveUmg man in my presence will get thumped, and don't you forget it.' The minister rose up in the pulpit, looked at the wealth on the table, and read the hymn, ' A charge to keep I have, 'and the whole con- gregation joined, the travellers swelling the giftd anthem aa though they belonged to a Pinafore chorus. Then all bowed their heads while the minister, with one eye on the dollars, pronounced the benediction, and the services were over. The travelling men filed out through the smiles of the ladies, and went to the hotel, while half the congregation went forward to the anxious seat ' to view the re- mains. It is safe to say that it will be unsafe, in the future, for any person to speak disparagingly of travelling men in Green Bay M long as the memory of that blockade tninday remains green with the jjood people there. ^Peck's Sun. ' Drummers, like other men, are snsceptiMe of classihcation, and aftef laborious effort and earnest consideration, I have sui^oceileu olassl ^ *'''"''' '°8ically into four There is first, 'The Aggressive Drum- mer. This species compasses his ends by bully-ragging and bounce. Attacking hi* victim savagely at the outset, he never leave, him until he has worried him into submission and made a sde almost at the point of the bayonet. In contrast with him may be placed ' The Persuasive Drummer.' The voice and man- ner of this one are tuned in the most coaxing and imploring way. He would, as the old Irishman said ' Whadle the very birds out of the bushes. Then there u the 'Friendly Drummer.' To him itis given litorally to be everybody's fnend. He will shake hands with you, an utter stranger, as if he had known you for weeks. He knows every deUil of his cus- tomer s domestic relations, can toll how many children he hu, and their ages, will inquire confidentially aftor the health of the twins, and offer him advice on an invest- ment in a second mortgage, the purchase of a horse, or. If he be unmarried, the se- lection of a wife. I was well acquainted with a gentlemen of this description, and he was eminently successful in his profession. His tactics were warlike as his character and also his name. He was a man of Blood. Pointed in his .ittocks, it is needless to say that when he once got his eye on his or .tomer, it was impossible to swerve his temper or steal a march on him. • • • • ♦ The fourth and last class I ihall desig- nate'The incubating Drummer, ' who lays, the egg of prospective trade in the fall and hatches out the chicken business in the following spring. And so I might go on for hours, exhaust- ing youi patience and my integrity, in illus- trating the many-sided character of the commercial traveller— butthis is notso muck my object. I desire rather to place him before voie as he really is, the exponent of the business activity of the age. Misconstrued and misunderstood b> many who do not appre- ciate the services which he renders to commerce and society alike, it is only now and in my humble way, that he finds any one to stand up before the worid and pro- claim him. ^ And ladies, if to any, the commercial- traveller should look for appreciation, it is to yon. To him you owe it that the circuitous routes of trade have been straightened ; that -i| |l DRUMMmo. Utackitift hi* > never leaves bo BubmiMion point of the placed 'The ce and man- no*t coaxing as the old iry birda out Drummer.' everybody's ivith you, an iwn you for of hit eua* a tell how r agea, will lealth of the an inveat> le purchase riea, the ae- acquainted tion, and he I profeaaion. ■ character a man of Bcka, it is Dnce ffot hia possible to rch on him. ♦he diffioultiea which surronnd th« moTament ^L'nTfi!S*';f*ir:u°' """ot^otTMh^re been airaplified ; that the remoteat eettlemenU of this great country find brought to their JfTe worid °" '**'•• co-t^oUve abiUty t! J^ ^I' **'"','•" '^''^ ** *■ «*«• t»>»* the en- • l"""*"*! community la simply aubnr- vmt to the want, of every meJl^r otZ- ciety no matter how far aoattered from the great centres of trade. The shawls and silks and v^lveU and Sr*^!^ni?-'^*u' f^ J>el« that would lie ^^i^^ ^M" *•*" depositories of the metro- pol s and other great cities of the East, find their way, through the medium of the com- ttercial traveller to those who demand them, thousand of miles disUnt And, after all, if these labours which I have «f5i?"'*^'^ produce fruit, of wWchyou Map the advantage, let it not be for a S^^lf -""PPowd that the commercial traveller does not see before him. Ughten. tag his toil and smoothing the rouahness from h.s pathway a goal which shoSld U UboH *" * •ufficwnt raward for aU his n tr.^ifi*' *" *•>• •"^'"°'' 0' •^•'7 commercial «f^K-*®'f*^***' ??**"* °»t«on on thefaoa i. to^arthl ^.^ r * 'TF- Co"""--^ I AS w«aay, the laat hop«i of ftalv. onca tk* fountain head of thearS^existT^'her fStiS promise of commercial activity I a2 to da7 .nKvMrth'^' conqueLg gJ^';/; ptu ^hr^VetVar'r^eJt^ ^t^^ b the peaceful paths of' ' c^ommtcL" JSlv" ^ftr hi?" *»'!.''"'Wtion to s2^d sot^Sj make^.couatr... great and Batio^Ti! hall desig- r, ' who lays he fall, and ess in the 'B, exhanst- ty, in illus- ter of the lot 80 much. before you; he business trued and not appre- renders to I only now, 3 finds any 1 and pro- jommercial »tion, it is ) circuitous ened ; that '0. i l| ' '', ' 1 »«. ..¥' THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS. Th«eT«jti which I am abont to nUt* jpok pUo« botwaen nine uid ten yean aso. Sebaatopol had fallen in the early Bpringi toe peace of Parw had been concluded ainoe March ; oar ooniineroial relations with the ttusaian Empire were but recently renewed! md I. returning home after my flrit north' »»'"« journey gince the war was well pleased y the proHpects of spending the month of L»«.omberunderthe hospitable and thorough- ly Bjjffhsh roof of my excellant friend Jona- th .n Jelf, Jisquire, of Dumbleton Manor. Clayborough.'Eaat Anglia. Travelling inthi mteresU of a well-known firm in which it is my lot to be a junior partner. I had been called upon to visit not only the capitals of Kussia and PoUnd, but had found it also necessary to pas. eome weeks among the tradmg-ports of the Baltic ; whence it came that the year was already far spent before I •gain set foot on English soil, and that, in- •tead of shooting pheasants with him. aa 1 had hoped, m October, I came to be my iDMUde^*** '^ *''■ "**" *""'•' °^'^^ My ToyagBover, auda few days giren np to Sn^Vo? ^^•"Pool "d Londonflhastensd t^T ^f^y^rongh with aU the deUght of asobool-boy whose holidays are at hand' Mv wayUyby the Great East Anglian Una m far a. CaaylH)rough station, wheri I was to be met by one of the Dumbleton oarriagea and conveyed aoros. the remaining nine milea of country, "was a foggy afternoon, singularly WMm for the 4th of liocember.and I Ead «r. ranged to leave Londoi. h the 4-15 exprelL cloaad in j the Umps were . vv.^ :, ^^e 5J. "ji?*"? oljng'nsrdampa. ar , . ,.,*, indr •-, •dhered tothedoor-handif*. x , rv*^^ .{ ,,ii the atmoaphere ; while tfc i ,-a j- , ^ tha twe that oiily „rvsd to .n..H«th^ ,;!i;om of the terminus more visible. Having arrived some seven minutes before the starting of tha ''S^ by the connivance of the guard, Si??T p\?°^'"'''° »' " "npty compart. sTnif *^*•1 •"' tf'veUing.Iamp.maZnr^ nnJi^?. K "i^'y""*'"**""!'** down to tht Grit ttlr"^""* of abookand aci^! whTn .ter"; "^^ "^ di«ippointm*int hml^'in! 1* '*** '?0'»'«t. • gentfeman came m/^Ji? *'""« *•"/ platform, planoed into my carriage, opened the locked door with a private key, and stepped in. * seen Sm^K.f"' "* *^„'^"* K'""* *h»t I had Md fiJSf f!"'?"*.^"' ■?*"""»». thin-lip. the .hn*^^;^'*'' 7'^^ •" ungraceful stoop h whV* i?^*"'""^ "oantgray hair womsome- what long upo,. tii, collar. He carried a light wat«r.proof coat, an umbrella, and ala?« brown japanned deed-box, which last ?e placed unler the seat. This done, he feU c1r'Sr„"^?K''''' ^^"t-P'X'ket, as if o ma^e S . L*K^ '"^''^r °^ bis purse or pocket K J"'' ^a' 1"^""* '" tbe netting over, knees'- '"a^a *'"' .^"t^'-proof across hf, inees; and exchanged his hat for Bv rhS'T°*P ^i """^ S^o^ob material. By this time the train was movini out of the station, and into the faint «^y ol the wintry twilight beyond. *^^ I now recognized my companion. Ire- Zov^fJu^'Sf"".*^' °>omentwheih; removed his hat and uncovered the J ' r^I^lT iu^^ •omewhat narrow brow ."- ^^}LJa^^^ ' ■'. •"•"• " I distinotJv -.^ membared, some three years before. , ht very house for which, in all probabiu.. "1 » Dwernhoose; he was a lawyer by profeaion; •nd. If I was not greatly mista£eS,wasfi«t cousin to the wif. of my host I knew aSo that he was a man eminently • well to da • both as reaarded hit profeaaional and private "T^ Jbe Jelfs entertained him with tS sort cfobeervant courtesy which falls to the kt of the nch relation, the children made mu. > ^f him ; and the old butler, albeit son- vhat surly ' to the general. 'treated h'm wKiiderereno* I thought, observing him Shttt!?^ "''?'?]? °' lamplight ani twi- light, that Mrs. Jelfs cousin looked all tha worse for the three yeara' wear and tear THE FOUR-FIFTEKN EXl'RESfl. pty eomp«r«> mp.mfvdoiiiy. d down to th« >k and « cigar, ■appointment ntleman cam* , flanoed into 1 door with a ioe that I had lan, thin-lip. leful stoop in ir worn aome- larried a light and a large lich last h« lone, he felt » if to make e or poclieti netting over« F across his ■ hat for h material, ras moving faint gray of nion. I re- nt when he I the I ' ,, w brow ^ • istimtly i'^y fore, HI |fi{. babiiit^, i.tt ft is name waa ' profeasion; en, was first [ knew also rell to de,* and private n with that faUs to the dren made bier, albeit treAted him lervinff him it and twi> ked all the ar and tear which had soue over his head since our last mectirsff. He was very pale and had a rcst- le«s light in his eye that I did not remember to have observed b< fore. The anxious lines, too.abouthis niouth weredoepeued.and there was a caverit u. , lioUovv look about his cheeks and tPTTipli 1 which st" ined to speak of tick- oess .11 Torr^vv He had glnnoed at me •• he came in, hut »iihou; .ny gleam of recognition in his f,ti!e. Now he glanced again, as I fancied, somewhat doubtf lly. When he did so for the third or fourth time, I ventured to ad- dress him. • Mr. John Dwerrihouse, I think f ' That is my name, ' he replied. 'I bad the pleasure of meeting yon at Dumbleton about three years ago.' Mr. Dwerrihouse bowed. ' I thought I knew your face,' he said. • But your name, I regret to say — ' ' Langford,— William Langford. I have known Jonathan .Felf since we were boys to- gether at Merchant Taylor's, and I generally spend a few weeks at Dumbleton in the snooting aeason. I suppose we are bound for the same destination ? ' Not if you are on your way to the manor,' he replied. ' I am travelling upon business, — rather troublesome business, too, — whilst you, doubtless, have only pleasure in view.' ' Just so. I am in the habit of looking forward to this visit as to the brightest three weeks in all the year. ' ' It is a pleasant house,' said Mr. Dwerri- house. ' The pleasantest I know.' ' And Jelf is thoroughly hospitable.' ' The best and kindest fellow ii world 1' ' They have invited me to sp^nd Christmas week witL uhem,' pursued Mr. Dwerrihouse, liter a moment's pause. ' And you are coming ? ' ' I cannot tell. It roust depend on the issue of this business which I have in hand. You have heard, perhaps, that we are about to construct a branch line from Blackwater to Stookbridge.' I expUined that I had been for some months away from England, and had there- fore heard nothing of the ooutemplated im> provement, in the Mr. Dwerrihouse smiled complacently. 'It will be an improvement,' he said; " = ifTtst itiiprOvcmcsi. Siockbridgc is a flonriahing town,and needs but a more direct railway communication with the metropolis to become an important oentre of commerce. Thi^ branch was my own idea. I brought the project before the board, and have my- self superintsnued the execution of it up to the present tiins. ' • You are an East Anglian director, I presume ?' ' My interest in the company,' replied Mr. Dwerrihouse, ' is threefold, I am a di- rector ; I am a conuiderable shareholder ; and, as head of the firm of Dwerrihouse, Dwerrihouse, and Craik, I am the Company's principal solicitor.' Loquacious, self-important, full of his pet project, and apparently unable to talk on any other subject, Mr. Dwerrihouse then went on to tell of the opposition he had encountered and the obstacles he had overcome in tae cause of the Stockbridge branch. I was en- tertained with a multitude of local detai/- and local grievances. The rapacity of on u squire ; the impractacabihty of another ; th« indignation of the rector whose glebo waa threatened ; the culpable inditterence of the Stockbridge townspeople, who could not be brought to see that their most vital inter- ests hinged upon a junction with the Great East Anglian line ; the spite of the local newspaper ; and .he unheard-of di£Sculties attending the common question,— were each and all laid before me with a circumstanti- ality thnt posfeiessed the deepest interest for my excellent fellow-traveller, but none whatever for myself. From these, to my despair, he went on to more intricate matters ; to the approximate expenses ot construction per mile ; to the es- timates sent in by diflerent contractors ; to the probable trafific returns of the new line ; to the provisional clauses of the new Act aa enumerated in Schedule D of the company's last half-yearly report ; and so on, and on, and on, till my head ached, and my attention flagged, and my eyes kept closing in spite of every effort that I made to keep them open. At length I was roused by these words i— 'Seventy-five thousand pounds, caah down. ' 'Seventy-five thousand pounds, cash down,' I repeated, in the liveliest tone I could assume. ' That is a heavy sum.' •A heavy sum to carry here,' replied Mr. Dwerrihouse, pointing significantly to his breast-pocket ;' but a mere fraction of what we siiall ultimately have to pay. ' ' You do not mean to say that you have seventy-five thousand pounds at this mom- ent upon your person ?' I exclaimed. ' Afy good sir, have I vnt l)een tellina you bO I'ur the last half hour id Mr. Dwe'rri- house, testily ' That moi has to be paid over at half-past eight o'clock this evening, at the oflSce of Sir Thomas's solicitors, on completion of the deed of sale. ' ' But how will you get across by night 24 £T, il.*''''^'*^'' *° Stockbridge with .even. '"'To 5to "tK^^r^r^ 1." y**" pocket ?• .Tl°,^^^^"h^i '^<:hoed the lawyer ^ \^ ^ave made mysslf very imperfectlT Zd thTiliT''' ""•*" far "as Mailing |^;i|'d|o^*^SouTeLrs^^^^^^^^ f«7mf^/°"u P'*'"''"".' I stammered. 'I U, J elf sends a trap to meet Lp, it- Clayborough 1 Can I be the berrer o^anv message from you ? ' ^ * '/i'"'"?y*ay. ifyou please. Mr. Lanir ford, that I wis&ed f could have been you^; companion all the way and th«t T »Ti i ^ over if possible, be^oJ^ Chris^^V^'" """' VNothmg more ? ' Mr. Dwerrihouse smiled grimly. 'Well ' he said, ' you may tell mv cousin th^.u need not burn the'^hall doL in" my *to„ol'r ■n *"?*• "^^ *■•** I "*>»" be obliged if shI i^L7fa;rt.'j'"^-''"'"'=''--^^^-Pt * That sounds tragic. Had you a. oon the flue was foul, and the rooks had bu^It fn Jn.inlffT'"" ^ ^*",^ "P *° '^"'» for dinner I found the room full of smoke unH ihl »l- ney on fire. Are we alr\"dylt" t*^^ ^R^l'^'^k^*^ gradually come to a mus. while Mr. Dwerrihouse was soea^im, ^^^T on putting my head out o" thTwhfdot f •head There was another train before ni blocking the way, and the guard was mak •ng use of the delay to collect the BTackwTte; THE FOUR-FIPTEEN EXPRESS, •ng ,_ • Tickets, sir ! ' said he. He took it; glanced at it by the licht nf h.8 little lantern ; gave it back ; lookeKs I fancied, somewhat sharply at m? fellow traveller, and disappeared ^ ^' .,;?!''';'"°*''«'^f°ryours.'I said with ' tZI'^'^iiT''^'' •'"•' ""^P"*^^ Mr. Dwerrihouse Jheya!lk„own,e. and of course I tmvel • Black water • Black water !' cried thepor-, i to ilot.' '""" »»--breflaand'preprd 'Many thanks, Mr. Langford. for your Bociety • he said, with old-fashioned courTsv I wish you good evening ' courtesy. hand.*""^ evening. • I replied, putting out my But he either did not see it. or did not Leaning forward to watch himontof siffht cigar'ca.r 1^ r,r''°'' n^^^'oT'k rtg;attnzre.x^xtt%?€ carmge just as the guard cSme *up"*to lik eB.'Jrh"TT.J"!r^ to sparer I asked eagerly. i|,e gentleman who travelled down wuhmefromtown has dropped hi. clgrr"? BUtionr'"' " "°* ^'' °»t of the ; Just a minute and a half sir ' » P''.«?»heguarjl. ' You must b^quick'' feet wouldcarry me. It was a large st^ti^'^ more ti^""^r ""^ »>y thif t?me got more than half way to the fartEer BloUTrthntr^t'^S"^^^^^^^^^ wh^re ?h J *''* "*."^'«''* f""- the spot wnere they were wait ng. There w«. » the w, 01 port,„ !„<, p„„;,";.,«^JS°,f.'» i ^in7o?xr.it(r.'ld'vts ^ ran against a stout gentleman T 11^ ' . ^ J 1 'orm beside us, as )ut his deed-box, I pocket, resumed ella and prepared ngford. for your ihioned courtesy. putting out my I >t, or did not y lifting bis hat, 'iff- >. Haring way, and mingl. him out of sight, I proved to be a 10 doubt, from coat, and was •■. with a silver rang out of the me up to lock pare !' I asked travelled down . >ped his cigar- out of the half, sir,' re- be quick. ' n as fast as mjr « large station, f this time got the farther nctly, moving en, as I drew It some friend, liey walked,— amewhat from > earnest con- dor the spot There was a leads, and the ►ces, I saw Mr. Dwerri- ' anion. Run- ts, getting in ers, and fear- see the train )bserved that 'younger and e was sandy- atured, and cotch tweed; of them, i •I was nearly ok.— I stum- ned the spot led ne to re* < To my utter stupefaction they were nn seconds before, —and they were K '■^°""^*P*"»«'• The entrees • had just been removed, and the turkey had an JoTL*'"' 'AT'- , '^^^ conversation had all along been of the languidest, but at this Z^!r' 't 'ifPP'"*'* *^ ^"""^ Btagnatod ait " Cm l. f^ ?Y'»8 carving the turkey. Mrs. ii»fv''''*l"'''^"''*';r*" *'T'i"«to think of something to say. Everybody else was sil. ent Moved by an unlucky impulse. I thought I would relato my adventure. By the way. Jelf, ' I began, • I came ofTouL'.' °' the way to-day Wh a f rfend 'Indeed!' said the master of the feasti slicing scientifically into the breast of tha turkey. 'With whom, pray T' h.'.r^'*!!i°°? ^''°.,''^'^" me to tell you that he should, If possible, pay you a visit h«f"" vnnstmss. ' " * I cannot think who that could be, ' said ' my friend, smiling. Mrs!*JeTf!"* ^ *^'^'"' ^"P'* ""Sgested I shook my head. • It was not Major Thorp/ I repUed. 26 THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS. ' It was a near relation of your own, Mrp, Jelf . ' ' Then I am more puzzled than ever, ' replied my hostess. ' Prav tell me who it was. 'It was no less a person than your cousin, Mr. John Dwerrihouse. ' Jonathan Jelf laid down his knife and fork. Mrs. Jelf looked at me in a strange, startled way, and said, never a word. 'And he desired me to tell you, my dear madam, that you need not take the trouble to bum the hall down in his honour this time ; but only to ' have the chimney of the blue^ room swept before his arrival,' Before I had reached the end of my sen- tence, I became aware of something ominous in the faces of the guests. I felt I had said something which I had better have left un- said and that for some unexplained reason my words had evoked a general conster- nation. I sat confounded, not daring to utter another syllable, and for at least two Whole minutes there was dead silence round • the table. Then Captain Prendergast came to the rescue. • You have been abroad for some months, have you not, Mr. Langford?* he said, with the desperation of one who flings himself mto the breach. • I heard you had been to Russia. Surely you have something to tell us of the state and temper of the country after the war ?' I was heartily grateful to the gallant Skirmisher for this diversion in mv favour. I answered him, I fear, somewhat lamely ; but he kept the conversation up, and pres- ently one or two others joined in, and so the difficulty, what ever it might have been, was bridged over. Bridged over but not re- paired. A something, an awkwardness, a visible constraint, remained. The guests hitherto had been simply dull ; but now they were evidently uncomfortable and em- barrassed. »- The dessert had scarcely been placed upon the table when the ladies left the room. I seized the opportunity to select a vacant chair next Captain Prendergast. 'In Heaven's name,' I whispered, 'what was the matter just now ? What had I ■aidf ' •You mentioned the name of John Dwer- nhouse.' • What of that T I had seen him not two bours before.' 'It is a mo-i astounding circuuiAeance that you should have seen him,' said Captain Prendergast. • Are you sure it was be ? ' ' As sura as of my own identity. We were talking all the way between London But why does that sur- and Blackwater. prise you ? ' 'Because,' replied Captain Prendergast, dropping his voice to the lowest whisper,— ' because John Dwerrihouse absconded three months ago, with seventy-five thousand pounds of the company's money, and has never been heard of since. ' 11. John Dwerrihouse had absconded three months ago, and I had seen him only a few hours back. John Dwerrihouse had em. bezzled seventy-five thousand pounds of the company's money, yet told me that he car- ried that sum upon his person. Were ever facts so strangely incongruous, so difficult to reconcile ? How should he have ventured again inta the light of day ? How dared h« show himself along the line ? Above all, what had he been doing throughout those mysterious three months of disappearance ? Perplexing questions these. Questions which at once suggested themselves to the minds of all concerned, but which admitted of no easy solution. I could find no reply to them. Captain Prendergast had not even a suggestion to offer. Jonathan Jelf, who seized the first opportunity of drawing me asideandlearningallthatlhad to tell.and was more amazed and bewildered than either of He came to my room that night, when us. all the fijueats were gone, and we teil^(rthe thing over from every point of view without, it must be confessed, arriving at any kind of conclusion. 'I do not ask you,' he said, 'whether you can have mistaken your man. That if impossible. ' • As impossible as that I should mistake some stranger for yourself.' ' It is not a question of looks of voice, but of facts. That he should have alluded to the fire in the blue-room is proof enough of John Dwerrihouse's identity. How did he look f 'Older, I thought. Considerably older, paler, and more anxious.' • He has had enough to make him look anxious, anyhow,' said my friend gloomily j • be he innocent or guilty V 'I am inclined to believe that he is Inno. cent, I replied. 'He showed no embarasa. ment when I addressed him, and no uneasi- ness when the guard came round. His aen^ ▼ersation was open to a fault. I miffht almost say that he Ulked too freely of tbt business he had on hand.' ' That again is strange: for I know noon* more reticent on such subject. He acsually why doea that Bur- ptain Prendergast, i lowest whisper, — se absconded three inty-five thousand s money, and has 1 absconded three sen him only a few srrihouse had em> and pounds of th« Id me that he car* rson. Were ever Tuons, so difficult 1 he have ventured ' ? How dared h« line ? Above all, throughout those f disappearance ? :heBe. Questions themselves to the lit which admitted Id find no reply to st had not even a lathan Jelf, who r of drawing mo lad to tell, and was ed than either of that night, when nd we talked the t of view without, ing at any kind of B said, • whether ir man. That if '. should mistake )oks of voice, but have alluded to proof enouffh of ;y. How did he nsiderably older, make him look friend gloomily ; that he ii Inno> red no embarass* I, and no nneasi- 'ound; His aon- fault. I might too freely of the >r I know no one Qt. He acaually THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS. told you that he had the seventy.five thous- and pounds m his pocket ?' 'He did.' 'Humph 1 My wife has an idea about it. and she may be riaht ' ^ I What idea?' • Well, she fancies,— women are so clever you know, at putting themselves inside peoples moti ves, -she fancie., that he was tempted ; that he did actually take the ?!SVk'"' !t** ''^ *"" been%oncealing himself these th.ee months in some wild part of the country-struggling possibly with his conscience all the time, and daring neither to abscond with his booty nor to come back ard restore it.' ' ^at now that he has come back ? * • :hat is the point. She conceives that he has probably thrown himself upon the com- Jjanys mercy; made restitution of the waoney ; and, being forgiven, is permitted to carry the business through as if nothing whatever had happened. ' •The last.' I replied, 'is an impossible case. Mrs Jelf thinks like a g^erous Md deli<»te.minded woman, but not in «ie least like a b«ard of railway directors. J. hey wiuld never carry forgiveness so 'I fear not; and yet it is the only con- leoture that bears a semblance of likelihood However, we can run over to C.'ayborough to-morrow.andsee if anythingistobe learned By the way, Prendergast tells me you picked up his cigar-case. ' ' I did so, and here it is. * Jelf took the cigar-case, examined it by the light of the lamp, and said at once that It was beyond doubt Mr. Dwerrihouse's pro- perty, and that he remembered to have seen him use it. ' Here, too, in his monogram on the side ' he added. ' A big J transfixing a capital V. H7 used to carry th« same on his note- paper. ' It offers at all events a proof that I was not dreaming. ' ' Ay ; but it is time you were asleep and dreaming now. I am ashamed to have kept you up so long. Good-night.' • Good night, and remember that I am more than ready to go with you to Clay- borough, or Blackwater, or London, or any. where, if I oan be of the least service. ' •_ Thanks ; I know you mean it, old friend. Suu it tiiay do that I shall put you to the test. Once more, good night.' So we parted for that night, and met •gam in the breakfast-room at half-past eight next morning. It was a hurried, silent, un- comfortable meal. None of us had slept well, and all were thiuking of the same sub- 27 ject. Mrs. Jelf had evidently b^en crying r Jelf was impatient to be off ; and both Capl tain Prendergast and myself felt ourselves to be in the painful position of outsiders, who had left the breakfast table the dog-cart wa» brought rouiLd, and my friend andl were on the road to Clayborough. ' Tell you what it is, Langford.' he said, as we sped along between the wintry hedges^ I do not much fancy to bring up Dwerri- houses name at Clayborough. All the officials know that he is my wife's relation, and the subject just now is hardly a pleasant ??%,,/?" 4?"'?""=°'' "'•'«^' '«'« "'i" take the II. 10 to Blackwater. It's an important station, and we shall stand a far better chance of picking up information there than at Clayborough. ' So we took the 11.10, which happened to be an express, and arriving at Blackwater about a quarter before twelve, proceeded at once to prosecute our inquiry. We began by asking for the station- master,- a big, blunt, business-like person, who at once averred that he knew Mr. John Dwernhouse perfectly well, and that there was no director on the road whom he had seen and spoken to so frequently. ' He used to be down here two or three times a week, about three months ago ' said he, 'when the new line was first set afoot ; but since then, you know, gentle- men — ' " He paused, significantly. Jelf flushed scarlet. ' Yes yes,' he said hurriedly, « we know all about that. The point now to be ascer- tamed is whether anything has been seen or heard of him lately. ' ' Not to my knowledge, ' replied the sta- tion-master. .,'H«." not known to have been down the Iin#any time yesterday, for instance ?' The station-master shook his head. 'The East Anglian, sir,' said he, ' i» about the last place where he would dare to show himself. Why, there isn't a station- master, there isn't a guard, there isn't a porter, who doesn't know Mr. Dwerrihouse by sigit as well as he knows his own face in the looking-glass ; or who wouldn't tele- graph for the police as soon as he had set eyes on him at any point alon" the jir.s Bless you, sir ! there's been a standing order out against him ever since the twenty-fiftb of September last. ' ' And yet,' pursued my friend, • a gentle- man who travelled down yesterday from " London to Clayborough by the afternoon ex- pr-ss testifies that he tiw Mr. DwerrihouM 28 THE FOUR-PIPTEEN EXPRESS. l^ i^ roer8, with a look fellow-trareller u ; was in trying to se' which he had hat I so nearly let ig something abont replied the guard, ket juat before we i«n him. He sat door to which yoa one.' 3Ran to think tho ctor's conSdencf), traveller I should ir?' id not aak for it, saying—' I hesi- ' telling too much bation-master ex- >rmer looked im- in four minutes ' interposed Je'f, ' If this gentle< t been Mr. John een sitting in tho lich you took tha d to s«e and r«o< Men quite impor - you did not sm I could take my ^nd if it wasn't lict a gentleman, ce my oath that lone in the car* London to Clay- lidded, dropping le to the station- id away to speak • you expressly Bompartment to Bked you in, and ) me something 3e had a key of saw no one in elf. Beg pardon, guard touchad THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS. 29 his cap and wa» gone. In another minute the heavy pantmg of the engine beffan afiteh, and ;he train glided slowly out of the station. We looked at each other for some momenta in silence. I was the first to speak. ' Mr. Benjamin Somers knows more than he chooses to lell,' I said. ' Humph ! do yo>i think so ?' ' It must be. He could not have come to the door without seeing him. Its im- possible. ' ' There is one tWng not impossible, my dear fellow. ' •■ > j •What is that?' * That you may have fallen asleep, and dreamt the whole thing.' i ' Could I dream of a branch line that I had never heard of ? Could I dream of a hundred ' and one business details that had no kind of interest for me ? Could I dream of the «eventy-£ve thousand pounds?' I 'Perhaps you might ht •■« seen or heard' some vague account of the aflFair while you I were abroad. It might have made no im- ' pression upon you at the nave come back to you i called, perhaps, by the stations on the line. ' 'V/hat about the fire in the chimney of the blue-room,— should I have heard of that during my journey ?' ' Well, no ; I admit there is a difficulty about that point.' • And Mliat about the cigar-case. ' • Aye, by Jove ? there ia that cigar-case. That 19 a stubborn fact Well, it? a mys- terious affair, and it wi;l need a better detec- tive than myself, I fancy, to clear it up. I suppose we may as well go home. ' time, and might your dreams,— re- mere names of tho in. A week had not gone by when I received a letter from the Secretary of the East An- glian Railway Company, requesting the fa- vour of my attendance at a special board meeting, not then many days distant. No reasons were alleged, and no apologies offer- ed, for this demand upon my time ; but they had heard, it was clear, of my inquiries anent the missing director, and had a mind to put me through aome sort of official ex- amination upon the subject. Being still a fuest at Dumbleton Hall, I had to go up to ondon for the purpose, and Jonathan Jelf accompanied me. I found the direction of the Great East Anglian line represented by a party of some twelve or fourteen gentlemun ] Seated in solemn conclave round a huge green baize table, in a gloomy board-room, a(noin' ing the London terminus. ' Being courteously received by the chair- man (who at once began by saying that cer- tain statements of mine respecting Mr. John IJwerrihouse had come to tlie knowledee of the direction, and «iat they in consequence I desired to confer with me on those points), we were placed at the table, and the Inquiry I proceeJed in due form. I I was first asked if 1 knew Mr. John Dwer- ' nhouse, how long I had been acquainted with I him and whether I could identify him at ! sight. I was then asked when I had seen him last. To which I replied, ' On the fourth of j this present month, December, eighteen hun- ' ^re*l and fifty. SIX.' Then came the inquiry of where I had seen him on thai fourth day I of December ; to which I replied that I met him m a first-class compartment of the 4 16 down express ; that he got in just as the tram was leaving the London terminus, and t jat he alighted at Blackwater station The chairman then inquired whether I had held any communication with my fellow-traveller' whereupon I related, as nearly as I could' remember It. the whole bulk and substance of Mr. John Dwerrihouse's diffuse informa- tion respecting the new branch line. To all this the board listened with pro- found attention, while the chairman presided I and the secretary took notes. I then pro- duced the cigar-case. It was passed from hand to hand, and recognized by all. There was not a man present who did not remem- ber that plain cigar-case with its silver mono- pram, or to whom it seemed anything else than entirely corroborative of my evidence. When at length I had told all that I had to tell, the chairman whispered something to the secretary ; the secretary touched a silver haad-bell; and the guard, Benjamin Somers. was ushered into the room. He was then examined as carefully as mys-elf. He declared that he knew Mr. John Dwerrihouse perfeot- Ijr weiy that he could not be mistaken in him ; «at he remembered going do*n with the 4.15 express on the afternoon in ques- tion j that b remembered me; and that, there being one or two empty first-class coin- partments on that special afternoon, lie had in compliance with my request, phced me in a carriage by ffiyself. He was positive that I remained alon»in that comp.-irtment all the way from London to Clavborough. He was ready to take his oath that Mr. Dwerri- house was neither in that carriage with mc nor in any compartment of that train' He remembered distinctly to have examined my ticket at Blackwater; was certain tl^at there was no one else at that time in the carnage ; could not have failed to observe a second person, if there had been one ; had that person been Mr. John Dwerri- Ill 80 THB FOURPIFTBEN EXPRESa !''i liouae, should h«r« qnietlj donble-lockad the door of the oarriafce, and have at onoa given information to the Blaokwateritation- maater. So oluur, ao deoiaive^ so ready was Somers with his testimony, that the board looked fairly pnzzled. 'You hear this person's statemrat, Mr. lAngford,' said the chairman. *Itoontra- dicU yours in every partionlar. What hava you to say in reply V * I can only repeat what I said befow. I am quite as positive of the truth of my own •■sertions as Mr. Somers oan b« of the troth of his.' ' You say that Mr. Dwerrihouse alighted •t Blackwater, and that he was in possession •f a private key. Are yon snre that ha bad act alighted by means of that kov before tha gnard came ronnd for the tiokots ?' •I am quite positive that hf did not leave the carriat(e till the train hml fairly entered tha station, and the other BJackwater paa- Mugers aliehted. I even saw that he was met there by a friend. ' • Indeed I Did yon aee that person dis- tinctly r 'Quite distinctly.' * Can yen describe his appearance ?' • I think so. He was short and very slight, sandy-hairsd, with a bushy mustache and beard, and he wore a olosely-fittinfe- suit of gray tweed. His age I should takutobe about thirty -eijjht or forty.' * Did Mr. Dwerrihonse leave the station in this person's company ?' • I cannot telL I saw them walking to- gether down the platform, and then I saw them standing aside under a gas-jet, talking earnestly. After that I lost sight of them quite suddenly; and just then my train went on, and I with it. ' The chairman and secretary conferred to- gether in an undertone. The directors whis- pered to each other. One or two looked suspiciously at the guard. I could^e that my evidence remained unshaken, aM that, like myself, they suspected some complicity between the guard and the defaulter. ' How far did you conduct that 4. 15 ex- press on the day in question, Somers? ' asked the chairman. 'All through, sir,' replied the guard; ' from London to Crampton. ' ' How was it that you were uot relieved at Clayborough T I thought there was al- ways a change of euards at Clayborough.' ' There used to be, sir, till the new regu- lations came in force last midsummer , since when, the guards in charge of express trains £[0 the whole way through. ' The chaii man turned to the secretary. •I thmk it would be well,' he said, 'if we had the day-book to refer to npon this polnib . Again the seereUry tonohed the silver hand-bell, and desired the portar in attend, ance to summons Mr. Baikes. Prom a word or two dropped by another of the directors, I ^thered that Mr. Raikes was one of tha onder-seoretaries. He came,— a small, slight, sandy-haired, keen-eyed man, with an eager, nervous man- ner, and a forest of light beard and mus- tache. He jnst showed himself at the door of the board-room, and, being requested to bring a certain day-book from a certain shelf In a certain room, bowed and vanished. He was there but a moment, and the surprise of seeing him was so great and sud- den, that it was not till the door had closed upon him that I found voice to speak. He was no sooner gone, however, than I sprana to imr feet. *^ * ' t^** £«"<«».' I «"«!, ' is the same who niut Mr. Dwerrihonse upon the platform at Blaokwater 1' There was a general movement of surprise. The chairman looked grave and somewhat agitated. • Take oare, Mr. Langford,' he said, 'take care what yon say I' • I am as positive of his identity as of my own. ' •Do yon oonsider the consequences of your words 7 Do you consider that you are bringing a charge of the gravest character against one of the company's servants ?' • I am willing to be put upon my oath, if necessary. The man who came to the door a minute since is the same whom I saw talk- ing with Mr. Dwerrihouse on the Blackwater platform. Were he twenty times the com- pany s servant, I could say neither more nor less.' The chairman turned again to the guard. • Did you see Mr. Raikea in the train, or on the platform ?' he asked. Somers shook his head. ' I am confident Mr, Raikes was not in the train, he said; 'and I certainly did not see hira on the platform. ' The chairman turned next to the secre- taiy. ' Mr. Raikes is in your office, Mr. Hunter ' he said. ' Can you remember if he was absent on the fourth instant T' 'I do not think he was,' replied the sec- cretary ; hiitl nm nr>t T»v>n..u.j *_ • positively. I have been away most after- noons myself lately, and Mr. R,iile door had closed »oeto speak. Ho ver, than I sprang ' is the same who )n the platform at 'ement of surprise, 'e and somewhat rd,'he said, 'take identity as of my consequences of aider that you are [ravest character 's servants ?' upon my oath, if came to the door whom I saw talk- in the Blackwater f times the com- neither more nor again to tha s in the train, or aikes was not in certainly did not xt to tha secre- Bee, Mr. Hunter,' nber if he waa Y replied the see- kway most after- Ir. Rnikes might f if i • h id I.een der-secretary re- THE FOUR-FIFTEEN EXPRESS. *"^ J'*^*^ day-book under his arm. Be pleased to refer, Mr. Raikes ' said th« swTi '^"th^entrieH of S^C J - wt^LVnlirdly. ■* ''"'^^""■" «"'"-«' ''""- vr>Sm„^!i"'" *'"'®'^ °P«° the cumbrous volume, and ran a practised e\e and fincer of^entri^r *5r °^ ^°"'- ^"ooessive cofina of entries. Stoppmg suddenly at the foot t^^r^"' ^^ u"!f" '«*'! »'°"d that Ben- jamin &omers had on that day conducted Th; i' ■ P'"'" f""""" >°'^°« t° Crampton. lnnW«rl °^"''"*« l^'^ed forward in his seat, looked the Under-Secretary full in the face and sa.d, quite sharply an^ suddenly.l ' aft«Soo"7"'^°"' ""'• ^'^'''' - »^««*"« •I, sir?" tt]?ert°mo\th ?■""'"« °^ *'^«'°-*'^ o^ els'e shoulfiTe'r'''- ^^^''-ffi- Where nnJar^"^*! ^ '^"^^ °^ trepidation in the under-secretary's voice as he said this ; but his loolt of surprise was natural enough. \Ve have some reason for believing, Mr. Raikes that you were absent that afternoon without leave. Was this the case ?' Certainly not, sir. I have not had a day's holiday since September. Mr. Hunter will hear me out m this.' Mr. Hunter repeated what he had pre- viously said on the subject, but added that the clerks in the adjoining office would be ^ certoiu to know, jlhereupon the senior c erk, a grave, middle-aged person, in green glMses, was summoned and interrogated His testimony cleared the Under-Secretary" at once. He declared that Mr. Raikes had in no instance^ to his knowledge, been ah- sent danng office hours since his return from his annual hohday in September I was confounded. The chairman turned to me with a smile, in which a shade of coywt annoyance was scarcely apparent. • You hear, Mr. Langford, ' he swd. unsLte'"" '~* ""^ «'"^'*'»'*>'' ••«'°"'« 'I fear, Mr. Langford, that your con- victions are very insufficiently based,' re- phed the chairman, with a doubtful cough I fear that yoa dream dreams, and mis- take them for actual occurrences. It is a dangerous habit of mind, and might lead to dangerous results. Mr. Raikna h-rs -rrld have tound himself in an unpleasant posTtira had he not proved so satisfactory an oliM '• ^.JJj^" »''o»t to reply, but he gave me no 'I think gentlemen,' he went on to say. addressing the board, ' that we should fa« 81 wasting time to push this inquiry further. Air. I.angford'8 evidence would seem to be of an equal value throughout. The testimony ot iienjamm Somers disproves his first state- ment, and the testimony of the last witness disproves his second, f think we may con- clude that Mr. Langford fell asleep in the train on the occasion of his journey to Clay- borough, and dreamt an unusually vivid and circumstantial dream— of which, however ^^■« ^ave now heard quite enough.' There are few things more annoying than to find one s positive convictions met with in- creduhty. Icould not help feeling impa- tience at the turn that affaire had taken I was not proof against the civil sarcasm of the chairman s manner. Most intolerable of all. however, was the quiet smile lurking about the corners of Benjamin Somers' mouth, and the half-tnumphant, half-malicious gleam in the eyes of the Under-Secretary. Tlie man was evidently puzzled, and somewhat alarm- ed. His looks seemed furtively to interro- g»t« «?«•. Who was I ? What 5id I want ? Why had I come there to do him an ill turn with his employers? What was it to me whether or no he was absent without leave ? by It than the thing deserved, I begged leave to detain the attention of the board for tie^nrb^tteve."^" ''''''' ^ -P- * Better let the thing drop,' he whispered. J.Lftr',^''^ "^J'' ^°°"«h. You dreamt It , and the less said now the better. ' f-.»,JI!f °T*u*°.,*'® silenced, however, in this fash on. I had yet something to say, and I would say it. It was to thiii effect ;?hat dreams were not usually productive of ta^ri- ble results, and that I ?equested to knowTn what wav the chairman conceived I had V^iZA A ^y.*^"'"" "o substantial and ThlTu^A * <^«'"^'°° <*« the cigar-case which fh« i^^.''"' ''*"?"? ^ P^*«» '^fo'-e him at .51?"?'"'®™*°*°^ our interview. T^ cigar-case I admit. Mr. Langford,' the chairman replied, 'is a very strona pomtm your evidence. It is your on°y strong point, however, and there is just a SZ. -r^**, we may all be misleV by a mere accidental resemblance. Will you ner- mit me to see the case again ?' ^ him'*.'*!."'!"''^'^''.' ""'^ '^ I handed it t» him, that any other should bear precisely this monogram, and yet be in all other mr- Uuuiars exactly similar.' in'^^t J^^i'Tl «*'"»■»«'» it for a moment in silence and then passed it to Mr. Hunter. stok^histeU"'""'^'* "'''' ^"^' °^-- -"^ .t!''''''^ i.' °2v '"®''® resemblance,' he said It is John Dwerrihouse's cigar-case to a 32 THE FOUR-PIPTEEN EXPRESS. Raikes,' he whispered,— 'look certainty. I remember it perfectly. I have seen it a hundred times.' * I believe I may say the same, ' added the chairman. ' Yet how account for the way in which Mr. Langford asserts that it came into his possession?' •I can only repeat,' I replied, 'that 1 found it on the floor ot the carriage after Mr. Dwerrihouse had alighted. It was in leaning out to look after him that I trod up- on it ; and it was in running after him for the purpose of restori n^ it that I saw — or believed I saw— Mr. Raikes standing aside with him in earnest converpation. ' Again I felt Jonathan Jelf plucking at my sleeve. 'Look at at Raikes I I turned to where the under-secretary had been standing a moment before, and saw him, white as death, with lips trembling and livid, stealing tow.irds the door. To conceive a sudden, strange, and inde- finite suspicion ; to fling myself in liis way ; to take him by the shoulders as if he were a child, and turn his craven face, perforce, towards the board, were with me the work of an instant. ' Look at him ! ' I exclaimed. • Look at his face I I ask no better wftness to the troth of my words. ' The chairmaiii brow darkened. •Mr, Raikes,' he said -temly, 'if know anything, you had better speak.' Vainly trying to wrench himself from my urasp, the under-secretary stammered out an incoherent denial. ' Let me go,' he said. ' I know nothing— you have no right to detain me— let me go!' • Did you or did you not meet Mr. John Dwerrihouse at Blackwater station. The charge brought against you is either true or false. If true, you will do well to throw yourself upon the mercy of the boH, and make full confession of all that you know. ' The under-secretary wrung hfs hands in au agony of helpless terror. ' I '«»a» away,' he cried. ' I was two hun- dred miles away at the time ! I know nothv ing about it— I have nothing to confess — I aniiniiocent— I call God to witness I am Tnnocent !' '^Two liunelred miles away !' echoed the chairman. ' What do you mean !' ' I was in Devonshire. I had three weeks' leave of absence— I appeal to Mr. Hunter- Mr. Hunter knows I had three weeks' leave of abaence ! I was in Devonshire all the time— I can prove I was in Devon- shire !' Seeing him so abject, so incoherent, so you wild with apprehension, the directors begnn to whisper gravely among themselves, while one got quietly up, and called the porter to guard the door. ' What hac you being in Devonshire to do with the matter?' said the chairman. 'When were you in Devonshire ?' ' Mr. Raikes took his leave in Septem- ber, ' said the secretary; 'about the time when Mr. Dwerrihouse disappeared.' ' I never even heard that he had disap- peared till I came back 1 ' ' That must remain to be proved, ' said the chairman. ' I shall at once put this matter in the handsof the police. In the meanwhile, Mr. Raikea, being myself a magistrate, and used to deal with these coses, I advise yon to offer no resistance, but to confess while confes ion may yet do you service. As for your accomplice — ' The frightened wretch fell upon his knees. ' I had no accomplice I ' he cried. ' Only have mevcy upon me, — only spare my life, and I will confess all ! I didn't mean to 1-arm him ! I didn't mean to hurt a hair of his head. Only have mercy upon me, and let me to ! ' The chairman rose jji his place, pale and agitated. ' Good heA-ens ! ' he exclaimed, ' what horrible mystery is this ? What does it mean ? ' ' 719 sure as there is a God in heavM,* said Jonathan Jelf, ' it means that muiraer has been done.' 'N- — no — no !' shrieked Raikes, still upon . his knees, and cowering like a beaten hound. ' Not murder ! No jury that ever sat could bring it in murder. I thought I had only stunned him ! — I never meant to do more than Btun him ! Manslaughter— manslaughter — not murder ! ' Overcome by the horror of this unexpect- ed revelation, the chairman covered his face with his hand, and for a moment or two re- mained silent. ' Miserable man,' he said at length, 'you have betrayed yourself. ' • You bade me confess I You urged me to throw myself upon the mercy of the board ! ' ' You have confessed to a crime which no one suspected you of having committed, ' re- plied the chairman, ' and which this board has no power either to punish or forf'iye. All that I can do for you is to advise yon to submit to the law, to plead guilty, and to conceal nothing, When did you do this deed ?' The guilty man rose to his feet, and leaned heavily against the table. His answer in directors begnn themselves, while led the porter to Devonshire to do chairman. 'When lave in Septem- about the time kppeared. ' he had disap* proved, ' said the e put this matter n the meanwhile, magistrate, and es, I advise yon to confess while service. As for fell upon his he cried. ' Only y spare my life, didn't mean to to hurt a hair of i upon me, and place, pale and ! ' he exclaimed, ihia ? What does }od in heavMi,* ins that murder Raikes, still upon ) a beaten hound, at ever sat could ught I had only vat to do more ir— manslaughter )f this unexpect- covered his face >ment or two re* at length, 'you THE FOUR.FIFTEEN EXPRESS. nr You urged mercy of me the crime which no ; committed, ' re- hich this board i-intsh or for<*ive. to advise you to lead guiltv, and did you do this to his feet, and able. His answer came reluctantly, like the speech of one dreaming. ' On the twenty-second of September I' On the twenty-second of September I I looked in Jouathau Jelf's face, and he in mine. I felt my own paling with a strange sense of wonder and dread. I saw h s blanch suddenly, even to his lips. ' Merciful heaven !' be whispered, ' what was it, then, that yon saw in the train Y What was it that I saw in the train ? That question remains inanswered to this day. I have never been able to reply to it. I only know that it bore the living likeness of the murdered man, whose body had then been lying some ten weeks under a rough pile of branches, and brambles, and rotten Uaves, at the bottom of a deserted chalk-pit about half-way between Blaokwater and Mailing- ford. I know that itdpoke, and moved, and looked as that man spoke and moved and looked in life ; that I heard, or seemed to hear, things related which I oonld never otherwise have learned ; that I was guided, as it were, by that vision on the plat^rm to the identification of the murderer ; and that, a passive instrument myself, I was destined, by means of these mysterious teachings, to bring about the ends of justice. For these things I have never been able to account. < As («r ttw^ matter of the cigar-case, it proved, on inquiry, that the carriage in which I travelled down that afternoon to Ckyboroagfa had not been in nae for aeveral weeks, and was in point of fact the same in which poor John Dwanribouse had performed his hut jonmey. The case had, doubtless, been dropped by him, and had lain nnnotie* •d till I found it Upon the details of the murder I have no need to dwell. Those who desire more am- ple particulars may find them, and the writ- ten confession of Augustus Raikes in the files of the Times for f856. Enough that the un- der-sccretary, knowing the negotiation step by step through all its stages, determined to wayl^ Mr. Dwerrihouse, rob him of the sev- enty-five thousand pounds, and escape to America with his booty. I In order to efiect these ends he obtained I leave of absence a few dayi before the time ' appointed for the payment of the money ; secured his passage across the Atlantic in a steamer advertised to start on the twenty- third J provided himself with a heavilv load- ed life-preserver," and went down to'Black- waterto await the arrival of his victim. «ow he met him on the platform with a pre- tended message from the board ; how he offered to conduct him by a short out across the fields to Mallingford ; having brought him to a onely place, he struckTiim down with the hfe-preserver, and so killed him ; and how, finding what he had done, he dragged the body to the verge of an out- of-the wajr chalk-pit, and there flung it in. and piled it over with branches and bram< bles— are facts still fresh in the me- mories of those who, like the connoisseura m De Qumcey's famous essay, regard murder as a fine art. Strangely enough, the murdei«r, having done his work, was afraid toleav^the country. He declared that ho had not intended to teke the director'a life, but only to stun and rob him : and that ending the blow had MUed, he dared not fly for fear of drawing down suspicion upon his own head. Ah a mere robber he would have been safe in the States.but as a murderer he would ineviUbly have been pursued, and given up to justios. So he forfeited his paa< sage, returned to the office as usual at the end of his leave, and locked up his ill-gotten thousands till a more convenient opportunity. In the meanwhile he had the satisfactira of finding that Mr. Dwerrihouse waa universally believed to have absconded with the money, no one knew whither. Whether he meant murder or not, how- ever, Mr. Augustas Raikes jwid thefoU R?j*i*^,**' "" °"'"®' "^^ "'M hanged at the Vi.., if y "* *•** *^^^^ week in January. 1867. Those who desire to make his further acquaintance mayseehii.i in the Chamber of HorroMBt Madame Tussaud's exhibition, in Bakei||treet, He is there to be found in th« midstTJf a select society of ladies and gentle- men of atrocious memory, dressed in th« close-cut tweed suit which he wore on the everiing of the murder, and holding in big hand the identical life-preaervar with which he committed it. » THE SIQNAL MAN. * Halloa : Below there I' When he heard a voice thui callinfl to ^f w him, he Was aUndiug at the door of hia box, with a flag m hia haud.furled round ita ahort pole. One would have thought, conaiderinB the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice came ; but instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the ateep cutting nearly over hia head, he turned himaelf aWut and looked down the line. There waa aome- thmg remarkable in Ma manner of doing ao. though I could not have said, for my life, what. But I know it waa remarkable enough to attract my notice, even though hia figure waa foreah rtened and shadowed, wards a point on my level, some two or^three hundred yards distant, I call- Su uowii to him, • All riflht I *and made for that point. There, by dmt of looking close- ly abont me, I found a rough zigzag dascend- mg path notched out ; which I foil 84 [lowed. The cutting was extremely deep, and un- usually precipitate. It was made through a clammy atone that became oozierand wetter aa 1 went down. For these reaaona I f und the way long enough to give mo time to re- call a amgular air of relucUuce or compul- aion with which he had pointed out the path. When I came down low enough upon the zigzag descent to see him again, I saw that he was sUnding between the rails on the way by which the train had lately passed in an attitude as if he were wait-nc for me to ^P^fu • . , ?* ,1'*'* ^*" '••^* ^"^ ^ -* his chin, and that left elbow rested on h'd rignt hand crossed over his breast. HU attitude was one of such expectotion and watchfulness that 1 stopped a moment, wondenng at it I resumed my downward way, and, step- ping out upon the level of the railroad and drawing nearer to him, saw that he was a dark, sallow man, with a dark bear : and rather heayy eyebrows. His post was in as aolitaiy and dismal a place as ever I saw. On either side, a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of aYy : the perspective one way, only a crooked pro- longation of this great dungeon ; the ahorter perapective in the other direction, terminat- ing m a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a black tunnelf in whose massive architecture there was a barbarous, depress- ing and forbidding air. So little sunlight ever found ita way to this spot,and it had an earthly deadly smeU; and ao much cold wind ruahea through it, that it struck chiUto me. as if I had left Uw natural world. Before bestirred, I was Bear enough to him to have touched him. Not even then re- moving his eyes from nllne, be stepped back one step, and lifted his hand. This was a lonesome post to occupy (I said) and It had riveted my attention when 1 looked down from up yonder. A visitor was a ranty I shonld suppose ; not an un- welcome rarity, I hoped f In me he manly saw a man who had been ahat np within Mur- row Lmita all his life, end who, being at last •at free, had a newly awakened interest in THE SIGNAL MAW. 36 J". jly deep, and un- 8 made through a oozier and wetter e reasons I f und ve me time to re- tauce or corapuI> pointed out tba enough upon the again, I saw that the rails on the lately passed, in raif;.'ng for me to hap i -t his chin, m h>« rignt hand lis attitiide was ad watchfulness ondenng at it. way, and, step- the railroaid and ir that he was a dark bear '. and 8 post was IB as ' as ever I saw. it wall of jacged t a strip of sky : y a crooked pro- ion ; the shorter iction, terminat- d the jjloomier n whose massive parous, depress- little sunlight ot,and it had an mueh o^oldwind nok ohillto mt. orld. tear enough to ot even then re- le stepped back it to occupy (I attention when I.- A -■ •- ■ci , a. visiior e ; not an un- 1 VM be mcEaly s np within nir- to, being at last ned interest in these great works. To such purpose I spoke to him 5 but I am far from sure of the terms . I used, lor, besides that I am not happy in I opening my cunversation, there was some- thing in the man that daunted me. He directed a most curious look towards the red light near the tunnel's mouth, and looked all about it, as if something were missing from it, and then looked at me. That light was pa: » of his charge ? Was it not 7 He answered in a low voice, ' Dont you know it is?' ^ The monstrous thought came into my mind, as I perused the fixed eyes and the saturnine face, that this was a spirit, Hot a man, I have speculated since whether there may have been infection in his mind. In my turn, I stepped back. But in making the action, 1 detected in his eyes some latent fear for me. This put the mon- strous thought to flicrht. ' You look at me,'~I sail, forcing a smile, •as if you had a dread of me.' • I was doubtful, ' he returned, 'whether I had seen you before.' ' Where ?' He pointed to the red light he had looked at. 'There?' I said. Intently watchful of me, he replied (but without sound), 'Yes.' • My good fellow, what should I do there? However, be that as it may, I never was there, you may swear. ' •I think I may,' he rejoined. 'Yes, I un sure I may. ' His manner cleared, like mv own. He Bsplied to my remarks with readiness, and in well-chosen words. Had he much to do there ? Yes ; that was tb say, he had en- ough responaibility to bear ; but exactness and watchfulness wer« what was required of him, and of actual work— manual labour- he had next to none. To change that signal, to trim those lights, and to turn this iron handle now and then, was all he had to do under that head. Regarding those many long and lonely hours of which I seemed to make so much, he could only say that the routine of his life had shaped itself into that form, and he had groMm used to it He had taught himself a language down here, if only to know it by sight, and to have formed his own crude ideas of his own pronuncia- tion, could be called learning it. He had also worked at fractious and der-.imais and tried a little algebra ; but be was, and had been as a boy, a poor hand at fipires. Was it neoessa y for him when on duty, always to remain in that channel of damp air, and could he never rise into the sunshine from between those high stone wails? Why, that depended upon times and circumstances. Under some oonditioM there would be less upon the Line than under otherp, and the same held trood as to certain hours of the day and night, In bright weather, he did choose occasions for getting a httle above these lower shadows ; but being at all times liable to be called ^ his electric bell, and at such times listening for it with redoubled anxiety, the relief was less than I would suppose. He took me into his box, where therw wm a fire, a desk for a, official book in which h« bad to make certaii ntrie8,a telegraphic in- strument with its dial, face and needles, add the little bell of which he had spoken. 0» my trusting that he would excuse the remark that he had been well educated, and (I hoped I might say without offence) perhaps edu- cated above that station, he observed thai instances of slight incongruity in such-wiM would rarely be found wanting among larg* bodies of men ; that he had he«rd it was M in work-houses, in the pohoo force, even in that last desperate resource, the army ; tnA that he knew it was so, more or less, in any great railway staff. He had been, when young (it I could believe it. sitting in that hut ; he scarcely could), a student of natural philosophy, and had att«nded lectures ; bat he had run wild, misused his opportunitiea, gone down, and never risen again. He had no complaint to offer about that. He had made his bed, and he lay upon it. It was far too late to make another. All that I have here condensed he said in a quiet manner, with his grave, dark re- cards divided between me and the fire. E» threw in the word ' Sir ' from time to time, and especially when he referred to his youth, as though to request me to understand that he claimed to be nothing but what I found him. He w.-.s several times interrupt- ed by the little bell, and had to read off me88||es, and send replies. Once he had to stand^ithout the door and display a flag as a train passed, and made some verbu communication to the driver. In the dis- charge of his duties I observed him to b« remarkably exact and vigilant, breaking off his discourse at a syllable, and remain- ing silent until what he had to do was done. In a word, I should have set this man down as ons of the safest of men to be em- ployed in that oapacity, but for the circum- stances that while he was speaking to me he twice broke off with a fallen colour, turned his face towards the little bell when it did NOT ring, opened the door of the hut (which was kept shut to exclude the unhealthy damp), and looked out towards the red f M THE SIGNAL MAN. ^ -—*— . i >f light near the mouth of the tunnel. On both ofthoae ooouions he oame back to the Ore which I had remarked, without being able to define, when we were lo far aaunder. Said I, when I roae to leave him, ' You almost made be think that I have met with ■ contented man.' (I am afraid I must acknowledge that I ■aid it to lead him on.) • I believe I used to be ao,' he rejoiced, in the low voice in which he had first apoken • •but I am troubled, sir. I am troubled.' He would have recalled the word* if he oould. He had said them, however, and I took them up quickly. • With what ? What is your trouble ? ' It IS very difficult to impart, sir. It is Tery, very difficult to speak of. If ever jrou make me another visit, I will try to tell you •But I expressly intend to make you another visit. Say, wheu shall it be.' * I go off early in the morning, and I shall b« on again at ten to-morrow night, air.' ' I will come at eleven. ' He thanked me, and went out at the door with me, ' I'll show my white light, sir,' be said, in his peculiar low voice, ' till you have found the way up. When yon have found It, don't call out ! And when you are at the top don't call out I ' His manner seemed to make the place ■trike colder to me, but I said no more than 'Very well.' 'And when you co*e down to-morrow night, don't call out I Let me ask you a parting question. What made you ory. ^'Halloa I Below there ! " to-night? ' ' Heaven knows,' said L « I oried some- thine to that effect—' ' Not to that effect, sir. Those were the very words. I know them well.' •Admit those were the very words. I aaid them, no doubt, because I saw you below. ' H, ' ' For no other reason f * • What other reason could I possibly have? ' • You had no feeling that they were con- veyed to you in any supernatural way ? ' •No. He wished me good-night, and held up his light. I walked by the side of the down Line ot rails (with a very disagreeable sensa- tion of a tram coming behind me), until I found the path. It was easier to mount than to descend, and I got back to my inn with- out any adventure. Punctual to my appointment, I placed my foot on the first notch of the Hg-zag next night, as the distant clocks were striking eleven. He was waitinif for me at the bot- tom, with his white light on. f I have not called out, ' I said, when w« came close together ; • may I speak now ?' ' By all me^ns, sir. ' 'Oood-night then, and here's my hand.' •flowl-nighk, sir, and here's mine.' With that we walked side by side to his box, entered it, closed the door, and sat down by the fire. ' I have made up my mind, sir,' he began, bending forward as soon as we were seated, aid speaking in a tonu but a little above a whisper, ' that you shall not Uv.> to ask me twice wlat troubles me. I took you for some one else yesterday eveoinfl. That troubles me. ' • That mistoke ?' ' No. That some one else.' ' Who is it ?• • I don't know.' • Like me ?' •I don't know. I never saw the face. 1 Be left arm is across the face, and the right arm is waved. Violently waved. Thia way.' 1 followed his action with my eyes, and it was the action of an arm gesticulating with the utmost passion and vehemence : • For God's sake clear the way t' ' One moonight night,' said the man, 'I was sitting liere, when I heard a voice cry *• Halloa I Below there 1" I looked up, looked from that door, and saw this some one else standing by the red light near the tunnel, waving as I just now showed you. The voice s-eemed hoarse with shouting, and it cried !.'ii°»''°l*t'.^*'°''°"*'" ^''^ then again! Halloa ! below there I Look out I" I caught up my lamp, turned it on red, and ran towards the figure, calling, "What's wronirt What has happened ? Where?" It stood just outside the blackness of the tunnel. I advanced so close upon it that I wondered at its keeping the sleeve across its eyes. I ran right up at it. and had my hand stretch- ed out to pull the sleeve away, when it waa gone. ' ' Into the tunnel ? ' said L •No. I ran on into the ttnhel, five hun- dred yards. I stopped and held my lamp above my head, and saw the figures of the measured distance, and saw the wet stains stealing down the walls and trickling through the arch. I ran out again, faster than I had run in (for I had a mortal abhorrence of the place upon me), and I looked all round the red light with my own red light, and I went "^j't """ """cr to the gallery atop of it and I came down again, and ran back here! I telegraphed both ways, "An alarm %a8 been given. Is anything wrong?" The answer came back, both ways, "All well' Resisting the slow touch of a frozen finger TilE SIGNAL MAN. 17 I Mid, when w« y I aiMak now V hen'a my hand.' re'i miue.' Je by side to hU B door, and lat id, lir.'hs began, I we were Mated, a little above a not ( av<' to aak . I took you for eveninf. That le.' r law the face, he face, and tha tly waved. This I my eyes, and It esticulating with tiemence : ' For dd the man, ' I »rd a voice cry, ooked up, looked I some one elaa near the tunnel, i you. The voice ig, and it cried, jVnd then again, kouti" I caught i red, and ran 'What's wrongf ire?" It stood the tunnel. I that I wondered >u its eyes. I riy hand stretch- ay, when it was anhel, five hun- held my lamp > figures of the the wet stains rickling through ister than I had )horrence of the i all round the jht, and I went liery atop of it, ran back hwe. An alarm ^g rrong ? " The rs, "All well.' ' a frozen finger tracing out my spine, I showed him how that this flffure must be a deception of his Mnae of sight, and how that figures, origin- ating in disease of the delicate nerves tnat minister to the functions of the eye, were known to have often troubled patienU, some of whom had beooaie unconscious of the nature of their affliction, and had even proved it by experiments upon themselves. 'As to an imaginary cry,' •aid I, 'do but listen for a moment to the wind in this unnatural valley while we •peak so low, and to the wild harp it makes of the telegraph wires I ' That was all very well, he returned, after we had sat listening for a while, and he ought to know somethmg of the wind and the wires, he who had so often passed long winter nights there, alone and watching. But he would beg to remark that he had not finished. ! asked his pardon, and he slowly added these words, touching my arm : ' Within six hours after the appearance, the memorable accident on this line happen- ed, and within ten hours the dead and wounded were brought along through the tnnnel over the spot where the figure had atood.' I A disagreeable shudder crept over me, but I did my best against it. It was not to be denied, I reioined, that this was a remark- able coincidence, calculated deeply to im- press the mind. But it was unquestionable that remarkable coincidences did continually «ccur, and they must be taken into account in dealing with such a subject. Though, to be sure, I must admit,! added (for I thought f saw that he was going to bring the objec- tion to bear upon me), men of common sense did not allow much for coincidences in mak- ing the ordinary calculations of life. > He again begged to remark that he had i not finished. I again begged his pardon for being be- trayed into interruptions. I 'This,' he said, again laying his ' hand upon my arm, and glancing over his shoulder with hollow eyes, ' was just a year ago. Six or seven months passed, and I had recovered from the surprise and shook, when one morning, as tho day was breaking, I, standing at that door, looked toward the red light, and saw the spectre again. ' He stopped, with a fixed look at me. I 'Did it cry out V ' No. It was silent.* ' Did it wave its arm V ' No. It lo.ined against the shaft of the light, with both hands before the face. Like this.' Once more I followed his action with my •yes. It was an action of mourning. I have se«n such sn attitude in stone figursson tombs. j 'Did you go up to it?' ' 'I came in and sat down, partly to col- lect my thoughU, partly because it had turned me faint. When I went to the door again, daylight was above me, and the ghost was gone. ' 'But nothing followed ? Nothing oame of this?' I He touched me on the arm with his fore- finger twice or thrice, giving a ghastly nod ' each time. ■ ' That very day, as a train came out of the tunnel, I noticed at a carriage window on my side what looked like a confusion of hands and heads, and something waved. I saw it just in t me to signal the driver. Stop I I 'He shut off and put his brakes on, but th« train drifted past here a hundred and fifty yards or more. I tan after it, and aa I went along heard terrible screams and cries. A beautiful young lady had died instantane- ously in one of the compartments, and waa brought in here, and laid down on thia floor between ns. ' Involuntarily I pushed my ohair back, aa I looked from the E>oards at which he pointed to himself. 'True, sir. True. Precisely as it hap. pened, so I tell it you.' I could think of nothing to say, to any purpose, and my mouth was very dry. The wind and the wires took up the story with a long, lamenting wail. We resumed. 'Now, sir, mirL this, at ^ judge h(,w my mind is troubled. The spectro came back, a week ago. Ever since it has been there, now and again, by fits and starts. ' 'At the light?' 'At the Danger-light' * What does it seem to do ? ' Hs repeated, if possible with increased passion and vehemence, that former gesticu* lition of • For God's sake clear the way 1 ' Then he went on. • I have no peace or rest for it. It calls to me, for many min- utes together, in an agonized manner, Below there I Look out I Look out ! " It rings my little It stands waiving to me. bell—' j I caught at that. « Did it ring your bell I yesterday evening when I was here, and you woiit io iho door 7 ' 'Twice.' 'Why, see, 'said I, 'how your ima^ua- tion misleads you. My feyes were on the »»Il,and my ears were open to the bell, and, If I am a living man, it did not ring at those # THE SIGNAL MAN. times. No, nor at any other time, except when it was rung in the natural course of physical thinga by the station communicat- ing with you. He shook his hoad. • I have nerer made a mistaKe as to that, yet, sir. I have pever confused the spectre's ring with the manV. The ghost's ring is a strange vibration in the bell that it derives from nothing else, and I have not asserted that the bell stirs to the eye. I don't wonder that you failed to hear it But I heard it.* • And did the spectre seem to be there, when you looked out ?' ' It was there. ' •Both times?' He repeated firmly : • Both times.' • Will you come to the door with me, and look for it now ?' He bit his under-lip as though he were ■Omewhat unwilling but arose. I opened the door, and stood on the step white he •tood in the doorway. There was the Dan- ger-light. There was the dismal mouth of the tunnel. There was the high wet stone walls of the cutting. There was the stars above them. • Do you see it ?' I asked him, taking particular note of his face. His eyes were prominent and strained ; but not very much more so, perhaps, than my own had been when I had directed them earnestly towards the same point. • No, ' he answered. ' It is not there. ' ' Agreed, ' said I. We went in again, shut the door, and re- sumed our seats. I was thinking how best to improve this advantage, if it might be called one, when he took up the conversa- tion in such a matter-of-course way, so as- sumiDs that there could be no serious ques- tion of fact between us, that I felt myself placed in the weakest of positions. ' By this time you will fully understand, ■ir,' he said, 'that what troubles me so dreadfully is the question, What d«B the spectre mean V I was not stMe, I told him, that I did laily understand. •What is its warning against T' he said, ruminating, with his eyes on the fire, and only by times turning them on me. ' What is the danger? mere is the danger? There is danger overhangiag somewhere on the Line. Some dreadfuTcaTamity will hap- pea It is not to be doubted this third time, after what has gone 1>efor«. But =uix.-iy this is a cruoi hauniiiu; of me. "What can I do ?' / He pulled oat his handkerchief and wiped the drops from his heated forehead. * If telegraphed Danger on either side of me, or on both, I could give no retson for it,' he went on, wiping the palms of hie hands. 'I should eet into trouble and do no good. They would think I was mad. Thie is the way it would work .—Message • " Danger ! Take care !" Answer : '• Wliat Danger ? Whet* ?" Message : •' Dont know. But for God's sake take care I" They would displace me. What else could they do ?' His pain of mind was moat pitiable to see. It was the mental torture of a con- scientious man, oppressed beyond endur- ance by an unintelligible responsibility in- volving life. ,. 'When it first stood under the Danger- light, he went oa, tratting his dark hair back, from his head, and drawing his hands out- ward across and across his temples in an ex- tremity of feverish distress, 'why not tell m» where that accident was to happen, if it must happen ? Why not tell me how it could be averted, if it could have been averted? When on his second coming it hid its face why not tell me instead : "She is going ti die. Let them keep herat home ?" It came, on those two occasions, only to show me that Its warnings were true, and so to pre- pare me tor the third, why not warn me plainly now? And I, Lord help me! A mere poor single-man on this solitary sta- tion ! Why not go to somebody with credit to be beheved, and power to act ? ' When I saw him in this state, I saw that for the poor man's sake, as well as for the public safety, what I had to do for the time was to compose his mind. Therefore, setting aside all questions of reality or unreality between as, I represented to him that who- ever thoroughly discharged his duty must do well, and that at least it was his comfort that he understood his duty, though he did not understand these confounding appear- ances. In this effort I succeeded far better than in the attempt to reason him out of his conviction. He became calm ; the n to con. ceill that, either. But what ran most in my thoughta wu the consideration, how ought I to act, hav- ing become the recipient of this diacloanre? I t ive no rouon for be palma of hit trouble and do no was mad. Thie ^ork : — Meuage : Inawer: "What Mage: " Don^ ke take care I" What elae could moat pitiable to torture of a con- beyond endur- ■esponsibility in-^ der the Dapgeiv is dark hair back. ; his hands oat- temples in an ez> 'why not tell me appen, if it must how it could be been averted f X it hid its face, ' She is going to ome V ft came, nly to show me , and so to pre- r. not warn me help me ! A is solitiiry sta- >ody with credit act?' »te, I saw that ell as for the do for the time erefore, setting f or unreality him that who- lis duty must do 18 his comfort though he did inding appear- ided far oetter I him out of calm ; the tfc- st, 88 the night ^r demands on at two in the ty through the of it. ed back at the thway, that I that f should bed had besn conceal. Nor tason to con- thoughts wu I to act, hav- m discloanrer I THE SIGNAL MAN. had proved the man to be intelligent, vigi. lant, painstaking, and exact ; but how lone might he remain so. in his state of mind? 1 hough ma subordinate position, still he held a most important trust.and would I (for m8tanoe)liketotakemy own life on the chances of his continuing to execute it with precision ? Unable to overcome a feeling that there would be something treacherous in my com- municating what he had told me to his su- penors in the Company, without first being plain with himself and proposing a middli course to him, I ultimately resolved to offer to accompany him (otherwise keeping his secret for the present) to the wisest medical pnwtitioner we could hear of in those parts, and to take his opinion. A change In his time of duty would come round next night. he had apprised me, and he would be off an hour or two before eunriee, and on again I soon after sunset. I had appointed to return accordingly. » ■^t *i ®T'°? ^" * '°^«'y evening, and I walked out early to enioy it. The sin was fi^l/ .r'*" ^2^"" '^'""' I traversed the field-path near the top of the deep cutting. I would extend my walk for an hour, I said to myself, half an hour on and half an hour back, and it would then be time to go to mv Bimal-man's box. * ^ "Before pursuing my stroll I stepped to the K;.nf f mechamcally looked d^n, from the point from which I had first seen him. I cannot describe the thrill that seized upon me, when, close at the mouth of the tunnel, 1 saw the appearance of a man, with his left StTrigh^'am.'""^"^ passionately waving The nameless horror that oppressed me IT!* .u° * ""o™*"*. 'or in a momeat I saw that this appearance of a man was a man indeed, and that there was a little group of other men standing at a distance, ^hom heseemed to be rehearsing the ges! Si made.. The Danger-light wu not yet lighted. Against its shaft, a little low hut ♦ntirely new to roe had been made of some r«*P*«' with ail the I — y^^*» A V*»'I41ti »rT^g gL « is the matter?' I asked the •What men. • Signal-man killed this morning, sir.' • Not the man belonging to that box V •Yes, sir.' • Not the man 1 know ?' 'You will recognize him, sir, if you knew h.m, said the man who spoke for the others, solemnly uncovering his own head and rais- ing an end of the tarpaulin, 'for his face is quite right yet' ' 0, how did this happen, how did this happen^ I asked, turning from one to an- other as the hut closed in again. ' He was cut down by an engine, sir. No man in England knew his work better. But somehow he was not dear of the outer- rail. It was Just at broad day. He had struck the light, and hod the lamp in his hand. As the engine came out of the tunnel, his back was towards her, and she cut him down. That man drove her, and was show- ing how It happened. Show the gentleman. Tom. ' ° ' The man, who wore a rough, dark dress, stepped back to his former place at the mouth of the tunnel 'Coming round the curve in the tunnel, sir, he said, «I saw him at the end like as If 1 saw him down a perspective-glass. There was no time to check speed, and I knew him to.be/enr careful. As he didn't seem to take heed of the whistle, I shut it off when we were running down upon him, and called to him as loud as I could call.* * What did you say ?' • I said. Below there ! Look out I Look out ! For God's sake clear the way !' I started. 1 r[^^ ' ',*..^*" * dreadful time, sir. I never left off calling to him. I put this arm before my eyes, not to see, and I waved this arm to the last ; but it was no nse.' Without prolonging the narrative to dwell on any one of its curious circumatanoea more than on any other, I may, in closing it, point out the coincidence that the warning of the Engine-Driver incladed, not only the words which the unfortunate signal-man had repeated to me aa haunting him, but also the words which I myself— not he— had at- tached, and that only in my own mind, to the geattcolation he had imitated.